The G

ifte

d K

ids

Pro

gra

mm

eexce

llence

in g

ifte

d e

duca

tion

Linking ThinkingBetween GKC and Regular

Class

© The Gifted Children’s Advancement Charitable Trust

The G

ifte

d K

ids

Pro

gra

mm

eexce

llence

in g

ifte

d e

duca

tion

The

Gifte

d K

ids

Pro

gra

mm

e

Thinking is about using creative, critical, and metacognitive processes to make sense of information, experiences, and ideas.

Intellectual curiosity is at the heart of this competency.

The G

ifte

d K

ids

Pro

gra

mm

eexce

llence

in g

ifte

d e

duca

tion

We would like youngsters, and indeed adults, to become alert and thoughtful when they hear an unlikely rumour, face a tricky problem of planning their time, have a dispute with a friend, or encounter a politician’s sweeping statement on television (Perkins, 2003, p.1).

However, Perkins cautions that building thinking skills, while necessary, is not a sufficient underpinning for achieving such aspirations. His team’s research has found that the disposition to use higher-order thinking is what is more likely to be lacking when people fail to do the sorts of things he suggests in this quote. It is not that people cannot think, but they are “simply oblivious to situations that invite thinking” (p. 1).

This focus on dispositions illustrates an important difference between thinking as a set of skills and thinking as a competency. Paul (2000) organises thinking dispositions into five broad groups: curiosity, inquiry, playing with ideas, questioning; thinking broadly, making connections, being open-minded and fair; being careful and clear when reasoning; being organised and planning ahead; and willingness to take time to think.

Users of Art Costa’s popular “Habits of Mind” educational resources will recognise similarities between this list and the 16 habits identified there.

The G

ifte

d K

ids

Pro

gra

mm

eexce

llence

in g

ifte

d e

duca

tion

Teaching for thinking fitness

a summary of Gilbert (2005)

Gym instructor’s role

Designing a body fitness programme suitable for an individual’s starting level

Coaching on correct use of specific fitness equipment

Setting individual targets that are challenging and extending but don’t risk physical injury

Supporting and encouraging regular practice

Coaching individuals to design and take responsibility for their own fitness programmes

Working on their own fitness, being a role model

Equivalent teaching role

Designing a mind fitness programme suitable for an individual’s starting level

Teaching about use of specific types of thinking tools

Setting individual learning goals that are challenging without being too discouraging

Supporting and encouraging regular practice

Coaching individuals to design and take responsibility for their own fitness programmes

Modelling pleasure in their own thinking and learning

The G

ifte

d K

ids

Pro

gra

mm

eexce

llence

in g

ifte

d e

duca

tion

Creative Thinking

© The Gifted Children’s Advancement Charitable Trust

The G

ifte

d K

ids

Pro

gra

mm

eexce

llence

in g

ifte

d e

duca

tion

Opportunities

The G

ifte

d K

ids

Pro

gra

mm

eexce

llence

in g

ifte

d e

duca

tion

to add to an existing idea to make something new to improve on an idea to generate possibilities to question the way things are to think beyond what already exists

The

Gift

ed K

ids

Prog

ram

me

CREATIVE THINKING

The G

ifte

d K

ids

Pro

gra

mm

eexce

llence

in g

ifte

d e

duca

tion

BLOOM’S REVISED TAXONOMYCreating

Generating new ideas, products, or ways of viewing thingsDesigning, constructing, planning, producing, inventing.

EvaluatingJustifying a decision or course of action

Checking, hypothesising, critiquing, experimenting, judging

AnalysingBreaking information into parts to explore understandings and relationships

Comparing, organising, deconstructing, interrogating, finding

ApplyingUsing information in another familiar situationImplementing, carrying out, using, executing

UnderstandingExplaining ideas or concepts

Interpreting, summarising, paraphrasing, classifying, explaining

RememberingRecalling information

Recognising, listing, describing, retrieving, naming, finding

The G

ifte

d K

ids

Pro

gra

mm

eexce

llence

in g

ifte

d e

duca

tion

Creative Thinkers Take care to ensure that we give careful

consideration to a number of different possibilities before a decision is made.

Care about looking at all possible problems and solutions.

Have concern for the quality and usefulness of ideas.

The G

ifte

d K

ids

Pro

gra

mm

eexce

llence

in g

ifte

d e

duca

tion

Creative Thinking Skills: Paul Torrance

Fluency

Flexibility

Originality

Elaboration

Risk Taking

Complexity

Curiosity

Imagination

Generate many ideas, its about quantity

Generate a variety of ideas, its about having a range of ideas

Seek new, unusual, different ideas

Expanding, enlarging, enriching, or embellishing, its about adding detail

Taking chances or experimenting

Dealing with a lack of structure, certainty

Follow a hunch, question alternatives, ponder outcomes

Visualize possibilities, build images in the mind, or reach beyond the limits

Aff

ectiv

eC

ognitiv

e

The G

ifte

d K

ids

Pro

gra

mm

eexce

llence

in g

ifte

d e

duca

tion

Strategies

Extended Brainstorming (LACE) Random Input SCAMPER Creative Problem Solving using

SCAMPER Forced Association Thinkers Keys

The G

ifte

d K

ids

Pro

gra

mm

eexce

llence

in g

ifte

d e

duca

tion

The G

ifte

d K

ids

Pro

gra

mm

eexce

llence

in g

ifte

d e

duca

tion

The G

ifte

d K

ids

Pro

gra

mm

eexce

llence

in g

ifte

d e

duca

tion

The G

ifte

d K

ids

Pro

gra

mm

eexce

llence

in g

ifte

d e

duca

tion

The G

ifte

d K

ids

Pro

gra

mm

eexce

llence

in g

ifte

d e

duca

tion

The G

ifte

d K

ids

Pro

gra

mm

eexce

llence

in g

ifte

d e

duca

tion

The

Gift

ed K

ids

Prog

ram

me

The G

ifte

d K

ids

Pro

gra

mm

eexce

llence

in g

ifte

d e

duca

tion

The

Gift

ed K

ids

Prog

ram

me

The G

ifte

d K

ids

Pro

gra

mm

eexce

llence

in g

ifte

d e

duca

tion

The

Gift

ed K

ids

Prog

ram

me

The G

ifte

d K

ids

Pro

gra

mm

eexce

llence

in g

ifte

d e

duca

tion

Issues with school practice

feast or famine syndrome

six-hat school syndrome

flavour of the month syndrome

The G

ifte

d K

ids

Pro

gra

mm

eexce

llence

in g

ifte

d e

duca

tion

Ken Robinson suggests that….

“Creativity is as important as Literacy, and we should treat it with

the same status!”

The G

ifte

d K

ids

Pro

gra

mm

eexce

llence

in g

ifte

d e

duca

tion

Other interesting resources:

John Cleese WCF – youtube

Ken Robinson – RSA animate (changing education paradigms) and Do Schools Kill Creativity - youtube

The G

ifte

d K

ids

Pro

gra

mm

eexce

llence

in g

ifte

d e

duca

tion

Now it is your turn!