Teaching thinking skills across the primary curriculum: A practical approach for abilities

Belle Wallace (ed.) 2004

UK: David Fulton Publishers Ltd.

Reviewers: Kobus Maree and Carol Van der Westhuizen, University of Pretoria, Sough Africa

Though often disagreeing on a wide range of topics, professionals in the field of education on all levels nonetheless agree on the crucial importance of teaching critical thinking skills in all classrooms, at all levels in South Africa. This notion is supported by the sweeping changes that took South Africa by storm since 1994 and the subsequent introduction of an outcomes-based education system. This manuscript covers the field of critical thinking systematically, and provides a stylish approach to contemporary trans- and international trends in the field of education with regard to critical thinking skills and the demands posed by postmodern advances in the field of education. Published in the United Kingdom, it comes at a time when the number of narratives on the significance of critical thinking in education is ever-increasing. Devoted to critical and theoretical rigour, the book offers a wide collection of information, a mixture of tried and tested classroom activities, that are highly relevant to South African education practitioners in 2007. The target readership of this book includes parents, educators, psychologists, counsellors, educational planners, as well as scholars, academics, students and researchers in the field of education and all others interested in the application of critical thinking skills in specific areas. The authors have succeeded in weaving this spirit into the framework of the book by stressing the importance of learning about and using a wide variety of approaches based on and incorporating critical thinking.

In South Africa (SA), as is the case in the United Kingdom (UK), many pupils, including both weak and very able ones, fail to reach the higher levels of learning, allegedly because they are unable to answer higher-order questions, which require a problem-solving approach. The emphasis on the acquisition of problem-solving and thinking skills and the surge of government interest in the teaching of such skills is not limited to SA and the UK - it is a worldwide phenomenon. It is well known that South Africa is characterised by poor mathematical performance and low literacy levels. This book can therefore be used by communities worldwide to extend and maximise children's potential by attending to literacy, numeracy, life skills and science issues through a problem-solving framework.

The editor, Belle Wallace, is one of the most revered experts in the field of gifted education and the development of problem-solving and thinking skills through the curriculum.

The book is dedicated to teachers and parents who are willing to "walk down a demanding and rocky road" with the common purpose of ensuring that children learn to think so that they can develop a range of problem-solving skills in order to gain the confidence required to use the skills across the curriculum and in real-life situations (x).

The purpose of this book is to focus on issues concerning problem-solving and thinking skills development across the National Curriculum. A number of the most important outcomes of the book, which was written in collaboration with seven schools, are to provide a succinct theoretical base for teaching problem-solving and thinking skills, to provide guidance on extending current good practice in order to raise standards across the board and to "share practical ideas developed for teachers by teachers" (xii).

The basis of the TASC Problem-solving Approach and Thinking Skills Approach is comprises Sternberg's view of intelligence and effective learning processes, i.e. all individuals can learn to use a range of thinking skills and strategies through the key processes of meta-cognition: reflecting, consolidating and transferring; and Vygotsky's view on the importance of language in the development of "higher" psychological processes, viz. using already existing knowledge or "hooks" to extend learning.

In the first part of Chapter 1 (Belle Wallace) invites the reader to explore certain issues raised in debates on what exactly teaching children to think entails. As in a previous book in the series, speech bubbles are used to "voice" varying opinions and blank bubbles are supplied for interactive readers to enter their own views. Readers are subsequently entreated to review their own home and school practice and to attempt to create a classroom (and home) ethos which shows that everyone matters. The major tenets of TASC encapsulated in the diagram feature throughout the book and are embedded in the varying author interpretations. The audit spiral and the hexagon collage are tools to assist in reflecting on or "auditing" own practice. In addition, tools most commonly used by teachers and learners have been identified and portrayed in a TASC Wheel. The motivation for using TASC is that the skills and strategies required by learners to become active, lifelong thinkers need to be embedded in curricula, real-life problems and relevant contexts so that they may practise "the skills of democratic behaviour through repeated classroom experiences of working cooperatively with others" (20).

The aim of the case study in Chapter 2 (Cave) is to share a primary school's whole-school experience of introducing the TASC problem-solving and thinking skills strategy. The TASC week timetable and proposed calendar, as well as the staff information sheet are included. Brief descriptions of the lessons on school rules, how athletes prepare for the Olympic Games and advertising the TASC process as a product, interspersed with photographs, sketches, slogans and posters are followed by complete lesson plans.

Chapter 3 (Spilsbury) presents practical ideas to alleviate perennial learning problems. While the major focus is on writing skills embedded in a history project, other skills are interwoven. Once again the readers are invited to audit their own practice, this time using the Likert principle to rate their practice with regard to certain questions provided in the author's audit of her own practice. The example illustrates how literacy, history and ICT objectives (according to the National Curriculum) are combined in a problem-solving project involving the writing of an informal and a formal account of a trip to Sudbury Hall, Museum of Victorian artefacts, by a group of older Year 4 and young Year 5 pupils.

In Chapter 4 (Barrett) an attempt is made to describe how the development of children's basic skills can be embedded in appropriate and exciting problem-solving activities. Valsa Koshy's (2001) list of good mathematics principles is a useful guideline for teachers. The first part of the chapter comprises the planning for a series of activities linked to their use and relevance to real life, including a case study with a number of mathematics investigations. The second part contains a selection of learning objectives and examples of activities and resources. An adapted version of the TASC Wheel includes questions to be used as prompts in developing and extending children's thinking and problem-solving skills. Key Stage 2 pupils used a flow diagram based on the TASC Wheel to plan and evaluate the school disco they organised.

In Chapter 5 (Nicola Beverley) sets out to explore ways in which the TASC Problem-solving Framework can be used to enhance and extend children's learning in science. Each section of the TASC Wheel is examined and practical ideas and guidelines for teachers are included. This endeavour was motivated by the recent revision of science in the National Curriculum and such links are indicated at the beginning of each section. The activities encompass literacy, numeracy and thinking skills within a science context and include concept maps, photographs, sketches, poems and KWL (What do I know? What do I want to know? What have I learnt?) grids.

Chapter 6 (Honeywood) shows how a project can be developed through art and literacy by means of the TASC model, also focusing on the fostering of emotional intelligence and a positive self-concept. Readers are asked to consider the author's reasons for teaching problem-solving skills and to add their own. The mind map in Stage 1 depicts the development of problem-solving and thinking skills and illustrates the progression of the stages in the process of introducing the TASC Wheel to a small group of children, which are described in detail on the following pages.

The text is well-written and scholars, academics, teachers, and students should find the writing style accessible, user-friendly and easy to follow. The authors engage with research evidence critically, introducing readers to research and methodology and practice in the field of thinking skills. Furthermore the individual chapters have been integrated in a meaningful way, linking not only differing themes but also theory and practice. The chapters appear, moreover, in a comparatively logical order, and this volume provides readers with a wealth of information related to TASC.

In conclusion the authors have succeeded in compiling an excellent guide, relevant not only to teachers, teacher trainers, teaching assistants, student teachers and parents of Key Stage 1 children, but one which offers principles which can (and should) be applied across all education phases and subjects. A thinking culture will, among other things, empower children to carry out analytical, critical and creative thinking tasks successfully; allow them to develop, refine and practise their thinking skills; teach them how to manage, organise and record data; encourage higher-order thinking skills of analysis, synthesis and evaluation, and ultimately enable them to transfer these skills to everyday situations, using them as tools for lifelong learning (118). In the light of widespread renewed government efforts to address failure rates and non-attainment of minimum standards by large numbers of pupils, and the relatively recent discovery that intelligence can be increased (or diminished) by peoples' experiences and the ways in which they are taught and mentored, this book can be viewed as an extremely valuable contribution to a practical solution to the problems currently being experienced in schools.

GEI Vol 24 Nos 2/3