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NATIONAL FORUM OF TEACHER EDUCATION JOURNAL
VOLUME 21, NUMBER 3, 2011
Critical Thinking and Constructivism
Techniques for Improving Student Achievement
Fred C. Lunenburg
Sam Houston State University
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ABSTRACT
NAEP data suggest that student outcomes in American education are a little better–and in some
cases worse–than they were 30 years ago. Moreover, students in some other advanced,
technological countries consistently outperform American students on international tests in
science and mathematics. The ultimate goal of the No Child Left Behind legislation is that all
students will demonstrate competency over challenging subject matter in the core subject areas—
reading, mathematics, science, and social studies—and learn to use their minds well, so they are
prepared for responsible citizenship, further learning, and productive employment in our
Nation’s economy. In this article, I discuss the condition of education in America and offer two
approaches to teaching subject matter (critical thinking and constructivism) that may result in
major improvements in student achievement.
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Accountability for school improvement is a central theme of federal and state polices.
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (Public Law 107-110) sets demanding accountability
standards for schools, school districts, and states, including new state testing requirements
designed to improve education. For example, the law requires that states develop both content
standards in reading and mathematics and tests that are linked to the standards for grades 3
through 8, with science standards and assessments to follow. States must identify adequate
yearly progress (AYP) objectives and disaggregate test results for all students and subgroups of
students based on socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, English language proficiency, and
disability. Moreover, the law mandates that 100 percent of students must score at the proficient
level on state tests by 2014. Will schools, school districts, and states be able to respond to the
demand?
Where Are We Now?
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), often referred to as the
nation’s ―report card,‖ is the only nationally representative continuing assessment that measures
what students know and are able to do in the core subject areas. NAEP is administered at
fourth grade, eighth grade, and twelfth grade at various points in time. Both public and private
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school students in grades 4, 8, and 12 are sampled and assessed on a regular basis. The NAEP
tests are developed nationally by teachers, curriculum experts, and the public. The NAEP is
authorized by Congress and directed by the National Center for Education Statistics of the U.S.
Department of Education.
The data suggests that student outcomes in American education are a little better–and in
some cases worse–than they were 30 years ago. NAEP reports that only one third of 12th graders
are able to perform rigorous reading passages. The average reading levels of black 17-year olds
is about 4 years behind that of white students and mathematics scores of this group is about 2
years behind white students (Howard, 2011; U.S. Department of Education, 2010a; Paige, 2011).
Differences between white and Hispanic reading scores on the NAEP have been declining
consistently since 1975 (U.S. Department of Education, 2010a). The gap between white and
Hispanic mathematics scores on NAEP has been declining since 1975, as well (U.S. Department
of Education, 2010a). Merely 11% of secondary students demonstrate a good understanding of
history. The general standards of American schools compare unfavorably with those of other
industrialized nations (U.S. Department of Education, 2010b). NAEP data and International
Educational Achievement (IEA) studies suggest that students are not learning how to think. In
other words, although student learning of facts and basic skills has improved slightly over the
past three decades, the development of more advanced reasoning abilities has declined.
To achieve major improvements in student achievement will require fundamental
changes in the way subject matter is taught. Classroom teachers at all levels should consider
critical thinking and constructivism that offer real promise for improving the achievement of all
students in the core subject areas.
Critical Thinking
The concept of critical thinking may be one of the most significant trends in education
relative to the dynamic relationship between how teachers teach and how students learn (Mason,
2010). Critical thinking shifts classroom design from a model that largely ignores thinking to
one that renders it pervasive and necessary (Cohen, 2010; Tittle, 2010; Vaughn, 2009). Critical
teaching views content as something alive only in minds, as modes of thinking driven by
questions, as existing in textbooks only to be regenerated in the minds of students.
Once we understand content as inseparable from the thinking that generates, organizes,
analyzes, synthesizes, evaluates, and transforms it, we recognize that content cannot in principle
ever be “completed” because thinking is never completed. To understand content, therefore, is
to understand its implications. But to understand its implications one must understand that those
implications in turn have further implications, and hence must be explored thoughtfully.
The problem with didactic teaching is that content is inadvertently treated as static, as
virtually “dead”. Content is treated as something to be mimicked, to be repeated back, to be
parroted. And since students only rarely process content deeply when they play the role of
passive listeners in lecture-centered instruction, little is learned in the long term. Furthermore,
because students are taught content in a way that renders them unlikely to think it through, their
minds retreat into rote memorization, abandoning any attempt to grasp the logic of what they are
committing to memory.
Those who teach critically emphasize that only those who can “think” through content
FRED C. LUNENBURG
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truly learn it (Numrich, 2010). Content “dies” when one tries to mechanically learn it. Content
has to take root in the thinking of students and, when properly learned, transforms the way they
think. Hence, when students study a subject in a “critical” way, they take possession of a new
mode to thinking which, so internalized, generates new thoughts, understandings, and beliefs.
Their thinking, now driven by a set of new questions, becomes an instrument of insight and a
new point of view.
History texts become, in the minds of students thinking critically, a stimulus to historical
thinking. Geography texts are internalized as geographical thinking. Mathematical content is
transformed into mathematical thinking. As a result of being taught to think critically, students
study biology and become biological thinkers. They study sociology and begin to notice the
permissions, injunctions, and taboos of the groups in which they participate. They study
literature and begin to notice the way in which all humans tend to define their lives in the stories
they tell. They study economics and begin to notice how much of their behavior is intertwined
with economic forces and needs.
There are ways, indeed almost an unlimited number, to stimulate critical thinking at
every educational level and in every teaching setting (Dunn, 2010; hooks, 2009; Liecester,
2010). When considering technology for this stimulation, the World Wide Web (WWW) is
important to instructional design; it contains three keys to educational value: hypertext, the
delivery of multimedia, and true interactivity (Stewart, 2010). These values are operant and
alive in the classroom through such applications as: graphics, sound, and video which bring to
life world events, museum tours, library visits, world visits, and up-to-date weather maps
(Griffin, 2010). Through these WWW mechanisms, a constructivist instructional model advance
higher level instruction, such as problem solving and increased learner control. The WWW
becomes a necessary tool for student-centered discovery and research. Of course, it can also be
used for lower level drill and practice.
At every level and in all subjects, students need to learn how to: precisely put questions,
define contexts and purposes, pursue relevant information, analyze key concepts, derive sound
inferences, generate good reasons, recognize questionable assumptions, trace important
implications, and think empathically within different points of view (Dunn, 2010; hooks, 2010;
Leicester, 2010). The WWW enables learners and teachers in each area by providing
information for good reasoners to figure things out (Bowell; Levy, 2010). Critical thinking may
be a key organizing concept for all educational reform (Bulach, Lunenburg, & Potter, 2012).
Constructivism
Constructivism is another, somewhat related, trend in education that can play a dynamic
role in the relationship between how teachers teach and how children learn. One foundational
premise of constructivism is that children actively construct their knowledge, rather than simply
absorbing ideas spoken to them by teachers (Fosnot, 2006; Phillips, 2000; Larochelle, 2010).
For example, Jean Piaget (1970) proposed that children make sense in ways very different from
adults, and that they learn through the process of trying to make things happen, trying to
manipulate their environment. Theories like these, which assert that “people are not recorders of
information, but builders of knowledge structures,” have been grouped under the heading of
constructivism (Pass, 2005; Wadsworth, 2004). Thus, students are ultimately responsible for
NATIONAL FORUM OF TEACHER EDUCATION JOURNAL
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their own learning within a learning atmosphere in which teachers value student thinking, initiate
lessons that foster cooperative learning, provide opportunities for students to be exposed to
interdisciplinary curriculum, structure learning around primary concepts, and facilitate authentic
assessment of student understanding.
In constructivist theory, it is assumed that learners have to construct their own
knowledge—individually and collectively. Each learner has a repertoire of conceptions and
skills with which she or he must construct knowledge to solve problems presented by the
environment. The role of the teacher and other learners is to provide the setting, pose the
challenges, and offer the support that will encourage cognitive construction (Chaille, 2008).
Since students lack the experience of experts in the field, teachers bear a great responsibility for
guiding student activity, modeling behavior, and providing examples that will transform student
group discussions into meaningful communication about subject matter (Flynn, 2005).
Constructivism emphasizes the processes by which children create and develop their
ideas. Applications lie in creating curricula that not only match but also challenge children’s
understanding, fostering further growth and development of the mind (Baltes, 2007; Kincheloe,
2006; Leitner, 2010). Furthermore, when children collaborate in cooperative learning groups,
they share the process of constructing their ideas with others. This collective effort provides the
opportunity for children to reflect on and elaborate not only their own ideas but also those of
their peers as well. With the improvement and access to the WWW, the children’s cooperative
classroom becomes the world (Payne, 2010; Stewart, 2010). In this cooperative learning setting,
children view their peers as resources rather than as competitors. A feeling of teamwork ensues.
These processes have resulted in substantial advances in student learning (Bulach, Lunenburg, &
Potter, 2012; Larochelle, 2010; Phillips, 2000).
Constructivism is serving as the basis for many of the current reforms in several subject
matter disciplines. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) has published its
document, Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics, which calls for
mathematics classrooms where problem solving, concept development, and the construction of
learner-generated solutions and algorithms are stressed rather than drill and practice on correct
procedures and facts to get “the right” answer. The National Committee on Science Education
Standards and Assessment similarly has issued its document, National Science Education
Standards which calls for science education reform based on experimentation and learnergenerated inquiry, investigations, hypotheses, and models. The National Council of Teachers of
English (NCTE) has called for emergent literacy as an important thrust in language arts reform.
Interdisciplinary curricula is the theme of social studies reform being advocated by the National
Council of Social Studies.
Principles of Constructivist Pedagogy
Jacqueline Brooks and Martin Brooks provide a detailed description of constructivist
classroom practice and its theoretical underpinnings in their book, In Search for Understanding:
The Case for Constructivist Classrooms (2005). They provide five principles of constructivist
pedagogy: (a) posing problems of emerging relevance to learners; (b) structuring learning around
“big ideas” or primary concepts; (c) seeking and valuing students’ points of view; (d) adapting
curriculum to address students’ suppositions; and (e) assessing student learning in the context of
teaching.
FRED C. LUNENBURG
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Principle 1: Posing problems of emerging relevance to students. Relevance does not
have to be pre-existing for the student. Not all students come to the classroom interested in
learning. Relevance can emerge through teacher mediation.
Principle 2: Structuring learning around primary concepts. When designing
curriculum, constructivist teachers organize information around conceptual clusters of problems,
questions, and discrepant situations, because students are most engaged when problems and ideas
are presented holistically rather than in separate, isolated parts. Much of traditional education
breaks wholes into parts and then focuses separately on each part. But many students are unable
to build concepts and skills from parts to wholes.
Principle 3: Seeking and valuing students’ points of view. Students’ points of view
are avenues into their reasoning. Awareness of students’ points of view help teachers challenge
students, making school experiences both contextual and meaningful. Teachers who operate
without awareness of their students’ points of view often doom students to dull, irrelevant
experiences, and even failure.
Principle 4: Adapting curriculum to address students’ suppositions. Teacher
mediation is a key factor in adapting curriculum to address students’ suppositions. The teacher
can abstract student learning or help build their own bridges from present understandings to new,
more complex understandings. If suppositions are not explicitly addressed, most students will
find lessons devoid of meaning, regardless of how charismatic the teacher or attractive the
materials used. While it is the teacher who structures the opportunity, it is the students’ own
reflective abstractions that create the new understanding.
Principle 5: Assessing student learning in the context of teaching. Multiple-choice,
norm-referenced tests are structured to determine whether students know information related to a
particular body of knowledge. The overarching question posed by such activities is: What do
you know?” Authentic assessment focuses on analytical thinking and performance, whereas
norm-referenced, standardized tests focus on low-level rote skills.
Becoming a Constructivist Teacher
Brooks and Brooks (2005) provide the following set of descriptors of constructivist’
teaching behaviors, which they feel teachers can use to experiment with the approach. The set of
descriptors describes teachers as facilitators of learning and empowerers of students to construct
their own understandings of content, not simply as providers of information and managers of
behavior.
Constructivist teachers encourage and accept student autonomy and initiative.
Autonomy and initiative cause students’ pursuit of connections among concepts. Students who
formulate questions and then go on to answer and analyze them are taking responsibility for their
own learning and become problem solvers as well as problem finders.
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Constructivist teachers use raw data and primary sources, along with manipulatives
and interactive and physical materials. In the constructivist approach to teaching, learning
becomes the result of research related to real problems. For example, students can be assigned to
read historical accounts of the effects of social policies of the early 1980’s on the economic
profile of the African-American population in America. Or students can be taught to read the
census reports and encouraged to generate their own inferences about social policies. The latter
approach allows students to construct their own understandings of the issues.
When framing tasks, constructivist teachers use cognitive terminology such as
“classify”, “analyze”, “predict”, and “create”. Formulating tasks around cognitive activities
such as analysis, interpretation, classification, and prediction, and explicitly using those terms
with students, fosters the construction of new understandings about content.
Constructivist teachers allow student responses to drive lessons, shift instructional
strategies, and alter content. This does not mean that students’ interest or lack of interest in a
topic determines whether the topic is taught or that whole sections of the curriculum will be
eliminated. It does mean that constructivist teachers will capitalize on “teachable moments”
throughout the school year. These are moments when the students’ interest, knowledge, and
enthusiasm intersect and transcend a particular lesson. For example, the Persian Gulf War may
have provoked student initiated discussion during that time period.
Constructivist teachers inquire about students’ understandings of concepts before
sharing their own understandings of those concepts. When teachers share their ideas before
students have an opportunity to formulate their own, students’ examination of their own ideas is
eliminated. In such environments, most students will stop thinking about the concept and wait
for the teacher to provide the “correct answer”. Consequently, students are prevented
from constructing their own ideas and theories.
Constructivist teachers encourage students to engage in dialogue, both with the
teacher and with one another. One way that students change or reinforce their ideas and
theories is through social discourse. Students are empowered when they have an opportunity to
present their own ideas and hear and reflect on the ideas of others. This process helps students
construct new understandings or reflect on their existing ones. According to Robert Slavin
(2009), student-to-student dialogue is the foundation upon which cooperative learning is based.
Constructivist teachers encourage students’ inquiry by asking thoughtful, openended questions and encouraging students to ask questions of each other. Complex,
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