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Humanities LibreTexts

1.4: Critical Thinking Questions, Reflection, and Group Activities

  • Page ID
    170496

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    1.4:1 Group Activity

    Group Activity: Take five minutes to think and write a paragraph about your earliest memories of reading. Take another five minutes to think and write a paragraph about your earliest memories of writing. Compare the two experiences. Which one was earlier? Were they group activities or individual experiences? Next spend ten minutes with your partner discussing your experiences and ideas. Once you are done, you will share your group's findings with the whole class.

    1.4:2 Active Reading Strategies

    Figure: Watch this twelve-minute video that walks you through different active reading strategies to improve your ability to understand and recall the material that you read. As you watch the video, try to think about which active reading strategies work best for you.

    This video by Ana Mascara reviews the basic active reading strategies

    • As you watch the video, make brief notes of key ideas, as well as any words or concepts you don't understand well.
    • Next, take a few moments to reflect on the video. Consider questions like: What was the most memorable part of the video? What is one new piece of information you learned? What questions do you have about the video?
    • Review your notes. If you do not understand all of the main points, watch the video a second time. You don't have to watch the whole thing again – it's okay to just review sections that address the specific questions you have.
    • Finally, add to or revise your initial notes. Were you able to answer your unresolved questions? Can you list the most important "take-away" from the video? In other words, what are two or three things from this video that you want to remember.

    1.4:3 Summary Writing

    Practicing Summary/response:

    Consider the following article "Stressed out about climate change? 4 ways to tackle both the feelings and the issues on climate change" published by NPR:

    Climate Change article [www.npr.org]

    Read the article several times, annotating and highlighting the main points. Then write a paragraph summarizing the main points of the article.

    Your summary:

    • should not include your opinion
    • should be in your own words
    • should cite the source
    • should be much shorter than the article.

    After summarizing the article, write another paragraph responding to the article. Did you find it interesting? Why or why not? Can you relate to it on any level? Does it remind you of something else? Use these questions to brainstorm ideas for your response.

    1.4:4 Outlining Practice

    Read the article entitled "UN warns key warming threshold slipping from sight."

    Climate change: UN warns key warming threshold slipping from sight - BBC News

    After reading it several times, create an outline of the article. What is the main idea? What are the secondary points supporting the main idea. Create a sentence outline for the article. Share with your partner and discuss the differences and similarities in your outlines.

    1.4:5 Reflection Activity

    Reflection Activity:

    Which critical reading strategy do you find most effective for you? Why? Reflect on how you learn best. Think about your learning process. Do you like to highlight, annotate, take notes, read aloud, summarize, outline or any other strategy to comprehend and process information? Take ten minutes to jot down your thoughts and then share your ideas with your partner.