A Tool for the Mind
The December 2005-January 2006 issue of Educational Leadership contains a very good article by Mary Burns entitled “Tools for the Mind.” Ms. Burns thinks that too often computer use is relegated to show-and-tell rather than to higher-order applications that deepen learning.
Because of the blunder about the scientific method, the term higher-order thinking skills has been used a lot in recent years. What are they? Our major activity in life is problem solving. I believe it is much better to use the term problem-solving skills. It is much easier to define them and to guide students to learn them. Teachers can show students how to use computers to help solve problems rather than just show and tell. However, reliance only on computers for problem solving should be avoided. One must search everywhere for possible solutions that must be evaluated. In my research of the scientific method, I found books, people, and periodicals to be the major sources of knowledge and ideas. So the rule is to search everywhere.
Remember that the major tool of the mind is the scientific method.
