Diffendoofer Day

1. What does it mean when someone knows how to think?
Everyone "knows" how to think, but sometimes, we choose to be lazy and we allow our thoughts to have little substance. Someone who "knows how to think" chooses to chase after thoughts and spend time on the thoughts that are high quality and then tries to do something bigger with their thoughts like write about them, tell a friend, or create something out of their thoughts. Someone who "knows how to think" doesn't just wait for someone else to answer a question, they mull it over and try to come up with logical (and even illogical) ideas on their own and then ask for help. 

2. How does a teacher teach a student how to think?
A teacher who is teaching their students how to think does not hand their students everything on a platter and expect them to remember those things forever. A teacher who teaches students how to think guides them on learning expeditions and allows the students to ponder over ideas and come to conclusions on their own to enforce personal thinking. A teacher who teaches students to think doesn't expect their students to know everything, but expects students to make mistakes as they are learning and through those mistakes the students are thinking about what went wrong and how they can problem solve. 

3. Have you ever been in a class where you really had to think?
In Biology Methods, we weren't given all of the answers on a platter. We were often given a scenario and had to figure out what was going on and how that related to our science topic. I had to use background knowledge to fill in some of the blanks and I had to make educated guesses in some areas and tweak my ideas later when more information was given to me. Seeing that method of teaching science eased my nerves about teaching science in the future and made me realize that I don't have to know everything about science but I do need to be inquisitive, prepared, and ready to think along with my students.