The sites listed below provide lesson plans and
resources for promoting problem solving, creativity, and critical thinking.
Click on a topic from the site index below to find what you need or go to my
Gifted and Talented page.
Site Index: problem
solving lesson plans, problem solving resources,
creativity lesson plans, creativity resources,
critical thinking lesson plans, critical thinking resources
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Problem Solving
Lesson Plans
Problem Solving
Lesson Plan Index
Fourteen lessons
for a variety of subjects and grade
levels.
No Quick Fix? Developing Problem-Solving Skills
A lesson plan from the NY Times.
Problem-Solving
A computer science unit exploring strategies to help students become better
problem solvers.
Problem
Solving Using Tables
From BrainPOP. See also
Word Problems.
Problem Solving/Holistic
Lesson Plan: Paper Structure
A high school for middle school lesson
plan.
Lesson - Problem Solving and Critical Thinking
A lesson in which students learn and use seven steps to solving
problems.
Practical Problem-Solving Lesson Plan
This lesson from a nutrition unit requires students to use problem-solving
skills to deal with "perennial problems."
The Quandary Game
A lesson plan for grades 6-12 that "centers around a game called Quandary."
Classic
Middle-Grades Problems for the Classroom
Students work in groups to solve two classic problems (Mangoes Problem
and Sailors and Coconuts) that can be represented and solved in several
different ways
Problem Solving: Math, Episode 2
An elementary lesson plan requiring students to explore different ways to find
solutions to problems or situations. See also
Problem Solving: Math Episode 1.
Goldilocks and
the Three Bears, Problem and Solution
Lesson ideas from Lightning
Strikes.
Problem Solving Resources
Archimedes Laboratory
Puzzles and Mental Activities. See their
Teacher's Resources.
Chess Strategies for Beginners: Develop Problem-Solving Skills
See also
Chess: A Great Way to Improve Your Child's Analytical and Problem-Solving
Skills.
Problem Solving
Definition, behavioral indicators, and proficiency levels from Chicago State
University. See also
What is Problem Solving.
Big 6 Model
Information and online resources
for using this strategy.
The Problem Site
Educational Games - Free math
problems, puzzles, word games,
brainteasers, and mystery hunts.
Creativity Lesson Plans
The Use of "Substitution" As A
Creative Thinking Tool
A lesson plan for grades 1-6.
Teaching Creativity
A lesson plan adaptable to grades pre-K to 6 from Scholastic.
Defining Creativity
A lesson plan in which students "identufy a class definintion of
creativity."
Creativity and Creative Thinking
Eleven lesson ideas adaptable to grades K-12 from ThoughtCo.
Active Imagination Lesson Plan: Everyone's Creative
A lesson plan adaptable to a variety of grade levels in which students use
their imagination to solve problems and create.
Idea Generation
A lesson plan for grades 6-8.
Creativity Lesson Plan
Lesson ideas for several subject areas from One Community.
Squiggle
Stories
A lesson plan
for 1st grade requiring creative thinking in story writing. See also
squiggle sculpture.
Pourquoi
Stories: Creating Tales to Tell Why
A lesson plan for grades 3-5 dealing with stories
or folk tales that explain how or why
something exists (usually in nature).
Creative Writing through Wordless Picture Books
A lesson plan for grades 6-8.
Create a New Ammendment
A middle grade or high school lesson
plan from Education World in which
students demonstrate critical thinking
and creative thinking skills in developing a new
amendment to the Constitution.
Writing
Up a Spanish Storm: Using Creative Thinking
for Creative Writing
Ideas for an advanced high school Spanish unit. The site also
contains
quite a bit of background information on creative
thinking.
Creative
Educator: Science
Several lesson plans, many of which involve creativity.
Color Works
Clasroom art projects that allow students to express their creativity.
Creative Ideas for Science Projects
From
EDinformatics.
Puzzle Solving 101: Lesson 9: Lateral Thinking
A lesson plan that helps students "think out of the
box."
Creativity is Great
A lesson plan from Great Britain.
Creative Drama
Lesson Plans
Many lesson plans sorted by age
level.
Crayola
Creativity Central
A searchable directory of lesson
plans using Crayola products.
Creative Writing
Lesson Plan
See also
Five Creative Writing Lesson Plans for Middle and High School Students.
Creativity
Activities
Ideas for exploring fluency, flexibility, elaboration, redefinition, and
originality.
Creativity Resources
The Creative Teaching
Web Site
An excellent site with articles, ideas, and information for developing
more creative
teachers.
How to Promote Creative Thinking
From Scholastic.
22 Simple Ideas for Promoting Creativity in the Elementary Classroom
From Edutopia.
Ellis Paul Torrence: Father of Modern Creativity
Information about Tirrence and his views on creativity. See also
Torrence Framework for Creative Thinking and
3 Examples- Torrence Teats of Creative Thinking.
Creativity and Innovation Rubric
For grades 6-12. See also
Creativity and Innovation Rubric (Grades 3-5).
What is
Creativity
Many definitions fro California State University, Northridge.
Creativity for Kids
Arts and crafts
products.
Handouts on Creativity and Innovation
Critical Thinking Lesson Plans
Remodeled Lesson Plans
from the Center for Critical Thinking
See their
selection of "remodeled" lesson plans organized by grade level toward the
bottom of the left-hand index. For information on the Center's
approach to critical thinking, see
Our Concept
of Critical Thinking.
Critical Thinking Lesson Plans
More than 20 lesson plans from the
Leonore Annenberg Institute for Civics.
10 Kindergarten Critical Thinking Activities to Inspire their Inner Sherlock
Holmes
Teachable Moment
The latest activities from Teachable Moment, many of which foster
critical thinking on current issues.
On the Market: Thinking Critically About
Advertising
From the
NY Times Learning Network.
Rock or Feather? A Critical-Thinking Activity
From Education World.
Book Sorting: Using Observation and Comprehension
to Categorize Books
A primary-grade lesson
plan that
addresses critical-thinking skills, observation
and categorization processes, as well
as reading comprehension and writing skills,
while at the same time providing teachers with a vast
array of diagnostics through observation of student
interaction and conversation.
Teaching Mysteries
Several lesson plans, ideas, and online mysteries to
teach critical thinking and reading comprehension.
Critical Thinking with Fables New and Old
A lesson plan from Education World adaptable for grades
3-12.
Detective
Fiction: Focus on Critical Thinki
A unit for grade 6.
Draft
Letters: Improving Student Writing through Critical Thinking
A high school lesson plan from
Read-Write-Think
in which students write reflective letters to the teacher, identifying their
own
thoughts on the piece that the teacher is about to read. See also
Developing Students' Critical Thinking Skills Through Whole-Class Dialogue,
Analyzing Character Development in Three Short Stories about Women and
Lights,
Camera, Action . . . Music: Critiquing Films Using Sight and Sound
for other
high school critical thinking lesson plans from
Read-Write-Think.
Critical Thinking Resources
Critical Thinking
Value Rubric
See also
Higher-Order Thinking Rubric.
Resources and Downloads for Teaching Critical Thinking
Tools, rubrics and lesson plans from Edutopia.
The Critical Thinking
Community
Much information and many resources.
Glossary
of Critical Thinking Terms
"An Educator's Guide to
Critical Thinking Terms and Concepts."
What is
critical thinking?
A tutorial.