Using Thinking Skills/Document

Using thinking-skills strategies There are a number of thinking-skills strategies that you can use in the course of your subject teaching.

Classification Sorting cards with words, short pieces of text, photographs or diagrams uses the basic skill of classification. Pupils have to sort the pieces of information into groups with similar characteristics. They have to justify their groupings and explain them to others and thus the groupings are collectively refined and improved. The categories are likely to be remembered because they are meaningful to the pupils who developed them. Classification is a stage in the inductive teaching model (see unit 2).

Case study 2 A modern foreign languages teacher gave her pupils a text that described a family’s pets. The pupils worked in groups to identify and underline all the adjectives. They then classified those adjectives in any way they chose, writing them in lists and giving each list a heading that described what the items had in common.

There were several ways of doing this, for example by the position of the adjective in relation to the noun, by agreement with the noun, or by meaning. Pupils had to explain to the class the reasons for their groupings and work out rules about French adjectives

Practical tips

It is essential that you do not interfere with or interrupt groups whilst they are doing the sorting unless it is absolutely necessary. They need to struggle in order to construct the learning. You may feel you ought to be helping, but this can easily stop pupils thinking for themselves. It is more useful for you to listen to the discussions in order to pick up information that can be used during the feedback session. Only if groups are completely stuck or have digressed should you ask one or two questions to help get them started again. It is also essential that you accept different ways of grouping as long as they are justified. You should praise pupils’ thinking, even if you have a different classification in mind as the final outcome. The important thing is the process. Also, pupils will be engaged if their efforts are acknowledged. Repeated success will help to move pupils towards independence

Reflection

Another type of classification activity would be to sort a collection of pictures – for example, sorting postcards in geography could lead into notions of physical, human and environmental geography. The key is to present words or pictures which could be classified in a number of different ways so that pupils are faced with making decisions and justifying their classification. This requires inductive reasoning. Think of an area in your subject where you could use a classification activity

Odd-one-out This is a popular and useful activity as it can be used as a lesson starter or as the basis of a full lesson, depending on the objectives being pursued. It is a technique relevant to almost every subject. Important words in a topic are put into groups of four and pupils have to select the ‘odd-one-out’, justifying their choice. Ambiguous sets of words are useful to show that there may be more than one answer and may lead to pupils using higher-order thinking skills as they reason and argue. Subject objectives are achieved as pupils develop their familiarity with and understanding of the important words and concepts in a topic. This technique is developed further in the concept attainment teaching model (unit 2).

Maps from memory Subjects such as art and design and technology rely heavily on visual literacy, and thinking-skills activities can help with this. In this activity, pupils work in groups of three or four. Group members take turns to visit the teacher’s desk to observe a map, picture or diagram for 10 seconds, with no pencil or paper for recording. They return to their group and draw or write what they can remember, adding to what previous group members have seen. Give groups time to plan their strategies before starting and give them further time to review their strategies as the activity progresses. As they plan, check and cooperate in developing the best strategies, groups become involved and really enjoy the challenge. Maps from memory also helps pupils develop insights into part–whole relationships.

Case study 3 A head of PE had a bottom-set Year 10 GCSE group in a school with a low-ability intake. He knew from experience that as soon as theory work started, the pupils would not be engaged. He decided to begin teaching the bones of the body by doing a maps-from-memory activity, using a poster of a skeleton with the bones labelled. He reported that the pupils became very motivated and asked to do it again. They also used the difficult vocabulary successfully. In the debriefing session, the pupils were able to discuss the strategies they had used and were willing to think about how they might improve, both personally and as a group, next time they had to deal with a diagram.

Practical tips

Ensure that pupils think about how they are going to collect information before they see the map or diagram. They may then have to change the strategy as they progress. It is important that they talk explicitly about where they did well and how they could improve. You should ask them to explain their strategies for completing the task and to consider how they could improve another time. (Pupils can find debriefing difficult, and it may help if you model it the first time round.) It is also a good idea to ask them in which other subjects they could use this strategy so that their improved visual literacy transfers to all their learning.

TASK: Identify maps-from-memory stimuli

For each year group in Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4, identify a map, diagram or plan in your subject which would benefit from being taught in this way.

Mysteries Pupils are posed one big, open question. Information or data are provided on small pieces of card which pupils can move round on the table as they develop, shape and evaluate ideas to answer the big question.

Case study 4 A design and technology teacher introduced a unit of work on structures for Year 9 with a mystery and the big question: ‘Why did the Tay Bridge collapse?’ Groups of pupils were given 36 pieces of information about the train crash and how the bridge had been built. They were asked to do a first sort, then reject about 10 cards that they thought were not relevant. With the big question firmly in mind, they then sorted the information again to arrive at an answer. Using pictures of the bridge and words from the cards, each group constructed a poster that explained their answer to the big question. Each group used their poster to inform the rest of the class of their reasoning.

You can find more detailed information in unit 16 Leading in learning

Classroom assignment: using thinking-skills strategies

Plan (and then teach) a lesson in which you try one of the thinking-skills strategies outlined above.