The fact is, you need some facts to think about.

Just when I had all my wonderful "critical thinking" lessons planned out for the year, it turns out kids actually need to have some factual knowledge about which to think critically. 

Imagine that. 

So now I have to go back and add BORING facts to the things I'm supposed to be teaching. Daniel T. Willingham guy at the University of Virginia says critical thinking isn't much good on its own. Educational Columnist Jay Matthews quotes Willingham in an article, and Matthews himself points out the following:

"As your most-hated high school teacher often told you (will I be exempt since I teach 8th grade?), you have to buckle down and learn the content of a subject--facts, concepts and trends--before the maxims of critical thinking taught in these feverishly-marketed courses will do you much good.

'The processes of thinking are intertwined with the content of thought (that is, domain knowledge),' Willingham says. 'Thus, if you remind a student to "look at an issue from multiple perspectives" often enough, he will learn that he ought to do so, but if he doesn't know much about an issue, he can't think about it from multiple perspectives.'"


I guess this means Roger Ebert actually watches all the movies he reviews. 

Sorry boys and girls. This year it looks like I'm going to have to make sure you actually know what happened in the story before we get whimsical with our critical analyses. 

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~Nicole~
Actually, I think I learned alot during the year without knowing the facts. I mean sometimes having to learn the facts can get kind of boring, than when you're doing critical thinking. Sure I may not remember most of it right now, but I have to say you did a pretty good job of teaching us through critical thinking. Also it makes 50 minutes go by a lot quicker.
Highly Appallified
Maybe I just did a good job of sneaking the facts in there? For example, if someone wanted to engage our outspoken class Republican (Mr. Hope, I will miss you. What a great name for a future politician, by the way.) in a critical conversation, he or she would have to know some facts about what Republicans believe, and why they believe those things. They would also have to have some facts that would refute the opponent's position. I agree, facts can be boring, but usually the person with more facts will put the beatdown on an opponent when it comes to argument and persuasion. A big bundle of facts without any critical thinking can be a big waste of time. But the other side of the coin, as this article is pointing out, is that you have to have some foundational knowledge with which to think critically about.

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