Thinking and learning

David Leat reflects on the contribution of cognitive acceleration through science education (CASE) and the way in which initiatives such as this can contribute to thinking communities
AAlthough I am not a scientist, Philip Adey's work on CASE inspired me in the early 1990s when I was a PGCE tutor. Three things mark out his work for me:

The practical application, through CASE, of powerful ideas about thinking and learning.
The focus on professional development or teacher learning issues in making CASE work.
Its illuminating common sense about raising attainment – we need to do something different not more of the same.

It is not uncommon to hear a teacher say ‘we have done thinking skills’.

I wince inwardly. I find the statement a real shock, so let me think through that reaction. Firstly I am puzzled by what that means – it could mean that we have had a training day, or that some teachers have used some thinking approaches in their teaching, or that the school has had teaching thinking as a priority and has now moved on to another priority. All of these scenarios leave so much unsaid. Secondly I just cannot understand how a school can have ‘done’ thinking skills in the sense that you can finish dealing with thinking. In my mind, if once you start ‘doing’ thinking skills you would never finish, because it is so much bound up in a philosophy of education and a state of mind.

Ref: http://www.teachingexpertise.com/articles/from-thinking-skills-to-thinking-schools-2119