Philippe Longchamps, who is from Sherbrooke and who has been teaching for several years in Sweden, sometimes likes to confuse his students. After long hours of teaching them otherwise, he pretends for a good hour that… the Earth is flat.
“I make them believe that I taught them what the government wanted, that I lied to them and that I now want to do things properly”, tells the To have to the history, geography and technology teacher at the bilingual Montessori school located in Lund, in the south of the country.
Then follows a long discussion in his class, which integrates geography and physics, where he lists “evidence” from in fact conspiracy theories while carefully observing the reactions of the students. “I see that in the class, there are students who are more gullible than others. They like me and want to believe what I say. While others are immediately skeptical in their non-verbal ”, he says.
The students then bombard him with questions and discuss in small groups the new elements defended by their teacher, to then put him to the test again. He continues to sink into his conspiratorial remarks and tries to have an answer to everything. “You can see that the class is starting to turn against me, and the students have an hour to convince me that what they learned with me before is more valuable,” he continues.
When the students see that I’m making a mistake, I want them to tell me. And I congratulate them. This is behavior I want to encourage.
In this era of misinformation and division on social networks, this method has the merit of instilling in its young people the habit of checking the facts and a healthy skepticism, he believes. This also promotes sustainability of knowledge. “It’s more important to do that than an exam on the things they memorized.” They may forget what I said, what they read in the book or what they saw on the PowerPoint. But they are not going to forget what they themselves have developed in terms of thinking. »
The teacher, who did a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Quebec, was in Montreal this week to give a “master class” at MTL connect, a major event dedicated to digital. His teaching methods have also earned him the title of Teacher of the Year in Sweden in 2020, and a finalist for the prestigious Global Teacher Prize last year, which rewards the best teacher in the world.
Included in the curriculum
Philippe Longchamps advocates a holistic approach, which promotes the integration of different subjects, which has an impact on students’ results and allows them to make connections.
The inclusion of critical thinking in each subject is also recommended. Something, he believes, that the Quebec government should look into.
“In Sweden, the advantage is that in the curriculum, it is included since 2011. It is part of the notation in Swedish, in history or in biology. The student can’t get an A if they haven’t developed their critical thinking skills,” he says.
This may involve students’ ability to determine whether a source is reliable or not, and demonstration using evidence in their analysis. “In the national tests of 9e year, they have questions that will test their level of credulity and detect if they are able to distinguish facts from opinions,” he points out.
Something that young people sometimes have difficulty distinguishing. The latest figures from the Program for International Learning Assessment, the survey conducted by the countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), show that only 9% of 15-year-olds can tell the difference between facts and opinions. An “alarming” situation, he says.
“The first thing to do is to better educate teachers on how to recognize errors in logic and confirmation bias, and how to teach it to young people. Too many people suffer from the fact that some believe fake news. »
Coping with the Internet
In a book that Philippe Longchamps has just published with Charlotte Graham, Transformative Education, the authors detail techniques and projects that teachers can implement to develop critical thinking in their students. For example, ask young people to graph raw data from reliable sources, then compare the result with their classmates and, finally, with graphs produced by experts.
“They learn a lesson that will last a lifetime, that it’s a good habit to always question what can be found on the Internet,” write the authors, who are thinking in particular of theories that deny climate change.
Inculcating critical thinking, however, requires a dose of humility on the part of the teacher, and asks not to be too authoritarian. “I want to create a safe environment for students, where they have the right to challenge. To check if what I say is true, emphasizes Philippe Longchamps. When the students see that I’m making a mistake, I want them to tell me. And I congratulate them. This is behavior I want to encourage. »
This “risk-taking” on the part of the students also allows them to develop their creativity and innovate, and to reduce their fear of making a mistake, which can feed their anxiety.