The Thinking Shed.
MIKE FLEETHAM
I am a learning design consultant, trainer, and facilitator, working with teachers and learners worldwide to help make education more effective and enjoyable. I believe that everyone is intelligent, everyone is valuable and everyone has the potential to succeed.
Through my training, books and website, I aim to enrich the life experience of one million and four people every year.
I specialise in the practical down-to-earth infusion of thinking skills, multiple intelligences, learning styles and skills-based learning into creative curricula. I aim to help you and your school provide the best teaching possible, preparing all of your children for success in their life, work and learning
WHAT ARE THINKING SKILLS?
Thinking Skills are the mental processes we use to do things like: solve problems, make decisions, ask questions, make plans, pass judgements, organise information and create new ideas. Often we're not aware of our thinking - it happens automatically - but if we take time to ponder what's going on then we can become more efficient and more creative with our minds.
I am a learning design consultant, trainer, and facilitator, working with teachers and learners worldwide to help make education more effective and enjoyable. I believe that everyone is intelligent, everyone is valuable and everyone has the potential to succeed.
Through my training, books and website, I aim to enrich the life experience of one million and four people every year.
I specialise in the practical down-to-earth infusion of thinking skills, multiple intelligences, learning styles and skills-based learning into creative curricula. I aim to help you and your school provide the best teaching possible, preparing all of your children for success in their life, work and learning
WHAT ARE THINKING SKILLS?
Thinking Skills are the mental processes we use to do things like: solve problems, make decisions, ask questions, make plans, pass judgements, organise information and create new ideas. Often we're not aware of our thinking - it happens automatically - but if we take time to ponder what's going on then we can become more efficient and more creative with our minds.
Could / Should We Really Build Giant Robots?
| couldwereallybuildgiantrobots.pdf |
With an influx of films featuring huge robots such as 'Pacific Rim' and 'Transformers' the question I ask is.
'Could We Really Build Giant Robots?' is it practical? what would the implication be on resources? have we the technology to power them? (The graphic above gives some good info)
'Should We Build Giant Robots?' What could they be used for? Where would they be of use? Would a country that had build a giant robot haver an advantage over other countries? What if the giant robots were used for bad instead of good?
'Could We Really Build Giant Robots?' is it practical? what would the implication be on resources? have we the technology to power them? (The graphic above gives some good info)
'Should We Build Giant Robots?' What could they be used for? Where would they be of use? Would a country that had build a giant robot haver an advantage over other countries? What if the giant robots were used for bad instead of good?
Unemployed Superheroes.
This could be a good icebreaker, or you could revolve a whole Critical Skills lesson around it, as I am sure it would encourage some interesting ideas and conversations.
Imagine we now had world peace and crime had been eliminated. Because of this shift to world peace our superheroes are now unemployed and need to find work.
Which careers do you think our superheroes would be good at?
Think about their powers which jobs would these suit?
Which careers would they not be suited to?
Think of reasons for and against each career.
What if some of our superheroes had to work together, which superheroes would work well as a team and in which job?
You could allow your class to choose any hero or limit it to 4 or 5 and have groups present their ideas for different careers.
I have compiled some ideas for careers with the help of my Twitter friends these can be seen and added to using the Google Docs link below. It would be great to hear some of the ideas your children have had.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FWA0UlHp49bQh4_3BnnPzeBrab2xo1FvIc3lQW3GG1Y/edit?usp=sharing
Another activity could be just to ask which Superhero would you like to be and why? Thanks to Richard Farrow for this one.
Through the power of Twitter (if you are not using it as an educational tool yet, start now) I was tweeted by Shawn Storm ( @sstorm01 ) who said he really liked this activity and was going to link it to a Ted Ed talk he had seen about 'Writing Your Story and Changing History'. Shawn has written a great blog about the video and the work that you can do around it.
http://reachingyourdream.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/i-go-to-school-youth-to-learnthe-future.html
Shawn suggested reading the 'We are all Clarke Kents' and linking it to that and adding some Geography questions, truly cross curricular. Thanks Shawn.
Again the ideas are flying in thick and fast, this time @teachingtricks suggested looking at genetics, cross breeding superheroes - What do you get?
e.g. Elektra and Spiderman - Ability to shoot out electrified webs.
Iron Man and Magneto - A man attracted to himself.
Imagine we now had world peace and crime had been eliminated. Because of this shift to world peace our superheroes are now unemployed and need to find work.
Which careers do you think our superheroes would be good at?
Think about their powers which jobs would these suit?
Which careers would they not be suited to?
Think of reasons for and against each career.
What if some of our superheroes had to work together, which superheroes would work well as a team and in which job?
You could allow your class to choose any hero or limit it to 4 or 5 and have groups present their ideas for different careers.
I have compiled some ideas for careers with the help of my Twitter friends these can be seen and added to using the Google Docs link below. It would be great to hear some of the ideas your children have had.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FWA0UlHp49bQh4_3BnnPzeBrab2xo1FvIc3lQW3GG1Y/edit?usp=sharing
Another activity could be just to ask which Superhero would you like to be and why? Thanks to Richard Farrow for this one.
Through the power of Twitter (if you are not using it as an educational tool yet, start now) I was tweeted by Shawn Storm ( @sstorm01 ) who said he really liked this activity and was going to link it to a Ted Ed talk he had seen about 'Writing Your Story and Changing History'. Shawn has written a great blog about the video and the work that you can do around it.
http://reachingyourdream.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/i-go-to-school-youth-to-learnthe-future.html
Shawn suggested reading the 'We are all Clarke Kents' and linking it to that and adding some Geography questions, truly cross curricular. Thanks Shawn.
Again the ideas are flying in thick and fast, this time @teachingtricks suggested looking at genetics, cross breeding superheroes - What do you get?
e.g. Elektra and Spiderman - Ability to shoot out electrified webs.
Iron Man and Magneto - A man attracted to himself.
| num_thinking_skills_booklet_p3_p4.pdf |
| 81_fun_critical_thinking_activities.pdf |
Creative Thinking.
Counting on/back.
| tc_think_sheet_3_-_numeracy_-_counting_on.doc |
Open Graph Thinking
| open_graph_thinking.doc |
Open Graph Thinking Powerpoint.
| open_graph_thinking.ppt |
Thinking Creatively About Data.
| tc_think_sheet_34_-_mathematics_-_data.docx |
World Cup 2014 Thinking Skills.
You could use the past and present World Cup mascots for some critical skills thinking.
which one is the (insert adjective)est? Odd One Out? Connect neighbours by shared feature.
Which are your favourite 3 and why?
Which mascot would make the best/worst pupil / teacher and why?
If you had to take parts of 4 mascots to make a new one, which mascots would you choose and why?
which one is the (insert adjective)est? Odd One Out? Connect neighbours by shared feature.
Which are your favourite 3 and why?
Which mascot would make the best/worst pupil / teacher and why?
If you had to take parts of 4 mascots to make a new one, which mascots would you choose and why?
Which mascot best represents you when you are happy? sad? thoughtful? angry? tired? determined?
What if national flags had to have a mascot. Design a mascot for your flag.
Critical Thinking Skills with the Mr Men.
Critical thinking:Which Mr Man would be the best at (you could put anything here, good for critical thinking skills)
examples would be: maths, literacy, sports, singing, making you laugh, solving problems, cooking, building a house...the possibilities are endless.
Look at sets, what different sets can you put the Mr Men in?
Shape, size, colour, hair, hats, noses, shoes
Which Mr Men would work best as a team and why?
If you had to choose 3 qualities from 3 Mr Men, what would you choose and why?
examples would be: maths, literacy, sports, singing, making you laugh, solving problems, cooking, building a house...the possibilities are endless.
Look at sets, what different sets can you put the Mr Men in?
Shape, size, colour, hair, hats, noses, shoes
Which Mr Men would work best as a team and why?
If you had to choose 3 qualities from 3 Mr Men, what would you choose and why?
which one is the (insert adjective)est? Odd One Out? Connect neighbours by shared feature
Thinking Skills: Starter / Plenary
If anybody has ever had any training with Mike Fleetham (@miketweetham) or used his excellent http://www.thinkingclassroom.co.uk/ website you will recognise these first starters. They are based around four pictures and questions are asked about each set of pictures. There are no right or wrong answers but it is a really good activity to get children thinking 'out of the box', some interesting answers and insight into children's thinking can be gained from these.
This is a good way to get children thinking, there isn't an order but to get children's ideas of what it may be means the children are using the language.
You could follow this up by asking:
If you were going to put it in an order, what would you do? Challenge another group to crack your order.
If you ordered them in importance which would be the most important and why? which would be the least?
You could follow this up by asking:
If you were going to put it in an order, what would you do? Challenge another group to crack your order.
If you ordered them in importance which would be the most important and why? which would be the least?
Odd One Out Starters.
Questions to ask:
Which number is the odd one out and why?
Which number is the most important and why?
If you had to turn one of these numbers into an everyday object, which one would you use and what would you use it for?
Which number is the odd one out and why?
Which number is the most important and why?
If you had to turn one of these numbers into an everyday object, which one would you use and what would you use it for?
Questions to ask:
Which shape is the odd one out and why?
If you were building something, which shape would be the most useful? Why?
Which shape do you think was invented first? Why?
Which shape is the odd one out and why?
If you were building something, which shape would be the most useful? Why?
Which shape do you think was invented first? Why?
This is an example from Mike Fleethams website, to find more like this please go to http://www.thinkingclassroom.co.uk/