Thinking skills and Problem-solving:
An inclusive approach

Belle Wallace, June Maker, Diana Cave and Simon Chandler, 2004

UK: London. David Fulton Publishers Ltd.

Available from the TASC Bookshop

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

Authored by a distinguished group of authors with extensive teaching and research experience, the title already indicates that the primary focus of the book is on a practical, inclusive approach to thinking skills and problem-solving. Although the indication is that this is a practical guide for teachers in primary schools, an even wider audience, including secondary school teachers, educators, and phase coordinators will also find it of interest.

Running through the book like a golden thread is the notion that all children have strengths and the idea that by celebrating 'what they can do well, they gain the courage to persevere with their weaknesses'. This perspective positions the book firmly in an asset-based paradigm, while commending parents and teachers, as committed adults, for nurturing the children in their care, thus promoting the development of a humanising and empowering education system.

The first three chapters present a justification of a curriculum focused on teaching children to think effectively and nurturing the skills they require for lifelong learning. Teachers and parents are encouraged to become aware of the behaviour they model, since children copy life behaviour from adults and 'mirror what they see and experience' (xi). In Chapters four and five, written by teachers, willing to share their best practice with colleagues, the principles discussed in the first three chapters are applied to everyday classroom situations. The approach advocated here reveals that learners use intuition, memory, creativity, logical thinking and meta-cognition in the problem-solving process, and it involves the full range of human abilities in developing a network of learning processes to enable learners to acquire a range of competencies so that they are able to understand and apply problem-solving processes across a wide range of problem-solving activities.

Chapter one offers questions that encourage the reader to reflect on each of the aspects outlined above, whereas a number of mindmaps in various styles offer an overview of preceding sections. Scholars agree that learning competencies need to be embedded in experiential learning initially: as learners' understanding and skills develop, themes can be broadened to encompass issues based on community, national, international and universal contexts, so that learners acquire a sense of independence and interdependence in relation to the global environment, enabling them to cultivate the ability to manage personal and other problems, for example in regard to family matters as opposed to one's community problems.

Chapter two reflects on and offers a well-argued discussion on the theoretical underpinning of the TASC (Thinking Actively in a Social Context) Framework based on the principles of learning and teaching set out in the first chapter. It describes a universal problem-solving process and shows that the learning capacity of all children can be improved through the TASC Framework. Practical teacher observation checklists outline general problem solving abilities (identified through DISCOVER/TASC observations (p.133).

Chapter three adds value in that the discussion of the problem-solving process is taken a step further by merging TASC and the DISCOVER Curriculum Model (Discovering Intellectual Strengths and Capabilities while Observing Varied Ethnic Responses). 

The inter-connectedness of intelligence and creativity in the problem-solving process is described and the relationship between the six problem types, from closed to open-ended, across the full range of human abilities, and the TASC processes, is illustrated. A shift is facilitated away from correct answers and familiar methods towards challenges which will result in their mastering the National Curriculum and achieving set national standards rapidly and permanently. 

In Chapter four a three-year whole-school development approach to thinking and problem-solving across the full range of human abilities is illuminated. The project culminated in a TASC week during which two parents' evenings were held. Staff and children discussed problems and successes and some of the main findings based on the five-day practical experiment were that the learners were highly motivated to learn in a practical way; multiple abilities cannot function discretely, but rely on the interplay with other abilities and staff should not undervalue the creativity of children who do not excel in written work.

In Chapter five, an interesting account of yet another whole-school development project which TASC was introduced gradually, is provided. The account includes examples of children's work and photographs from 'Claremont' (pseudonym), a school in a low socio-economic area. This project emphasised the necessity for teachers to gauge each pupil's strengths and weaknesses, that children less able in Numeracy and Literacy revealed hidden depths during some of the activities - especially the Mechanical/Technical ones, and that the wording of tasks needs to be explicit. 

In conclusion it should be stated that the authors have bravely faced the challenge of designing a framework for an inclusive approach aimed at teaching children to think effectively. This contribution to the literature is of great theoretical and practical value and is highly recommended for all people (from trainee teachers to experienced educators) involved in enabling children to become aware of diversity through a globally relevant curriculum while applying appropriate thinking skills in order to solve problems effectively.

Gifted Education International Vol 20 No 1