Thinking & Reasoning Skills Lesson Plans

Students, given a handful of small objects in a bag, identify what he has, using cognitive processes - sensation, perception, thinking, reasoning, or memory.

Students review the reasons humans move around the planet. They focus on migrations to and from communities. Students interview a person who migrated to and from certain regions into the community.

Second graders understand the reasons for rules. In this rules lesson, 2nd graders participate in an unfair game where points are awarded arbitrarily. Students discuss why this process for awarding points doesn't work and why there needs to be rules. Students write a new rule for the community and write a letter or argumentative letter about their rule.

Students explore the reasons settlers entered the New World. After discussion, they present their argument in a variety of methods including posters, writings, and charts. Lesson contains adaptations for all levels.

Students discover how to look underneath what they say they want and discuss their true concerns or needs. They practice negotiating using the five-step Think and Share Response.

Seventh graders investigate rate of change and use proportional reasoning to solve problems. They reinforce the concept of a linear relationship while providing visual representation of how proportionality works. They practice with several problems, each becoming more complex and building on another.

Students recognize problems that may be solved using deductive reasoning. They develop aids to help them in solving deductive reasoning problems. They successfully solve deductive reasoning types of problems.

Students differentiate between inductive and deductive reasoning. In this geometry activity, students identify congruent figures and examine logos for congruency.

Tenth graders investigate if-then statements. In this geometry instructional activity, 10th graders identify the hypotheses and the conclusions of if then statements. The identify the "if" part and the "then" part using logical reasoning.

Turn your 6th graders into detective while growing their love of reading. Using critical thinking skills, they will be able to describe the five basic elements of detective fiction, read detective novels, make predictions, use the scientific method, and write their own detective story. This engaging activity includes all plans and questions.