Today I am happy to announce that I have added a new element of critical thinking to the 2learn® Method – Solving the Problem in Different Ways. The beauty of this new element of critical thinking is that it was inspired to me by one of my minor students. In the lesson, I asked the student to solve a problem regarding reading time signatures and the student arrived to the answer via deductive reasoning instead of just solving the problem directly by matching the note with the number at the bottom of the time signature. Because I never taught the student to solve the problem in this fashion, the student had to use his critical thinking skills to arrive to the answer. Thus, the student was awarded a 2learn® dollar for critical thinking (solving the problem in different ways).

Solving the problem in different ways is when the student solves one problem in more than one way.  In order to develop this skill in the student, you simply ask the student to solve the problem in a different way after she’s solved the problem in at least one way.  You need to make sure that second way is a sound one as unsound problem-solving isn’t a valid way to vary the path to the answer.  As long as the second way is solid, the student is developing this skill.  In order for the student to be able to see the different paths before her to the answer, she might need to be to be creative or think “outside of the box”.  So when developing this skill, you might need to work on also developing the aforementioned two.