Thank you again for the INSET, the staff were buzzing afterwards!
Karen Coles, Director of Studies, Fulham Prep
- How do you teach Higher Order Skills in your classroom?
- What can teachers learn from psychology and cognitive science to apply to the classroom?
- Are you looking for strategies to make your pupils really think critically ?
- How should teachers best utilise “pupil talk” in their classrooms?
Teachers are good at writing and asking literal questions (e.g., Name the parts of the digestive system or when did the Second World War start ?), but do we tend to do this far too often? Students must be taught to find the information they need, judge its worth, and think at higher levels. Higher-order thinking skills go beyond basic observation of facts and memorization. They are what we are talking about when we want our students to be evaluative, creative and innovative. What if the question isn’t when the Second World War started, but, instead, why did the Second World War start? Questions like these require us to think differently than those questions that can be answered by simply regurgitating information we have committed to memory. When questions demand of us that we engage creatively, respond innovatively or evaluate, then we need to engage in higher-order thinking.
Research on higher-order thinking skills is mainly conducted through cross-sectional studies, which compare a specific group of students at different points in time to track the development of their cognitive abilities. These studies have revealed that when given the right opportunity and resources to develop their thinking skills, students demonstrate tremendous growth over a short period of time.
When we talk about higher-order thinking, we refer to thinking skills that go beyond merely memorising facts and figures. This type of thinking demands more cognitive processing capabilities than other types of thinking. This highly practical course helps develop teachers pedagogical tool kit to meet this challenge facing our pupils.
INSET Outline
Improving Memory and learning
- How to cover the lower order skills (LOTS) quickly
- Strategies from psychological research that students can employ to improve their long term memory.
- The importance of “learning to learn”
- Five tips from cognitive science on the best ways to revise
Developing effective study and research skills
- Modelling our own research processes for pupils
- How to use the internet effectively (rather than just copy and paste)
- Using Flipped learning and prereading activities to activate background knowledge, establish purpose, and formulate questions that can drive inquiry.
- Improving pupil’s ability to draw upon a suitably wide range of sources
- Improving referencing skills
Extending Pupil’s Higher Order Skills (HOTS)
- Strategies for developing HOTS in the classroom: analysis, hypothesizing and synthesizing
- Enhancing problem solving
- Developing active reading methods that engage pupil’s brains
- “Visible learning” and its impact
- Designing activities that require students to process information at the highest levels of thought.
Developing Higher Order Skills through effective “pupil talk” in class
- Interactive classroom strategies to encourage critical thinking
- Strategies to involve the quieter children in “pupil talk”
- Encouraging effective critical discussion through argument
- Leading a successful debate
Improving Pupil Outcomes in Examinations (SAT’s, CE, Entrance exams, GCSE etc)
- Teaching exam preparation strategies
- HOTS and their role in exam question analysis and literacy
- 3 phase preparation for exams
- Approaches on how to construct outstanding exam responses
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