An introduction to Thinking Skills

James Hoyle and Paul WytonBacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School

A stroll and a chat!!!

Neo cortex (Higher cognitive functions, Speech, Reasoning)

Limbic system (emotions, feelings)

Amygdala and Reptilian brain

Old brain!(Fear, Survival, Mating instinct)

Bloom’s Taxonomy – classification of ‘levels of learning’

Remember:

Thinking Skill activities tend to be typified by:

• Being brave enough to allow them to struggle a bit!• Avoidance of spoon feeding!• Minimal teacher intervention!• Collaboration – working on challenging stuff together/finding team solutions!• High emphasis on the spoken word/articulation of thoughts!• High level of involvement/engagement!• Reflection on how things went/how to improve

And ... A Thinking Skills exercise can be short or extended!

The skills and ideas-driven world we are preparing our kids for....... a few thoughts:

• A singing birthday card has more computer technology than existed in the entire world before 1950.• A mobile phone has more computer power than there was used in the first ever space launch.• Through nanotechnology we can build machines that are so small that you can barely see them.• We are trialling a heat-seeking submarine which is just four millimetres long to deliver medicines, lasers and cameras into the bloodstream.• If you wanted to buy bullet proof glass for your office through which you could fire out but no-one could fire in, you could.• While it took the radio 38 years, and the television a short 13 years, it took the World Wide Web only 4 years to reach 50 million users.• In 2007, Facebook.com was given an estimated value of $15 billion dollars! It began as a small project on the campus of Harvard University in 2004!

“Science has opened the door but artistry and creativity will take us through it.”(- Paul Allen, partner to Bill Gates in the Microsoft story)

That’s all well and good but what about... quadratic equations, verb endings, glaciation, the suffragette movement, iambic pentameter, perspective, dovetail joints, the periodic table, gravity, life cycles, octaves, trapping and volleying, baking cakes that we have to do?

Our conundrum: The skills driven world versus the content driven curriculum!- You have three minutes in pairs ... the clock starts now!

A little task...

1.Information processing

2.Reasoning

3.Enquiry

4.Creative Thinking

5.Evaluation

Locate information

Classify

Sequence

Compare and contrast

Analyse

Explain

Make judgmentsMake decisions

Draw inferencesDeduce

Ask relevant

questions

Pose and define problems

Predict outcomesTest conclusions

Suggest hypotheses

Apply imagination

Find alternative outcomes

Judge value of what they read/hear

Separate relevant from

irrelevant

Using precise language - describe and draw!

Dealing with unexpectedrestrictions or constraints

Robert ist ein kleiner, dicker, junger Mann! Er isst jeden Tag viel Fast Food und hat grosse Pickel! Seine Mutter ist besorgt und spricht mit ihm…

Mutti

Robert

Mutti

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Mutti

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Mutti

Robert