Current standardized assessments can make it difficult to teach higher thinking skills. "Even so, reports ASCD, many teachers across the country are making reasoning abilities a priority."

A two-part issue of the ASCD's email newsletter, SmartBrief, collects resources from their own archives and other publishers that address meeting the challenge of "Teaching Students to Think." The first part focuses on the place of thinking skills in today's curriculum and offers some instructional and assessment strategies. The second part explores best practices.

Robert J. Sternberg, a Tufts University psychology professor, recommends adding assessments for creativity and practicality. Another story details how North Carolina has mandated that 21st-century skills be demonstrated to educators before graduation. A how-to piece tackles teaching reading comprehension, communications skills, collaboration and writing systematically. The value of debate for teaching students to research and think critically is explained, with other articles on the role of the arts, and another on the value of unstructured play. Integrating thinking skills throughout the curriculum and teaching students to think like experts are among other topics.

This ASCD SmartBrief also points to the following resources:

• Harvard's Visible Thinking: Research-based lessons for developing thinking skills.
• Harvard's Artful Thinking: Integrate art-based thinking into regular classrooms.
• National Center for Teaching Thinking: Offers a variety of lesson plans infused with critical thinking.
• National Debate Project: Use debate as a foundation to promote student reason.
• Teachable Moment -- Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility: Aids teachers with study questions and resources to help students learn how to think critically about current events.
• Thinking Maps: Eight tools to help students categorize their thoughts.
• Critical Thinking: What It Is and Why It Counts: Paper introducing the importance of critical thinking.
• Foundation and Center for Critical Thinking: Offers research, professional development and assessment tools meant to improve thinking-based instruction.

Source: ASCD SmartBrief Special Report: Teaching Students to Think Part 1, Part 2