Please sit in your national groups

1. Please sit in your national groups EFTRE European Conference Järvenpää 2004

2. Thinking Skills in Religious Education:An English perspective with classroom activities Jane Brooke Senior Adviser for Curriculum and RE Cheshire County Council EFTRE European Conference Järvenpää 2004

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4. Influences on Thinking Skills I • Psychology • Philosophy • Debt to Dewey and Vygotsky • Feuerstein • From 1967: De Bono • From 1999: From thinking skills to thinking classrooms EFTRE European Conference Järvenpää 2004

5. Influences on Thinking Skills II • Principles for teaching thinking • Philosophy for children: stimulus, response, paired question creation, election of focus for enquiry, assumptions, enquiry, reflection on process EFTRE European Conference Järvenpää 2004

6. 11 year olds after P4C on Jonah (special needs) You shouldn’t be punished if you take something and make it all right again I took some cakes my Mum made and gave them to my friends to eat and ate them. She was mad. I said I was sorry. I made some for her and she kissed me. Yuk! Jonah saved those people on the boat AND those people in that place EFTRE European Conference Järvenpää 2004

7. Influences on Thinking Skills (cont.) • From 2000: National developments • Thinking skills in the classroom developed in the North West of England, initiated by Newcastle University ‘The unexamined life is not worth living’ Socrates EFTRE European Conference Järvenpää 2004

8. Thinking Skills ‘The English would rather die than think and very often do’ Bertrand Russell The National Handbook for teachers in both primary and secondary schools (1999) says: By using thinking skills pupils focus in ‘knowing how’ as well as ‘knowing what’ – learning how to learn. The following skills are offered as a complement to the National Curriculum: • Information processing skills • Reasoning skills • Enquiry skills • Creative thinking skills • Evaluation skills EFTRE European Conference Järvenpää 2004

9. Skills useful for Religious Education are: • Investigation • Interpretation • Reflecting • Empathy • Analysis • Synthesis • Evaluation • Application • Expression EFTRE European Conference Järvenpää 2004

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11. Thinking Skills in Religious Education - University of Newcastle David Leat‘Thinking through Religious Education’ by V. Baumfield 2002 Chris Kington publishing ISBN 1 899857 46 X Activities useful in Religious Education for developing Thinking Skills - Odd one out - Living Graphs - Maps from Memory - Mysteries - Mind movies (guided visualisation): - Story telling - Taboo There may be many others too…. EFTRE European Conference Järvenpää 2004

12. Odd One Out This supports classification and understanding of the properties and defining attributes of objects or concepts. This activity may be used to revise or to introduce a new topic. EFTRE European Conference Järvenpää 2004

13. The Pope Bishops Priests EFTRE European Conference Järvenpää 2004

14. Mezuzah Tefillin Tallit EFTRE European Conference Järvenpää 2004

15. Mosque Synagogue Church EFTRE European Conference Järvenpää 2004

16. Odd One Out Mezuzah Tefillin Tallit EFTRE European Conference Järvenpää 2004

17. Classification is a fundamental concept because the mastery of all other concepts rests upon it. In RE pupils realise that although classification can take place, the boundaries are less clear when discussing ‘theological classification’. It is the process of talking and discussing how to classify and reclassify that engages the pupils and develops an awareness of religious issues. EFTRE European Conference Järvenpää 2004

18. Very happy Very unhappy FEEL ING TIME Burial Arrest Trials Mocking Crucifixion Judas’ kiss Resurrection The last supper Living Graphs This allows the pupil to make a connection between beliefs and teachings and the emotions of the people involved. The range of skills are: sequencing, interpreting information, making links, checking and refining, explaining and justifying. Resources: Empty graph, pencil, ruler, 1 red, 1 blue 1 green pen. • 1. Add a variety of emotions on the y axis in pencil • Place a cross to show Peters feelings (red), Mary Jesus’ mother (blue) and Judas (green) for each of the events (Note: Judas cannot go beyond ‘the trials). • Make a graph for each person. EFTRE European Conference Järvenpää 2004

19. Peter Mary Judas Very happy Happy Confused Neutral Angry Unhappy Very unhappy FEEL I NG TIME Burial Arrest Trials Mocking Crucifixion Judas’ kiss Resurrection The last supper Living Graphs (example) EFTRE European Conference Järvenpää 2004

20. Maps from Memory This relies on teamwork and strategies used to complete the task. The ‘content’ is reworked through dialogue. The plenary focuses on how the task could be better completed next time. Instructions on the top of the cover of the picture: Resources: A3 plain paper, pencil, ‘secret picture’ • The group sits around the plain paper • The secret picture is placed a few paces away on another table • FIRST agree a strategy • The group sends one person at a time to look a the picture for 10 seconds • The person returns to the group and draws what they see • Another person goes to look and returns to add more detail to the picture • All members of the group have a turn FIRST agree a strategy AFTERWARDS - How well did the team work - Could you improve the process EFTRE European Conference Järvenpää 2004

21. Mysteries This is designed to encourage pupils to deal with ambiguity by addressing a question using both relevant and irrelevant information. The range of skills are: sorting relevant information, interpretation, speculating, making links, forming hypotheses, checking, explaining, evaluating and communicating. Mystery: Why did the Stewarts kill their son? Instructions Use the information to solve the mystery Afterwards Can you explain your solution? How did you work as a team? Did anyone hinder or help? EFTRE European Conference Järvenpää 2004

22. Metacognition • How did you approach finding a solution? • How did you reason? • Can you use this way of thinking elsewhere in your studies? EFTRE European Conference Järvenpää 2004

23. Taboo This develops interpretation, speaking and listening and making links. On a card, there are three words under a main heading. Pupils have to try to help a group guess the top word without using the bottom words. EFTRE European Conference Järvenpää 2004

24. CRUCIFIX Jesus Die Sins EFTRE European Conference Järvenpää 2004

25. BAPTISE Water Baby Priest EFTRE European Conference Järvenpää 2004

26. ESCHATON End Revelation Time EFTRE European Conference Järvenpää 2004

27. ‘thinking is when your mouth stays shut and your head keeps talking to itself’ Clinton age 8 EFTRE European Conference Järvenpää 2004

28. Thinking Skills in Religious Education:An English perspective with classroom activities Jane Brooke Senior Adviser for Curriculum and RE Cheshire County Council EFTRE European Conference Järvenpää 2004