CRITICAL THINKING PROGRAM
our education program
Growing to Think
When you come into a classroom in Rurapuk, you will immediately hear the class abuzz with the sharing of ideas. It is through dialogue that our teachers who are trained in critical thinking help children use their own experiences to break paradigms, take another look at their beliefs, and strengthen their reasoning.
You will notice that the children talk as much as or more than the teacher, and are confronted with questions that help them analyze and reconstruct their ideas.
Our classes
In Rurapuk we teach math, science, and language arts to children in our after school center. We hold guest lectures by professionals from all over the world to give the kids a glimpse of career possibilities they may have never thought possible. The kids eat a nutritious snack before class, and learn yoga and meditation weekly.
Yes, we are always thinking. But just like riding a bike, swimming, or any other activity, you get better results if you do it well. That’s why we generate meaningful learning rather than rote learning. Our teaching draws from constructivist, neohumanist, and developmental theorists such as P.R. Sarkar, Vygotsky, and Piaget.
methodology
How we teach thinking
Reflect on Experience
Help children understand the presuppositions of their own beliefs, the origins and consequences. Evaluate beliefs by addressing the socio-cultural context and the conceptual base of the belief.
ANALYZE AND SYNTHESIZE
By breaking down information, ideas, and concepts into smaller parts, one can understand the object more fully. The creative process of synthesis brings these pieces together to form a new whole, one that can solve a problem or bring about new understandings.
FIND SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES
Explore how ideas, concepts, and objects hold similarities and differences which in turns strengthens one’s perceptive ability and comprehension of the core concept.
FIND CATEGORIES
Use reasoning and perception to see how objects, clusters of ideas, and concepts can be organized under a representative theme.
BUILD SELF CONFIDENCE
Make thinking processes explicit. Form self-regulated thinking skills to build confidence in one’s own ideas.
MANAGE FRUSTRATION
Expand curiosity by deeply listening to others before forming an opinion. Analyze what is read and heard and keep an open mind when hearing ideas that challenge one’s own beliefs.
Practice TOLERANCE
Expand curiosity by deeply listening to others before forming an opinion. Analyze what is read and heard and keep an open mind when hearing ideas that challenge one’s own beliefs.
develop HUMILITY
When shown to hold a view that cannot be sustained by reasoning or experience, allow oneself to let go without being defensive.