Task: Have a go at the puzzle... Brain Tech The Megamix “For there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” [Hamlet Act 2, Scene 2] Task: Have a go at the puzzle...

Why?   We have a moral responsibility to develop active and lifelong learners. Students need to think critically, creatively and reflectively. They need to be able to problem solve and have the resilience and mindset to encourage them to persist in the face of setbacks or adversity. This is a key focus on our Brain Tech curriculum in Year 7. Once students can understand how they learn best and how to develop themselves as learners, we begin to get closer to realising our goal of creating active and lifelong learners at Redden Court School.

Key aims: Short term: To create more positive and active learners. We want to create learners who are willing to take risks, yet take responsibility for their own progress and learning. We want to create resilient learners who do not give up and only learn from these experiences. Long term: We hope that long term, we will begin to see an improvement in exam results at both KS3 and KS4. Even though ‘Brain Tech’ is only part of the KS3 Curriculum, we hope that students and staff will continue to use thinking skills in all lessons and around the school.

All about you… Use the ‘role on the wall’ technique to find out more about you/your team... Note down your ideas inside the template...

‘Me Puzzle’ To develop this further, we colour code the puzzle pieces so that the responses are linked to the thinking hats Students use the puzzle template to note down many different aspects of their life...

Articulate Philosophy 4 Children Growth mindset Independent learning The person facing the screen needs to describe the terms or words on the screen for the partner to guess. You have three minutes to guess all five... Philosophy 4 Children Growth mindset Independent learning Learning styles Creative thinking

Emotional intelligence Memory Problem solving Now your partner's turn... Thinking hats The learning pit Emotional intelligence Memory Problem solving

Brain Gym Start with 8 hands to knees Then 8 elbows to knees Finger to nose x 8 Belly and head rub for 8 beats Reverse arms for 4 slow beats (one way), 4 slow beats in the opposite direction

Resource from the TES

P4C

Note down traits of an effective learner in the boxes Note down traits of an effective learner in the boxes. Can you get a full house?! THE EFFECTIVE LEARNER BINGO!

MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCE

CREATIVE THINKING Can you draw 20 types of ‘ice’?  

Students had the opportunity to create their own thinking skills products for ‘The Apprentice’ project.

THE ISLAND Students are stranded on a desert island They use a different hat each lesson to try and escape the island

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

SNAKES AND LADDERS Idea developed from a resource on the TES.

FORUM THEATRE Step 1: A selection of students act out a scenario - there is usually a conflict or something that would generate mixed response or a debate Step 2: The ‘actors’ are assigned specific members of the class to give them advice Step 3: The students start the drama from the beginning but must now follow the advice of their peers This can be repeated as many times as needed - and the ‘audience’ can be moved to support different actors/characters during the process

CRITICAL THINKING AND PROBLEM SOLVING Murder Mystery Challenge – students were detectives but also had the chance to design their own games.

What did you enjoy the most? Brain Tech Evaluation Process: What did you enjoy the most? The island/thinking hats Being creative Using the mega-bloks Murder mystery EI – Snakes and ladders Group work Homework tasks Working on the computers Looking at different ways to learn

What was most beneficial? Problem solving games Revision techniques Stress management The Island Mega bloks Emotional intelligence The brain games Your goals Mental health

Future lessons? How the brain works Human psychology What type of person am I? Goals for life More discussion More brain games How your brain figures things out How your brain works out riddles and puzzles I would like to do the theme park challenge

How could we improve? More problem solving scenarios More visual learning Use the mega bloks more More team work Time to expand and improve on our work More computer work More practical work Go on a trip Go over the thinking hats

Question: Did it help you to become an effective learner? Yes because I’ll have good revision for my GCSEs by revising and controlling my emotions Yes because learning to learn will affect my grades positively for my GCSEs Possibly. This could have an impact with the thinking hats and also the island, expanding my creativity I think it will because I now know how to revise and learn better Yes because now I know how to concentrate in lessons more and more ways to figure out problems Yes because I will be able to work out answers faster Yes – to make me more positive Yes, I now have new ways of learning Yes, because I think the thinking hats have really improved me and made me learn harder

Contact: Gemma Aukett: glord@reddencourtcloud.co.uk