Extending Thinking in all Content Areas

Denise Burson
Jan 17, 2011

Why Use Extending Thinking Strategies?

The need to have students use Extending Thinking strategies is not a recent one. Education pundits have called for renewed interest in problem solving for years. As far back as 1967, Raths, Jonas, Rothstein and Wassermann (1967) decried the lack of emphasis on thinking in the schools. They noted that "...memorization, drill, homework, the three Rs and the quiet classroom" were rewarded, while "...inquiry, reflection and the consideration of alternatives were frowned upon."

Extending Thinking strategies are thinking strategies on a higher level than memorizing facts or telling something back to someone exactly the way that it was told to you. (Thorne) 

The underlying idea is that some types of learning require more cognitive processing than others. Extending Thinking is an assignment, activity or lesson that involves the learning of complex judgmental skills such as critical thinking and problem solving. Through use of these strategies, students deepen their understanding of the content and generate new insights. This type of thinking is valuable because such strategies are more likely to be useable in everyday situations.

In our increasingly complex and specialized society, it is becoming even more imperative that individuals are capable of thinking divergently and creatively. It is also important that individuals see the relationships between seemingly diverse concepts.

Extending Thinking strategies can be used in all classrooms. Students are Extending Thinking when they:

  • Categorize and classify information

  • Explain the importance of information

  • Look at information from multiple perspectives

  • Draw conclusions from the information

  • Compare and contrast the information to other content

  • Find patterns in the information

  • Use the information to make predictions

  • Analyze errors in information

The need to have students use Extending Thinking strategies at all levels of education continues. But we should not rely on special courses and texts to do the job. Instead, every teacher should create questions, tasks and an atmosphere where students are encouraged to think deeply, question, engage in divergent thinking, look for relationships among ideas, and grapple with real life issues.