- 1. Critical thinking - This is convergent thinking. It assesses the worth and validity of something existent. It involves precise, persistent, objective analysis. When teachers try to get several learners to think convergently, they try to help them develop common understanding.
- 2. Creative thinking - This is divergent thinking. It generates something new or different. It involves having a different idea that works as well or better than previous ideas.
- 3. Convergent thinking - This type of thinking is cognitive processing of information around a common point, an attempt to bring thoughts from different directions into a union or common conclusion.
- 4. Divergent thinking - This type of thinking starts from a common point and moves outward into a variety of perspectives. When fosering divergent thinking, teachers use the content as a vehicle to prompt diverse or unique thinking among students rather than a common view.
- 5. Inductive thinking - This is the process of reasoning from parts to the whole, from examples to generalizations.
- 6. Deductive thinking - This type of reasoning moves from the whole to its parts, from generalizations to underlying concepts to examples.
- 7. Closed questions - These are questions asked by teachers that have predictable responses. Closed questions almost always require factual recall rather than higher levels of thinking.
- 8. Open questions - These are questions that do not have predictable answers. Open questions almost always require higher order thinking.
