Examining Thinking Skills

Instructions: Review the learning skills below. Check five skills that you consider to be the most important skills to be successful in the 21st century.

Check Skills Knowledge Recalls information Lists elements of problem Comprehension Restates/explains problem in one’s own words Simplifies the problem Application Uses knowledge in new and novel situations Demonstrates concepts Solves problems Analysis Breaks down information into workable, related parts Discusses options/considers multiple hypotheses Synthesis Makes generalizations to other situations Starts with a vision and works backwards Creates, imagines and innovates Evaluation Assesses the validity of methods and answers Supports a conjecture with a logical argument Judges value based on criteria Attitude Having positive attitudes and perceptions about learning Maintaining curiosity, enthusiasm, and passion about learning Habits of Mind Having productive habits that will enable to learn on own

Persisting Ability to sustain a problem solving process over time

Managing Ability to think before acting Impulsivity Intentionally forming a plan before beginning a task Listening to Ability to listen to another person Others Ability to empathize with and to understand another point of view Communicating Communicating accurately in both written and oral form with Clarity and Precision Thinking Capacity to change one’s mind as additional data is received Flexibly Ability to approach a problem from a new angle using a novel approach Thinking About Ability to reflect back on and evaluate a plan upon completion Thinking Aware of one’s actions and the effect of those actions on others and on the environment (Metacognition) Ability to explain one’s strategies of decision making Striving for Valuing of accuracy, precision and craftsmanship Accuracy and Precision Questioning Knowing how to ask questions to fill in the gaps between what is and Posing known - unknown Ability to recognize discrepancies and phenomena in one’s Problems environment Ability to probe into their causes Finding Humor Using humor and laughter to liberate creativity and provoke higher- level thinking Finding incongruity and perceiving absurdities, ironies and satire

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