Education Commons^™

Undoing The Internalized Impacts Of White Supremacy: Envisioning Anti-Racist Change With White Teachers At A 6-12 Urban Pilot School, Casey Z. Andrews

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

In order to best educate students, white teachers must engage in significant internal and interpersonal work in order to interrogate their own racial identity and develop a capacity for anti-racist pedagogy and practice. The need for white educators to do this work is challenged by the dominant system of white supremacy that dictates the structures of the American public school system; further, educators are limited by the racist rules and policies of the individual districts and institutions in which they work. Through intentional, explicit community building with white teachers, we can hope to begin to move towards anti-racist institutional change. …

Design For Living Complexities, Peter J. Taylor

Working Papers in Critical, Creative and Reflective Practice

Lectures from a 12-session course that addresses the intersection of design with critical thinking. Design in this course means intentionality in construction, which involves a range of materials, a sequence of steps, and principles that inform the choice of materials and the steps. Design also always involves putting people, as well as materials, into place. This happens by working with the known properties of people, as well as the known properties of material, and trying out new arrangements to work around their constraints (at least temporarily). Critical thinking, as I define it, involves understanding ideas and practices better when we …

Transitioning From Following To Making Your Own Path Through Critical And Creative Thinking, Cassie Tighe-Hansen

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

In my experience Critical and Creative Thinking (CCT) will work to open minds and help transition a person. It can take someone from a place of not being open to challenges and having a closed mindset to one of openness and allowance for ambiguity and new ideas. This paper shows the transitions I have made in my career by way of a tragic incident and the structure I hope to create in a new class focusing on the college freshman. Included is a sample of the CCT curriculum I hope to teach to this class- both more thorough, concrete plans …

Creative Problem Solving: A High School Curriculum Satisfying The Needs Of 21st Century Learner, Steve Guenin

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

Designing Creative Problem Solving (CPS) – A High School Curriculum Designed to Satisfy the Needs of 21st Century Learners is my answer to the driving question: “How do teachers prepare students for an uncertain future?” Several processes influenced the curriculum design:

1) I reflected on the lessons I learned during my time in CCT. I looked back on the importance of having supportive instructors to accompany you on your journey. I realized practical and useful assignments motivate students to produce their best work. I gained a greater appreciation for the power of productive teams.

2) My growth as a stained …

The Academic And Cultural Adaptation Of Chinese International Students At Umass Boston: The Struggles And Progress From The Perspectives Of Students And Professors, Pingping Chen, Theodora Chocos, Lorena Fuentes

English Faculty Publication Series

This panel will articulate the struggles and progress of Chinese international students in their learning processes at UMass Boston. Additionally, the challenges some professors have faced in teaching Chinese international students and the pedagogical practice they have used to engage these learners in their courses will be addressed.

This panel was presented as part of the 2014 8th Annual University Conference on Teaching, Learning, and Technology on May 15, 2014. The theme of the conference was "Teaching both What and How for Deep Learning at Every Level."

Boston Writing Project, Glenn Mitchell, Peter Golden

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The Boston Writing Project focuses on the core mission of improving the teaching of writing and improving the use of writing across the disciplines by offering high-quality professional development programs for educators, at all grade levels, K–16 and across the curriculum.

Applied Creativity: Tools Toward Transformation: An Undergraduate Curriculum, Teryl Cartwright

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

The greatest barrier to creative thinking may be the current definition. If creativity is believed to be an unconscious, undefinable process, a competitive and comparative hierarchy or even limited to specific domains, then the pursuit of creativity may be seen as an overwhelming endeavor. I believe everyone is creative, not just a few “out of the box” individuals. We are not limited to sleeping on a problem or getting into a relaxed, happy state in order to enhance creative thinking. I also believe that creative and critical thinking can be applied to teach creativity so I am offering an innovative …

Dorchester: The Community Teaches, A Resource Book Of Information And Activities, Institute For Learning & Teaching, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Institute for Learning and Teaching Publications

We have prepared this manual of resources and activities so that Dorchester teachers and children can explore their community. We have done so in the belief that community studies can be a valuable addition to the curriculum. They involve children in thinking about and taking part in the affairs of their community. Through community studies, children in the process of becoming citizens can learn how to participate in and have an impact on their community. In this time of widespread apathy, despair, and resignation about community problems, education for citizenship is a top priority.

When children are learning about their …