tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4431114408037523052.post3856972929571060121..comments2024-03-24T14:18:42.299+02:00Comments on A different side of EFL: Passive users or critical thinkers? Developing critical and creative thinking skills with technologyDimitris Primalishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00557161660124561737noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4431114408037523052.post-35622084107327674212015-09-08T11:14:39.369+03:002015-09-08T11:14:39.369+03:00Just wondering if there is a connection between th...Just wondering if there is a connection between the flock mentality you witnessed among teachers and the earlier diagram pitching active against passive modes of learning. Those teachers, were, in the main, products of forms of education valuing learner autonomy, were they not? <br /><br />Perhaps the distinction between passive (bad) and active (good) is too simplistic. And here education needs to learn from social trends beyond it. The most powerful forms of human herding are those that mobilise the self-directed energies and interests of the individual. That was Thatcher's great contribution to social engineering: The best way of getting the unruly mob to submit dutifully to the rule of business is to cajole everyone to get on their entrepreneurial bikes and actively learn how to sell themselves as a life-long project. The most stable herd for the business world is one in which everyone is brought up to think of himself as his own entrepreneurial shepherd. <br /><br />Teachers designing critical thinking activities need to be more aware of this false form of autonomy - one that merely learns to be an enthusiastic co-creator of the prevailing state of heteronomy. <br /><br />In practice, this would involve being on the lookout for the values of the entrepreneurial self-herdsman that are being uncritically affirmed. Your suggested activities provide examples of this: The commercial mindset is taken for granted and consolidated. Children practise exercising their judgement as consumers and producers of advertising; they are encouraged to look for the celebrity, confirming their received wisdom that celebrity (an essentially commercial value) is more worthy of attention than the genuine heroism of nameless people fighting in the resistance; or they are given a budget and instructed to autonomously decide how best to spend it. <br /><br />Before trying to teach critical thinking skills perhaps we need to think a little more critically ourselves about what exactly children need to think critically about. Torn Halveshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18179353922087887957noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4431114408037523052.post-78588651133899359052015-09-05T20:28:38.028+03:002015-09-05T20:28:38.028+03:00Great article, indeed!!! It gives insights in teac...Great article, indeed!!! It gives insights in teaching with technology , because like it or not tecnology is advancing and is here to stay so, we better make good use of it rather than aforism approaching..it. Besides, what matters is not what you do but how you do it.Yes, project based teaching engages students, motivates them to sustain teir learning and shoulder their responsibility for it.Also, if we teach students topics and material that make them think and create things themselves then lessons become interesting for them and their self confidence boosts!!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02846930687566108306noreply@blogger.com