by Peter Ruzzo

Created on: October 15, 2009

The most important question we should ask ourselves when discussing teaching methods and incorporating computers is, can computers and software applications be used to teach critical thinking skills?

At face value a computer, the Internet and the multitude of educational software programs are tools to further the deliverance of curriculum. What if using a computer could actually teach a student to evaluate primary source documents or test hypothetical applications in science or even teach a student to write a thesis paper? Unfortunately there are too few programs out there that allow for this type of teaching, and developing programs and using the computer relies too much on the creativity and technological savvy of the teacher. To complicate matters, not all teachers are sold on computers. What creative teachers do is find ways to use the computer to teach critical thinking skills.

Developing critical thinking skills is the most important skill teachers teach students. From elementary through high school students are taught to evaluate, extrapolate, debate, cooperate, analyze, criticize, memorize, and the list goes on and on. Each of these skills can be taught using a computer. From project based learning, to individualized instruction to cooperative group learning, there are creative ways to use a computer. For example, one can use the Internet to gather data on voter demographics along party lines and geographic locations. This data can be used to predict and analyze election outcomes. The computer is a valuable resource for data and information. Students, though, need to be taught to use the computer with caution. Many sites cannot be trusted as valuable and the information on many sites is not always good information. In and of itself, teaching students how to use the Internet as a research tool is a valuable lesson in problem solving and fact checking.

There is a multitude of educational software programs available to teachers online and in catalogues. The best kind of programs available are those that teach students of all levels to think about issues, solve problems, analyze information, and draw conclusions. For example, I came across a program that uses both contemporary and period primary source documents from the American Revolutionary period. There is a very clever guiding metaphor. A guiding metaphor helps create a game like atmosphere or competition. The user is a newspaper reporter and they have been charged by their editor to write a position

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