Curated OER
The House on Haunted Hill
Have your class practice problem solving and critical-thinking skills. Learners read a long story about an adventure involving a haunted house, make decisions about what the character should do, and evaluate the storytelling process.
Curated OER
Number Puzzles: Finding ways to solve them
There are four different word problems (number puzzles) for learners to solve. Each one requires them to think critically about the operation they'll need to use and encourages class discussion. Use as a warm up or prior to a lesson on...
Curated OER
Mystery State # 28
Using clues is a great way to increase deductive and logical reasoning skills. Boost thinking skills while quizzing kids about us geography. They use five clues to determine which state is in question.
Curated OER
By George, I Think We Have It: Bicentennial quarter reverse
Voting is one of the major reasons the US adopted public education. Educate your class populace, they will analyze the images on a bicentennial quarter and think about the contributions George Washington made to the United States. They...
Curated OER
The Pearl: Directed Reading Thinking Activity
Guide readers to think about what they are reading with a comprehension activity. Using John Steinbeck's The Pearl, learners predict what is coming, verify and judge their predictions, and analyze what they are reading more closely.
Curated OER
Guess the Fruit!
Here is a fun game to help little learners build deductive reasoning skills. Each slide contains an image of a fruit or a bag, it's up to the class to determine which fruit will come out of the bag next, based on the clues you give them....
Curated OER
Mystery State # 41
Kids use their deductive reasoning skills, state knowledge, and five clues to determine mystery state #41. They'll follow the clues to locate the mystery state on a US map. Note: This is a warm-up activity, so it includes two short...
Curated OER
Mystery State # 5
Mystery state number five is none other than Utah! Quiz your kids on state knowledge while building deductive reasoning skills. They use each of the five clues to determine the name of the mystery state. A great warm up when studying...
Curated OER
Geography A to Z: The Letter G
Using clues to answer questions is a way to increase deductive reasoning skills. Kids answer seven geography clues with answers all starting with the letter G. A great way to test world geography or warm up the class.
Novelinks
The House of the Scorpion: Problematic Situations
What should Matt do? Readers of The House of the Scorpion are offered several possible actions Matt could take when he first sees the children outside the house. They rate the options and then meet in groups to discuss the reasons for...
Scholastic
Debate Prompt
Should the government rate music? Are teen juries a good idea? Is space exploration worth the money? Your learners will think critically to tackle these interesting questions, and practice their ability to form persuasive arguments...
Curated OER
Mount Everest
Learners brainstorm about what different professions roles are and what skills they obtain. In this critical thinking instructional activity, students discuss reasons of why different people would want and need to climb...
Curated OER
Analogy: Reasoning by Comparison
"Life is like a box of chocolates. . ." "Barack is a Mac, Hillary is a PC." Literal and figurative analogies are featured in a presentation that models how to use analogies to bolster arguments.
Curated OER
Lesson Plan: A Bird's Tale
Who wouldn't love to get a letter from a blue bird? Elementary art enthusiasts analyze the social and historical context of Ason Yellowhair's Navajo piece, Bird and Cornstalk Rug. They examine the construction and images on the rug...
Curated OER
Lesson: A Garden Party of My Own
Kids look at a beautiful work of art to practice grammar, make connections from life to art, and sketching. They identify all the parts of grammar they see in the image, discuss what they see and do on a picnic, and then draw an imaged...
Curated OER
Lesson Plan: A Miniature Game
Art inspires art, as children work to understand artistic forms that come from the imagination. They analyze the installation piece, Fox Games and then discuss the design process. They then use clay to create imaginative dioramas,...
Curated OER
Mind Benders: Name the Animals
In this deductive reasoning learning exercise, students read the clues about a cat, a small do, a goat, and a horse and identify them. Students solve 3 answers.
Curated OER
How does the solution change?
Four simple equations, each with two variables, try to get at the important question of reasoning about equations. The problem isn't to solve the equations, but to understand the nature of their solutions. These equations address the...
Curated OER
Information Overload: Looking at News
How do events reported in mainstream newspapers, on television news, blog posts, and social network sites differ? Ask your class to investigate the way the same news item is presented in the many information sources available. Groups...
Math Stars
Math Stars: a Problem-Solving Newsletter Grade 7
Put on your thinking caps because middle school math has never been more interesting in this huge resource full of thought provoking questions. Written as a newsletter, the resource has 10 two-page newsletters with a variety of...
Math Stars
Math Stars: A Problem-Solving Newsletter Grade 6
Think, question, brainstorm, and make your way through a newsletter full of puzzles and word problems. The resource includes 10 different newsletters, all with interesting problems, to give class members an out-of-the box...
Curated OER
Stating Reasons and Giving Examples
In this paragraph construction worksheet, students read a model paragraph regarding Costa Rica. Students respond to 10 questions regarding the structure of the paragraph.
Curated OER
Improving Deductive Reasoning Skills
Young scholars recognize problems that may be solved using deductive reasoning, and develop aids to help them in solving these problems. They produce their own deductive reasoning puzzles for other students to solve.
Curated OER
Critical Thinking - Week 11
In this critical thinking worksheet, students complete problems which require abstract reasoning and logic. They complete logic puzzles involving sums of an array, finding the maximum number of integers under given conditions, and card...