BA Library Online: Thinking Skills and The Learning Scientist

This month in the Academy, we have been busy trying out the Skill Tree. What we found from our small group discussions is the interconnection of skills across subjects. Take for example, the skills in reflection and remembering or retrieval are essential in writing big and small research papers or essays. Some teachers have the strategy to teach this. What research is telling us is that new strategies can be employed to help learners become better thinkers.

As a response to my colleagues' questions and needs, I re-posted the thinking skills and strategies from The Learning Scientist. I am putting it up in the blog to share with you, my dear readers.

The Learning Scientist has rich resources to guide students, teachers, and parents in studying and in the development of thinking skills. Of the varied materials that are posted in the website, the Six Strategies for Effective Learning is acclaimed as the most practical and beneficial based on decades of research in Cognitive Psychology. The Six Strategies are Elaboration, Concrete, Examples, Dual Coding, Retrieval Practice, Spaced Practice and Interleaving. Try setting them up as routines to discipline the mind and to train the brain to think clearly.

As teachers, we can use the strategies to break content into bite size pieces making it easier to understand. We can match the thinking strategies with our favourite graphic organisers. Conversation between teacher and student when using a graphic organiser becomes more meaningful. For example, we can ask students to elaborate on the relationships or similarities of ideas, concepts, elements or issues that they identified in their Venn Diagram. By using dual coding (drawing and writing), cognitive skills like long term memory and the retrieval process are strengthened. Thus, making infographics, mind maps and doodling a big hit to learners.

The strategies can also be taken as skills that students can apply during study hall, group work, study groups and independent study. Once the strategies are introduced and modelled, becoming a part of classroom teaching in synchronous and asynchronous learning environments, students are more likely to follow through. Feel free to download the files and do visit the Learning Scientist website for articles, new books, podcasts, tips for parents and sharing of learning strategies that work!