Fifty Strategies to Boost Cognitive Engagement

50 Teaching Strategies for Cognitive Engagement in the Classroom

Transform your classroom culture from one of passive knowledge consumption to one of active learning and student engagement. In this well-researched book, author Rebecca Stobaugh shares how to build a culture of thinking that emphasizes essential 21st century skills—from critical thinking and problem-solving to teamwork and creativity. Gain 50 teacher-tested instructional and student engagement strategies for nurturing students' cognitive development, and utilize the book’s Take Action activities to help you put the student engagement strategies to work in your classroom.

Use these teaching strategies to foster student engagement and cognitive skills:

• Gain an understanding of the concepts of critical thinking and cognitive engagement, as well as the relationship between the two.
• Study Bloom’s revised taxonomy, the cognitive processes associated with its various levels, and how they relate to cognitive engagement in the classroom.
• Access 50 teaching strategies for classroom engagement that will encourage the cognitive development of students and grow their critical thinking skills.
• Learn about three important aspects for sustaining classroom engagement—movement, collaboration, and media literacy—and how these connect with the 50 teaching strategies.
• Utilize effective teaching strategies and new knowledge of critical thinking and cognitive skills to build a culture of thinking in the classroom.

Related Topics

21st Century Skills Instruction Student Engagement

“At last, a well-organized array of practical strategies to promote higher-level thinking every day, every time, by every teacher ready for the challenge of deeper 21st century learning!”

“Educators are always seeking quality engagement and thinking approaches to prepare students for a complex world that needs them to go far beyond passively receiving information and filling in bubble sheets. In one handy resource, Rebecca Stobaugh provides oodles of practical, engaging instructional strategies that any teacher will appreciate. What a useful resource!”

“Whether you need a creative idea to get out of a lesson-planning rut or you're thinking through ways to differentiate, Rebecca Stobaugh's book offers teachers concrete strategies to engage students in the real work of thinking.”

“We have been talking about thinking, thinking about thinking, and playing with thinking for decades. Finally, Rebecca Stobaugh does for teachers what we all want for our students. She walks carefully through doable strategies, while gradually increasing the levels of cognitive engagement and creative thinking that teachers can use to enhance a traditional classroom or engage in transitioning toward a more personalized, competency-based environment. She pairs strategies with Bloom’s taxonomy revised in such a way that acts as both a helpful primer and a gentle reminder of just what we should expect from students at each level.”

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