Promoting Thinking in Our Schools 4 th October 2006

Higher Order Thinking Is Not New For years eminent persons have attempted to define and describe thinking. Piaget Feuerstein Bloom Vygotsky De - Bono Lipman

Thinking In Moray Schools Is Not New!!! Within the authority there are a range of initiatives which involve higher order thinking such as:  Cooperative Learning  Critical Skills  AIFL  Cognitive Acceleration  Reciprocal Teaching

Hot Group The aim is to provide coherent pathways, for pupil experiences, that promote higher order thinking. The first step is to identify key pedagogical skills required by the teacher.

Key Areas Identified  Questioning  Creating and managing groups for effective social construction  Developing pupils’ metacognitive faculties  Designing cognitively challenging learning opportunities.

Questioning Different Focus Descriptive questions “What happened?” Reflective questions “Why do you think it happened?” Speculative questions “What do you think would happen if…?”

Questioning continued Different Levels, based on Bloom’s taxonomy Comprehension “ Can you put that in your own words” Application “Do you know another instance where…?” Analysis “What do you see as other possible outcomes” Synthesis “What would happen if…?” Evaluation “Is there a better solution to…?” Pupil’s questions. The ability to ask questions of oneself and others is essential.

What makes group work effective? Briefing and evaluation Task organisation Interactions Three aspects of a lesson seem to be important for group work success

Metacognition Involves both noticing and monitoring: What you are thinking How you are thinking How you are disposed to thinking

Metacognition Teachers can encourage this by: Modelling this themselves Questioning Encouraging discussion Encouraging risk taking Valuing all contributions

Cognitive Challenge Requires Teachers to: Have a model of how children learn that reflects development in their subject Know where pupils are in their development (Vygotsky’s ZPD)

Cognitive Challenge In planning an activity three questions help this process. 1.In what ways does this activity promote learning and talk? 2.What opportunities are there for the teacher and pupil to gain insights into the learning? 3.Does it help to determine what comes next?

Workshop What would you see and hear in a classroom where higher order thinking is being promoted? Consider  The Environment  The Teacher  The Pupil

What Next?  Learning and Teaching Pack and its links with higher order thinking.  The journey to excellence in higher order thinking.