Centre for the Advancement of Thinking Modelling Instruction Workshop, ASU, July 21st 2003 Cognitive Acceleration Getting at Students’ General Intelligence Philip Adey, King’s College, London University

Centre for the Advancement of Thinking Thinking Science activity: Treatments and Effects Carrots With Grocaro Carrots Without Grocaro Does Grocaro make carrots grow bigger?

Centre for the Advancement of Thinking Your Task: What animal or plant do you have? What is the treatment given to them? What effect is it supposed to have? Do you think the treatment has the supposed effect? How did you work it out?

Centre for the Advancement of Thinking Notions of intelligence: Working memory capacity –The number of bits of information one can operate on at one time. Inhelder and Piaget’s idea of ‘Formal operations’ –Includes abstract modelling and comparing the possible with the real.

Centre for the Advancement of Thinking A simple model of the mind Long-term memory Information is stored by association - ‘neural networks’ Sense Organs Convert external stimuli to neural signals Information from outside and from L.T. memory is processed Working memory

Centre for the Advancement of Thinking Schemata of formal operations Control of variables Proportionality Classification systems Equilibrium Probability Formal models In the pendulum, You need to keep Mass, length, and Width of swing in mind at once ? Scaling up, you need all 3 numbers in mind at once Can you use the kinetic theory to Predict behaviour?

Centre for the Advancement of Thinking What influences cognitive development? Genetic make-up –… but environment plays a role from very early after conception, and anyway there is nothing we can do about it Maturation of the central nervous system –The brain matures in line with the rest of the body Cognitive stimulation –This is what we have some control over … What does ‘Cognitive Stimulation’ look like…?

Centre for the Advancement of Thinking Stimulation requires ‘Cognitive Conflict’ … a Somewhat Surprising event Dialogue with teacher or more experienced peer Assimilation, but also... Accommodation of the processing mechanism to the higher level demand … and ‘Social Construction’

Centre for the Advancement of Thinking “… learning which is oriented toward developmental levels that have already been reached is ineffective from the viewpoint of a child’s overall development. It does not aim for a new stage of the developmental process, but rather lags behind this process. The only good learning is that which is in advance of development” Mind in Society, 1930 / 1978, p. 82 Lev Vygotskii says:

Centre for the Advancement of Thinking Pillars of Cognitive Acceleration Social Construction Dialogue with others is essential Cognitive Conflict The mind develops in response to stimulation Metacognition Reflecting on how we tackled the problem Schema of Formal ops. Control of variables Proportionality Probability Classification etc.

Centre for the Advancement of Thinking Theory into Practice … since 1984 “Original Flavour” CASE: is aimed at Grades 6 and 7; consists of 30 x 60 minute lessons, taught once every two weeks instead of regular science (the 3rd Edition of “Thinking Science” was published by Nelson Thornes in 2001); has a two-year Professional Development programme. � CAME - secondary Mathematics & CATE - secondary Technology � Let’s Think! for Kindergarten - being extended to Grade 1 � Let’s Think through Science! is for Grade 2 - and soon G3 … there is also:

Centre for the Advancement of Thinking activity Milk or tea first? “ I can taste whether the milk or the tea has been added first.” How many would I have to get right out of five before you believed I really could tell? If you throw five coins, what is the chance of getting five heads ?

Centre for the Advancement of Thinking Long term effects: ‘Added value’ 1Find levels of cognitive development of all at school entry (grade 6) 2Find relationship between non-CASE schools’ entry level and national test grades end of Grade 10 3See by how much CASE schools’ grades exceed these expectations Mean Grade 6 School Intake (Percentile) Mean GCSE Grade Year 11 F E D C B A E Control Schools B National average E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E B J J J J J J J J J JJ JCASE Schools St. Albans Chatham Girls Sharnbrook George Abbott Downend Downham Market St. Edmunds Sion Manning Clapton South Camden Rokeby 1999 GCSE science

Centre for the Advancement of Thinking … and the transfer effect E E E E E E E E E E E E E E J J J J J J J J J J J B 2.5 E 3.5 D 4.5 C 5.5 B 6.5 A Mean Grade 6 School Intake (Percentile) E Control Schools J CASE Schools B National Average St. Albans Chatham Girls George Abbott Sharnbrook Downend Downham Market St. Edmunds Clapton Sion Manning South Camden Rokeby GCSE Maths 1999 E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E J J J J J J J JJ J J H 2.5 E 3.5 D 4.5 C 5.5 B 6.5 A Mean Grade 6 School Intake (percentile) St. Albans Chatham Girls George Abbott Sharnbrook Downend St. Edmunds Clapton Sion Manning South Camden Rokeby Downham Market Mean Grade Mean Grade GCSE English 1999

Centre for the Advancement of Thinking The Professional Development Issue Teaching for cognitive acceleration may need a radical re-think of one’s view of the nature of learning and teaching … … and so a radical shift in pedagogy … thus, it generally requires a long term and supportive programme of Professional Development.

Centre for the Advancement of Thinking Summary We have good evidence that an intervention based on Piagetian ideas of cognitive conflict and Vygotskyan ideas of social construction leads to long-term gains in academic achievement far beyond the (science) context of the intervention itself. BUT … It is a slow process It is dependent on the quality of teaching There remain questions about the mechanism The Hedgehog has one big idea…..

Centre for the Advancement of Thinking Contact Professor Philip Adey Centre for the Advancement of Thinking King’s College London University Franklin Wilkins Building Stamford Street, London SE1 9NN Thinking Science is published by Nelson Thornes