EJEL Volume 6 Issue 3
October 2008
Developing Critically Thoughtful, Media-Rich Lessons in Science: Process and Product
Philip Balcaen
University of British Columbia, Okanagan, Kelowna, Canada
Greater clarity about the nature of critical thinking and how to support teachers in learning to
implement it are needed if we are to respond to broader calls for critical thinking both as a
central goal in science education and as a key aspect in the ecology of 21st Century e-learning
environments. In this paper, I describe a professional development approach and a conceptual
framework used to create critically thoughtful and media-rich science learning resources meant to
serve these needs. The conceptual framework is a model of critical thinking developed by the
Canadian Critical Thinking Consortium that involves embedding the teaching of five categories
of intellectual tools into the teaching of curriculum content. The “tools for thought”
include addressing the need for focused and relevant background knowledge, criteria for
judgment, thinking concepts, thinking strategies and the development of habits of mind.
The professional development approach engages practicing teachers through focused inquiry
groups in collaboration with rich media technicians who help to develop the e-critical
challenges (lessons). Aspects of this “comet approach” include a series of face-to-face
sessions, gradual and planned introduction to use of laptop computers, inquiry oriented
teacher-writing teams and expert mentorship for teacher–writers between face-to-face sessions.
I explain the unique aspects of both the development process and the challenges in the context
of a project involving twelve teachers in the creation of media-rich critical thinking lessons
for a Grade 7 science course. Although project assessment data analysis is currently underway,
I offer several initial conclusions in relation to the four goals of the project.
Keywords:
critical thinking, science teaching, media-rich, professional development, one-on-one laptop collaboration
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