This is another guest posting of a presentation given by Steve Coxon, Ph.D., assistant professor & director of Programs in Gifted Education at Maryville University in St. Louis, Missouri.
He presented his talk at the 34th International Conference on Critical Thinking and Educational Reform sponsored by the Foundation for Critical Thinking (Foundation for Critical Thinking) in July this year. He has also generously offered to send his PowerPoint presentation that accompanied his talk. Below that is Dr. Coxon’s contact information and some websites pertinent to his talk.
Observation: The Earliest Critical Thinking Skill
Careful observation is fundamental to a fair-minded understanding of the world and is important to continue to develop in elementary students through increasingly challenging learning activities. In her book, Emergent Science, Johnston (2014, p. 8) refers to observation as the “first and most important scientific skill” and suggests it begins to develop in the womb as the fetus learns to recognize familiar voices. While preschool curricula often focus on improving observational skills in early childhood, researchers Eberback and Crowley (2009) note that elementary classrooms neglect further development in middle and late childhood. This is unfortunate as it takes increasingly challenging experiences to improve any skill and careful observation is needed for well-developed habits of mind including clarity, accuracy, precision, depth, and breadth. Moreover, strong observational skills underlie such critical thinking concepts as comparing and contrasting viewpoints, evaluating evidence, and noting the sometimes subtle differences between fact and opinion. This concurrent session will provide a background on the development of observational skills in early childhood, connections between observation and critical thinking, and challenging activities to improve observational skills in elementary school students.
-Graduate programs: http://www.maryville.edu/gifted
-Summer Science and Robotics: http://www.maryville.edu/robot
-Young Scholars: http://www.maryville.edu/youngscholars
Book Review Editor, Roeper Review
Follow me on Twitter @GiftedEdStLouis
Critical Thinking Now! 