Joined-Up Thinking Links

Teaching Thinking, the website of the Centre for Thinking Skills.

The Centre is an educational research centre, linked to Brunel University, which since1991 has provided ideas, information and resources on teaching thinking for teachers, parents and others interested in education. The idea of teaching thinking is not new. Improving the quality of thinking has always been a central aim of education. It is part of life-long learning. Better thinking will bring more success in learning and in life. But what are thinking skills? And how are they developed? Thinking skills are the mental processes in thinking. If thinking is how we make sense of experience, then better thinking will help us to learn more from our experience and to make better use of our intelligence. Learning how to think will help develop intelligence no matter how young or old we are. It will help us to get more out of learning and out of life. The Centre for Thinking Skills aims to provide information and resources that will help you, and your children, become better at thinking and learning.

'Teaching Children to Think' by Robert Fisher (1995) Cheltenham: Stanley Thornes 272pp ISBN 0748722351

An inspiring and invaluable book on teaching thinking. The book describes programmes for teaching thinking and provides many ideas for teachers and parents on ways of making children more effective at thinking and learning. 'Highly recommended ... it is an inspiring book.' (teacher)

'Full of rich ideas' (John Cowan, Open University)

Philosophy for Children

What is Philosophical Enquiry? Children and their teacher share some reading or listening. The children take thinking time to devise their own questions and then discuss them. The group meets regularly. The questions get deeper and more thoughtful. The pupils' discussions become more disciplined and focused, yet, at the same time, more imaginative. They care more about what others say but don't accept easy answers. They develop the ability to recognise differences and explore them constructively. This describes how a philosophical community of enquiry develops. No gimmicks, no jargon - just high expectations of children's abilities to think critically and creatively, and to develop morally and socially. Taken from Philosophical Enquiry with children by SAPERE (Society for the Advancement of Philosophical Enquiry and Reflection in Education).

Edward de Bono has written over fifty-six books on teaching thinking. His approach, especially such tools as ‘thinking hats’, are used in some schools and his programme developed through the Cognitive Research Trust is now accessible to schools. It consists of six sections, each of ten lessons including a teacher’s handbook and lesson notes for pupils. Each section covers one aspect of de Bono’s definition of thinking: breadth, organisation, interaction, creativity, information and feeling, and action. The lessons encourage learners to stop in the middle of a lesson and consider the views of other people involved in the situation. Its overall aim is to translate thinking which, he claims, is ‘a pretty nebulous subject and needs anchoring with some focus of attention’ (de Bono, 1991, p.187) by use of structured exercises.

'Teaching Thinking' by Edward De Bono (1991) London: Penguin Books.

A Path To Critical Thinking In Early Childhood

Constructivism: The constructivist teacher sees critical thinking as the heart of the teaching and learning process in contrast to the reductionist and developmentalist points of view. Because of this paradigm, the elementary school classroom teacher searches for experiences that will foster the development of alternative and creative solutions to problems, and the development of clear, reasonable, meaningful, and thoughtful communications. This presupposes a thoughtful analysis of not only how concepts are uncovered by the child but also of the physical, emotional, and cognitive environment of the classroom itself. For these writers, as for others, the constructivist perspective encompasses critical thinking as the major component of a comprehensive definition of education itself.

Can Thinking Skills Be Taught? from the Scottish Council for Research in Education

'The overarching context for this discussion paper:

• a long history of interest in the workings of the mind by members of disparate disciplines;
• a dissatisfaction with the concept of intelligence as one stable measurable quality (Gardner, 1993);
• the possibility now with the development of magnetic resonance imaging of observing the brain ‘at work’;
• renewed interest in the ways in which children think;
• the belief that educationalists can improve children’s thinking with specific interventions."