Decision-making routines strengthen critical thinking, communication, and respectful disagreement.

Teaching students to fact-check what they “think they know” helps them update false beliefs.

Students can learn that changing their minds in response to better evidence is a sign of good judgment.

Community inquiry and literature help students understand perspectives, values, and trade-offs.

Part 1 in a 2-Part Series

We have all seen people entrenched in their views, seemingly unable to consider what others with new facts or different perspectives have to share. But schools can change this through the future adults who sit in their pre-adulthood classrooms.

Joanne Calder is part of that movement. She is an Alliance Senior Teaching Fellow who teaches middle school-aged students in British Columbia. For over 20 years, Calder has researched critical thinking skills and turned her findings into fun, effective teaching strategies that help her students question, discuss, and update their thinking. I had the opportunity to interview Calder about this approach, and her answers follow each interview question below.

Jenny Rankin: How does learning better decision-making help students think and disagree better?

Joanne Calder:........

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