Thinking

The following links provide some useful online tools that can be used by students to scaffold their thinking, and are suitable for promoting collaborative work in thinking and the exploration of ideas. and concept-mapping tools available on the web check out the two links on Wikipedia here: || [|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_concept_mapping_software] [] ||
 * [[image:http://blog.core-ed.net/derek/files/2009/06/exploratree_logo.jpg width="138" height="57" link="http://blog.core-ed.net/derek/files/2009/06/exploratree_logo.jpg"]] || [] ||
 * [[image:http://blog.core-ed.net/derek/files/2009/06/debategraphlogo.jpg width="190" height="50" link="http://blog.core-ed.net/derek/files/2009/06/debategraphlogo.jpg"]] || [] ||
 * [[image:http://blog.core-ed.net/derek/files/2009/06/mywebspiration_logo.jpg width="117" height="24" link="http://blog.core-ed.net/derek/files/2009/06/mywebspiration_logo.jpg"]] || [] ||
 * [[image:http://blog.core-ed.net/derek/files/2009/06/dropmind_logo.jpg width="127" height="46" link="http://blog.core-ed.net/derek/files/2009/06/dropmind_logo.jpg"]] || [] ||
 * [[image:http://blog.core-ed.net/derek/files/2009/06/personal-brain-logo.jpg width="136" height="34" link="http://blog.core-ed.net/derek/files/2009/06/personal-brain-logo.jpg"]] || [] ||
 * [[image:http://blog.core-ed.net/derek/files/2009/06/mindmeister_ogo.jpg width="132" height="30" link="http://blog.core-ed.net/derek/files/2009/06/mindmeister_ogo.jpg"]] || [] ||
 * For a comprehensive list of mind-mapping

Critical Thinking
media type="youtube" key="6OLPL5p0fMg" height="344" width="425"

Teaching Resources

 * 1) [|Critical Thinking]
 * 2) [|Creative Thinking]
 * 3) [|Resources on Bloom's Taxonomy]
 * 4) [|Critical Thinking Resources]
 * 5) [|Examples and Applications of Critical Thinking]
 * 6) [|Creative Thinking Resources]
 * 7) [|Bloom's Taxonomy]

[|Brainology]
Some great articles and readings available here

[|Blooms Taxonomy Tutorials]
The tutorials on this page include the //"Bloom's Taxonomy - An Overview"// and //"Bloom's Taxonomy - Designing Activities"//. Scroll down the page or use the table of contents' links to access the tutorials.

[|Thinking Skills in the Primary Classroom]
**This website is brought to you by the Thinking Skills team of teachers teaching Middle Primary schoolchildren in Malta. The programme is run by the Education Division, Department of Curriculum Management and supported by The Edward de Bono Institute for the Design and Development of Thinking. []**

[|Thinking Skills]
Delicious bookmarks from Teaching Links UK

[|Reflection Activities For the Classroom]
Reflection activities play an important role in helping us to analyze, understand, and gain meaning from professional development activities and classroom learning experiences. They provide productive processing time, which is essential if we expect learners to make meaning out of new information.

[|The Differentiator]
[|The Differentiator] is a cool online application designed to use Bloom’s Taxonomy and other similar thinking/planning “charts” to come-up with appropriate high-level student assignments

[|Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy - Assessment analysis tool]
From Andrew Churches: "What I am trying to achieve is a fast and simple analysis of the make up of tests and examinations. So what I would envisage is this you go through the examiantion and under the verbs put in the mark score for the the verb. For example Q1. List four elements that are gases at room temperature (4 marks). So beside Q1 you would put 4 under list and so on. Then in the remember taxonomic level your would total up all the score and then calculate this as a percentage of the total mark for the paper. In the end what you should have is a break down of the marks allocated for the paper against different taxonomic levels: eg. Remembering - 35% Understanding - 40% Applying - 0% Analysing - 25% Evaluating - 0% Creating - 0% At this point you can consider the construction of your test/exam and whether it is meeting the learning outcomes you have for your course/class."

[|Bloom’s Activity Analysis Tool]
From Andrew Churches: " I have been working on a simple method of analysing teaching and learning technologies against Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy. I have taken the verbs associated with each of the taxonomic levels and arranged them across a sheets and then added a column for the activity components. The idea is that you take your activity and break it down into the component elements and match these against the different taxonomic levels and the learning actions. For example if you looked at students constructing a wiki and so on"
 * Editing the wiki is applying
 * Searching for the information - remembering
 * Tagging the pages with suitable and detailed keywords and notes is understanding
 * Validating the information is evaluating
 * Uploading the resources to the wiki is applying
 * Collaborating and networking is a higher order skill

[|Learning & Thinking Skills]

 * teachingexpertise** education e-bulletins bring you news, information and topical resources direct to your inbox every week during term. Choose the titles to suit you and subscribe free today – or browse the archive for guidance, tips, activities, assemblies and more.

[|Brain-Based Learning]
What is brain-based or brain-compatible learning? How can brain research be integrated into the classroom? How does brain research relate to technology integration? Brain-based learning has been called a combination of [|brain science and common sense]. Hart (1983) called the brain "the organ of learning." He advocated learning more about the brain in order to design effective learning environments. Caine and Caine (1991) developed twelve principles that apply what we know about the function of the brain to teaching and learning. These principles were derived from an exploration of many disciplines and are viewed as a framework for thinking about teaching methodology. Read Caine and Caine's (1994) [|Mind/Brain Learning Principles] for the principles with brief descriptions, [|the longer descriptions], or to [|Caine's Website] for a diagram.

[|Brain Research]
.

Blooms Resources from Larry Ferlazzo
[|Here’s a Bloom’s Taxonomy chart] that’s organized very simply, [|Here’s another simple list] that contains the questions but, more importantly, good ideas on how to implement them in the classroom. This short article has an [|even smaller Verb Chart]that can serve as a reminder when planning lessons. I really like this site because of [|its list of “potential activities and products”] for each level. This site has good practical suggestions on [|how to apply Bloom’s to reading]. A blog called ESL School ran a series of posts last year on applying Bloom’s specifically to English Language Learners. Here are individual links to each of their posts: [|Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy] [|Memory] [|Understanding] [|Applying and Analyzing] [|More On Analyzing and Evaluating] Educational Origami has a wiki that is THE place to get ideas on how to relate technology to Bloom’s.

[|ICT Mindtools]
By ICT Mindtools I refer to ICT tools that necessarily engage users in higher order thinking. Students cannot use Mindtools without thinking deeply about the task at hand. Mindtools require students to be creative and to think and make connections for themselves.

[|Independent Thinking]
For fifteen years Independent Thinking has been working to bring the best out of young people and those who work with them, focussing on areas including thinking, learning, motivation and creativity. We strive to inform, inspire and shamelessly entertain, because education is too important to be taken seriously. And we are committed to being unlike any other organisation in our field.

[|Visual Ranking Tool] : Analyzing and Evaluating Information
**Making a list is usually straightforward and requires little thought.** But when it comes to ordering and prioritizing items in that list, higher-level skills of analysis and evaluation are put to use. The //Visual Ranking Tool// brings focus to the thinking behind making ordered lists. Students identify and refine criteria as they assign order or ranking to a list. They must explain their reasoning and can compare their work with each other in a visual diagram. This tool supports activities where students need to organize ideas, debate differences, and reach consensus.

[|Showing Evidence Tool] : Analyzing and Evaluating Information
**Anyone can have an opinion, but backing it up with well-articulated evidence requires careful thinking.** The //Showing Evidence Tool// helps students learn how to construct well-reasoned arguments and prove their case with credible evidence. The tool provides a visual framework to make claims, identify evidence, evaluate the quality of that evidence, explain how the evidence supports or weakens claims, and reach conclusions based on the evidence. This thinking tool supports activities where students debate differences, make and defend decisions, and analyze conflicting information. The tool and related resources are available for free, from any computer that is connected to the Internet. Students may work on their claims and evidence at home or at school, and can be paired with another team to review their ideas.

[|Thinking Skills in Education]
An excellent overview of research into the effectiveness of thinking skills

=[|On line Thinking Tools]=

[|Exploratree]
Use our free online library of thinking guides. Build up a personal portfolio of useful thinking guides

[|Blooms Taxonomy]
From eduscapes - gives an overview of Blooms and lots of links for further information

**Bloom's Digital Taxonomy**
Andrew Churches wiki

**[|Learning to Learn]**
Articles and downloads from Dr Yoram Harpaz - South Australian Government

[|Lateral Thinking Puzzles]
**Preconceptions** - Fact - Fanciful - Semantics //Lateral thinking puzzles that challenge your preconceptions.//