I agree with everything you are preaching about critical thinking. Personally, I don’t think this particular type of question is good at testing critical thinking, and worse I think that the incentives in the school system are all about gaming the test rather than teaching critical thinking.
My feeling looking at this is that if I wanted kids to get the highest possible score, I’d teach them how to take tests rather than buy them a bunch of tools and have them figure out how to use the tools from the instruction manuals (reading, critical thinking, problem solving). Whereas if I wanted them to learn critical thinking, we’d be solving problems with tools.
But I accept that this is a very large topic, it’s not like this is a one-question test, and students are exposed to a variety of stimuli. Also, there is always the democracy argument: This might be the worst test ever devised, except for all of the others we’ve tried. Perhaps this is the “least worst” way to test and teach given other factors in play.
My feeling looking at this is that if I wanted kids to get the highest possible score, I’d teach them how to take tests rather than buy them a bunch of tools and have them figure out how to use the tools from the instruction manuals (reading, critical thinking, problem solving). Whereas if I wanted them to learn critical thinking, we’d be solving problems with tools.
But I accept that this is a very large topic, it’s not like this is a one-question test, and students are exposed to a variety of stimuli. Also, there is always the democracy argument: This might be the worst test ever devised, except for all of the others we’ve tried. Perhaps this is the “least worst” way to test and teach given other factors in play.