Activity 6: Share your creativity of English Instructional Innovation / (Worksheet 1.3)
Worksheet 1.3
Creativity of English Instructional Innovation / Media
Directions:
1 Work in pair by sharing your creativity of English instructional innovation or media you have ever had or produced.
Activity 7: Lecture and discuss about "Child-centered Learning" (Handout
1.4)
Handout 1.4
Child-centered Learning
Definition: Child-centered learning is an approach to education focusing on the needs of the students, rather than those of others involved in the educational process, such as teachers and administrators. This approach has many implications for the design of curriculum, course content, and interactivity of courses.
Focus: Student-centered learning is focused on the student's needs, abilities, interests, and learning styles with the teacher as a facilitator of learning. This classroom teaching method acknowledges student voice as central to the learning experience for every learner. Teacher-centered learning has the teacher at its centre in an active role and students in a passive, receptive role. Student-centered learning requires students to be active, responsible participants in their own learning.
Teacher-centered: Traditionally, teachers direct the learning process and students assume a receptive role in their education. With the advent of progressive education in the 19th century, and the
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English Language Teaching: Upper Secondary
influence of psychologists, educators have largely replaced traditional curriculum approaches with "hands-on" activities and "group work", which the child determines on his own what he wants to do in class. Key amongst these changes is the premise that students actively construct their own learning.
Key Persons: Theorists like John Dewey, Jean Piaget, and Lev Vygotsky whose collective work focused on how students learn is primarily responsible for the move to child-centered learning. Carl Rogers' ideas about the formation of the individual also contributed to child-centered learning. Child-centered learning means reversing the traditional teacher-centered understanding of the learning process and putting students at the centre of the learning process.
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Learning Process: Child-centered learning allows students to actively participate in discovery learning processes from an autonomous viewpoint. Students consume the entire class time constructing a new understanding of the material being learned without being passive, but rather proactive. A variety of hands-on activities are administered in order to promote successful learning. Unique, yet distinctive learning styles are encouraged in a child- centered classroom. With the use of valuable learning skills, students are capable of achieving life-long learning goals, which can further enhance student motivation in the classroom.
Such emphasis on learning has enabled students to take a self- directed alternative to learning. In the teacher-centered classroom, teachers are the primary source for knowledge. Therefore, the focus of learning is to gain information as it is proctored to the student. Also, rote learning or memorization of teacher notes or lectures was the norm a few decades ago.
On the other hand, child-entered classrooms are now the norm where active learning is strongly encouraged. Students are now researching material pertinent to the success of their academia and knowledge production is seen as a standard. In order for a teacher to veer towards a student-centered classroom, he or she must become aware of the diverse backgrounds of his or her learners. To that end, the incorporation of a few educational practices such as Bloom's Taxonomy and Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple intelligences can be very beneficial to a child-centered classroom because it promotes various modes of diverse learning styles. The following provides a few examples of why child-centered learning should be integrated into the curriculum and instructional process.
• Strengthens student motivation
• Promotes peer communication
• Reduces disruptive behavior
• Builds student-teacher relationships
• Promotes discovery/active learning
• Responsibility for one's own learning
These changes have impacted educator's methods of teaching and the way students learn. In essence, one might say that we teach and learn in a constructivist-learning paradigm. It is important for teacher's to acknowledge the increasing role and function of his or her educational practices. As our educational practices changes, so does our approach to teaching and learning change. Therefore, the mindset about teaching and learning is constantly evolving into new and innovative ways to reach diverse learners. When a teacher allows their students to make inquiries or even set the stage for his or her academic success, learning is more productive.
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With the openness of a child-centered learning environment, knowledge production is vital when providing students the opportunity to explore their own learning styles. In that respect, successful learning also occurs when learners are fully engaged in the active learning process. A further distinction from a teacher-centered classroom to that of a child- centered classroom is when the teacher acts as a facilitator. In essence, the teacher's goal in the learning process is to guide students into making new interpretations of the learning material.
Through peer-to-peer interaction, collaborative thinking can lead to an abundance of knowledge. According to Lev Vygotsky's theory, Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), students typically learn vicariously through one another. Through a socio-cultural perspective on learning, scaffolding is important when fostering independent thinking skills. Vygotsky proclaims, "Learning which is oriented toward developmental levels that have already been reached is ineffective from the view point of the child's overall development. It does not aim for a new stage of the developmental process but rather lags behind this process." In essence, instruction is designed to access a developmental level that is measurable to the student's current stage in development.
To implement a child-centered learning environment, attention must be given to the following aspects of learning:
• What the child wants to do
• How the teacher is able to accommodate the child's whims
• What makes the child happy
• Student interaction
English Language Teaching: Upper Seco
Activity 8: Summarize concepts about child-centered learning (Worksheet
1.4)
Worksheet 1.4 Child-centered Learning
Directions:
1. For each participant, explain the key concepts of child-centered learning.
2. What are the differences between child-centered approach and teacher-centered approach?
3. What is Zone of Proximal Development? Explain and elaborate your answer.
Activity 9: Conceptualize Constructivism
Worksheet 1.5
Understanding Constructivism
Directions:
1. Each participant watches the clip about constructivism
2. Then, summarize the principles of constructivism.
3. Share it with your friends in a group of 5.
4. Time limit: 10 minutes
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per Secondary
Activity 10: Brief and discuss about Constructivism (Handout 1.5)
Handout 1.5
Constructivism
What is it?
Constructivism is a theory of knowledge (epistemology) that argues that humans generate knowledge and meaning from their experiences. Constructivism is not a specific pedagogy, although it is often confused with constructionism, an educational theory developed by Seymour Papert, inspired by constructivist and experiential learning ideas of Jean Piaget. Piaget's theory of constructivist learning has had wide ranging impact on learning theories and teaching methods in education and is an underlying theme of many education reform movements.
A Controversy
Research support for constructivist teaching techniques has been mixed, with some research supporting these techniques and other research contradicting those results. Social constructivism has been criticized for being a kind of behaviorism, which reduces the individual to his or her social environment.
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Language Teaching: Upper Secondary
Its Value
In past centuries, constructivist ideas were not widely valued due to the perception that children's play was seen as aimless and of little importance. Jean Piaget did not agree with these traditional views, however. He saw play as an important and necessary part of the student's cognitive development and provided scientific evidence for his views. Today, constructivist theories are influential throughout much of the informal learning sector. One good example of constructivist learning in an informal setting is the Investigate Centre at The Natural History Museum, London. Here visitors are encouraged to explore a collection of real natural history specimens, to practice some scientific skills and make discoveries for themselves.
Other Related Processes
Formalization of the theory of constructivism is generally attributed to Jean Piaget who articulated mechanisms by which knowledge is internalized by learners. He suggested that through processes' of accommodation and assimilation, individuals construct new knowledge from their experiences. When individuals assimilate, they incorporate the new experience into an already existing framework without changing that framework. This may occur when individuals' experiences are aligned with their internal representations of the world, but may also occur as a failure to change a faulty understanding; for example, they may not notice events, may misunderstand input from others, or may decide that an event is a fluke and is therefore unimportant as information about the world. In contrast, when individuals' experiences contradict their internal representations, they may change their perceptions of the experiences to fit their internal representations.
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According to the theory, accommodation is the .process of reframing one's mental representation of the external world to fit new experiences. Accommodation can be understood as the mechanism by which failure leads to learning: when we act on the expectation that the world operates in one way and it violates our expectations, we often fail, but by accommodating this new experience and reframing our model of the way the world works, we learn from the experience of failure, or others' failure.
Conclusion
It is important to note that constructivism is not a particular pedagogy. Is fact, constructivism is a theory describing how learning happens, regardless of whether learners are using their experiences to understand a lecture or following the instructions for building a model airplane. In both cases, the theory of constructivism suggests that learners construct knowledge out of their experiences. However, constructivism is often associated with pedagogic approaches that promote active learning, or learning by doing.
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2. Detailed plans for the activities Activity 2.1
Thinking skills: Meaning and significance
What are thinking skills?
1. Study Handout 2.1
2. Conduct activities as instructed in Worksheet 2.1 a, b, c, and d Handout 2.1
Thinking skills: Meaning and significance
What are thinking skills?
Thinking skills' comprises of two words: 'skill' and 'thinking'. Skill is ability to do something well, usually gaining, through experience or training. 'Thinking' means 'having something in one's mind'. Thinking skills can then be defined as the ability to use the brain to have something in one's mind, like opinions, ideas, or any types of brain working processes, in order to achieve any tasks of mind, which can include to acknowledge, recognize, understand, analyze, discuss, plan, evaluate, inquire, solve problems, make decision, imagine, and/or create (Bowkett, 2007; Fewings, 2010; Fisher, 2010; Fleetham, 2010; McGregor, 2007; McGuinness, 2005).
Thinking skills are mental abilities to learn, solve problems, and make decisions. Humans tend to use a variety of thinking skills in their life. A number of researchers have tried to identify humans' main thinking skills. The renowned classification of thinking skills includes Bloom's Taxonomy (Bloom & Krathwohl, 1956). Benjamin Bloom is an American psychologist who proposed the six levels of thinking skills:
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1. Knowledge
2. Comprehension
3. Application
4. Analysis
5. Synthesis
6. Evaluation.
Benjamin Bloom
Source: http://redie.uabc.mx/contenido/vol6no2/art-104-
Bloom's Taxonomy is prominent among educators: curriculum designers, administrators, and teachers. (Anderson & Sosniak, 1994; McGregor, 2007). After almost half of the decade of employing Bloom's Taxonomy, Bloom's apprentice, Anderson, has brought in scholars from different fields of expertise to discuss and adjust Bloom's Taxonomy to be more current and updated. Then there comes the Revised Bloom's Taxonomy (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001) which are: 1. Remembering
This means how people perceive and recall facts and /or concepts so that they can recite, identify people, place, and things.
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2. Understanding
This enables people to narrate, explain, categorize, connect or interpret information in their own words.
3. Applying
This type of thinking makes people realize how to make use of information or concepts they have learned, for example, to communicate or to demonstrate, etc.
4. Analyzing
This means to be able to put into correct order, give reason, inquire, solve problems and provide evidence of the conclusion.
5. Evaluating
This means thinking of what decision to make by asking: How is this idea better than the other? Is this successful or not? To what extent? Should we do or shouldn't we do this? And why? What are the criteria to judge that?
6. Creating
This type of thinking will enable us to answer the following questions: How to be different? Is there any other way around to do this thing? Can we integrate these two? What are other solutions?
Thinking skills are divided into 2 main types: Lower Order Thinking Skills or LOTS and High Order Thinking Skills or HOTS as illustrated in the figure below.
Bloom's Taxonomy
Higher Order Thinking ▲
Lower Order Thinking
Adapted from source:
http://www.odu.edu/educ/roverbau/Bloom/blooms_taxonomy.htm
The schools worldwide have either adopted or adapted the concept of classifying thinking skills initiated by Bloom to use as a core concept to organize learning and teaching. The details are varied. Taken for example in North Carolina, U.S.A, (North Carolina Public School, 2010), the school determined for learners the following thinking skills:
5. Generating
6. Integrating
7. Evaluating
1. Knowing
2. Organizing
3. Applying
4. Analyzing
While in California (Facione, 1998), the thinking skills learners
should develop include:
1. Interpretation
2. Analysis
4. Inference
5. Explanation
6. Self-Regulation
3. Evaluation
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In the U.K., The Department for Education (Department for Education: Secondary, 2010) has determined the five thinking skills as follows:
1. Information Processing
2. Reasoning
3. Inquiry
4. Evaluation
5. Creative Thinking
It can be seen then that the identification of core thinking skills varies from one another. However, creative thinking, critical thinking, and problem solving are usually identified as higher and more complex thinking skills by all people (McGregor, 2007; Mosley et al., 2005).
Creative thinking, critical thinking, and problem solving
Creative thinking, critical thinking, and problem solving require various levels of thinking skills. For instance, in order to be creative or to have "the process of finding and implementing new and appropriate ways of doing things" (Best & Thomas, 2007, p. 27), students need many types of thinking skills, such as analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and application. A person who is creative also has to possess a positive state of mind with self-confidence, self-esteem, willingness to take risks, effort and commitment to complete tasks, and ability to free up thinking.
For critical thinking, one who can make rational decisions about what to do or what to believe is considered a person with critical thinking. Woolfolk (2007) states that students who can judge the validity
of claims or arguments should possess critical-thinking skills which include abilities to
- distinguish between verifiable facts and value claims, relevant and irrelevant information,
- determine the factual accuracy of a statement, the credibility of a source, and
- detect bias, identify unstated assumptions or logical fallacies.
For problem solving, ability to solve problems requires the application of knowledge and skills to achieve certain goals. Utley (2004) proposed five steps of problem solving as follows:
1. Identify and clarify the problem
2. Gather information
3. Evaluate the evidence
4. Consider alternatives and implications
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5. Choose and implement the best alternative
It can be concluded that thinking skills which are abilities to use brain to achieve tasks of mind can be identified in a variety of types or levels. Some are lower and fundamental, while others are higher and complex.
J
WORKSHEET 2.1 ละ Study and compare the old version and the new version of Bloom's Taxonomy. Work in pairs to discuss the similarities and differences of the two models.
English Language Teaching: Upper Secondary
Bloom's Taxonomy
New Version
Old Version
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Source: http://www.odu.edu/educ/roverbau/Bloom/blooms_taxonomy.htm
WORKSHEET 2.1: b
Suppose that you are to teach reading comprehension about "The United Nations", what should be the key questions to ask your students? Write down your own two questions. Then pair up with your neighbor to find another two. Your group will have 4 questions. Team up with another group to form 8 questions. Write down all the 8 questions in the tables below.
Questions you might ask your students after reading a passage of
"The United Nations"
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
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WORKSHEET 2.1 c:
With your partner, read carefully the questions below then determine which category of thinking should each question belong to in the Revised Bloom's Taxonomy : 1) Remember 2) Understand 3) Apply 4) Analyze 5) Evaluate 6) Create.
Which category of thinking should each question belong to?
1. What did you think of the story? Why?
2. Why did it happen that way?
3. What would you have done with the thing you learned?
4. Can you think of a different ending?
5. What happened in the story?
6. Which part did you like best?
WORKSHEET 2.1 d:
Now, go back to your questions in WORKSHEET 2.1ะ b, work with your original other 3 pairs to discuss whether the questions your group has created go along with all categories of thinking proposed in Revised
Bloom's Taxonomy?
English Language Teaching: Upper Secondary
Activity 2.2
Thinking skills: Meaning and significance Why are thinking skills important?
1. Study Handout 2.2
2. Conduct activities as instructed in Worksheet 2.2
Handout 2.2
Thinking skills ะ Meaning and significance
Why are thinking skills important?
Thinking skills are required for every individual, since they can lead to efficient information processing, good learning, good communication, and acknowledgement of one's potentials. High potential individuals can result in a quality society and a developed nation. Details are as follows.
1) For critical perception of information
Thinking skills enable learners to choose correct information leading them to live a quality life. This is because no matter how well teachers have attempted to instruct subject contents (English, Thai, Science, or Math), learners might not be able to think. Human perception and memory are limited when compared to the rapid growth of new information. Thinking skills, therefore, are essential for students to perceive information critically. That means they can select, examine, and judge information whether it is true or fake, useful or useless, authentic or propaganda.
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2) For good learning
Thinking skills are necessary for good learning. Good learners can reach good problem solutions and also be creative. As learning resulted from connecting old experience to new experience, possessing thinking skills can help people connect their experiences appropriately. This leads to a better learning in a life long period.
3) For good communication
Thinking skills make a better communication. When learners can generate ideas and thoughts through oral and written communication and gestures, those who have higher thinking skills would deliver the message more effectively. A powerful communicator also earns trust and friendship from others. This is why it is important to have thinking skills to live a happy life.
4) For acknowledgement of one's potentials
Having thinking skills can empower students to realize their own potentials, to know their own strengths and weaknesses rendering them more self-confidence in academic and non-academic socialization.
Many studies have revealed that thinking skills are behaviors that can be acquired through training. For example, students will be capable of asking and reasoning more effectively after they are trained to think regularly. Consequently, teachers should organize learning that enable students to practice thinking (McGuinness, 2005). Students who are trained for thinking skills should be able to:
1. Give clear and systematic opinions
English Language Teaching:Upper Secondary
2. Take part in learning process and /or other activities with enthusiasm
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English Language Teaching: Upper Secondary
and liveliness
3. Give appropriate reasons
4. Solve new problems efficiently
5. Be more creative
6. Gain more self confidence.
Accordingly, organizing educational programs that enable learners to practice thinking skills is the responsibility of all educators specifically teachers. This is because thinking skills are the necessary skills each individual should possess. Efficient thinking skills result in critical selection of information, efficient learning, effective communication, good socializing, and self-esteem. More importantly, these help develop the country in a sustainable way.
/
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English Language Teaching: Upper Secondary
WORKSHEET 2.2: SWOT Analysis This experiment on SWOT Analysis will reflect the benefits of thinking skills practice.
In this task think about your classroom practices. Write down the practices that should be considered strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, or threats into the chart below. Then discuss it with your partner.
S W
O T
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Activity 2.3
Current approaches in teaching thinking
1. CASE Theory
2. Brain-Based Approaches
1) Multiple Intelligences
2) Concept Mapping
3) Thinking Hats
1. Study Handout 2.3
2. Conduct activities as instructed in Worksheet 2.3
Handout 2.3
Current approaches in teaching thinking
It was believed that intelligence levels of learning and percieving of humans are inborn and unchangeable (Fisher, 2010; Woolfolk, 2007). Later on, pioneer educators such as Lev Semenovich Vygotsky (Vygotsky, 1926) Jean Piaget (Piaget, 1926) John Dewey (Dewey, 1938) and Carl Rogers (Rogers, 1951) disagreed with this belief. They believe that learners are able to construct their knowledge, develop their learning from real experiences with their cognitive developmental stages, and have self-actualizations for prospective future.
Those theories therefore originated student-centered approach, which believes that every human has good will to learn. Learning process happens when linking new and old knowledge. Interacting among learners in order to connect the in-class knowledge to the real-life situation can lead to the outside-class and eventually, lifelong learning.
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Practices of thinking skills need to be primarily student-centered. Direct teaching might not be able to help learners contribute thinking skills. Learners need to perform every skill by themselves unless each skill cannot be developed. Thus, interaction among learners-learners or learners-instructors must be done. Learners must be motivated to use thinking skills over the process of doing assignments, and they should be challenged to think in depth.
There have been approaches proposed to practice thinking skills: Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education or CASE which proposed by Adey and Shayer (2002); Brain-Based Approaches or Accelerated Learning, which include Multiple Intelligence of Gardner (1993), Six Thinking Hats of De Bono (1976), and mind mapping; the Philosophical Approaches of Lipman (2003); and Teaching Thinking Strategies across the Curriculum of McGuinness (2005). Details are as
follows.
1. CASE Theory: Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education
The name of the theory is originated from teaching science subject to kids. Two educators from King's College, London, Philip Adey and Michael Shayer (2002) originated the CASE theory. The theory has been adopted and brought to use for various subjects and levels. The theory based on constructivism and meta-cognition process include the following stages (Adey, 1999);
1. Concrete preparation: The terms of the problem need to be established.
Instructors prepare stimulus to help motivate students to the problem.
English Language Teaching: Upper
2. Cognitive conflict: Thinking develops in response to cognitive challenge.
Instructors set the argument to challenge students to think.
3. Construction: Students must construct their own reasoning processes. \
Students share their experiences in discussion.
4. Meta-cognition: Reflection on the process of problem solving is essential.
Students reflect on their thinking processes.
5. Bridging: Reasoning patterns developed in the CASE context must be bridged to other contexts.
Students transfer their knowledge to real life situation.
"Let's Think", a program intending to practice thinking skills for small kids which developed from CASE theory, can show how practice of thinking skills originated. The example is "Hoop Game" for primary students. The time for the game is 30 minutes. The class starts by having students learn about various shapes of the objects and the language used in the game by guiding them how to say to exchange their ideas with
others in the game such as "I think because " or "I disagree with you
because ..." Learners are told to form a group of six. Instructors put
orange dinosaurs in one hoop and T-Rex dinosaurs in the other. Then, instructors will ask learners where should be the most suitable hoop for orange T-Rex dinosaurs. This is challenging for small kids, since they have " to decide into what appropriate hoop to place the new group: The orange dinosaurs which are also T-Rex. Learner's solving skill processes start when
English Language Teaching: Upper Secondary
learners exchange their ideas and try to find the best way to solve the problem. It can be seen that playing this game gives an importance to the solving problem process, not the right or wrong answer aspect. In addition to the development of thinking skills, learners can also develop their ways to exchange their ideas with their peers.
2 'Brain-Based7 Approaches
The theory is based on the brain research and learning process. Several techniques to help practice learners' thinking skills have been proposed. Examples include the following.
1) Multiple Intelligences
Multiple Intelligence theory, initiated by Howard Gardner (1993), argues that a child who easily memorizes the multiplication table or masters a foreign language might be no clever than a child who cannot, since that child may be stronger in another kind of intelligence. The theory suggests that a human can possess different types of intelligence including:
1. Spatial-Visual
2. Linguistic-Verbal
3. Logical-mathematical
4. Kinesthetic-Bodily
5. Musical-rhythmic
6. Interpersonal
7. Intrapersonal
8. Naturalistic
VI)
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Thus, students may best learn the given material through a different approach. Taken as one example, an approach called VAK (Visual-Audio-Kinesthetic) was proposed. This approach based its theory on the way students perceive new things concerning:
1. Visual: Leaning matters most with visual such as pictures, chart, VDO, electronic materials, etc.
2. Audio: Leaning matters most with audio such as intructors'voice, taped recording, rythm sound, music sound etc.
3. Kinesthetic: Learning matters most when learners move some parts or whole parts of their bodies.
An example of how teachers teach new vocabulary by using this approach can illustrate how three different types of intelligence are concerned. When introducing new words, word cards with 3 different colors: one for initial consonants, another for vowels, and the other for final consonants can be shown. This is how students' visual intelligence is concerned. Students are told to listen, read, and repeat the words. This is how their audio intelligence is concerned. They can be told to drag their fingers in the air or produce actions as stated by the words studied. This is how their kinesthetic intelligence is concerned.
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2) Concept mapping
Concept maps, mind maps, or graphic organizers are a popular technique used to practice thinking skills. Tony Buzan (1993) is the one among educational psychologists who proposed concept mapping, a way to process abstract ideas into concrete ones. Mapping concepts can be made by placing the main idea in the center and expanding the minor ideas from the main one, as in the illustration of 'Problem Solving Tools' shown below. Using concept maps, learners are able to better link old knowledge to the new one. They are able to be better at comprehending and memorizing new data. Concept maps for teaching English can include the ones used to analyze dialogues, thoughts or behaviors of characters in literature, or concepts of English grammar, for instance.
analogles
c ombine A dapt
change by
collect change by "SCAMPER" M agni P ut to
M odify M agnify
Problem R everse /
R earrange
Solving Tools morphological analysis
tiyiur
Problem
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A Sample of Mind Mapping Source: http://www.google.co.th/imglanding?q=easy%20mind%20mapping
3) Thinking Hats
"Thinking Hats" is a technique that helps students practice solving problems in a different perspective. Students are encouraged to think in ways that differ from traditional ideas or their own familiar styles. Presented by Edward De Bono (1976), this idea shows that people tend to think when trying to solve a problem with their own traditional, thus predictable methods. De Bono believes that in order to be a good thinker, a new habit of thinking should be initiated. There are basically six "Thinking Hats". Each hat represents a different idea. Questions that come with the ideas represented by each hat are as follows.
WHITE HAT - INFORMATION SEEKING
"What do we know about this already?"
"What do we need to know?" "What questions do we need to ask?"
RED HAT - EMOTIONAL RESPONSE
"How do I feel about this right now?" Emotions - intuition - feelings - hunches There is no need to justify feelings.
YELLOW HAT - POSITIVE RESPONSE
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"The good things about this." Positive - good - benefits. "Why and how this can be done?"
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BLACK HAT - NEGATIVE RESPONSE
"The bad things about this." Negative - weaknesses - caution - wrong. "Why not possible or practical?"
GREEN HAT-CREATIVE RESPONSE
New ideas - different things - alternatives - variations. "Are there some different ideas/ alternative things we can do?" Innovative ways we can approach this
BLUE HAT - METACOGNITION
"What are we here for?" What is the end goal? Is our thinking about this matter clear and
complete?
Activities may start from a simple problem, wearing one hat at a time then role playing to change to another hat. Also, wearing 2 hats at the same time with a more complex problem to see a clear comparison. For example, when wearing a White Hat (information) together with a Red Hat (emotions), a White Hat will see things in a neutral way, consider issues based on the facts and information received, e.g. what do we know about the situation or problem? Is there anything that could
be useful to know? All information will be viewed as facts without
emotion or passion involved. On the other hand, with a Red Hat, the thinking will be related to feelings or emotions, regardless of the reason.
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The pair of hats which are popular to wear includes Yellow and Black, i.e. thinking about positive and negative results. A Blue Hat should be worn after all hats as it represents all the thinking process that helps reflect thinking and may have a decision-making answer to the problem.
Thinking Hats has been widely used in different practices. There are a number of teachers using this idea to create awareness for the students to look at problems in another dimension or perspective.
WORKSHEET 2.3: Consider the following sentences and say whether each one should be said or written under which hats among the Six Thinking Hats of De Bono.
1) Time is wasted
2) Students realize that their comments are jeopardizing the learning of
other individuals
3) Flow of discussion is less clear
4) Students will think of new ways to communicate rather than talking in class, for example, talk on Messenger
5) It can be fun
6) Teacher will try to incorporate interaction from a variety of different students rather than just the 'smart kids'
7) There is noise and therefore other students can't hear the teacher
8) The teacher feels offended
9) Students are talking while the teacher is talking
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10) Students become frustrated because they can't hear directions
11) One doesn't have to wait to share their ideas and therefore risk forgetting information
12) Teacher needs to recognize that some students need thinking time before responding
WHITE RED YELLOW BLACK GREEN BLUE
9) , , ,
Activity 2.4
Current approaches in teaching thinking (Continued)
3. Philosophical approaches
4. Infuse of thinking skills across curriculum
1. Study Handout 2.4
2. Conduct activities as instructed in Worksheet 2.4 a, and b
Handout 2.4
Current approaches in teaching thinking (Continued) 3. Philosophical Approaches
Matthew Lipman (2003) established Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children: IAPC with the belief that every child is a philosopher by nature. Children see the world ambitiously, and begin to question and discuss about the possibilities of the world around, which is the same way as people do in philosophy. The IAPC institution has published several books. Each page of each book contains stories of unusual nature that arouse children to inquire, investigate, search for
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explanation, discuss, and debate the issues with their friends. Stories for Thinking
"Story for thinking", which is developed from Lipman's theory, has been brought to use as classroom activities to practice thinking skills. An arousing issue which can be an anecdote, a poem, a picture, a piece of music, or a real object is used as a topic opening for students to have a discussion and make an inquiry. Students will be given "time for thinking". After the enigmatic silence to think, students will be asked to write down or post any comments or questions that they may have on the board. Then the whole class selects interesting questions to be discussed. Teacher will ask "Why do you think so?" or "Any rationale thought?" for the students who do not accompany their answers with any rationale.
Most students are satisfied with "Story for thinking" activity because instead of just reading and listening, they have the opportunity to say whatever their ideas come in their mind. Their thoughts after the discussion might change or remain the same, depending on reason and evidence of the subject matter. Students will practice how to think, how to use the language to ask questions, and be able to open their points of view. This practice helps building more confidence to create any creative thoughts. Better and broader thinking is generated, as well as greater confidence to challenge themselves and encourage the transfer of knowledge to use in their real life (Fisher, 2010).
Witschonke (2006) has proposed skills, ideas and concepts of philosophy gained from the famous novel Harry Potter. Examples he gave are: Horry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (1997) which reflects greed,
sacrifice, and fear of the unknowns; Horry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1999) which reflects pride and self-esteem; Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2000) which reflects presumption and influence of media; and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2003) which reflect discrimination, racism and media influences. '
4. Infuse of thinking skills across the curriculum During the last decade, Western educators have agreed that skills which are the cornerstones of effective learning skills are problem solving and creative thinking. The educational system in England has thus contained practices for problem-solving skills and creativity in the curriculum of primary and secondary national (Department for Education United Kingdom: 1999). Activating Children's Thinking Skills (ACTS) is an example of program of study that helps teachers develop thinking skills for students. This leads by Carol McGuinness (2005), the researcher who infuses this practice into the curriculum of the United Kingdom education
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system. The results have shown that:
1. Students can benefit from thinking skills.
2. Using a variety of methods to teach works better than using just only one method to teach.
3. To be successful or not depends on teaching strategies, not on the media or teaching materials used.
4. The essential strategy is to link the thinking skills so that students can transfer their learning experience to be used in their real life.
5. Teachers need to be trained in order to teach necessary thinking skills to students.
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As a result, education should not only be about learning content or "knowing what", but also learning how to think or "knowing how" and "knowing why". The curriculum should be infused with practices of thinking skills at different levels from different approaches appropriate for the students and the objectives which the learning is set for.