Education for Thinking

by Deanna Kuhn

Book Overview

What do we want schools to accomplish? The only defensible answer, Deanna Kuhn argues, is that they should teach students to use their minds well, in school and beyond. Bringing insights from research in developmental psychology to pedagogy, Kuhn maintains that inquiry and argument should be at the center of a "thinking curriculum"--a curriculum that makes sense to students as well as to teachers and develops the skills and values needed for lifelong...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674019067
• ISBN13: 9780674019065
• Release Date: October 2005
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Length: 209 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.3" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Kuhn's Argument for Argument

This book is very important for the strong, empirically researched and documented case it makes for argument as the primary academic skill students need to master, the skill that comprehends and integrates all the subordinate skills and gives students the way in to the academic intellectual world that they often lack. It is also important for the crucial but not always recognized distinction Kuhn makes between the artificial kind of argument too often taught in school, in which students make and defend claims in isolation (the model of most five paragraph theme and research paper assignments), and "dialogic argument," in which students engage with others who may challenge or disagree with them. Kuhn frequently points out the irony that children and adolescents extensively practice such dialogic argumentation when they informally converse with parents, friends, and fellow students in class discussions, yet schools do little to tap into this everyday argumentative skill and if anything may leave students feeling that such arguing is out of place in school. Kuhn nails her point at the end of the book with a telling account of how a group of otherwise bored, alienated, and underperforming 8th graders comes to life and raises the level of its academic performance when invited to debate the pros and cons of capital punishment. This would be a great book to assign in any teacher education program or course that touches on educational issues. I know I'll be citing it frequently in my own work from now on. Gerald Graff Professor of English and Education University of Illinois at Chicago 2008 President, MLA

a find for teacher educators

Today is the last Foundations of Education class I am facilitating with 10 sophomores and juniors exploring the possibility of becoming teachers. I found Kuhn in our college library; the text is now an old friend and valuable companion. The intellectual capabilities actualized through Kuhn's work are addressed in the two earlier reviews. As a teacher educator, these are important. More importantly, however, this text maximized numerous "teachable moments" around how our college students read, think, make sense of and discuss ideas. I was able to talk with my students about their generalizations and beliefs, facts versus main ideas, as well as how arguments are built and the ramifications of a Kuhn-type curriculum on young children. I could then challenge them with Kuhn's thesis and examples, again and again. Kuhn argues that many children and adults have 'weak mental models' and therefore are not achieving the maximum from learning opportunities. Citing her research in a 'best practice' and 'struggling' school, she found that children/students in both schools, and their teachers, needed support in understanding what inquiry is and how to enable students to come to understand both inquiry and argument through the developmental practice of it. She provides examples and conclusions in a systematic way, three chapters each for inquiry and argument. Chapter 9 sums it all up - and my students "got it." (They also taught each other the ideas in chapters 7 and 8). In these last weeks of class, my students' thinking, writing, comprehension of text, and arguing skills are sharper, wiser - and we did it all, as Kuhn would suggest, in a developmental atmosphere of typical daily performance (G. Hanna, 1995)rather than a right and wrong environment of classroom testing. It's a great book, fine research, and opens up the possibilities for this group of preservice teachers to engage their future students more competently in the world of ideas.

Putting thinking first: Defending everyone's right to learn

In our current era of public education where appearances in the form of a school's standardized test score takes precedence over everything else, it is refreshing to find in Ms. Kuhn's analysis a proactive departure from the neat and tidy beehive approach that has seemingly overtaken academic life. Kuhn favors a philosophical bent to learning based on critical thinking and debate. Even more telling is the way her study contrasts the attitudes middle school age students hold toward learning based on socio-economic considerations. When compared to their wealthier compadres, the disadvantaged students must overcome more crowded noisy classrooms and less seasoned teachers who fail to intellectually challenge them. Even the more affluent students who receive what is deemed 'best practices' instruction are not ingratiated with the sort of rigorous intellectual problem solving necessary for success in today's dynamic world. Fortunately the author moves beyond the realm of theory in providing teachers with practical approaches for the classroom in promoting inquiry, analysis and inference--the underpinnings for critical thinking! Finally in my view the economic disparities between America's rich and poor schools, regardless of how revolutionary the approach we are offered, is the most critical obstacle we as educators must overcome to ensure equitable learning in a Democratic society. Can we really expect that even the monastic-like teachers---in the midst of screams and squalor---to enact Ms. Kuhn's noble goals? Is simply a new approach to learning enough to spur fundamental change in our borderline third world schools? Must not national economic and political priorities first be placed on elevating the stature of the Department of Education to that of the Department of Defense? Otherwise, Ms. Kuhn's fine intentions will be buried along with the million of other enlightened educational plans that turn to dust owing to paltry resources.

A Blueprint for Developing Thoughtful Citizens

The ability to understand underlying facts. The skills to present an argument in a calm and rational manner. The maturity to understand that there are two, if not more sides, to an proposition. Not one of these assets are objectives that necessarily come to mind when one thinks of what the primary and secondary education system ought to provide. Deanna Kuhn, Professor of Psychology and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, believes that is precisely what is missing from the process of developing not only citizens who can read, write and perform math equations, but also contribute to the civic society. Education for Thinking argues that schools should not only fill children's minds with facts and processes, but actually teach how to think. Professor Kuhn, through this well-written and researched book, views that the product of education should be thinking and understanding the ideas that underly the facts. Schools, for the most part, do not focus on those cognitive abilities. I am a board member of the National Association of Urban Debate Leagues, a nonprofit organization which seeks to build competitive debate programs in urban high schools. Debate fosters research, analytical and rhetorical skills that are the key to advanced thinking. Professor Kuhn's book reads like a blueprint of so much that we are trying to accomplish. I recommend this book to administrators, teachers and parents who are frustrated by what seem like the inherent limitations of the current educational model in this era of No Child Left Behind. This book will provide the foundation and ideas to, at the very least, start the conversation of what our schools should be preparing our kids for.