thinking skills hayley moir
TRANSCRIPT
Introduction
Changing patterns of employment affect young people’s future careers. To manage these changes, young people need to leave education equipped with the skills to adapt and continue their lifelong learning.
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Studies have found that teachers who employ ‘thinking skills strategies’ believe that:
Their own teaching benefits as well as their pupils’ learning.
Pupils are less de-motivated and bored about their learning.
Pupils develop greater responsibility for their own learning
Pupil’s confidence grows to the point they are willing to suggest new ideas that make you, as the teacher, say “I’ve never thought of that”
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Social Subjects
Social Subjects can be brilliant & exciting subjects that have a rightful place in the curriculum to assist in the delivery of the four capacities.
Our concerns as teachers are not so much with the subject but with pupils’ learning. Our subjects should assist learning, not simply be a load of content to be delivered.
Thinking skills represent a fresh perspective on more traditional methods of teaching & learning.
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The Thinking Skills below complement the key skills embedded in any Social Subjects programme of study:
Information- processing skills Reasoning skills Enquiry Skills Creative thinking skills Evaluation Skills
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Taboo
Taboo is a game involving describing key words without being able to use words which are most associate with them.
Taboo has the advantage of not being dependent upon high levels of literacy and is therefore accessible to the poorer readers.
Pupils have to think & talk about the meaning of the specific word and in doing so, construct & clarify deeper understanding of Social Subjects.
Taboo is a very useful tool in Formative Assessment.
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This activity encourages pupils to:
Use speaking & listening skills Define key terms Develop vocabulary Make connections Participate in a fun activity & gain self-
confidence
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Opinion Corners
A national priority in education is to promote citizenship by fostering a broad understanding of society & the key issues which shape it. In order to meet this aim, it is essential that pupils have the opportunity to engage in these issues, allowing them to form opinions and come to their own conclusions.
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Put your name on your post-it and give one reason to explain your thinking!
Stick it on the board next to the answer you agree with.
What do I think?
Totally wrong
Totally Right
Unsure
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Opinion Line – Prison is the
best form of punishment for
all crimes
Who do you think should be responsible?
We will read each issue below and think about whether the rules should be made by the UK Parliament or by the European Union.
Move to the side of the classroom that best represents your ideas. Be prepared to give reasons for your answers.
UK Parliament
European Union
Left hand side Right hand side
There a number of advantages to using this strategy:
Pupils are participating in the lesson & are taking responsibility for their own learning as they are coming up with arguments themselves rather than simply being given the information.
Pupils are putting into practice the main principles of Enquiry Skills as they are stating an opinion & then supporting it by explaining their reasoning.
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Mysteries
A mystery task will allow pupils to engage with text and source material and to ask enquiring questions.
In groups, pupils are presented with disordered pieces of information relating to a recently studies theme.
The group work together to identify & resolve the mystery.
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You will be given clues and information along the way to help you solve the mystery.
You must only open the envelope when told to.
Each group must fill in their ‘evidence file’!
A few rules…
A woman has been found dead in her house!!
No one can explain the cause of her death.
What on earth has happened??
Your task is to work as a group to solve the mystery and present your case to the mayor of the city.
You will need to think about the following for each source and fill in your sheet;What can I see?What can I learn from the evidence?What does this tell me about the cause of death?What can I use from the evidence to support this?
What you need to do…
As a group you need to produce a brief summary of your findings in a report!
Make sure as a group you write it down!
You will have 2 minutes maximum to present your findings to the room!
Trying to solve the mystery…
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One minute she was fine, and then all of a sudden she started vomiting and had a dreadful case of diarrhoea. I made sure that she went to bed but I then had to go to work. When I came back her skin had turned a blue-black colour, it was horrendous! Her eyes had sunk into her head she really looked a mess! It was so horrible having to watch her struggle to breath, but then it was so quiet. I knew that the best thing that could have happened did and she no longer had to suffer. I still have no idea as to what caused her to become so ill! However, I have heard something about a disease called Cholera!
Odd One Out employs a number of important skills that are used on a daily basis in the “real world” such as:
Classification Sorting Discussion & decision-making Connections Listening Feedback/justification
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3-5-7
One your mini white board write down 3 issues facing African Nations.
Speak to your shoulder partner & now come up with 5 issues, write these down.
Now join with another pair & come with 7 issues facing African Nations.
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The advantages of this strategy are: This can be done very quickly There does not need to be any preparation at all It encourages pupil discussion and less able pupils
to more likely answer as it is a group answer. Pupils are learning from each other Pupils learn sorting & selecting skills as they have
to argue their case with others in the group.
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