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Education Forum on Teaching Thinking Skills Report

Appendix 2: Discussion Group Brief

Discussion Group Brief

The aim of the two discussion sessions is to provide participants with an opportunity to discuss their views of the research findings in the light of their own practical experience, in small working groups. To focus the discussion we have asked groups to consider the following questions in each session:

1130-1230 What are thinking skills?

How can they be useful?

Can they be taught?

1345-1500 What approaches have teachers taken?

How can best practice be shared?

What support is needed?

What conclusions can we draw?

Where do we go from here?

The group should appoint a group leader to facilitate discussion and a scribe/rapporteur to take note of the discussion and provide feedback at the plenary session. The group should draw out three main issues from the two sessions and the group rapporteur should provide feedback on these using the attached overhead project film. Feedback should be kept as brief as possible to allow for a full discussion with the Minister.

A report of the day's discussion will be produced which will be sent to all participants and disseminated more widely to education authorities and the research community. The note of the group discussion and feedback and discussion at the plenary session will form the basis of this report. Discussion notes will be collected from each group at the end of the day.

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