0.5 Thinking about thinking

Questioning for learning

Research in recent years has shown that learning improves significantly if students are able to think about their thinking,or, in other words, learn about their learning. Teaching methods that inspire this kind activity and take the time to engage in exercises in whichstudents do reflect upon the learning process results in consistently higher performance.

Examples:

Ask students orally or in writing what ideas they are bringing to the lesson or the problem they are asked to solve. In other words,get them to think about the lesson, rather than march through it.

Write the students' responses on the board so they can all see them.

Ask students to draw circles or maps that help them put ideas together. A circle with one idea that intersects with another circle -is one way - the Venn diagram. Mind mapping is another helpful tool.

Ask students to explore what they have discovered and to link it to other ideas or issues they have been studying.

Refer to the old ideas for comparison to determine value and weight.

Ask students to talk about their new ideas or to explain why an idea of theirs has changed.

When students complete a project or activity, ask them to reflect upon the process of doing it - either in writing or orally.

Practices to learn about learning

Here are a two ideas to help students develop their "muscle" for "thinking about thinking":

Idea One

After you do a Cooperative Learning activity with your students or some type of group work, you might ask the students to answer thefollowing questions:

What did you notice about your role or participation during that lesson/activity?

What did you notice about other people's roles/participation?

How can you use this information to help your learning?

Idea Two

Observation/Consciousness Journals

What you notice goes in an "Observation Journal."

(An Observation Journal can be made by simply folding a full-size sheet of paper in half.)

What you notice about what you notice goes in a "Consciousness Journal."

(This, too, can be created by folding a different sheet of paper in half.)

Steps:

• Go out of the classroom with your students; ask them not to talk to one another and to stay at least ten-feet apart as you all walk into nature.They are there to simply, quietly observe . Let them know ahead of time that when they return to the classroom, they will write about one thing theynoticed while oberving nature - a brief sentence or two about what plain observation they made. ("I saw a tree," is not enough. Invite them to saymore: "I noticed a tree whose branches grew straight up towards the sun," or, "I noticed a black bird on a cliff landed ten feet from anotherbird, and after a few seconds, both birds took off together in the same direction." Simple observations in an expanded sentence.)
• After being outside for 10 minutes in silence, motion with your hand for students to come back with you in silence; re-enter the classroomand ask the students to write about the one thing they noticed. Have them write in silence.
• After 5 minutes, ask each student to simply read out loud exactly what s/he has written - no verbal additions, comments, or further discussion; simply go around the roomand have each students read what they have written.
• Repeat steps 1-3, every day, for a week (or longer). Ask the students to write their simple observations in a "notebook". Call this their Observation Journal .
• After a period of 1-4 weeks of keeping an Obeservation Journal, ask your students to re-read each of their own observations to themselves,and to write in a different "notebook": "What do you notice about what you notice?" This book is called a Consciousness Journal.