✍ Scribed by Ruth Beyth-Marom; Ruth Novik; Michele Sloan
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
Modem society is characterized by rapid change, an overload of information, an interrelation between once distinct fields (science, technology and society) and a growing recognition of the importance of personal and social values. In such a dynamic society the teaching of facts becomes less vital while the teaching of thinking skills turns out to be indispensable. Educators have recognized the need for curricula devoted to thinking skills in general and attempts to attain this goal have already been made. However, almost no attention has been given to teaching children the very important and daily used skill of decisionmaking under certainty. In the present paper we propose a framework for developing school material which cultivates decision-making skills. This framework is a tripartite model which describes (a) the general strategy an ideal decision maker should adopt, (b) the underlying cognitive skills needed for that strategy and (c) the educational objectives for the promotion of each cognitive skill mentioned.
Modern society is characterized by rapid change (Chen and Novik, 1984), interrelations between once distinct fields (Ellul, 1963), a growing recognition of the importance of personal and social values (Thelen, 1983), an overload of information (Bell, 1978;Carroll, 1971) and an uncertain future. This makes it inexpedient to teach learners only facts. Facts relate to the past and present; they usually do not relate to an uncertain future, especially in a dynamic society. Furthermore, by the time the student has mastered and absorbed a set of facts, new developments may have already occurred and those facts may be outdated.
In addition to supplying students with information, we have to teach them how to "analyze information, synthesize it and apply it in a value-oriented way" (Lewis, 1983). Education for the future must "attempt to assist individuals in developing 'internal anchors' which will permit them to survive and to promote the survival of society regardless of terms of events.., an essential such 'anchor' consists of skills with information and skills in decision-making" (Fletcher and Wooddell, 1981).
Thinking skills are necessary tools in a society characterized by rapid change, many alternatives of actions, and numerous individual and collective choices and decisions. "Thinking enables students to continually confront issues and problems with skills that will aid them in developing new ideas, making sound choices, making better decisions and understanding the w~ ,ld around them" (Seif, 1981).
The need to concentrate on thinking skills in school curricula stems both from the above-mentioned overload of information as well as the interrelation between different domains. This interdependence will affect many of our students' choices and decisions in their future roles as responsible citizens. Students need specific training in thinking, in order to reason about major societal decisions and interdisciplinary everyday problems.
Among the thinking skills mentioned in the literature are: scientific thinking, creative thinking, decision-making, complex system thinking, ethical value thinking, probabilistic thinking, logical thinking, etc. (e.g. Seif, 1981;Glaser, 1984).
These skills are neither exclusive nor exhaustive. There exists a great deal of overlap between many of these skills and most of them have not even been clearly defined. Several of them cannot be taught without prerequisite mastery in others. However, all these skills, as well as others which have not been mentioned, are necessary for functioning in modern society.
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