Development

From Thinking Skills to Thinking Classrooms

Carol McGuiness

Developing the quality of thinking processes and skills in children prepares them for lifelong learning. Educational standards can be raised by teachers directing attention to how children learn and how teachers can contribute to this, rather than focusing on what is to be learned. Children can be empowered to take charge of their own learning.

Focusing on thinking skills in the classroom supports active cognitive processing which makes for better learning. Pupils need time and opportunity to talk about thinking processes in order to become reflective thinkers.

Different models are available for developing thinking skills: general approaches, subject specific approaches and infusion methodologies.

Transfer beyond the context in which the learning occurs is a critical issue for any approach.

A framework for developing thinking skills includes

• making thinking skills explicit in the curriculum
• teaching through coaching
• taking a metacognitive perspective
• encouraging collaborative learning
• nurturing dispositions and habits of good thinking and
• generalising the framework to thinking curricula, thinking classrooms and thinking schools.

Curricula material for developing thinking skills need

• a valid theoretical perspective
• to be contextualised
• an explicit pedagogy
• teaching support and
• programme evaluation.

High quality learning environments that implement thinking skills approaches

• identify high quality thinking as a classroom priority
• develop a vocabulary for talking about thinking
• make thought processes explicit through exploration, discussion, reflection and sharing
• have teachers who model, coach and scaffold pupil thinking and give task-related feedback
• encourage self-regulation through co-operative and collaborative learning and
• teach for transfer.

Thinking skills can be developed through the use of information and communication technologies. Thinking skills can be embedded within and across the curriculum and can lead to a deeper understanding of different subject areas as well as encouraging transfer to different contexts. Teachers need preparation and support to effectively implement thinking skills curricula in classrooms.

Further research is needed to evaluate the effects of shifting from thinking skills to thinking classrooms and thinking schools.

Adapted from McGuinnes, C. 1999 From Thinking Skills to Thinking Classrooms: a review and evaluation of approaches for developing pupils' thinking. DfEE, Norwich.