This is Jennifer Gonzalez welcoming you to episode 187 of the Cult of Pedagogy Podcast.

In this episode, we'll be talking about a strategy for deepening students' understanding

called contrasting cases.

Critical thinking is one of those habits many of us say we want schools to nurture in students.

Teaching an educated person should have in their toolbox and use frequently when encountering

the world.

But the term itself is kind of a broad, nebulous thing.

The phrase critical thinking isn't something you see frequently in standardized curricula.

And I think that's because it's more of an umbrella term that applies to more specific,

observable activities.

So teaching critical thinking can look a lot of different ways when we practice it in the

classroom.

In today's episode, we're going to look at one of those ways, a strategy you can use

to get your students thinking critically about the content you teach.

My guest, Sarah Levine, is an education professor at Stanford, who is appearing on the podcast

for the second time.

The first was an episode 162 where she talked about a fantastic strategy for responding to

literature called up down both why.

Today she's sharing another strategy, one that not only allows students to look critically

at texts, but that can also be applied to other content areas.

The strategy is called contrasting cases.

The basic gist of it is that if we want students to understand something deeply, we'll get

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