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20 Math Critical Thinking Questions to Ask in Class Tomorrow

• November 20, 2023

The level of apathy towards math is only increasing as each year passes and it’s up to us as teachers to make math class more meaningful . This list of math critical thinking questions will give you a quick starting point for getting your students to think deeper about any concept or problem. 

Since artificial intelligence has basically changed schooling as we once knew it, I’ve seen a lot of districts and teachers looking for ways to lean into AI rather than run from it.

The idea of memorizing formulas and regurgitating information for a test is becoming more obsolete. We can now teach our students how to use their resources to make educated decisions and solve more complex problems.

With that in mind, teachers have more opportunities to get their students thinking about the why rather than the how.

Table of Contents

Looking for more about critical thinking skills? Check out these blog posts:

• Why You Need to Be Teaching Writing in Math Class Today
• How to Teach Problem Solving for Mathematics
• Turn the Bloom’s Taxonomy Verbs into Engaging Math Activities

What skills do we actually want to teach our students?

As professionals, we talk a lot about transferable skills that can be valuable in multiple jobs, such as leadership, event planning, or effective communication. The same can be said for high school students. 

It’s important to think about the skills that we want them to have before they are catapulted into the adult world. 

Do you want them to be able to collaborate and communicate effectively with their peers? Maybe you would prefer that they can articulate their thoughts in a way that makes sense to someone who knows nothing about the topic.

Whatever you decide are the most essential skills your students should learn, make sure to add them into your lesson objectives.

When should I ask these math critical thinking questions?

Critical thinking doesn’t have to be complex or fill an entire lesson. There are simple ways that you can start adding these types of questions into your lessons daily!

Start small

Add specific math critical thinking questions to your warm up or exit ticket routine. This is a great way to start or end your class because your students will be able to quickly show you what they understand. 

Asking deeper questions at the beginning of your class can end up leading to really great discussions and get your students talking about math.

Add critical thinking questions to word problems

Word problems and real-life applications are the perfect place to add in critical thinking questions. Real-world applications offer a more choose-your-own-adventure style assignment where your students can expand on their thought processes. 

They also allow your students to get creative and think outside of the box. These problem-solving skills play a critical role in helping your students develop critical thinking abilities.

Keep reading for math critical thinking questions that can be applied to any subject or topic!

When you want your students to defend their answers.

• Explain the steps you took to solve this problem
• How do you know that your answer is correct?
• Draw a diagram to prove your solution.
• Is there a different way to solve this problem besides the one you used?
• How would you explain _______________ to a student in the grade below you?
• Why does this strategy work?
• Use evidence from the problem/data to defend your answer in complete sentences.

When you want your students to justify their opinions

• What do you think will happen when ______?
• Do you agree/disagree with _______?
• What are the similarities and differences between ________ and __________?
• What suggestions would you give to this student?
• What is the most efficient way to solve this problem?
• How did you decide on your first step for solving this problem?

When you want your students to think outside of the box

• How can ______________ be used in the real world?
• What might be a common error that a student could make when solving this problem?
• How is _____________ topic similar to _______________ (previous topic)?
• What examples can you think of that would not work with this problem solving method?
• What would happen if __________ changed?
• Create your own problem that would give a solution of ______________.
• What other math skills did you need to use to solve this problem?

Let’s Recap:

• Rather than running from AI, help your students use it as a tool to expand their thinking.
• Identify a few transferable skills that you want your students to learn and make a goal for how you can help them develop these skills.
• Add critical thinking questions to your daily warm ups or exit tickets.
• Ask your students to explain their thinking when solving a word problem.
• Get a free sample of my Algebra 1 critical thinking questions ↓

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Critical Thinking in Mathematics Education

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• Eva Jablonka 2  

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• Logical thinking
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• Deductive reasoning
• Mathematical problem solving
• Mathematical literacy
• Critical judgment
• Goals of mathematics education

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6 Effective Math Problem-Solving Strategies

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Author: BYJU’S Math Companion Tutor

How do you develop critical thinking in math?

• Encourage exploration: Provide opportunities for your child to explore math concepts beyond textbooks. Engage them in activities that challenge their thinking, such as puzzles, brain teasers, and logic games. 
• Ask open-ended questions: Pose questions that require more than a simple yes-or-no answer. Encourage your child to explain their reasoning and provide evidence for their solutions, fostering analytical thinking. 
• Promote active discussions : Engage in conversations with your child about real-world scenarios where math comes into play. Discuss how math concepts apply to everyday situations, encouraging them to think critically about problem-solving approaches.
• Provide diverse problem sets : Present a variety of math problems that require different strategies to solve. This broadens your child’s problem-solving toolkit and enhances their ability to adapt their skills to various challenges.

How can critical thinking help in problem-solving?

• Analyzing information: Critical thinking enables children to break down complex problems into manageable components, making it easier to understand and address the underlying issues.
• Developing creative solutions: Encouraging critical thinking sparks creativity. Children learn to think outside the box, exploring unconventional approaches to problem-solving.
• Enhancing decision-making: Critical thinkers are equipped to evaluate various options before making decisions. They consider the potential outcomes and choose the most effective course of action.
• Building confidence: As children successfully tackle challenging problems, their confidence in their problem-solving abilities grows. This newfound confidence extends to other areas of learning too.
• Applying learning to real life: Critical thinking extends beyond the classroom. Children become adept at applying problem-solving skills to real-world scenarios, preparing them for future challenges.

What are the Strategies for Effective Math Problem-Solving ?

Break it down, visualize the answer, trial and error, collaborative problem-solving, real-life applications, celebrate progress.

How do online math tutors help children develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills through active learning?

• Online math tutors use active learning strategies, presenting various math problems that demand analytical thought.
• They encourage children to explain problem-solving strategies, promoting self-reflection and deeper understanding.
• Tutors facilitate discussions, asking open-ended questions to stimulate reasoning and logical thinking.
• Interactive quizzes and simulations engage children in hands-on problem-solving.
• Tutors connect math concepts to practical situations through real-world scenarios.
• They challenge children with puzzles, riddles, and brainteasers, encouraging creative thinking and diverse approaches.
• Immediate feedback through online platforms helps children learn from mistakes and refine strategies.
• Tutors employ Socratic questioning, guiding children to analyze and justify solutions.
• Collaborative problem-solving is encouraged through group activities, fostering learning from peers.
• Online math tutors customize strategies to suit individual learning styles, promoting optimal critical thinking growth.

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Rich Problems – Part 1

Rich problems – part 1.

by Marvin Cohen and Karen Rothschild

One of the underlying beliefs that guides Math for All is that in order to learn mathematics well, students must engage with rich problems. Rich problems allow ALL students, with a variety of neurodevelopmental strengths and challenges, to engage in mathematical reasoning and become flexible and creative thinkers about mathematical ideas. In this Math for All Updates, we review what rich problems are, why they are important, and where to find some ready to use. In a later Math for All Updates we will discuss how to create your own rich problems customized for your curriculum.

What are Rich Problems?

At Math for All, we believe that all rich problems provide:

• opportunities to engage the problem solver in thinking about mathematical ideas in a variety of non-routine ways.
• an appropriate level of productive struggle.
• an opportunity for students to communicate their thinking about mathematical ideas.

Rich problems increase both the problem solver’s reasoning skills and the depth of their mathematical understanding. Rich problems are rich because they are not amenable to the application of a known algorithm, but require non-routine use of the student’s knowledge, skills, and ingenuity. They usually offer multiple entry pathways and methods of representation. This provides students with diverse abilities and challenges the opportunity to create solution strategies that leverage their particular strengths.

Rich problems usually have one or more of the following characteristics:

• Several correct answers. For example, “Find four numbers whose sum is 20.”
• A single answer but with many pathways to a solution. For example, “There are 10 animals in the barnyard, some chickens, some pigs. Altogether there are 24 legs. How many of the animals are chickens and how many are pigs?”
• A level of complexity that may require an entire class period or more to solve.
• An opportunity to look for patterns and make connections to previous problems, other students’ strategies, and other areas of mathematics. For example, see the staircase problem below.
• A “low floor and high ceiling,” meaning both that all your students will be able to engage with the mathematics of the problem in some way, and that the problem has sufficient complexity to challenge all your students. NRICH summarizes this approach as “everyone can get started, and everyone can get stuck” (2013). For example, a problem could have a variety of questions related to the following sequence, such as: How many squares are in the next staircase? How many in the 20th staircase? What is the rule for finding the number of squares in any staircase?

• An expectation that the student be able to communicate their ideas and defend their approach.
• An opportunity for students to choose from a range of tools and strategies to solve the problem based on their own neurodevelopmental strengths.
• An opportunity to learn some new mathematics (a mathematical residue) through working on the problem.
• An opportunity to practice routine skills in the service of engaging with a complex problem.
• An opportunity for a teacher to deepen their understanding of their students as learners and to build new lessons based on what students know, their developmental level, and their neurodevelopmental strengths and challenges.

Why Rich Problems?

All adults need mathematical understanding to solve problems in their daily lives. Most adults use calculators and computers to perform routine computation beyond what they can do mentally. They must, however, understand enough mathematics to know what to enter into the machines and how to evaluate what comes out. Our personal financial situations are deeply affected by our understanding of pricing schemes for the things we buy, the mortgages we hold, and fees we pay. As citizens, understanding mathematics can help us evaluate government policies, understand political polls, and make decisions. Building and designing our homes, and scaling up recipes for crowds also require math. Now especially, mathematical understanding is crucial for making sense of policies related to the pandemic. Decisions about shutdowns, medical treatments, and vaccines are all grounded in mathematics. For all these reasons, it is important students develop their capacities to reason about mathematics. Research has demonstrated that experience with rich problems improves children’s mathematical reasoning (Hattie, Fisher, & Frey, 2017).

Where to Find Rich Problems

Several types of rich problems are available online, ready to use or adapt. The sites below are some of many places where rich problems can be found:

• Which One Doesn’t Belong – These problems consist of squares divided into 4 quadrants with numbers, shapes, or graphs. In every problem there is at least one way that each of the quadrants “doesn’t belong.” Thus, any quadrant can be argued to be different from the others.
• “Open Middle” Problems – These are problems with a single answer but with many ways to reach the answer. They are organized by both topic and grade level.
• NRICH Maths – This is a multifaceted site from the University of Cambridge in Great Britain. It has both articles and ready-made problems. The site includes  problems for grades 1–5 (scroll down to the “Collections” section) and problems for younger children . We encourage you to explore NRICH more fully as well. There are many informative articles and discussions on the site.
• Rich tasks from Virginia – These are tasks published by the Virginia Department of education. They come with complete lesson plans as well as example anticipated student responses.
• Rich tasks from Georgia – This site contains a complete framework of tasks designed to address all standards at all grades. They include 3-Act Tasks , YouCubed Tasks , and many other tasks that are open ended or feature an open middle approach.

The problems can be used “as is” or adapted to the specific neurodevelopmental strengths and challenges of your students. Carefully adapted, they can engage ALL your students in thinking about mathematical ideas in a variety of ways, thereby not only increasing their skills but also their abilities to think flexibly and deeply.

Hattie, J., Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2017). Visible learning for mathematics, grades K-12: What works best to optimize student learning. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Mathematics.

NRICH Team. (2013). Low Threshold High Ceiling – an Introduction. Cambridge University, United Kingdom: NRICH Maths. https://nrich.maths.org/10345

The contents of this blog post were developed under a grant from the Department of Education. However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.

Math for All is a professional development program that brings general and special education teachers together to enhance their skills in planning and adapting mathematics lessons to ensure that all students achieve high-quality learning outcomes in mathematics.

Our Newsletter Provides Ideas for Making High-Quality Mathematics Instruction Accessible to All Students

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• The Problem with Word Problems March 11, 2024
• Honoring Diversity: What, why, and how? February 22, 2024
• Looking at a Student at Work January 3, 2024
• AI, Oh My! A First Foray into ChatGPT and its Usefulness to Math Teachers December 1, 2023
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(Ep. 3) The Analysis of Reasoning: Going Deeper - Questions, Part 1: Questions Implied by the Elements, Standards, and Virtues

• Feb 16 2024
• Length: 1 hr and 25 mins

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One element of reasoning is questions. Questions emerge from the problems or issues that must or should be addressed in pursuit of a given purpose. In this episode, Drs. Linda Elder and Gerald Nosich begin to explore questions that inherently emerge from three core sets of concepts in critical thinking: the Elements of Thought, Intellectual Standards, and Intellectual Virtues.

For over 40 years, the Foundation for Critical Thinking – along with its sister organization, the Center for Critical Thinking – have worked toward the advancement of critical societies.

To see and register for upcoming events, courses, study groups, and so on, visit us at: https://www.criticalthinking.org We hope you will also become a member of The Center for Critical Thinking Community Online, which features the world’s largest digital library of critical thinking articles, guides, books, videos, and interactive exercises, along with exclusive webinars, guided study groups, a social media component, and more. Join our Community Online at: www.criticalthinkingcommunity.org We invite you to donate to our mission at: https://www.criticalthinking.org/donate.php Join us on social media: Facebook https://www.facebook.com/CriticalThinkingFoundation/ Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/foundation-for-critical-thinking-a99b1455/ X / Twitter https://twitter.com/4thethinkers YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/@criticalthinkingorg

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• Open access
• Published: 26 March 2024

The effect of “typical case discussion and scenario simulation” on the critical thinking of midwifery students: Evidence from China

• Yuji Wang 1   na1 ,
• Yijuan Peng 1   na1 &
• Yan Huang 1  

BMC Medical Education volume  24 , Article number:  340 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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Assessment ability lies at the core of midwives’ capacity to judge and treat clinical problems effectively. Influenced by the traditional teaching method of “teacher-led and content-based”, that teachers involve imparting a large amount of knowledge to students and students lack active thinking and active practice, the clinical assessment ability of midwifery students in China is mostly at a medium or low level. Improving clinical assessment ability of midwifery students, especially critical thinking, is highly important in practical midwifery education. Therefore, we implemented a new teaching program, “typical case discussion and scenario simulation”, in the Midwifery Health Assessment course. Guided by typical cases, students were organized to actively participate in typical case discussions and to promote active thinking and were encouraged to practice actively through scenario simulation. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the effect of this strategy on the critical thinking ability of midwifery students.

A total of 104 midwifery students in grades 16–19 at the West China School of Nursing, Sichuan University, were included as participants through convenience sampling. All the students completed the Midwifery Health Assessment course in the third year of university. Students in grades 16 and 17 were assigned to the control group, which received routine teaching in the Midwifery Health Assessment, while students in grades 18 and 19 were assigned to the experimental group, for which the “typical case discussion and scenario simulation” teaching mode was employed. The Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory-Chinese Version (CTDI-CV) and Midwifery Health Assessment Course Satisfaction Questionnaire were administered after the intervention.

After the intervention, the critical thinking ability of the experimental group was greater than that of the control group (284.81 ± 27.98 and 300.94 ± 31.67, p  = 0.008). Furthermore, the experimental group exhibited higher scores on the four dimensions of Open-Mindedness (40.56 ± 5.60 and 43.59 ± 4.90, p  = 0.005), Analyticity (42.83 ± 5.17 and 45.42 ± 5.72, p  = 0.020), Systematicity (38.79 ± 4.70 and 41.88 ± 6.11, p  = 0.006), and Critical Thinking Self-Confidence (41.35 ± 5.92 and 43.83 ± 5.89, p  = 0.039) than did the control group. The course satisfaction exhibited by the experimental group was greater than that exhibited by the control group (84.81 ± 8.49 and 90.19 ± 8.41, p  = 0.002).

The “typical case discussion and scenario simulation” class mode can improve the critical thinking ability of midwifery students and enhance their curriculum satisfaction. This approach carries a certain degree of promotional significance in medical education.

Typical case discussion and scenario simulation can improve midwifery students’ critical thinking ability.

Typical case discussion and scenario simulation can enhance students’ learning interest and guide students to learn independently.

Midwifery students were satisfied with the new teaching mode.

Peer Review reports

Maternal and neonatal health are important indicators to measure of the level of development of a country’s economy, culture and health care. The positive impact of quality midwifery education on maternal and newborn health is acknowledged in the publication framework for action strengthening quality midwifery education issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) [ 1 ]. Extensive evidence has shown that skilled midwifery care is crucial for reducing preventable maternal and neonatal mortality [ 2 , 3 , 4 ]. Clinical practice features high requirements for the clinical thinking ability of midwives, which refers to the process by which medical personnel analyze and integrate data with professional medical knowledge in the context of diagnosis and treatment as well as discover and solve problems through logical reasoning [ 5 ]. Critical thinking is a thoughtful process that is purposeful, disciplined, and self-directed and that aims to improve decisions and subsequent actions [ 6 ]. In 1986, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing formulated the “Higher Education Standards for Nursing Specialty”, which emphasize the fact that critical thinking is the primary core competence that nursing graduates should possess [ 7 ]. Many studies have shown that critical thinking can help nurses detect, analyze and solve problems creatively in clinical work and is a key factor in their ability to make correct clinical decisions [ 8 , 9 , 10 ].

However, the traditional teaching method used for midwifery students in China is “teacher-led and content-based”, and it involves efficiently and conveniently imparting a large amount of knowledge to students over a short period. Students have long failed to engage in active thinking and active practice, and the cultivation of critical thinking has long been ignored [ 5 ]. As a result, the critical thinking ability of midwifery students in China is mostly at a medium or low level [ 5 ]. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a new teaching mode to improve the critical thinking ability of midwifery students.

In 2014, Professor Xuexin Zhang of Fudan University, Shanghai, China, proposed a novel teaching method: the divided class mode. The basic idea of this approach is to divide the class time into two parts. The teachers explain the theoretical knowledge in the first lesson, and the students discuss that knowledge in the second lesson. This approach emphasizes the guiding role of teachers and encourages and empowers students to take responsibility for their studies [ 11 ]. Research has shown that the divided class mode can improve students’ enthusiasm and initiative as well as teaching effectiveness [ 12 ].

The problem-originated clinical medical curriculum mode of teaching was first established at McMaster University in Canada in 1965. This model is based on typical clinical cases and a problem-oriented heuristic teaching model [ 13 ]. The process of teaching used in this approach is guided by typical cases with the goal of helping students combine theoretical knowledge and practical skills. This approach can enhance the enthusiasm and initiative of students by establishing an active learning atmosphere. Students are encouraged to discuss and analyze typical cases to promote their ability to digest and absorb theoretical knowledge. Research has shown that the problem-originated clinical medical curriculum teaching mode can enhance students’ confidence and improve their autonomous learning and exploration ability. Scenario simulation teaching can provide students with real scenarios, allowing them to practice and apply their knowledge in a safe environment [ 14 ], which can effectively improve their knowledge and clinical skills and enhance their self-confidence [ 15 , 16 ].

Based on the teaching concept of divided classes, our research team established a new teaching model of “typical case discussion and scenario simulation”. Half of the class time is allocated for students to discuss typical cases and carry out scenario simulations to promote their active thinking and active practice. The Midwifery Health Assessment is the final professional core course that midwifery students must take in our school before clinical practice. All students must complete the course in Grade 3. Teaching this course is important for cultivating the critical thinking and clinical assessment ability of midwifery students. Therefore, our team adopted the new teaching mode of "typical case discussion and scenario simulation" in the teaching of this course. This study explored the teaching mode’s ability to improve the critical thinking ability of midwifery students.

Study design

The study employed a semiexperimental design.

Participants

A convenience sample of 104 third-year midwifery students who were enrolled in the Midwifery Health Assessment course volunteered to participate in this research at a large public university in Sichuan Province from February 2019 to June 2022 (grades 16 to 19). All the students completed the course in the third year of university. Students in grades 16 and 17 were assigned to the control group, which received the traditional teaching mode. Students in grades 18 and 19 were assigned to the experimental group, in which context the “typical case discussion and scenario simulation” class mode was used. The exclusion criteria for midwifery students were as follows: (1) dropped out of school during the study, (2) took continuous leave from school for more than two weeks, or (3) were unable to complete the questionnaire. The elimination criterion for midwifery students was that all the items were answered in the same way. No significant differences in students’ scores in their previous professional courses (Midwifery) were observed between the two groups. Textbooks, teachers, and teaching hours were the same for both groups.

Development of the “typical case discussion and scenario simulation” class mode

This study is based on the implementation of the new century higher education teaching reform project at Sichuan University. With the support of Sichuan University, we first established a “typical case discussion and scenario simulation” class mode team. The author of this paper was the head of the teaching reform project and served as a consultant, and the first author is responsible for supervising the implementation of the project. Second, the teaching team discussed and developed a standard process for the “typical case discussion and scenario simulation” class mode. Third, the entire team received intensive training in the standard process for the “typical case discussion and scenario simulation” class mode.

Implementation of the “typical case discussion and scenario simulation” class mode

Phase i (before class).

Before class, in accordance with the requirements for evaluating different periods of pregnancy, the teacher conceptualized typical cases and then discussed those cases with the teaching team and made any necessary modifications. After the completion of the discussion, the modified cases were released to the students through the class group. To ensure students’ interest, they were guided through the task of discovering and solving relevant problems using an autonomous learning approach.

Phase II (the first week)

Typical case discussion period. The Midwifery Health Assessment course was taught by 5 teachers and covered 5 health assessment periods, namely, the pregnancy preparation, pregnancy, delivery, puerperium and neonatal periods. The health assessment course focused on each period over 2 consecutive teaching weeks, and 2 lessons were taught per week. The first week focused on the discussion of typical cases. In the first lesson, teachers introduced typical cases, taught key knowledge or difficult evaluation content pertaining to the different periods, and explored the relevant knowledge framework. In the second lesson, teachers organized group discussions, case analyses and intergroup communications for the typical cases. They were also responsible for coordinating and encouraging students to participate actively in the discussion. After the discussion, teachers and students reviewed the definitions, treatments and evaluation points associated with the typical cases. The teachers also encouraged students to internalize knowledge by engaging in a process of summary and reflection to achieve the purpose of combining theory with practice.

Phase III (the second week)

Scenario simulation practice period. The second week focused on the scenario simulation practice period. In the first lesson, teachers reviewed the focus of assessment during the different periods and answered students’ questions. In the second lesson, students performed typical case assessment simulations in subgroups. After the simulation, the teachers commented on and summarized the students’ simulation evaluation and reviewed the evaluation points of typical cases to improve the students’ evaluation ability.

The organizational structure and implementation of the “typical case discussion and scenario simulation” class mode showed in Fig.  1 .

“Typical case discussion and scenario simulation” teaching mode diagram

A demographic questionnaire designed for this purpose was used to collect relevant information from participants, including age, gender, single-child status, family location, experience with typical case discussion or scenario simulation and scores in previous professional courses (Midwifery).

The Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory-Chinese Version (CTDI-CV) was developed by Peng et al. to evaluate the critical thinking ability of midwifery students [ 17 ]. The scale contains 70 items across a total of seven dimensions, namely, open-mindedness, truth-seeking, analytical ability, systematic ability, self-confidence in critical thinking, thirst for knowledge, and cognitive maturity. Each dimension is associated with 10 items, and each item is scored on a 6-point Likert scale, with 1 indicating “extremely agree” and 6 representing “extremely disagree”. The scale includes 30 positive items, which receive scores ranging from “extremely agree” to “extremely disagree” on a scale of 6 to 1, and 40 negative items, which receive scores ranging from “extremely agree” to “extremely disagree” on a scale of 1 to 6. A total score less than 210 indicates negative critical thinking ability, scores between 211 and 279 indicate an unclear meaning, scores of 280 or higher indicate positive critical thinking ability, and scores of 350 or higher indicate strong performance. The score range of each trait is 10–60 points; a score of 30 points or fewer indicates negative trait performance, scores between 31 and 39 points indicate that the trait meaning is incorrect, scores of 40 points or higher indicate positive trait performance, and scores of 50 points or higher indicate extremely positive trait performance. The Cronbach’s α coefficient of the scale was 0.90, thus indicating good content validity and structure. The higher an individual’s score on this measure is, the better that individual’s critical thinking ability.

The evaluation of teaching results was based on a questionnaire used to assess undergraduate course satisfaction, and the researchers deleted and modified items in the questionnaire to suit the context of the “typical case discussion and scenario simulation” teaching mode. Two rounds of discussion were held within the study group to form the final version of the Midwifery Health Assessment satisfaction questionnaire. The questionnaire evaluates the effect of teaching in terms of three dimensions, namely, curriculum content, curriculum teaching and curriculum evaluation. The questionnaire contains 21 items, each of which is scored on a 5-point Likert scale, with 1 indicating “extremely disagree” and 5 representing “extremely agree”. The higher the score is, the better the teaching effect.

Data collection and statistical analysis

We input the survey data into the “Wenjuanxing” platform ( https://www.wjx.cn/ ), which specializes in questionnaire services. At the beginning of the study, an electronic questionnaire was distributed to the students in the control group via student WeChat and QQ groups for data collection. After the intervention, an electronic questionnaire was distributed to the students in the experimental group for data collection in the final class of the Midwifery Health Assessment course. All the data were collected by the first author (Yuji Wang). When students had questions about the survey items, the first author (Yuji Wang) immediately explained the items in detail. To ensure the integrity of the questionnaire, the platform required all the items to be answered before submission.

Statistical Package for Social Sciences Version 26.0 (SPSS 26.0) software was used for data analysis. The Shapiro‒Wilk test was used to test the normality of the data. The measurement data are expressed as the mean ± standard deviation (X ± S), and an independent sample t test was used for comparisons among groups with a normal distribution. The data presented as the number of cases (%), and the chi-square test was performed. A P value < 0.05 indicated that a difference was statistically significant.

Ethical considerations

The study was funded by the New Century Teaching Reform Project of Sichuan University and passed the relevant ethical review. Oral informed consent was obtained from all individual participants in the study.

Characteristics of the participants

A total of 104 third-year midwifery students were enrolled from February 2019 to June 2022, and 98.1% (102/144) of these students completed the survey. Two invalid questionnaires that featured the same answers for each item were eliminated. A total of 100 participants were ultimately included in the analysis. Among the participants, 48 students were assigned to the control group, and 52 students were assigned to the experimental group. The age of the students ranged from 19 to 22 years, and the mean age of the control group was 20.50 years (SD = 0.61). The mean age of the experimental group was 20.63 years (SD = 0.65). Of the 100 students who participated in the study, the majority (96.0%) were women. No significant differences were observed between the intervention and control groups in terms of students’ demographic information (i.e., age, gender, status as an only child, or family location), experience with scenario simulation or typical case discussion and scores in previous Midwifery courses (Table  1 ).

Examining the differences in critical thinking ability between the two groups

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the new teaching mode of “typical case discussion and scenario simulation” on improving the critical thinking ability of midwifery students. Independent sample t tests were used to examine the differences in critical thinking ability between the two groups (Table  2 ). The results showed that the total critical thinking scores obtained by the experimental group were greater than those obtained by the control group (284.81 ± 27.98 and 300.94 ± 31.67, p  = 0.008). The differences in four dimensions (Open-Mindedness (40.56 ± 5.60 and 43.59 ± 4.90, p  = 0.005), Analyticity (42.83 ± 5.17 and 45.42 ± 5.72, p  = 0.020), Systematicity (38.79 ± 4.70 and 41.88 ± 6.11, p  = 0.006), and Critical Thinking Self-Confidence (41.35 ± 5.92 and 43.83 ± 5.89, p  = 0.039)) were statistically significant.

Examining the differences in curriculum satisfaction between the two groups

To evaluate the effect of the new teaching mode of “the typical case discussion and scenario simulation” on the course satisfaction of midwifery students. Independent sample t tests were used to examine the differences in course satisfaction between the two groups (Table  3 ). The results showed that the curriculum satisfaction of the experimental group was greater than that of the control group (84.81 ± 8.49 and 90.19 ± 8.41, p  = 0.002). Independent sample t tests were used to examine the differences in the three dimensions of curriculum satisfaction between the two groups (Table  3 ). The results showed that the average scores of the intervention group on the three dimensions were significantly greater than those of the control group (curricular content: 20.83 ± 1.96 and 22.17 ± 2.23, p  = 0.002; curriculum teaching: 34.16 ± 3.89 and 36.59 ± 3.66, p  = 0.002; curriculum evaluation: 29.81 ± 3.27 and 31.42 ± 3.19, p  = 0.015).

Midwifery is practical and intensive work. To ensure maternal and child safety, midwives must make decisions and take action quickly. Therefore, midwives should have both critical thinking ability and clinical decision-making ability [ 18 ]. In addition, the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council (ANMAC) regulates the educational requirements for the programs required for registration as a midwife. According to these standards, education providers must incorporate learning activities into curricula to encourage the development and application of critical thinking and reflective practice [ 19 ]. Therefore, the challenge of cultivating the critical thinking ability of midwifery students is an urgent problem that must be solved. However, influenced by the traditional teaching method of “teacher-led and content-based”, the critical thinking ability of midwifery students in China is mostly at a medium or low level. In order to improve the critical thinking ability of midwifery students. Our research team has established a new teaching model, the “typical case discussion and scenario simulation” class model. And applied to the midwifery core curriculum Midwifery Health Assessment. This study aimed to investigate the implementation of a novel systematic and structured teaching model for midwifery students and to provide evidence regarding how to improve the critical thinking ability of midwives.

The results showed that the total CTDI-CV score obtained for the experimental group was greater than that obtained for the control group. These findings indicate that the “typical case discussion and scenario simulation” class mode had a positive effect on the cultivation of students’ critical thinking ability, a conclusion which is similar to the findings of Holdsworth et al. [ 20 ], Lapkin et al. [ 21 ] and Demirören M et al. [ 22 ]. We indicate the following reasons that may explain these results.The core aim of the typical case discussion teaching mode is to raise questions based on typical clinical cases and to provide heuristic teaching to students [ 23 ]. This approach emphasizes asking questions based on specific clinical cases, which enables students to engage in targeted learning. Moreover, scenario simulation allows students to attain certain inner experiences and emotions and actively participate in curriculum practice, which can enhance their ability to remember and understand knowledge [ 24 ]. Through the divided class mode, half of the class time was divided into the students. This method emphasizes the guiding role of teachers and encourages and empowers students to assume learning responsibilities. In addition, students can think, communicate and discuss actively [ 22 , 23 ]. Furthermore, this approach created opportunities for students to analyze and consider problems independently and give students sufficient time to internalize and absorb knowledge and deepen their understanding of relevant knowledge, which can increase their confidence in their ability to address such problems and improve their critical thinking ability [ 12 , 25 , 26 ].

In addition, the results showed that except for Truth-Seeking and Systematicity, the other five dimensions were all positive. These findings are similar to the results reported by Atakro et al.. and Sun et al. [ 27 , 28 ]. Through the intervention, the Systematicity scores became positive, suggesting that the new teaching mode can help students deal with problems in an organized and purposeful way. However, Truth-Seeking still did not become positive; this notion focuses on intellectual honesty, i.e., the disposition to be courageous when asking questions and to be honest and objective in the pursuit of knowledge even when the topics under investigation do not support one’s self-interest [ 29 ]. Studies have shown that this factor is related to the traditional teaching mode used [ 30 ]. The traditional teaching mode focuses on knowledge infusion, helps students remember the greatest possible amount of knowledge in a short time, and does not focus on guiding students to seek knowledge with sincerity and objectivity. Therefore, in future educational practice, we should focus on cultivating students’ ability to seek truth and engage in systematization.

Student evaluative feedback is an important way to test the effectiveness teaching mode. Therefore, understanding students’ evaluations of the effects of classroom teaching is key to promoting teaching reform and improving teaching quality. Therefore, we distributed a satisfaction questionnaire pertaining to the midwifery health assessment curriculum, which was based on the “typical case discussion and scenario simulation” class mode, with the goal of investigating curriculum satisfaction in terms of three dimensions (curriculum content, curriculum teaching and curriculum evaluation). The results showed that the satisfaction scores for each dimension increased significantly. This finding suggests that the new teaching method can enrich the teaching content, diversify the teaching mode and improve students’ curriculum evaluations.

In summary, the “typical case discussion and scenario simulation” class mode focuses on typical cases as its main content. Students’ understanding of this content is deepened through group discussion and scenario simulation. The subjectivity of students in curriculum learning should be accounted for. Students can be encouraged to detect, analyze and solve problems with the goal of improving their critical thinking ability. Moreover, this approach can also enhance curriculum satisfaction. It is recommended that these tools should be used continuously in future curriculum teaching.

This study has several limitations. First, the representativeness of the sample may be limited since the participants were recruited from specific universities in China. Second, we used historical controls, which are less effective than simultaneous controlled trials. Third, online self-report surveys are susceptible to response biases, although we included quality control measurements in the process of data collection. Fourth, we did not use the same critical thinking instrument, CTDI-CV, to investigate the critical thinking of the students in the experimental group or the control group before intervention but used professional course grades from the Midwifery for substitution comparison. This may not be a sufficient substitute. However, these comparisons could be helpful since those grades included some sort of evaluation of critical thinking. In light of these limitations, future multicenter simultaneous controlled studies should be conducted. Nonetheless, this study also has several strengths. First, no adjustment of teachers or change in learning materials occurred since the start of the midwifery health assessment, thus ensuring that the experimental and control groups featured the same teaching materials, teachers and teaching hours. In addition, to ensure the quality of the research, the first author of this paper participated in the entirety of the course teaching.

The “typical case discussion and scenario simulation” class mode can improve the critical thinking of midwifery students, which is helpful for ensuring maternal and child safety. Students are highly satisfied with the new teaching mode, and this approach has a certain degree of promotional significance. However, this approach also entails higher requirements for both teachers and students.

Availability of data and materials

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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The study was supported by Sichuan University’s New Century Education and Teaching Reform Project (SCU9316).

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Yuji Wang and Yijuan Peng are co-first authors.

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Department of Nursing, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University/West China School of Nursing, Sichuan University/Key Laboratory of Birth Defects and Related Diseases of Women and Children (Sichuan University), No. 20 Third Section, Renmin South Road, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, 610041, China

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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Yuji Wang, Yijuan Peng and Yan Huang. The first draft of the manuscript were written by Yuji Wang and Yijuan Peng, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Yan Huang .

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This study was supported by Sichuan University. And it was approved by the Ethics Review Committee of West China School of Nursing, Sichuan University. As it is a teaching research with no harm to samples, we only obtained oral informed consents from the participants including teachers and midwifery students and it was approved by the Ethics Review Committee of West China School of Nursing, Sichuan University(approval number 2021220). We comfirm that all methods were performed in accordance with the relevant guidelines and regulations in Ethics Approval and Consent to participate in Declarations.

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Wang, Y., Peng, Y. & Huang, Y. The effect of “typical case discussion and scenario simulation” on the critical thinking of midwifery students: Evidence from China. BMC Med Educ 24 , 340 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-024-05127-5

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A Powerful Rethinking of Your Math Classroom

We look at strategies you can reset this year—adjusting your testing regimen, tackling math anxiety, encouraging critical thinking, and fostering a mistake-friendly environment.

The beginning of school is a great time for teachers—both veteran and early career—to consider ways they can improve upon their classroom practices over the next year. This may be especially important for math teachers, who often spend the early days of the school year confronting math anxiety , convincing students that they are indeed “math people,” and coming up with engaging practices to guide students to find pleasure in math challenges. Innovating in these areas has the potential to yield big benefits for students all year long.

To help you re-imagine some of your teaching practices this year, we’ve pulled together a collection of big and small strategies aimed at:

• helping students adopt a more productive, curious mindset when they approach math,
• engaging students as soon as they walk through the door,
• rethinking how you handle testing,
• fostering a mistake-friendly environment,
• incorporating humanities-style discussions into math, and
• building what Peter Liljedahl calls a “ thinking classroom .”

Tackle Negative Math Mindsets

“Most of my work as a math teacher isn’t even math ,” former middle school math teacher José Vilson has said. “It’s helping students believe that they can also do math.”

Striking a similar note, middle school math coordinator Alessandra King writes that supporting students—particularly students from marginalized backgrounds—to develop a “ positive mathematical identity ” is crucial to fostering a sense of belonging in a larger math community, boosting “their willingness and ability to engage” in challenging work.

King recommends spending the first few days of the school year spotlighting mathematicians from the past who reflect the makeup of your classroom. In her all-girls school, for example, she has students read and respond to a play about the achievements and struggles of Maria Agnesi, Sofya Kovalevskaya, and Emmy Noether, three historical female mathematicians. You can also hang up posters of famous Black or Latino mathematicians—such as Euphemia Haynes, the first African American woman to earn a PhD in math, or Robert Luis Santos, a Latino statistician and director of the U.S. Census Bureau—and devote lessons to discussing their achievements and backgrounds.

To get students thinking about—and challenging—their own math identity, educator Rolanda Baldwin suggests asking students early in the year to write a “ math autobiography .” They might respond to questions like: “How do you feel about math? How did your relationship with math change over time?” To draw students closer together—and make them realize that many students, of all backgrounds, struggle—have them share their responses in groups, or with the entire class.

Sometimes, our best intentions can go awry. Rachel Fuhrman, a former special education math teacher, notes that teachers can sometimes dampen a student’s math identity by wheeling out phrases that might seem helpful but can actually demotivate students , like: “This is so easy.” Framing something as “easy,” she writes, can leave students feeling uncomfortable or afraid of asking crucial, clarifying questions.

Engage Students the Moment They Enter the Classroom

To set a playful tone and lower the stakes of the work so students can effectively experiment and collaborate, high school math teacher Lorenzo Robinson suggests starting off class with fun, challenging brain teasers .

For example, ask students to draw a cross on a sheet of paper (you should draw one on the board as a point of reference). Ask students to draw two straight lines that will segment or cut the cross into pieces. The goal is to cut the cross in a way that produces the most pieces .

You could also try math riddles: Ask students to imagine they have two coins that total 30 cents. Tell them that one of the coins is not a nickel, and ask them to figure out what the two coins are.

Robinson finds that brain teasers like these can get students primed for problem solving and critical thinking, without even realizing it.

Lower the Stakes of Testing

Big tests—centered around units or near the end of a grading period—are staples of many math classrooms. But that doesn’t mean they have to be the only opportunity for students to show what they know. One way to lower the stakes for students and give them more opportunities to practice, while providing yourself more of an opportunity to both teach content and check for understanding is to give short assessments on a regular schedule. 

Math coordinator Steven Goldman’s school switched from tests to checkpoints . These short assessments include a mix of current and past topics—retrieval practice is a research-backed way to support greater learning , after all—with some repetition for the most important skills students need to know. The checkpoints are given every two weeks and are not formally graded, but mistakes are noted and teachers leave feedback to guide student revisions. The change, Goldman writes, resulted in a big reduction in student stress levels—something research shows is a benefit of frequent practice tests, alongside a boost in long-term retention. Because the checkpoints happen all the time, Goldman and his colleagues don’t have to “go through all kinds of contortions to finish a unit before a break or on a Thursday so that we could give the test at the right time.”

Fresno State math instructor Howie Hua suggests lowering the stake in your classroom by allowing students to discuss a test before starting to work on it . Hua recommends having students put their pencils on the floor so they can focus on their discussion. Hand out the test and give students five minutes to discuss strategies they can use to solve the problems. 

Good Mistakes, Better Mistakes

Mistakes are bound to happen in any math classroom, and how you respond to them throughout the year can make a world of difference. Making light of your own mistakes is a good first gambit, but research suggests a more advanced approach: Giving students space to make mistakes—and opportunities to analyze and discuss them with peers—can better encode information in their brains than simply providing them with the correct answer.

To use mistakes as building blocks to better solutions, math teacher Emma Chiapetta uses an ingenious, small-group activity that asks students to identify and reflect on common mistakes , and then explain the rationale behind them to their peers. Here’s how it works: Randomly separate students into groups and assign each group to a board to generate a problem and solve it incorrectly. Groups rotate so they’re looking at a problem and an incorrect solution, and have to identify the error and solve the problem correctly. After another rotation—so students are looking at a problem and both the incorrect and correct solutions—they explain to the class the mistake made by the first group and the correct solution provided by the second. The activity, Chiapetta writes, helps students think about the same content from various perspectives, which can lead to deeper understanding.

Not all mistakes are created equal, and they often conceal thoughtful, underlying work. Former math teacher Colin Seale asks students to reflect on which wrong answer to a problem is “ more right .” He suggests offering students two equations that are both incorrect—perhaps one is wrong conceptually and the other computationally. Seale notes that this exercise gets students to tease out nuances around the skills and concepts they’re learning, while also correcting their approach to similar problems moving forward.

Bring Humanities Strategies to Math Class

The discussion, analysis of reasoning, and argumentation that happen in humanities classrooms can be extremely useful in math classrooms to help students slow down and think through the work they’re doing , says middle school math teacher Connell Cloyd. 

He does this in his classroom by posting four incorrectly solved math problems around the room and having students rotate around each problem in groups to discuss the error and write down (in complete sentences) a claim and supporting evidence to show why they believe the error occurred. As they rotate around, students read the arguments of peers and either support an argument or refute it with new evidence. This is like adding techniques from debate to Chiappetta’s strategy.

Math journals can also inject more writing and reasoning into your classroom. Former math teacher Nell McAnelly prompts students to reflect on concepts they’re having trouble with : They work through a problem and then write about the strategy they used to solve it, or informally journal about other approaches they could have used. Doing so, she writes, gives students a chance to “synthesize learning and address unanswered questions.”

Driving Deep, Critical Thinking

A traditional math classroom, where the teacher demonstrates a skill numerous times before students take the reins, can inhibit higher order thinking and result in students who “mimic” teachers rather than develop their own strategies to solve complex problems , says Peter Liljedahl, a researcher and professor of mathematics at Simon Fraser University. 

Instead of starting lessons with direct instruction, Liljedahl says, give students novel “ thinking tasks ” to work on in groups. These are problem-solving activities and mental puzzles that should get students in the mindset of challenging themselves. Work groups should not be chosen based on ability or students’ preferences—Liljedahl’s research shows that students are more likely to contribute in randomized groups. Having students stand while they engage in this collaborative, messy thinking—as Chiappetta does in her mistake-analysis exercise—is another way to engage them.

Instead of using notebooks to compute, Liljedahl calls for groups to work at vertical, non-permanent surfaces, such as whiteboards, blackboards, or windows—surfaces that he says promote more risk-taking because students have the freedom to quickly erase false starts without feeling committed. As students work in groups, teachers bounce around the room and avoid directly answering questions such as “Is this right?” that circumvent student thinking and instead make suggestions that lead to further independent thinking. 

Because the goal of this approach is to get students to develop perseverance, curiosity, and collaboration, Liljedahl suggests evaluating them in a way that prioritizes these competencies. He developed formative assessments that focus on informing students “about where they are and where they’re going in their learning.” These include observations, check-for-understanding questions, and unmarked quizzes. Summative assessments, meanwhile, should focus less on end products and more on the process of learning through both group and individual work.

Shifting to this thinking classroom model requires a fundamental shift in how you run your classroom, but it could result in large rewards throughout the year.

Aurora Beacon-News | Problem-solving, critical thinking on display…

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Aurora beacon-news | problem-solving, critical thinking on display at robotics event at aurora municipal airport.

Robots and the kids that built and operated them took center stage all day Friday at the Aurora Municipal Airport in Sugar Grove as 17 students 9 to 16 years old squared off in a competition during the first-ever Elite Robotics Camp, hosted by the U.S. Engineering League and the Wong Center for Education.

The Friday showcase was the culmination of a week-long camp program that included four days of workshops held at the Hampton Inn in Aurora.

A press release issued by the robotics camp said the 17 students involved spent time with a variety of national champions from multiple countries under Anthony Hsu of OFDL Robotics Lab Taiwan, “one of the world’s most accomplished coaches.”

Susan Mackafey, publicist for the Robotics group, said the event in Aurora came about as a result of the competitions that the Wong group hosts worldwide. William Wong, the founder of the Wong Center for Education, is the national organizer for the World Robot Olympiad, according to a press release.

“There were some students from Ukraine and Kazakhstan wondering if there would be any other kind of competitions as they wanted to hone their skills with one of the experts,” she said. “Will Wong ran with it, and has arranged the camp and the competition going on this Friday.”

Two of the camp members from Ukraine – Margo Proutorbva and Sofia Sova – were sponsored by the Wong Center for Education.

“It’s been an emotional trip for them,” Mackafey said, given the war going on in their homeland. “A lot of the kids are looking to train and do this as their careers and they love to compete. There are various levels of this competition that take place on a global scale.”

Local students were on hand as well, some of whom are being sponsored by the Wong Foundation, sources said.

Wong, of Naperville, was supervising Friday at the airport facility and said he started a robotics program with kids back in 2008.

“STEM has become a lot of the focus,” Wong said. “Even before I started, STEM was a big word. Engineering coding has always been there. It’s just how can we have kids do more of it. What’s happened is there are education companies like LEGO and other companies that have built robots that allow us to teach kids robotics in an easy fashion and we can create real world challenges off those robots so they literally are engineering, building and creating, designing and working with teams to have robots do tasks.”

Other than the collaborative learning, Wong said the biggest takeaways of the program “are problem-solving, figuring out how to make things work, a lot of trial-and-error, analysis and critical thinking.”

“There is teamwork, but the biggest is perseverance and working through the problems,” he said. “If the robot doesn’t work the first time or the second time or the 100th time, they are truly going through the engineering process – building, design and the whole cycle.”

Margo Proutorbva, 14, spoke about robotics and said through an interpreter she got interested in them two years ago.

“I’ve learned to assemble them,” she said. “The most difficult part of this has been when you assemble a robot with someone else – it’s way easier when you do it on your own. My robot can grab different objects, follow lines and turn in different ways.”

David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.

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Problem-solving, critical thinking on display at robotics event at Aurora Municipal Airport

Robots and the kids that built and operated them took center stage all day Friday at the Aurora Municipal Airport in Sugar Grove as 17 students 9 to 16 years old squared off in a competition during the first-ever Elite Robotics Camp, hosted by the U.S. Engineering League and the Wong Center for Education. The Friday showcase was the culmination of a week-long camp program that included four days of workshops held at the Hampton Inn in Aurora. A press release issued by the robotics camp said the 17 students...

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