It is not enough for students to learn content we must teach students how to think well.  This was the message that I gained from Peter Ellerton’s presentation, “Developing an understanding of Critical Thinking and How to Teach it”. Peter Ellerton proposed that teachers often ask students questions that require cognitive thinking, but not about cognitive thinking. So how can I and teachers alike foster in students  good thinking in their learning? What I learnt from Peter was that as teachers we should instil standards and values in learning, and as students master these qualities, so the virtues of effective thinkers are developed and producers of knowledge are created.

The way to do this is to allow students to experiment. Students participating in the experiential, both doing successfully and in failing, provides the platform for inquiry. Peter Ellerton defines inquiry as the process through which the cognitive skills are developed and in which feedback is provided. Inquiry practised collaboratively by students gives them the opportunity to justify and explain their point of view and to evaluate and elaborate those of their peers. It is in this environment that good or critical thinking in students is developed. As superhero teachers we have the power to unmask the potential of critical thinkers in the students we teach to become future superheroes.

Petrina Coomer, Queensland University of Technology

I received a Bachelor of Applied Science (with Distinction) in 1988 from the Queensland University of Technology. I have applied the skills I acquired through study, to manage a family business in partnership with my husband and more recently as a secondary college library assistant, as a member of the School Board and President of the Parents and Friends Association.

Undoubtedly I consider my most significant achievement is that of being the first and an ongoing teacher to my four children.  The science I have practised has been in the backyard, in the kitchen, on camping trips, in the telling of bedtime stories and night gazing in an endeavour to inspire young creative minds to ask WHY, WHAT IF  and WHY NOT?  By becoming a teacher it is these questions that I would like to continue to inspire young people to explore in the world around them, to believe in themselves and to exceed their own expectations.

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