Module 3 – Curriculum
GED Skills
Critical Thinking and Graphic Literacy Skills
In addition to subject area content, the GED emphasizes both critical thinking skills and graphic literacy.
- Critical thinking is the cognitive process of questioning that we use when we seek to understand, evaluate, or resolve. On the GED Tests, questions have been designed so that students must demonstrate higher-order cognitive skills - critical thinking skills - based on Bloom's Taxonomy. These skills include the ability to comprehend, as well as to apply, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information.
- Graphic Literacy is the ability to understand, interpret, and analyze data represented graphically. In general, people in modern societies can grasp the meaning of data more quickly when they are presented visually. Thus graphics, and the ability to interpret them, have grown in importance in daily communication and in the workplace. Graphics interpretation is strongly emphasized on the GED. Sixty percent of the Social Studies, 50 percent of the science, and 50 percent of the mathematics sections are based on graphics or a combination of prose and graphics.¹
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“Charts and graphs are confusing. I never understand what the pictures represent or how to ‘read’ the data.” |
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"We’ve always worked to include Bloom’s Taxonomy as a part of how we taught adult learners. Our learners had a leg up when it came to the revised GED test." |
Take a moment to consider how you might find instructional and curriculum resources that address critical thinking skills for the GED with adult literacy learners.
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On your worksheet, record your initial thoughts about critical thinking skills, graphic literacy and the GED. |
If you are using commercially published study materials designed for the revised GED, critical thinking skills and graphic literacy will most likely already be built into lessons. Adult literacy instructors can also foster critical thinking skills by asking students to summarize their readings, apply previously learned knowledge and skills to new situations, or to compare and contrast points of view. In the language arts – reading section, instructors should work with students to identify the author’s use of different techniques, such as tone, word choice, characterization, details, and figurative language. To strengthen graphic literacy skills, use visual representations of data or concepts throughout instruction of GED learners. Ask them to make predictions, identify trends, and state implications based on the data or graphic.
Listed below is a real-life adult education scenario. While you are reading, consider the feelings and concerns of the adult learner. Then review the instructor’s decisions. How has she integrated critical skills instruction into his learning?
Real-Life Scenario -- Thinking Skills for Alejandro:
Alejandro is studying for the GED. He is having particular trouble summarizing the main points of the poetry and drama pieces he has been assigned to study. He’s never worked with materials like this before. After talking with him about methods for study, his instructor challenges him to list five ways he could make the material more interesting. Alejandro writes a list, and decides to ask the instructor to read the poetry and drama pieces into a tape recorder. He thinks that hearing them spoken aloud, as they are designed to be, will assist him in his understanding. His instructor agrees, but again challenges him to summarize the two pieces as he listens to her recording.
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On your worksheet, record your thoughts on integrating critical thinking skills into your classroom curriculum. |
Click the + sign in the box to the right to see ideas from other Adult Education Instructors. | [?] |
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My students just don’t “get” political cartoons – which do appear on the GED. So we have started paying more attention to current events; they watch the news at home, and then we read the papers in class. Then we go on the Internet and look at cartoons. We write down our analysis of the cartoon’s meaning, building graphics skills along with reading and writing skills.
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We do a lot of work with fact and opinion, and cause and effect. These are not only critical thinking skills for the GED, but important life-long skills that impact learners’ ability to make decisions and solve problems.
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In reading a piece of literature, I encourage my students to identify what tone they sense from the author. I try to get them to visualize a picture about what is going on in the reading.
In reviewing these ideas, did you find any similar to your own? Did any of them strike you as particularly interesting? Did they provide any new insights for your instruction of adult literacy learners?
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On your worksheet, make note of any tips, insights, or new ideas gained from the instructors’ suggestions. |
In Summary:
- Integrated into all five areas of the GED are questions requiring learners to apply critical thinking skills and use graphic literacy.
- Instructors should be familiar with Bloom’s Taxonomy, as it forms a basis for the critical thinking skills on the GED as well as the various ways graphics are used on the test.
- Adult literacy instructors should ensure students have access to materials and curricula that integrate these skills into instruction for the revised GED.
- Adult literacy instructors should be familiar with what is available in their literacy program.
- See the link “For Further Study” to find additional internet-based resources.
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On your Worksheet, record any final notes or thoughts, specific ideas you want to remember, plans for further study, etc. |
Click "Next" below or a specific topic on the outline to the left to continue.
References:
1 Kentucky Educational Television. (2007). GED 2002 Online Professional Development: Graphic Skills on the GED tests. Retrieved from http://www.ket.org/ged2002/gl/index.htm