Insanity

Doing the same thing

the same way

and expecting a different result.

Pontins Holiday Camp Conference Centre Blackpool

Christine Gilbert

Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Schools

Annual Report 2005/06

I am convinced that we can climb above the present plateau in results through a sensitive and shrewd focus on the needs of each individual. Systems and processes need to be in place that maximise each pupil’s capacity to learn, to achieve and to participate.

Christine Gilbert (her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Schools)

said in the 2020 vision Report

‘the government’s system of league tables and targets is

destroying young people’s ability to think for themselves…’

‘Teenagers are being spoon fed through GCSEs and A Levels to such an extent that they arrive at university expecting to be told the answers‘

‘The system is working against creating the independent, committed students we want’

Teaching students to think

Generates engagement

Students are only likely to tackle tough questions if the context and task are

sufficiently engaging.

Generates cleverness

Constructivism

Generates understanding

Develops thinking skills

Information-processing skills Reasoning skills

Enquiry skills Creative thinking skills

Evaluation skills

INFORMATION PROCESSING

• locate and collect relevant information• sort and classify• compare and contrast• analyse whole-part relationships• sequence

REASONING

• give reasons for opinions and actions• draw inferences and make deductions• use precise language• explain thoughts• make informed decisions and judgements

• ask relevant questions• pose and define problems• plan what to do and how to research• predict outcomes and anticipate consequences• test conclusions and improve ideas

ENQUIRING

• generate and extend ideas• test hypotheses• apply imagination• look for innovative outcomes

CREATING

EVALUATING

• evaluate information• judge the value of what you have read heard or done• develop criteria for judging value• have confidence in judgements

Developing personal, learning and thinking skills in the curriculum (PLTS)

• independent enquirers

• creative thinkers

• reflective learners

• team workers

• self-managers

• effective participators

If you were to do the murder mystery again, what would you do differently?

What have you learned about group work and problem-solving from the exercise?

Metacognition involves gaining awareness and control over your thinking behaviour.

Robin Fogarty

Rockett and Percival say ...

In our work on Thinking for Learning it has become increasingly apparent that young people of any age can be taught to think more clearly, to express themselves and their thoughts more eloquently and to grow in self-esteem as a result.

These attributes do not develop in all pupils simply through exposure to challenging and interesting tasks.

Pupils’ thought processes and strategies for dealing with questions and problems need to be made explicit to them through skilful de-briefing about the process of the lesson, not only the content.

These processes need to be given names so that pupils develop a thinking language and they need to be celebrated as valuable skills alongside more practical skills or academic knowledge and achievement.

Karen Crothers

Tonypandy Community College

Y7

Algebra

Mystery At The Dog and Duck

Jo Harter-Tong & Rosie Pilling

Hope High School, Salford

Y11

Antibodies, Vaccines & Creative Writing

Double whammyDouble whammy

Generic key skills are largely delivered by carefully designed learning activities and

are ‘unloaded’ through meta-learning discussions.

The devil is in the detail

Calling Cards

Professor Guy Claxton’s 4 Rs

Resilience

Reflectiveness

Reciprocity

Resourcefulness

Learning to Learn firstly refers to teachers drawing pupils’ attention to the learning process:

•Explain to pupils which skills they are using in a particular task

• Ask them to think about when they might use these skills again

•Enabling them to reflect on their learning and how to improve

There are a number of simple strategies which could be incorporated into lessons :

When explaining the learning objectives, include a description of the L2L objectives

Eg pupils will use problem solving skills to find out how temperature affects reaction rate

At the end of the lesson review the skill pupils have used during the lesson and how effective they think they were. There are a number of questions on the hand out which could be used as prompts.

During the lesson comment on GENERIC skills used eg pyramid note making and ask where else pupils could use the skill. Aim to make connections with other subjects.

Pyramid note making:

Title/headings

Key points

details

Structured Mind Mapping:

We do this already but we don’t always explain to pupils how to

do it effectively.

For example this task becomes much more useful if we ask them

to sort information as they organise it into their mind map, by increasing the level of detail each time they go out a level/ arrow.

Once this method has been established it becomes a much more useful task to be set for example as a homework where we want them to summarise information.

Have learning words around the room to allow pupils to build a vocabulary of learning (planning, thinking, problem solving, time management, communication, resourcefulness , presenting, resilience,reciprocity,connecting ideas, memorising, organisation).

Explain to the class why you have chosen a particular activity and why you want them to do it a particular way to develop their skills in communication, time management etc

Frequently ask pupils to explain how they arrived at a particular answer. Eg What was your strategy? Is there another way of doing it?

Learning Diaries. These could be electronic or notebook based. Pupils can record their own development of learning strategies, checklists for example presentation, note making types etc.

Building up to:

Allowing students to manage their own learning. If they are

to become self sufficient learners we should provide lessons that

give pupils:

A chance to determine their own pace

Choice about how to learn information / task menus

Opportunities to investigate and research independently

Chance to negotiate learning strategies with us

Followed by the opportunity to assess their success.

How to Do it

There a number of different approaches/

activities which can be used to build in

independent learning.

Scene Setting.

This is the easiest way to get pupils engaged in a lesson and helps to bring in a problem solving element.

Organ Systems.

If possible show pupils

a clip from Frankenstein.

Ask them questions such as

‘What would the doctor need

to give his monster if it was

to live?’

They can then carry out a market

place activity to find out about

Organs before designing their monster

Planets

If possible show a clip From war of the worlds/Independence Day.

Introduce Aliens whose Planet has been destroyed.

Give pupils a list of needs

Ask them to research conditions on each planetand assess the suitability of each.

They need ice and rock to grow their favourite food the waffleplant They have no sweat glands to keep them cool, so it cannot be too hot They have very sensitive eyes and prefer short days They like to have day trips to moons.

If a scenario like these is too difficult to come up with rival brothers and sisters etc can be used:

Bart thinks that the food he eats will travel directly to his cells to be used once he has swallowed.

Lisa thinks that something must happen to the food first before it can travel to her cells.

Who is correct?

Problem Solving

This can take a number of forms. One is to set up a story and give pupils elements to put together to work out what happened.

Eg Murder at the Burgh Hotel

The important point to remember here is that you have to give them specific instructions on how they are allow to work

Do not show your cards to anyone else

Only one person can write anything down

You must all agree on your answers

You are only allowed to check with me when you have answered all the questions (Do not tell them which are correct/wrong).

The language used to explain the task is important:

You must use your time management skills to ensure that you complete

The task on time

The group who gets all the answers correct is the top set for today.

If no groups solve the problem in time I win.

At the End:

Which skills did you use?

How could you improve ?

How else could we approach the problem?

P and S waves activity

Activities based on the prediction principle

If you ask pupils to say what they think

will happen they will want to know if

they were right

Eg Louis Pasteur

Activities based on peer teaching

The Marketplace:

Prepare

Present

Check

Reflect

Discussion and other group work

Use De Bono’s hats. Give pupils the vocabulary to play their role.

Tokenism

Questionable Currency