Questioning for deeper thinking

1. DEVELOPING HIGHER ORDER
THINKING SKILLS
NEM – Professional Development
Session
Wed 12th March

2. TPL – TEACHER PROFESSIONAL LEAVE
PROJECT
 Project Focus
- Develop higher order thinking skills & develop a sense
of
empathy
 Overall Goal
- To have the students think beyond themselves
- To see themselves as a part of a Global Community
 Subject Area Chosen
- Australia’s Asylum Seekers & Refugees
Approx. 8 week Unit
Cross curricular project with English

3. AIMS THROUGHOUT THE PROJECT
 Try to connect the students to the topic
 Take it step by step - scaffold (do not assume
knowledge or abilities)
 Be visual - use multi-media
Images, Youtube, Documentaries, Websites
 Ask “Why?” - often
 Teach them to question themselves and each other
 No right/wrong opinions but must be backed up with
factual evidence

5. BEFORE & AFTER thinking Chart
“What do you think about Australia Accepting Asylum Seekers?

6. INTRO ACTIVITIES

7. STUDENTS RESPONSE TO THE IMAGES –
PEOPLE AND PLACES
QU. What if each of these teenagers was wearing a Gleneagles
Uniform and was sitting in the yard?
Would your answer be different? Why?

8. GROUP WORK
• Working groups – was connected with English,
practicing skills
• Roles given to each member
• Groups selected by teacher – balance of skills &
abilities
• Individual analysis of own work within group –
ongoing

9. GROUP ROLES
 Each member of the group must contribute to the
discussion by helping to answer the questions
asked while also fulfilling the role they have been
assigned. Every member should also be actively
asking questions of the other members of the
group.
Facilitator
 Responsible for keeping the group on task
 Ensures that everybody is involved & contributing to
the discussion
 Prompts discussion

10. Recorder
 Responsible for getting and managing the groups’ materials &
resources
 Distributes materials
 Records responses to questions
 Summarises team discussions and records info
Timekeeper
 Responsible for keeping the group members aware of time
constraints for activities
 Help the group remain on task
 Assumes role of any absent group member
Effective member
 Supports the work of the team
 Listen carefully to others
 Maintains positive attitude
 Helps team move towards goal
 Contributes ideas about content, contributes thoughtfully to
discussion

11. IMAGE ANALYSIS

12. IMAGE ANALYSIS
 What do you think is happening in this image?
 What does their dress tell you about the weather
conditions?
 What 3 questions would you ask the people in this
photograph?
 How would you feel if you were one of the people in
this image?
 What might be some of the problems these people
are facing?

13. Group Tasks

15. “GO BACK TO WHERE YOU CAME FROM”

16. TASKS WHILE WATCHING VIDEO –
FOR & AGAINST CHART
Arguments & Comments
FOR
Arguments & Comments
AGAINST
Chart completed during the videos & discussed at the end of each
lesson –including facts, statistics, examples

17. CLASS DIRECTED WORK…
 Students were asked
- What else they needed to know about the topic
- What areas of the issue were unclear
- If anything wasn’t covered in enough detail
 This lead to a further investigation into
- People Smugglers in Malaysia and Indonesia
- The criminal element of the issue

18. FOLLOW UP INTERVIEWS & SURVEYS
 Students were asked about the project and their
views on the topic via surveys and interviews.
 This helped me to gage how the unit ran and what
changes to make in the future.

19. ASSESSMENT
 Essay – Cross curricular with English
 Topic “ We should accept more refugees into
Australia”
- Students were asked to write an essay responding
to this statement
- Essay writing skills taught in English
- Facts and information to back up their chosen
opinion taught in Humanities

21. RESOURCES
 All resources shown today are located on the
Learning Docs drive in the PD folder
 V:PDNEM PD 12.3.14