1. Thinking Skills

2. If students are actively engaged,
have their own sense of direction
and spirit of enquiry, they…
learn faster;
take in more;
gain deeper understanding;
recall more.

3. Lessons should give our students the
following:
1. A feeling of security, so that they are
comfortable to voice their ideas.
2. Challenge.
3. The opportunity to wonder.
4. Self-confidence.

4. Skills-focused learning

5. What am I going to teach today?
What do I want students to learn today?
What skills can they use to help them learn today?

6. It would be interesting to conduct a study to gain an idea of how often
teachers impart information, whether it be through demonstration, oral
explanation or asking students to read some text, without first
communicating with students how they are going to actively participate in
the exercise.
Surely, if there is no mental challenge identified, the only intrinsic
motivation left is the content of the material itself together, with the
assumed extrinsic motivation that this must be something they need to
learn.
However, by incorporating a skills-focused goal, not only are we raising
awareness of the skill being practised and subtly acknowledging its
importance, but the task itself becomes more loaded with intrinsic
motivation, students have an additional reason for applying themselves
and more mental faculties are being exercised. "Knowing" the factual
content of the material itself doesn’t always need to be stated as the
primary goal for students initially. This will happen naturally due to the very
fact that the task requires them to think and assess the information in some
way or do something with it.

7. Wonder
Intrigue
Enquiry

8. The Student as Questioner
Factual: how big/expensive/ old etc?
Change?
Impact?
Right or wrong?
Expand: what if…?

9. Amazing Facts
• How big?
• How deep?
• How wide?
• How expensive?
• How many?
• How old?

10. Change
• What change can you spot in
your topic over time?
• How were things different in the
past compared to the present?
• How might things continue to
change in the future?

11. Impact
• Where would we be without..?
• Whose lives have been changed?
• What difference has been made by..?

12. Right or Wrong?
• Are there any moral issues
associated with your topic?
• What might people argue about?
• Is it right to..?
• Is it wrong to..?

13. Expand
• Don’t limit your thinking to just your
own personal experience…
• Think about other countries, different
cultures, even other planets!

14. Move pupils in every lesson in which
you do pair work and team work.
Possible class instructions:
• Find someone you haven’t worked with this week.
• Find someone from your ‘partner’ House.
• Find someone with a name near/far away from
yours in the alphabet.
• Find someone at the opposite side of the classroom
to you.

15. The True Team Task
1. It is not possible for an individual student to
do the task on their own.
2. Students must rely on each other and
communicate for the task to be completed.
3. Individual roles within the task must be self-
evident to the students or designated by the
teacher.

16. “I really enjoyed working with people in my
class whom I wouldn’t normally talk to.”
“I realised that when I speak, people will listen
to me.”
“I felt quite shy at first but our team really
bonded and it turned out to be great fun.”

17. Independent Learning
Building confidence through thinking skills.
How can the teacher help pupils to explore and
research independently?

18. To develop skills in resourcefulness:
• Group the questions into those that are likely to
have a definite answer and those which are
debatable.
• Talk about where you might go to find the
answer or get an opinion.
• Share out questions and turn them into a
research task– the person who asked it will give
their opinion on the answer.

19. Links
Ask pupils how many smaller topics
can they think of that are related to
their topic?
What other aspects within their
topic might they consider?

20. To develop skills in strategic reflection:
• How would you check and double check your
answer?
• If it was an open-ended question, how would
you ensure you had a variety of viewpoints?

21. De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats
Using some of the hats in discussion stops people from
applying the same thought patterns over and over again.
• White hat
• Red hat
• Yellow hat
• Black hat
• Green hat
• Blue hat
What do you think about school league tables?
Discuss, using a W, Y, B, G, R pattern.

22. Activities to promote thinking

23. Lists: rank order
From the list below, put in rank order the
qualities needed to be a good teacher.
Humility
Honesty
Courage
Kindness
Initiative
Empathy

24. Odd One Out
Kingswood King Edward’s Prior Park
Clifton College Dean Close Monkton Combe
Downside Wycliffe Royal High

25. In partnership – guess the words
In pairs, one person has their back to the board, whilst the other faces the
board and watches the slideshow. Each slide shows a key word or words
connected to the topic which the person facing the board has to help the
one with their back to the board guess. They can swap halfway through,
keep their scores and see which pairs have been the most successful at
the end. Great for testing a learning or reading prep!
Frankenstein
by Mary Shelley
Albertus Magnus

26. Maps from Memory
1. In pairs, one goes up to the front of the class,
memorises map/diagram for 20 seconds and then
goes back to impart knowledge and demonstrate
through drawing, labelling etc.
2. Then roles are swapped and the other person goes
to the front, and so on.
3. Opportunity for teacher to lead discussion on
metacognition at end of exercise.

27. Certainty of Response Indicator
What date marked the beginning of the Battle of the Somme?
4 fingers held up if completely confident that
you know the answer, down to 1 for not a clue!
Teacher targets those holding up 2 or 3 fingers and
asks them what they think they know, what it is that
they can remember and what they are trying to work
out. Pupils have insight into others’ thought
processes and evaluate them.

28. Multiple Answers using Connectives
• Plants need water to live…………
because; therefore; thus; accordingly; in the same way;
nevertheless; moreover; in conclusion; certainly;
despite this; on the other hand; specifically; above all;
as with; especially; whereas; and; as well as.

29. Plus, Minus, Interesting
• What if the earth was
two million miles nearer
the sun?
Interesting ?
Minus -
Plus +

30. Spot the Errors and Explain Why
They’re Wrong
• Focus on spelling, grammar, punctuation and style:
• Jane will need to practice essay writing
techniques much oftener if she is going to be
succesfull.
• She often has’nt finished her work form the
previous day and I’m sick to death with her lasy
habits.
• Jane will need to practise essay writing
techniques much more often if she is going to be
successful.
• She often hasn’t finished her work from the
previous day and this is most frustrating.

31. Post-Its
1. In pairs or groups,
write down all your
ideas on a topic on
post-its.
2. Decide how to
categorise them.
3. Prioritise the
categories.

32. Using Metacognition to Guide Lesson
Content
At the beginning of the lesson, announce the topic:
Characteristic features of a travel writing article
Give pupils time to fill in 1 and 2 in the first few minutes whilst you
wander round so that you can get a feel of what they think that they
know and what they think that they need to know. Then your lesson can
focus on the latter. At the end of the lesson they can fill in 3.
1. What I Know 2. What I Want to Know 3. What I’ve Learnt

33. Benefits of encouraging thinking skills:
• stimulates the explorer’s mindset;
• demonstrates the scope and depth of possibilities;
• stops closed-minded thinking and simplistic
assumptions;
• allows room for more able students to stretch
themselves;
• gives students the sense that their role in the lesson
is a vital one;
• encourages skills in perception, analysis, scrutinising;
• continues and enforces a great habit.