Resources
Child centred learning and teaching approaches in Myanmar
A report by Marie Lall (2010) aimed at supporting education providers and practitioners in identifying and sharing child centred education best practice and helping the identification of core competency based standards, so that CCA can be effectively replicated and expanded throughout Myanmar.
Read the report.
Report on Higher Education Dialogue in Burma
On behalf of the National Network for Education Reform (NNER) Burma, our colleagues from the Thinking Classroom Foundation have engaged in a substantive dialogue with the Ministry of Education and the Parliamentary Education Committee on how to best reform higher education in their country.
Read the Report Empowering Higher Education. A vision for Myanmar's Universities.
Lesson plans for developing critical thinking skills
A collection of lesson plans developed by RWCT teachers from around the world
Mathematics, 7th grade (students aged 13) - by Ariana-Stanca Vacaretu, Romania
Literature - contributed by Critical Thinking International - Lesson plan 1, Lesson plan 2, Lesson plan 3
Social studies/ geography - contributed by Critical Thinking International
Science (Constellations) by Htwe Htwe Than, Myanmar
Literature, 8th grade, Iudit Sera, Romania
Civic education/ English language, Bravery, 4th grade, Maria Kovacs, Romania
Music, The Opera Carmen, secondary school, Tomislav Seletkovic, Croatia
English as a Foreign Language - College students - Tolerance, University of Niznhi Novgorod, Russia
Critical Thinking: The Burmese Traditional Culture of Education- Thein Lwin (28 May 2010)
Abstract
Buddhist monastery schools are the second largest education institutions in Burma. A senior monk has suggested that critical thinking strategies are the method of the Buddha's teaching. The presentation will explore the practice of critical thinking teaching strategies in Burmese schools, and in refugee and migrant schools on the Thai-Burma border from 2002 to 2010. It will also report on the response of teachers who promote critical thinking in their classrooms, including what they understand by the term 'critical thinking'. The presentation will discuss the relationship between 'critical thinking' and the Buddhist tradition in Burma. It will also explore the impact of ‘critical thinking’ in Burmese society.
Integration of Critical Thinking Principles into the Curriculum of Secondary Schools - Lithuania
General education standards of Lithuania emphasize importance of critical thinking and problem–solving ability. Educational experience encourages searching for such training methods that help the pupil to feel meaning of learning. General programs of Lithuanian general education school emphasize student activities, all of its forms, teacher and student cooperation; it is stressed that today’s school must choose and develop education methods promoting an active, independent, constructive critical attitude of students. Therefore the main task of today’s teachers – as to better prepare pupils to live in the democratic world of the twenty–first century, to teach them to learn and think critically.
Development of critical thinking at school of general education is a very important process, which is not sufficiently studied yet. It should be noted that assumptions and opportunities of critical thinking education in modern Lithuanian school are not properly investigated; effectiveness and possibilities of critical thinking methods are undisclosed.
During this initiative the research was performed, which object were principles of critical thinking education in Lithuania.
The goal of the research was to analyze the expression of the principles of critical thinking education in the documents governing education and to explore assumptions for appliance of methods promoting critical thinking and the process of education.
Integration of Critical Thinking Principles into the Curriculum of Secondary Schools
The Teaching of Writing in the Czech Republic
In this article, Zuzana Šaffková argues that the tradition of rhetoric instruction in the Czech Republic influences current practice in teaching writing, and that there is need for change in the area if teachers are to cease merely teaching about writing and begin helping students themselveslearn to write. Teachers must be prepared in a fully professional manner for their responsibilities as teachers of writing, and in order for this to happen, teacher preparation programs in universities need to be changed so that new teachers will teach writing in new ways. Preservice teachers need to experience in their own studies the power of writing as a way of learning. University professors must demonstrate in their responses to student writing that they care about more than grammar and stylistics, so that when their students themselves become teachers, these new teachers will have healthy ideas about the powerful uses of writing in their own lives. Moreover, teacher training programs need to incorporate specialized courses in the teaching of writing so that beginning teachers will be familiar with the theory and practice of writing process pedagogy.
Click here to access the full article.
Trakai, Lithuania