Thinking Skills

Developing 'great learning'

scameron — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 15:25:42 +0100

What makes for good learning? This is a question that all people involved in education wrestle with. I am convinced that the question is too important to be buried under answers that stifle further thought and development. One of the greatest threats to learning is when we think we have hit on the one formula that will provide all the answers.

Facilitating independent enquiry

scameron — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 14:47:16 +0100

Managing independent enquiry is a delicate art. It can require a ‘letting go' of learning that can be distinctly uncomfortable for teachers and for the student it requires a level of responsibility that can be variously daunting or empowering. Through experience of supporting independent enquiry in both mainstream education and home education it seems that there are some lessons that can be shared.

Asking questions

scameron — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 10:03:20 +0000

Earlier in the year, BBC2 aired a fascinating programme called The Classroom Experiment in which Professor Dylan Wiliam (celebrated co-author of Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment) asked a group of teachers to introduce a variety of teaching strategies designed to encourage greater student participation in lessons.

The potential of PLTS

scameron — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 11:17:47 +0100

I fear you may be about to read this and want all the answers to making sense of and implementing the Personal Learning and Thinking Skills (PLTS) framework. There are two particular reasons why I cannot do that:

Developing ‘effective participators’ using the World Café

scameron — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 11:12:51 +0100

What is ‘the World Café’?

Developing ‘effective participators’ using Appreciative Inquiry

scameron — Tue, 25 May 2010 10:36:22 +0100

This e-bulletin continues our focus on the final key competence of the QCDA Personal, Learning and Thinking Skills framework – developing 'effective participators'. We are exploring a range of different approaches and strategies that have been used to help young people play a full part in the life of their school, college or wider community.

Developing ‘effective participators’ using Narrative Enquiry

scameron — Wed, 12 May 2010 13:53:37 +0100

We will look at the key stages of a Narrative Enquiry, and how it has been used in a range of different contexts with one in-depth example from a Northumberland High School showing how it has been used to support and inspire student-led research.

'Learning for transfer' - Hugging and Bridging

scameron — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 11:45:13 +0000

As we have seen, in a typical PLTS-focused plenary, students are asked to share not only what they have learned about the subject, but also what they have learned about the process that made the learning possible. For example, the teacher might ask her class to reflect on the type of thinking they have been doing, the strategy or methods they adopted, the social dynamics they observed within their team, and so on.

'Learning for transfer' - activities for developing an ‘inner voice’ to monitor thinking

scameron — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:30:20 +0000

Last time we looked at how to run an effective PLTS-focused debrief or plenary – in particular how rich questioning is the key to generating conversations about learning in your classroom. As we saw, the plenary in a PLTS-focused lesson is distinctive because it puts thinking and learning under the spotlight. Students are asked to share not only what they have learned about the subject, but also what they have learned about the process that made the learning possible - their thinking.

Effective debriefing: making thinking and learning skills visible

scameron — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 09:39:54 +0000

Debriefing: making thinking and learning skills ‘visible’
‘Debriefing’ refers to the discussion that takes place following or during a learning episode. The purpose of these discussions is to encourage pupils to talk not only about their answers/solutions – what they have learned about a particular subject – but also to:

Exploring emotional resourcefulness: activities for developing empathy

scameron — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 11:58:14 +0000

This week’s e-bulletin continues our focus on developing ‘self-managers' – one of the six areas of the QCDA’s Personal, Learning and Thinking Skills framework.

Last time we looked at strategies to help young learners become more aware of the blocks and limiting beliefs that get in the way of their potential, and how these are often reflected and reinforced by the language they use.

The activities shared this week focus on developing the ability to respond more capably to other people’s emotions and behaviour.

Exploring light and dark with early years

scameron — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 09:32:07 +0000

Playing with light and dark creates magical experiences that both adults and children will enjoy. Light and darkness hold fascination and intrigue, as well as an element of risk and challenge and the opportunity for young children to experience what early years consultant Marion Dowling terms ‘gratuitous fear’. Experiences involving light and shadow enable children to appreciate the awe and wonder of the world around them and provide a rich environment in which to develop their natural curiosity.

Building a self-concept: positive reframing

scameron — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 10:01:42 +0000

Learning and Teaching Update continues to look at practical activities that can be used to help young people explore the idea of 'emotional resourcefulness', that is, the capacity for self-knowledge and understanding – and the ability to make the best use of that understanding

Building a positive self-concept: emotional resourcefulness

scameron — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:30:27 +0000

This e-bulletin continues our focus on developing ‘self-managers' – one of the six areas of the QCDA’s Personal, Learning and Thinking Skills framework.

We continue to look at practical activities that can be used to help young people explore the idea of 'emotional resourcefulness', that is, the capacity for self-knowledge and understanding – and the ability to make the best use of that understanding.

Developing students as ‘self-managers': further exploration of 'emotional resourcefulness'

scameron — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 15:31:38 +0100

This issue, we will continue to look at practical activities that can be used to help young people explore the idea of 'emotional resourcefulness’, that is, the capacity for self-knowledge and understanding – and the ability to make the best use of that understanding.

The activities shared below focus on three key elements of emotional resourcefulness: identifying emotions, noticing your own emotional responses, and learning to respond more flexibly to circumstances, incidents and situations.

Developing students as ‘self-managers': a practical activity

scameron — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 09:49:35 +0100

This e-bulletin continues our focus on developing ‘self-managers' – one of the six areas of the QCA’s Personal, Learning and Thinking Skills framework. Last time, we began with an introductory strategy that can help young learners to start thinking and talking about the concept of 'self-management', and thereby begin to uncover for themselves the skills and dispositions involved.

Introducing the skills and dispositions of self-management

scameron — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:24:21 +0100

This e-bulletin continues to explore how the QCA Personal, Learning and Thinking Skills framework can be put into practice, exploring useful case studies, digests of relevant research and, above all, practical ideas for classroom use. It is hoped that these resources will help staff and students to develop a common understanding of what the different PTLS skills and competencies mean, and a common language for exploring their value both in school and in everyday life.

Integrating sports psychology into PE

scameron — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:14:01 +0100

‘Not using sports psychology as a tool is like teaching geography without maps’
Mitch Lyons, basketball coach and founder of Get Psyched, a non-profit organisation working to promote better mental health in student athletes.

Assessing creative development: the ICEDIP model

scameron — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 09:18:12 +0100

In this issue, we will look again at Geoff Petty's model of creativity and explore how it might be used to help students reflect on and evaluate their strengths and weaknesses as creative thinkers. The term 'creative' is used here in the widest possible sense, to include the creative arts, but also invention, design, problem solving, writing, entrepreneurial initiatives and so on.
Future bulletins will look at a range of other approaches to assessing creativity.

The ICEDIP model

Child initiated learning

scameron — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:30:08 +0100

What is child-initiated learning?

Creative thinking in the classroom: learning how to analyse

scameron — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:55:02 +0100

This e-bulletin continues our focus on developing ‘creative thinkers’ – one of the six areas of the QCA’s Personal, Learning and Thinking Skills framework. So far we have looked at practical 'creative thinking tools' that can be used to support both the generation and development of ideas.
In this issue, we will focus on the Control Panel strategy – a tool for analysis and synthesis that can be adapted for use in any subject area.

Developing creative thinking further

scameron — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 10:16:00 +0100

Thinking tool no. 1: Four by Four

Four by Four is a strategy that encourages students to explore and experiment with ideas before making judgements about their quality and viability.

Four by Four: instructions

Creative thinking tools for the classroom: Concept Fan, Morphology

scameron — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 16:06:53 +0100

Last issue we looked at three practical 'creative thinking tools' that can be used to support the generation of ideas. This issue offers two further idea generation techniques that are specifically designed to help students gain the confidence to think past the first ‘safe’ ideas they come up with and develop personally novel and innovative solutions.

Thinking tool no. 1: Concept Fan

Creative thinking tools for the classroom: Kick Cards, The Inverse, Double Six

scameron — Tue, 19 May 2009 12:17:01 +0100

We all have a natural capacity to imagine, think speculatively and make bold connections between ideas. However, as children grow older, this capacity is often dulled whether due to an overdose of high-stakes testing, fear of failure, anxiety or peer pressure.

Creativity: promoting discussion through a Concept Line activity

jlee — Tue, 05 May 2009 16:57:16 +0100

Last time, we looked at a case study from a secondary school in Northumberland where staff and KS3 students are actively engaged in exploring how creativity might be promoted in students’ learning across the curriculum. In this issue, we will look at one of the activities used to initiate dialogue about creativity between staff and students.

Encouraging creative thinkers: working across the curriculum

scameron — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 10:26:32 +0100

This e-bulletin will continue to explore how the QCA Personal, Learning and Thinking Skills framework can be put into practice. So far we have explored practical ideas and classroom resources useful for helping students develop as ‘Independent Enquirers’ and effective ‘Team Workers’.

How to develop independent student learning

scameron — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:07:41 +0100

William Parker School is an 11 to 16 comprehensive school in Daventry, Northamptonshire. In its first year as a specialist humanities college, priorities were established to develop opportunities for both students and staff that would impact on learning across the whole school. The specialism would support a sustainable improvement in achievement for all students. As Daventry, and its local area, is changing rapidly we were particularly aware of the need to develop our students’ personal learning and thinking skills.

Develop your pupils' empathy skills

scameron — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 09:54:36 +0100

It is always a good idea to ensure that we have an accurate and consistent understanding of a theme before trying to deliver any advice, strategies or changes to current practice. There are certainly clear links between effective behaviour management, improvement in observed behaviour and an approach that has empathy firmly at the centre.

The ability to empathise allows you to:

Philosophy for Children (P4C)

scameron — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 16:54:08 +0100

Philosophy for Children (P4C) has, since its introduction to the UK in the 1990s, developed as a powerful pedagogical approach and met with ever-increasing popularity. Questions and dialogue are central to P4C, which many teachers feel helps to develop their pupils’ thinking skills, their confidence to speak and listen to others, and their respect of other people’s viewpoints. Many teachers also mention the engagement and enjoyment with which their pupils take part in ‘philosophy’ sessions.

Philosophy for Children: intergenerational dialogue

scameron — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 14:55:40 +0100

What is P4C?

Developing pupils' social skills to improve teamwork: part 2

scameron — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:48:21 +0000

Last time we looked at the first three steps of this structured approach:

Step 1: Set up a Teamwork Skills Centre
Step 2: Choose a Skill-of-the-Week
Step 3: Introduce the skill

This week we will look at the final three steps, namely:

Developing pupils' social skills to improve teamwork: part 1

scameron — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 14:29:05 +0000

When teams fail, it is almost always for one of two reasons: the students don't want to work together, or they don't know how to work together – they lack the will or the skill to co-operate as a team. Last issue, we focused on the principles of team-building and strategies that can be used to help learners develop the will to work together during the lifespan of a team.

Developing primary thinking skills with cricket

scameron — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 11:40:27 +0000

This Primary Know-How section from PE & Sport Today offers lesson activities for:

Year 3 and 4
Year 5
Year 6

Crispin Andrews first explains how striking and fielding activities can develop children's thinking skills

Learning logs to encourage reflective learning

scameron — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 16:15:57 +0000

For a number of years, schools have utilised homework diaries for children to organise their out-of-lesson learning and to assist parents in monitoring the completion of tasks. However, although the homework diary provides an excellent aide-memoire for children to remember what they are required to do at home, I became increasingly concerned about how children recalled what they’d actually achieved while at school.

Deep learning: structuring a coherent approach

scameron — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 16:10:56 +0000

For the past six years, I have been working with a range of secondary schools throughout the UK, trying to help them make sense of learning in order to support teachers’ understanding and broaden students’ achievement. In every school, I initially ask school leaders and teachers to describe the nature of their students as learners. Invariably, I am told ‘they do like to be spoon-fed’. I wonder if this is the case; or have they come to expect to be spoon-fed, by hard-working teachers who are driven by the understandable need to ratchet up standards?

Young children's thinking skills activity

scameron — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 14:38:28 +0000

The activity provides a teacher with two lists of words which, when they have chosen from them randomly, will describe a weird and wonderful machine (in this case a 'Teenager Waker'), which pupils are then asked to imagine and design.

This activity is taken from The Thoughtful Learner; a course for pupils in Key Stage 2 that helps learners begin to understand how they learn and how to improve their skills as learners, taking an original, vibrant and colourful approach.

Written by Toby Quibell

Cooperative learning approaches for developing team workers

jlee — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 18:00:00 +0000

So far in our series on ‘Team Workers’ we have looked at procedures involving:

Improving your pupils' thinking skills

scameron — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 17:55:01 +0000

The sat-nav tells the lorry driver to turn left. He does so. His lorry is 3.4 metres high. The sign tells him that the bridge ahead of him is 3.2 metres at its highest point. But the sat-nav said... so he continues... with the inevitable consequences. He followed the instructions but he failed to think. Your children learn the routine for a fire drill. But what if a real fire were in the path that they are programmed to take? Would they think for themselves? Are your children simply following instructions or are they thinking?

Developing thinking skills

scameron — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 09:10:11 +0000

Mysteries, Odd One Out, Mind Maps and Diamond Nines. These are all thinking skill techniques that I have come across in my seven years of teaching.

Fostering thinking skills in early years

scameron — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 16:57:00 +0000

‘When children have opportunities to play with ideas in different situations and with a variety of resources, they discover connections and come to new and better understandings and ways of doing things. Adult support in this process enhances their ability to think critically and ask questions.’
(‘Creativity and Critical Thinking’, EYFS 2007)

Exploring subject-specific enquiry skills

scameron — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 16:25:45 +0000

This e-bulletin concludes our in-depth focus on developing ‘independent enquirers’ – the first of the six areas of the QCA’s Personal, Learning and Thinking Skills framework. The thinking tools and strategies shared in recent issues have all related to the different stages of a generic model of enquiry. (See the Enquiry Wheel).

Investigating decision making as an integral part of enquiry

scameron — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 13:59:54 +0000

The model of enquiry shared previously – the Enquiry Wheel – shows the main stages of a generic enquiry process together with related ‘thinking tools’ to support each stage. These thinking tools can be used in practical, structured activities that help make the skills of enquiry ‘visible’ and explicit to students.

An enquiry tool for evaluating information

scameron — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 10:36:50 +0000

The model of enquiry shared in Developing independent enquirers: how to structure enquiry – the Enquiry Wheel – shows the main stages of a generic enquiry process together with related ‘thinking tools’ to support each stage. These thinking tools can be used as practical, structured activities that help make the skills of enquiry ‘visible’ and explicit to students.

Enquiry tools for organising and making sense of information

scameron — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 10:55:34 +0100

The model of enquiry shared previously – the Enquiry Wheel – shows the main stages of a generic enquiry process as well as linking them to related ‘thinking tools’ to support each stage. These thinking tools can be used as practical, structured activities that help make the skills of enquiry ‘visible’ and explicit to students.

Enquiry tools for promoting emotional engagement and ownership

scameron — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 10:31:26 +0100

Previously, we have looked at resources and practical activities to help students develop their own understanding of what enquiry is and how it might be structured.

Developing independent enquirers: introducing enquiry

scameron — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 11:55:23 +0100

Independent enquiry involves the ability to use and combine the entire spectrum of thinking skills from information processing to reasoning, from creativity to evaluation. Take a look at the QCA’s definition for example. The framework describes an ‘independent enquirer’ as a person who can:

History storytelling activity: The atomic bomb

sara — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:28:27 +0100

The atomic bomb

Written by Peter Fisher and Ian Wilkinson and edited by David Leat

This contains a storytelling activity which will help pupils to:

English activity for key stages 3 and 4: Interpreting the final chapter of The Lord of the Flies

sara — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:28:27 +0100

Final chapter of The Lord of the Flies

Written by Marie Butterworth, Maryssa O'Conner and edited by David Leat

Enquiry skills activity: What is learning?

sara — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:28:27 +0100

Activity on 'What is learning?'

Written by Anne de A'Echevarria

This teaching resource is taken from the winner of the BESA Educational Resources Book Award 2007 - Thinking Through School.

Using dilemma-based learning in the classroom

sara — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:28:26 +0100

Introduction to dilemma-based learning and thinking skills in the classroom

Written by Phil Wood, Barry Hymer and Deb Michel

This resource explains the key features of the dilemma-based learning technique and shows how it can aid the development of higher-order thinking skills, particularly in a group situation.