In a world of rapid change the next generation will need, more than ever, to be well schooled in thinking skills.

Programmes that take them beyond basic acquisition and application of existing knowledge into the realms of creative and caring thinking will ensure that today’s young will become the free-thinking adults of the twenty-first century ~ adults with the ability to create the knowledge required to take us beyond the information age.

Few people concerned with the education of young minds would argue that one of the primary objectives of schooling should involve the teaching of tools for life-long learning.

When asked to list important tools for life-long learning, many educators would place a high priority on empowering students with thinking skills such as the ability to reason; to make informed judgments; to critically evaluate information and to think both creatively and caringly.

As a consultant visiting a diverse range of schools and talking with hundreds of teachers, it became increasingly obvious that whilst schools had clearly articulated guidelines and policies for just about everything remotely connected to student learning - the teaching of thinking skills across the school was a common exception.

It became clear that teachers need a manageable framework for the explicit teaching of thinking skills that will equip students with thinking tools to use throughout their schooling and in the years beyond.

More specifically, schools would benefit from having framework for a whole school approach to the explicit teaching of thinking skills.

Such an approach will create the potential for all students within the school population to be engaging in higher order thinking, every day in every lesson.

This session looks at the rationale, possible content and a range of strategies
that may typify such an approach.