Hinson letter: Critical thinking

This letter is in response to the article printed on Feb. 5, by Mark Rudin on education at BSU. It is an excellent article. I want to expand on his informative article by calling attention to the curriculum in use at the Barbara Morgan STEM Academy. This elementary school, in the West Ada School District, is a superb example of this approach to teaching on the elementary school level. My daughter is a member of the 5th grade faculty at that school. She not only devotes extra hours to being prepared to teach her students in a science-based curriculum, but is keenly aware that her teaching is intended to help her students engage in critical thinking. Recently, her teaching related to the constitutional principle of the separation of powers in our federal government.,which is now a special concern of our citizenry. The emphasis, then, is to encourage students to apply the principles of critical thinking to all arenas of thought, not only to the sciences. At this juncture we need support be given to the role of public education, and to the forward-looking principles espoused by Mr. Rudin, his colleagues at BSU, and the Meridian public schools.

This story was originally published February 23, 2017 at 5:50 PM with the headline "Hinson letter: Critical thinking."