thinking skills There is no logic in connecting an office copier with 'nose'. That is to say, there is no 'logic' in our normal undertanding of logic. This understanding is based on passive surface information systems. There is, however, the logic of active surface information systems, and that is the logic of a patterning system. In such a system, the putting together of 'copier' with the random input 'nose' is perfectly logical. At the same time, the juxtaposition is a logic of action. JUXTAPOSITIONAs many readers will know, the random juxtaposition is one of the many tools of lateral thinking. • What has smell to do with a copier? Smell is a sensation. • What could smell be used for? When copiers run out of paper or toner, there is usually a light signal - perhaps a red light. SMELL SIGNALWhat about a 'smell signal'? There could be different smells for different things. MOVEMENTThe above example illustrates the process of 'movement', which can be practised until a skill is built up in this operation.
eLearning, Education Technology and Teacher Blog How 21st Century Thinking Is Just Different How 21st Century Thinking Is Just Different by Terry Heick This content is proudly sponsored by The Institute for the Habits of Mind, promoting the development of personal thinking habits in 21st century learners. In an era dominated by constant information and the desire to be social, should the tone of thinking for students be different? After all, this is the world of Google. As a result, the tone of thinking can end up uncertain or whimsical, timid or arrogant, sycophant or idolizing–and so, devoid of connections and interdependence. The nature of social media rests on identity as much as anything else—forcing subjectivity on everything through likes, retweets, shares, and pins. But this takes new habits. Information Abundance There is more information available to any student with a smartphone than an entire empire would have had access to three thousand years ago. New contexts—digital environments that function as humanity-in-your-pocket—demand new approaches and new habits. Persisting.
30 Ways to Inspire Divergent Thinking When we stop talking about creativity and innovation in abstract terms and start thinking about how they originate, we get divergent thinking. Divergent thinking is more than thinking outside the box; it’s thinking without the box, and imposing structure later. The goal of divergent thinking is to generate many different ideas about a topic in a short period of time. It involves breaking a topic down into its various component parts in order to gain insight about the various aspects of the topic. This type of thinking is found among people with personality traits such as nonconformity, curiosity, willingness to take risks, and persistence. The benefits of divergent thinking are huge, especially in a day and age where employers value skills over knowledge. Studies conducted by a Cornell University research team in 2012 found that divergent thinking improves language proficiency and performance. When it comes to leading a successful career, divergent thinking can be a huge help.
How to Implement Deep Learning Characteristics in the Classroom | The Educato... Deep learning is the foundation on which I instruct my students; whether it is through the use of practical thinking skills, human dimension activities, and/or data gathering. There are other deep learning characteristics I implement daily, but these are most commonly used in my classroom. These strategies help to... Deep learning is the foundation on which I instruct my students; whether it is through the use of practical thinking skills, human dimension activities, and/or data gathering. There are other deep learning characteristics I implement daily, but these are most commonly used in my classroom. These strategies help to keep me focused on one common goal for all my students: to promote better learning outcomes for all students-ones that are transformational. Engaging students actively in their own learning, and encouraging understanding of presented materials, should be the main goal of all educators. Practical thinking skills are an essential part of my lesson planning.
Eight Ways of Looking at Intelligence Big Ideas In “Thirteen Ways of Looking At A Blackbird,” poet Wallace Stevens takes something familiar—an ordinary black bird—and by looking at it from many different perspectives, makes us think about it in new ways. With apologies to Stevens, we’re going to take the same premise, but change the subject by considering eight ways of looking at intelligence—eight perspectives provided by the science of learning. A few words about that term: The science of learning is a relatively new discipline born of an agglomeration of fields: cognitive science, psychology, philosophy, neuroscience. Its project is to apply the methods of science to human endeavors—teaching and learning—that have for centuries been mostly treated as an art. As with anything to do with our idiosyncratic and unpredictable species, there is still a lot of art involved in teaching and learning. 1. Situations can be internal or external. On one level this is obvious, but on another it is quite radical. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
Games and your brain: how to use gamification to stop procrastinating 1.4K Flares Filament.io 1.4K Flares × It is Thursday afternoon. Hump day. You are being humped. The one thing you wished to accomplish today remains unaccomplished, sitting there as a painful reminder of your failure, goading you to check Tumblr just one more time. And there’s your answer! Turning repetitive tasks into games is the secret sauce to getting things done. Where did gamification come from in the first place? The idea behind gamification—challenge, motivation, reward— have been present in video games from the start, and it was gaming’s growth from niche to mainstream in the 2000s that helped push game mechanics into new industries and fields. The spark for the gamification boom is often traced to technology apps like Foursquare, which popularized ubiquitous badges for highly engaged users, and social games like Zynga’s FarmVille, which achieved huge commercial success on Facebook with its infinite reward system. Why our brains are so attracted to playing games (image via) 1.) 2.)
Critical Thinking Abilities Weak versus Strong Critical Thinking Critical thinking involves basic intellectual skills, but these skills can be used to serve two incompatible ends: self-centeredness or fair-mindedness. As we develop the basic intellectual skills that critical thinking entails, we can begin to use those skills in a selfish or in a fair-minded way. In other words, we can develop in such a way that we learn to see mistakes in our own thinking, as well as the thinking of others. Typically, people see mistakes in other's thinking without being able to credit the strengths in those opposing views. We call these thinkers weak-sense critical thinkers. Another traditional name for the weak-sense thinker is found in the word sophist. Sophistic thinkers succeed only if they do not come up against what we call strong-sense critical thinkers. Perhaps even more important, strong-sense critical thinkers strive to be fair-minded. Figure 3.1. Figure 3.2.
10 Team-Building Games That Promote Collaborative Critical Thinking One of education’s primary goals is to groom the next generation of little humans to succeed in the “real world.” Yes, there are mounds of curricula they must master in a wide breadth of subjects, but education does not begin and end with a textbook or test. Other skills must be honed, too, not the least of which is how to get along with their peers and work well with others. Students must be engaged and cooperation must be practiced, and often. 10 Team-Building Games That Promote Collaborative Critical Thinking 1. This team-building game is flexible. You can recycle this activity throughout the year by adapting the challenge or materials to specific content areas. Skills: Communication; problem-solving 2. This activity can get messy and may be suitable for older children who can follow safety guidelines when working with raw eggs. Skills: Problem-solving, creative collaboration 3. Zoom is a classic classroom cooperative game that never seems to go out of style. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 10.
Deeper Learning: Performance Assessment and Authentic Audience In a conversation with a veteran educator -- a man with years of experience teaching English and acting as a headmaster -- I was confronted with a prejudice so ingrained in my teaching that I was almost embarrassed to admit it. He said, "You know, when I ask a student to write a paper and turn it in to me, that's ridiculous; I'm the worst audience they could have." I was intrigued. He went on, "Who am I to assume that someone will want to write their best work, something truly personal and creative, for me? A single-person audience is a pretty lame audience, let alone the fact that I'm a middle-aged white guy." That hit me like a rolled-up newspaper. As I absorbed this veteran educator’s words, I realized that not only was I wrong in my assumption that I (or any teacher) is a meanigful audience, but also that my assumptions about how grading and assessment work were so far removed from modern research that I might as well have been a 21st-century doctor treating humours. This matters. 1. 2.
Survey: Learning '21st-Century Skills' Linked to Work Success - Teaching Now A study released today by the polling firm Gallup Inc. finds that students' exposure to so-called 21st-century skills in school correlates positively with "perceived quality of work" later in life . For the study, which was commissioned by Microsoft Partners in Learning and the Pearson Foundation, Gallup asked 1,014 individuals aged 18 to 35 how much experience they had with certain advanced learning skills during their last year of school, including college or graduate school, if applicable. (Cognitive testing conducted by Gallup prior to the survey determined that individuals at the upper end of the age range would have comparable recall of their last school year.) The skills in question—often dubbed 21st-century skills because of their reputed connection to present-day workplace demands—included collaboration, knowledge construction, global awareness, use of technology for learning, real-world problem solving, and skilled communication.
Always be innovating: Preloaded on success, failure and games with purpose - edugameshub I’ve been following the fortunes of games agency Preloaded for several years now, and worked with them on a number of projects. During that time, they’ve grown considerably and had some impressive successes. I wondered: what do they think is behind that success, and what advice might they have for others who want to create educational games? I interviewed their managing director, Paul Canty, to find out his thoughts on this and their new venture showcasing games with purpose. Martha: tell me a bit about how you started out, and how that’s grown to where you are now. Paul: We set up Preloaded over 13 years ago now, with a remit to do work of creative quality that we felt was lacking in larger digital agencies. Games were a constant output of our work, although we did a range of other things too, from corporate websites for the likes of the Arts Council through to innovative content based apps like the first Net A Porter app. Process is also vital to ensuring the best output. P: Tons! 1.
Critical thinking Critical thinking is a type of clear, reasoned thinking. According to Beyer (1995) Critical thinking means making clear, reasoned judgements. While in the process of critical thinking, ideas should be reasoned and well thought out/judged.[1] The National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking defines critical thinking as the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. Etymology[edit] In the term critical thinking, the word critical, (Grk. κριτικός = kritikos = "critic") derives from the word critic, and identifies the intellectual capacity and the means "of judging", "of judgement", "for judging", and of being "able to discern".[3] Definitions[edit] According to the field of inquiry [weasel words], critical thinking is defined as: Skills[edit] Procedure[edit]