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Education Forum on Teaching Thinking Skills Report

Personal Experiences

Kevin Logan, Millburn Academy

A second personal perspective was provided by Kevin Logan, a secondary school teacher from Highland Council.

Background

Kevin Logan is a mathematics teacher who has been involved in developing thinking skills for over ten years in schools within Highland Council. He has experiences of:

Experiences

Kevin Logan explained how his interest in thinking skills arose from his concern about individualised learning for pupils in S1/2. He believes there is a need for research into teaching and learning to form a sound basis for both, and sees thinking skills within this wider context of improving teaching and learning. In particular, he has found some of Robert Fisher's 'infusion' strategies very helpful, because they make explicit what the teacher is doing and why. Fisher 'unpacks' his theories and translates them into classroom practices. For example, when questioning, Fisher recommends that teachers should increase the time they wait for a pupil to respond to three seconds. He also recommends that teachers should know exactly what they want from questioning and let pupils know. This will encourage deeper thinking.

John Nisbet and Brian Boyd have also been influences on Kevin's classroom practice. He highlighted the importance of John Nisbet's view that what teachers need is time to think. During staff development events, Brian Boyd had located teaching thinking skills within the context of what we know about school effectiveness. Both are helpful.

Kevin pointed out that most authorities on this topic stress the social aspect of learning and thinking. From the perspective of a maths teacher, Kevin Logan saw that many pupils came to the subject with pre-formed negative attitude, a feeling that they 'can't do it [maths]'. This had to be confronted if pupils were to move forward with their thinking and Kevin had experimented with group work and collaborative learning in maths in order to address the problem. Kevin described how he begins each lesson with questions which demonstrate what pupils can remember from the previous lesson, week and year in order to establish links with prior learning and aid reflection.

Where do we go from here?

Kevin Logan identified four key aspects of a strategy for taking thinking skills forward. These are:

Addressing each in turn, Kevin argued that:

• There is already a lot of interest in thinking skills and lots of good work being undertaken in Scottish schools.
• Research evidence is limited at present and there is a need for evaluation of the effects of teaching thinking skills.
• Support for teachers is crucial and although packages may provide a good starting point, teachers need the background and time to reflect on them and their own practice.
• It is important to recognise that thinking is not a new add-on to the curriculum, and there is a need to establish a balance. He believes it is possible to tackle the process skills and still complete the syllabus. The former should, he argues, aid the latter.

Personal views

The presentation had commenced with Kevin asking participants to note the first aim of Maths in the 5-14 Guidelines. At this point, he reminded the audience that the aim was 'to understand the nature and purpose of mathematics' which he believed was in tune with a process skills approach. Robert Fisher had quoted the Scottish curriculum guidelines, specifically English 5-14, as placing thinking firmly in the curriculum. The presentation concluded with the assertion that 'given the right backing we [teachers] can take this forward.'

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