This is SO HARD!! I have to think

Yes, you do. My BCIS students are working on a project that is a synopsis of all of the skills they have learned thus far in Word Processing Skills. They are creating a job description booklet for five different jobs at a movie theater. They had to "interview" five fictious characters (in a computer simulation) to discover their job duties and requirements. They have some written lists of tasks given to them by the "manager". In the corporate world, this would be a classic "inbox" task duing an interview. They were provided with a checklist outlining the different elements that should be included--a template, a table of contents, a cover page, subdocuments, a table, a bulleted list.

The problem is, they have to assimilate and THINK. They don't want to think. They want to be told step by step what to do. In education, we call this "higher order thinking" and "critical reasoning". It's a real world exercise.

A few of them take right to it. Most of them sit and stare at the computer for awhile. Then they call me over--"I don't understand how to do this" We go over the task again. I walk away, they sit for awhile, do a little input and the computer, and then call me over again--"is this RIGHT?" I explain there is no RIGHT. Each of their booklets will look different. They look at me as if I am from another planet.

Its frustrating--because in education we have not taught them these thinking skills. What will happen in real life job situations?

Another teacher here told me her husband has his own architecture firm, and the young adults he hires right out of college sit and wait to be told what to do and how to do it. IT'S SO HARD TO THINK!