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Use Strong Critical Thinking in Group Work: Checklist (Bb)

Tags

^21st Century Skills All Ages Strategy

Skills

Social Awareness Verbal Reasoning Abstract Reasoning

Use Strong Critical Thinking in Group Work: Checklist (Bb)

If your student has strong complex reasoning skills and you want them to take a leadership role in group work

Using Strong Reasoning In Group Work

  1. Try to view group projects as an opportunity to develop key life skills like collaboration and management. Consider how you can use your strong reasoning skills to play a leadership role while making certain everyone in the group has the opportunity to be an effective contributor.
  2. If you feel confident that you know just how to tackle the project, view this as an opportunity to improve your leadership skills. Try to embrace this role rather than getting impatient or trying to do the work for the group.
  3. Focus on being a good listener. Other students might have different or more efficient approaches that you never considered. Be open to your teammates' ideas and see how they can be included in the outcome.
  4. Consider leading with formal group brainstorming where everyone throws in ideas. This will help you make sure you are listening to others' ideas and not sprinting ahead.
  5. Always start with positive feedback on someone's idea before any criticisms. This will develop others' confidence to contribute and help ensure you carefully considered the idea.
  6. Suggest assigning everyone in the group a specific role, so everyone contributes throughout the project. Try to make sure everyone feels that roles are fair and appropriate.
  7. If you are concerned about the quality of the final product, try to give yourself a role that enables you to have oversight at the end so you can tie up any loose ends or mistakes. Remind yourself that this does not give you an opportunity to re-do someone else's work.

What To Keep In Mind

While maybe your teammates benefit from your reasoning contributions, there is also plenty for you to learn from your group. You can learn leadership, organization, and project planning skills. You might have group members that remember every fact and figure if you pause and let them. Others might be strong in art or creative thinking. Use this opportunity to combine your strengths in complex reasoning with the strengths of your teammates to come up with a solution that you might not have reached on your own.