Learn Critical Thinking through Media Literacy

“Rather than teaching facts, teachers can use Lockwood’s ideas to give students something more valuable than good test scores; they can impart critical thinking skills through media literacy education.”

I agree with Lockwood’s theory that critical thinking skills are important to students’ learning however, I also feel they need textbook facts to base their opinions off of. If my instruction simply asks a student to read a passage on the internet and think through it critically, than the only part they are getting from the message is what the author has written, not how it compares to the facts. Teachers have to use facts placed in textbooks to teach their students information, they can use the internet and other media as add-ons for the lesson but their main lesson should not solely be based on that information alone. The article discusses NCLB and the problems associated with reaching AYP. It suggests that if students could critically evaluate then they would perform higher on their standardized tests. Students will benefit from learning critical thinking, however just because they can apply it to media does not mean they can apply it to state mandated tests. The state tests are done on pencil and paper and have written information with little or no pictures, verses media which is based on the idea of attracting people to read or watch them. Even educational media uses characters, bright colors, attracting layouts and pictures to help students learn. Therefore I feel that in order for all students to succeed on standardized tests we must teach facts and enhance our lessons with media. By creating a bond between both forms of education not only will students be more interested but they will also become more thorough critical thinkers and will perform better on their tests overall.

While considering the effects of critical thinking I tried to find simple rules that not only applied to media critical thinking but instead to any critical thinking.  Robert H. Ennis has written this article that states three basic strategies to follow for quick analysis and then has extended his theories in more thorough steps as you proceed through the article.

How to Teach Critical Thinking

 “The actual teaching of critical thinking is a function of many situation-specific factors: teacher style, teacher interest, teacher knowledge and understanding, class size, cultural and community backgrounds and expectations, student expectations and backgrounds, colleagues’ expectations, recent local events, the amount of time available to teachers after they have done all the other things they have to do, and teacher grasp of critical thinking, to name some major factors. I suggest here some general strategies and tactics gleaned from years of experience, research, and others’ suggestions. They are guidelines and must be adjusted to fit the actual situation.” Robert Ennis begins to describe strategies for teaching critical thinking as “Reflection, Reasons, Alternatives” (RRA). His theory is a bit more compact and easy to follow compared to Summers’ however it is also not as thorough as her process. He breaks down his steps as follows: 1. Urge students to be Reflective, to stop and think, instead of making snap judgments, or accepting the first idea that  comes into their heads, or automatically accepting whatever is presented in the media. 2. Gently ask such questions as “How do you know”, "What are the reasons?" and “Is that a good source of information?” thus prodding them to have good Reasons for their views and to seek reasons for others' views. 3. Emphasize alertness for Alternative hypotheses, conclusions, explanations, sources of evidence, points of view, plans, etc. His strategies are similar to those of Sue Lockwood Summers and overall they both are good starting points to increase critical thinking skills. His steps apply to the article itself, how to teach critical thinking and the underlying strategies that you would use, and her steps focus on all aspects of the message: Who created the message? What is the message? How was the message delivered? What is the impact of the message on me? What is the impact of the message on society? Both articles are well written and portray the same basic message; the difference is how they are written. Both articles are written to apply the rules to be used on all forms of media; Ennis focuses his article on how to teach with the shortest amount of steps whereas Summers wants to make sure all steps are answered to their fullest extent.