February 2024 - Critical Thinking in the Brookwood Cluster

In February, we explore Critical Thinking in our Brookwood Cluster.

With Critical Thinking— Team GCPS students, families, and staff consistently reflect deeply about their own thinking and the “bigger picture,” integrating feedback from others and the world around them into their evolving understandings. Our school communities consider the benefits and barriers of evolving technologies as they access those technologies to achieve their purpose, and they encourage all to become critical consumers of information. Each and every student and staff member are mindful to analyze, evaluate, and assess solutions for complexity and impact on people and situations as they create or curate workable outcomes.

Throughout the Brookwood Cluster, Critical Thinking is synonymous with reflection, adjustment, compromise, and communication. In Brookwood Cluster schools, a willingness to collaborate, create solutions together, and provide safe spaces for all to fail and learn, demonstrates that a growth mindset is essential.

It’s a bright and early morning at Five Forks Middle, and during free period, you’ll have to decide— will you grab some goggles and a saw to construct your trebuchet, get some tools to work out the mechanics of your robotics team’s latest design, or put on an apron and screenprint some t-shirts today?

In the Brookwood Cluster, entrepreneurship is an important element in helping students develop various skills like innovation, problem-solving, and collaboration. When tasked with creating a unique entrepreneurship opportunity for Five Forks Middle seven years ago, Engineering Teacher Stephen Griffith took his knowledge of sign making, applied for a grant, and established a printshop. As a club activity, students in DITTO create “Ideas You Can Wear.” From marketing and sales to design, operations, and management– the students do it all.

DITTO members work with club sponsors throughout the school for t-shirt needs, bringing design ideas back to the group for consideration. Students collaborate with Mr. Griffith, and Art Teacher Stephanie Birmingham to create a simple, but effective design to present to a client and then produce.

Students are trained in their various roles over time, learning to consider client and teacher feedback with designs, sales pitches, and technique during screen-printing, as well as interviewing incoming students for club consideration during the next school year.

These same Critical Thinking skills are evident within Mr. Griffith’s five competitive robotics teams, where compromise and evolution through trial-and-error is strength. Progression means new students forming teams to compete against high school students in Metro Atlanta, one of the most competitive regions for robotics in the country, and when they lose, those teams ask, “What did we learn?” and “What can we do better?”

“It takes failure to succeed,” says Mr. Griffith. “I teach students, no matter what you do, there’s going to be something else you can still do. There is no such thing as perfection.”

Are you still wondering about the trebuchet? This creative endeavor is a lesson in how we use energy— steam, wind, electrical, elastic, and in this case, gravitational potential energy— and an example of the high levels of Critical Thinking that Principal Christine Douthart agrees is happening in classrooms throughout Five Forks Middle.

Students are actively engaged in talking, asking questions, expressing curiosity, and collaborating in their class discussions, in projects, and in relating their learning to the real-world around them and their own lives. Principal Douthart says teachers facilitate and guide but know that students learn best when opportunities exist where they can have a productive struggle and construct their own thoughts and ideas based on what they’ve learned. She adds that these high levels of Critical Thinking are the direct result of collaborative planning of teachers and how they come together to design lessons that may cross interdisciplinary lines.

“We're always looking to give all of our students, no matter what cluster school they’re in, the best opportunities,” says Principal Douthart. “Inquiry-based learning, project-based learning, creative problem solving— none of this would happen without the intentional, collaborative planning of our teachers and cluster principals, and a willingness to let students take the lead in their learning.”

Are you ready to build your own business in Brookwood Elementary’s Entrepreneurship Classroom? An entrepreneurial mindset is encouraged early-on throughout the Brookwood cluster, as early as Kindergarten. Supporting grades K-2, the entrepreneurship classroom allows students to learn through play while exploring the world around them. Kindergarteners are “working” in their Smart Shop Grocery Store. Through dramatic play, they study to be both consumers and producers. The “shoppers” get to learn how to make good choices with their money and practice healthy eating with a three-item budget. Moving up to 3rd through 5th grade, students can interview for jobs in the classroom that earn them “Brookwood Bucks.” They also get to practice real-world interviewing skills, problem-solve, collaborate, and build an entrepreneurial mindset.

“Team-building activities give students a chance to work with others, solve a problem, design and redesign possible solutions, and practice the growth mindset,” says entrepreneurship teacher Jennifer Moon. “At the end of a team-building activity, students reflect on what went well and what can be improved. This is an important part of our improvement process so that we can continue to grow as collaborative learners, problem solvers, and thinkers.”

Problem-solving and collaboration skills are an important aspect of connecting concepts to real-world scenarios at Crews Middle. Get ready to brainstorm with your team and research various environmental issues in Africa, from water pollution to desertification. You’re challenged with constructing a possible solution and presenting your findings to the class. Or head over to social studies and catch CNN 10. Pay attention because you’ll be responding to writing prompts based on this news broadcast.

“Using real-world examples helps students bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application. It allows them to see how scientific principles operate in everyday life, making the subject matter more tangible and relatable,” says 6th grade Science Teacher Amy Gimbert.

Principal Cindy Moffett explains that Critical Thinking is a vital skill that’s actively encouraged and developed through Crews Middle’s instructional priorities and planning. When implementing lessons, teachers focus on student actions such as:

• open-ended questions to encourage exploration and inquiry-based learning;
• real-world applications to connect learning to practical scenarios and current events;
• analytical thinking to break down complex ideas and evaluating evidence; and
• collaborative problem-solving to encourage students to work together to tackle challenges.

“Collaboration helps students understand reflection feedback and find solutions to complex challenges; they are able to use diverse perspectives to approach a challenge from multiple angles,” says Principal Moffett. “As [students] use the lens of their knowledge and experiences, they can develop a shared understanding of the challenge and the feedback received, enabling them to build on each other's strengths and address weaknesses. As they approach collective problem-solving, they can authentically engage in active listening, reflective dialogue, and shared responsibility.”

 

Snap, Crackle, Pop... it's not a Rice Krispy treat, it's a balloon at Head Elementary School. Students in Ms. Lomax’s class are participating in a hands-on activity that demonstrates chemical change. The students used baking soda and vinegar to create gas (CO2) to fill their balloons. Through the experiment, students were able to observe the changes happening in real-time as the balloons fizzed, filled, and changed temperature.

Gallop over to Brookwood High, where Critical Thinking is experienced and cultivated through assorted classroom lessons and projects, club activities, fine arts performances, and even an occasional game of chess in the media center.

Bishop moves to the c4 square, was that the right move? Media specialist Dr. Angelyne Collins explains that chess is well known for helping to develop critical thinking skills to analyze a situation. By focusing on important factors and eliminating distractions, students learn to devise a creative solution and put a plan into action.

“Chess also helps develop the ability to see someone else’s perspective— an ability essential to exercising empathy and building healthy social relationships,” says Dr. Collins.

Check... Dubious move, the chess game is over, and maybe you’d rather move on to evaluate the effects of different environments on bacterial growth in Bioengineering Class or try your hand at “Barbie Bungee.” Welcome to AP Statistics with Mathematics Department Chair Erin Thompson, and today the class is exploring two-variable quantitative data to look at what Linear Regression equations— estimating the relationships between a dependent variable and one or more independent variables— can really tell us. Tell us what? Grab a Barbie or your favorite action figure, some rubber bands, and a yardstick. First, gather your data, then answer some questions about ways to transform your data to linearize it, so... how many rubber bands do you need to have the most thrilling bungee jump? Hint: the most thrilling bungee jump means your Barbie’s head gets closest to the ground without actually touching the ground.

“This activity produced incredible collaboration with my students. It had them doing basic calculations, helping each other better understand the concepts they were struggling with, justifying their thoughts mathematically with each other and on paper, and just brought fun into the classroom,” says Ms. Thompson. “This unit is usually one of the harder ones for my students to grasp, and after this task, they had a core memory to refer to that helped them better understand these learning targets and reference on their test, midterm, final... and they still talk about it in January, so hopefully it helps them on their AP Exam this May.”

It’s time to put the Barbie down and pick up an instrument. In Director Megan Kendall’s orchestra, performing is a loaded task. Students are reading the notes on the page, connecting that to a physical response with their body and instrument, and communicating nonverbally with those around them to produce a collective sound. Students are currently working on a chamber group project where the class is divided into small ensembles and leading their own rehearsals on their performance repertoire. In these rehearsals, students are held more accountable for knowing and owning their individual part, while engaging with their peers in the musical interpretation process through discussion of musical terms and symbols and working on communication skills in the ensemble setting.

“Both chamber group and sectional work challenge the students to work together to find a common performance goal and allow them to see how their individual contributions matter to the larger ensemble,” says Ms. Kendall.

At all schools in the Brookwood Cluster, Critical Thinking is strengthened through creative problem-solving, inquiry-based learning, entrepreneurial encouragement, and a willingness to collaborate. With a growth mindset, staff and students can design solutions together, and provide safe spaces for all to grow and learn.

About the Brookwood Cluster