3 Ways to Boost Students’ Conceptual Thinking

Learning knowledge and skills is like standing in the middle of a forest, surrounded by trees: It’s easy to spot details but hard to see patterns. For students to think conceptually, they need opportunities to head up to the mountaintop, pause, and take in the entire forest. They need the chance to search for big ideas—to generalize, summarize, and draw conclusions by looking at their learning in a holistic way. By intentionally designing learning activities in which students move between the factual and conceptual levels of thinking, we can help them construct understanding, facilitate transfer, and build their sense of agency. In this article from the Edutopia Blog, Carla Marschall provides three questions to ask when considering how to incorporate conceptual thinking into one's lessons plans. She also discusses three types of activities that promote such thinking.

https://www.edutopia.org/article/3-ways-boost-students-conceptual-thinking