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End Lessons with Uncertainty

Tags

^21st Century Skills All Ages Strategy

Skills

Flexible Thinking

End Lessons with Uncertainty

If your students have strong reasoning skills and you want them to think more deeply, particularly if their flexible thinking is not as strong

How To Apply It!

  1. To encourage student to reason more deeply on their own rather than "wait for you to give the answer," try ending class with a question rather than a traditional homework assignment.
  2. Towards the end of class, introduce a new concept or problem type.
  3. Rather than practicing the technique in class, suggest that students go home and try a problem on their own. Let them know that you realize they might not figure out the solution. They should come prepared to discuss what they tried and why.
  4. Remind them that there won't be a grade, so they shouldn't look it up online or ask a friend.
  5. Discuss their methodologies in class the next day. As long as the student tried and has a point of view, make sure they know that any answer is acceptable.
  6. This is a great opportunity to encourage growth mindset thinking by praising the effort and not the outcome.

Why It Works (the Science Of Learning)!

n many classrooms, direction instruction is the norm: teachers instruct students how to solve problems and students practice until they can solve the problems on their own. Unfortunately, students can get in the habit of focusing only on the answer. Help students develop their problem solving capabilities by developing comfort with ambiguity. Keep in mind that many of the strongest students struggle with ambiguity in higher grades because they are less accustomed to the feeling of not knowing -- they could almost always follow the teacher's instruction and get the answer.