Helping your Pupils to Think for Themselves

Jeni Wilson, Kath Murdoch

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781136780783
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Didattica
• Subtopic: Didattica generale

Possibly the biggest challenge teachers face in the classroom is getting their pupils to think for themselves. When children learn to think independently, they are able to take control of their own learning. Whats more, they become good at dealing with the many problems that life will inevitably throw their way not only good at solving these pro

The importance of thinking

1

 

 

Thinking is central to learning. To this end, teachers have always been concerned with what, when and how their pupils think. Across the world, we are experiencing a shift to more pupil-centred approaches to learning — and this shift has brought about a new emphasis on the teaching of thinking. More and more educators are asking themselves: How can we help our pupils learn to be independent, creative, critical and reflective thinkers? How can we support pupils to think for themselves? Developing the capacity to think for themselves by using a variety of thinking skills is essential for pupils to become successful, lifelong learners who can successfully tackle a range of problems at school and beyond.

Planning for thinking in the classroom should be guided by a clear set of beliefs. The beliefs that underpin the strategies in this book are:

■ Thinking is central to teaching and learning.

■ Pupils think in different ways. A teaching program should acknowledge and accommodate these differences.

■ Reflective thinking and metacognition enhance learning — and pupil ownership of learning.

■ Thinking skills and questioning strategies can be taught. This is best done within the context of meaningful content and purposeful activities.

■ Cooperative group work can enhance thinking. Dialogue, including a range of types of questioning (between pupils and between teachers and pupils), is vital to the development of thinking skills.

■ Improving pupils' thinking takes time and a less cluttered curriculum.

■ Developing pupils' thinking skills enhances learning across the curriculum and in a wide range of real-world learning situations.

If these beliefs are accepted, they offer a framework for developing a more thinking-oriented classroom.

Types of thinking

2

Before we can plan to teach thinking more effectively, we need to clarify our own understanding of what thinking actually is. To do this, it is helpful to establish the different kinds of thinking that we want our learners to do. There are many types of thinking and different types of thinking are required for different purposes. For example, if logical thinking doesn't solve a problem, creative thinking might be useful. Metacognition would also be used to help decide if new strategies are required.

While critical, creative and, to some extent, reflective thinking are often well understood and taught, metacognition — perhaps the most crucial type of thinking for pupil progress — is often misunderstood and, therefore, is less effectively translated into effective classroom practice. Metacognition involves active self-assessment, active decision making and personal goal setting. Involving pupils in their own thinking and learning in these ways is an important educational goal.

To be more specific, metacognition is when a learner (or teacher) is aware of their own thinking, evaluates their own thinking and regulates their own thinking. The following box provides examples of questions and statements that indicate metacognition.

Questions and statements indicating metacognition

What do I need to do here? (Awareness)

I need to change my way of working. (Regulation)

Am I making progress? (Evaluation)

When I worry that I can't solve these problems, I never get them done. (Awareness and evaluation)

The problem we did last week was similar to this… (Awareness)

I am not good at these kinds of tasks. (Evaluation)

My plan isn't working so I need to change the way I am approaching this task. (Regulation)

Reflective thinking is also promoted as important for learning but it is not the same as metacognition. When we are being metacognitive, the focus of thinking is our own thinking, whereas reflective thinking is about something other than our own thinking.

Reflective thinking is deeper than just thinking about something — it refers to almost any purposeful thought where the learner engages in active, persistent and careful consideration of ideas for a deeper understanding. Dewey's (1933) conception is almost always referred to when attempting to define reflection. He described reflection as systematic and rigorous thinking used to resolve states of doubt, a question or a perplexity. Reflection and metacognition are keys to learning.

We learn from reflecting on experiences, feelings and beliefs. This is true for all learners (including teachers), therefore we need to strategically plan and teach for thinking in the context of authentic learner-centred classrooms, regardless of the age of the pupil or the subject area being taught.

Thinking can be organised in many ways but we have chosen three broad headings:

1 reflective thinking and metacognition

2 creative thinking

3 logical and critical thinking.

The thinking guide on pages 6–7 has been developed to assist teachers with planning to make the links between the thinking types and the associated skills, teacher questions and sample activities. The guide also gives examples of questions and comments which indicate that pupils are engaging in the type of thinking.

The lists in the thinking guide are not exhaustive, nor do they indicate that types of thinking should be discrete. Thinking usually involves skills in more than one category. In addition, skills such as synthesising could involve creative or critical thinking. For example, compare the difference between the synthesis of statistical and qualitative data. With these considerations in mind and to aid accessibility, the skills have been listed in one category only.

Similarly, the strategies have only been listed in one category to avoid repetition but many may be used in different ways and for different purposes. For example, de Bono's coloured thinking hats involve critical, creative and reflective thinking and metacognition, and many graphic organisers can be used for a range of purposes.

The thinking guide is not meant to be a sequential planner, nor is it intended that activities be contrived to cover all skills in any one lesson. By using the guide, a more balanced approach is possible. By the end of a sequence of learning events, most, if not all, types of thinking (but not necessarily all skills) would occur. The thinking audit below is designed to help teachers keep tabs on their coverage of thinking skills. Teachers are encouraged to add to the strateg...