I completed one of the other MaxKnowledge courses which discussed technology in the classroom -- better get used to it, use it, embrace it, because it's no going away. So instead of saying "I don't know; I'll look it up at the break and get back to you," which is what I've done in the past, I said, "I don't know -- let's look it up." On my surveys, I got blasted, "Why are we paying all this money for a teacher who tells us to look things up for ourselves?" So clearly this was not the right implementation of… >>>

Thank you for your suggestion. I can see how this would work for the example of the oven temps, and I'll use it to address that specific issue. However, there are more situations that arise in the classroom every term than I could possibly address in this manner. My question is more about how to encourage the students to think for themselves. I know they can come up with the right answer if they think about it, but instead they want me to give them the right answer. So how do I encourage them to approach situations in a logical… >>>

Thank you for your response. Because of the environment we're in, there are ample opportunities for students to apply critical thinking skills. There's no need to create situations. Let me give you another example: There are 6 ovens, at 6 different temps. Some students will turn down the temp on a particular oven to the desired temperature, never realizing that because of the stone decks, it could take hours to cool down. They're not looking at the other ovens to see that some of them are already at the desired temp! How do I get them to look at the… >>>