3. TheGiftedKidsProgrammeexcellenceingiftededu
We would like youngsters, and indeed adults, to become alert and
thoughtful when they hear an unlikely rumour, face a tricky problem of
planning their time, have a dispute with a friend, or encounter a
politician’s sweeping statement on television (Perkins, 2003, p.1).
However, Perkins cautions that building thinking skills, while
necessary, is not a sufficient underpinning for achieving such
aspirations. His team’s research has found that the disposition to use
higher-order thinking is what is more likely to be lacking when people
fail to do the sorts of things he suggests in this quote. It is not that
people cannot think, but they are “simply oblivious to situations that
invite thinking” (p. 1).
This focus on dispositions illustrates an important difference between
thinking as a set of skills and thinking as a competency. Paul (2000)
organises thinking dispositions into five broad groups:
curiosity, inquiry, playing with ideas, questioning;
thinking broadly, making connections, being open-minded and fair;
being careful and clear when reasoning;
being organised and planning ahead; and
willingness to take time to think.
Users of Art Costa’s popular “Habits of Mind” educational resources will
recognise similarities between this list and the 16 habits identified
4. TheGiftedKidsProgrammeexcellenceingiftededu fitness
a summary of Gilbert (2005)
Gym instructor’s role
Designing a body fitness
programme suitable for an
individual’s starting level
Coaching on correct use of
specific fitness equipment
Setting individual targets that
are challenging and extending
but don’t risk physical injury
Supporting and encouraging
regular practice
Coaching individuals to design
and take responsibility for their
own fitness programmes
Working on their own fitness,
being a role model
Equivalent teaching role
Designing a mind fitness
programme suitable for an
individual’s starting level
Teaching about use of specific
types of thinking tools
Setting individual learning
goals that are challenging
without being too discouraging
Supporting and encouraging
regular practice
Coaching individuals to design
and take responsibility for their
own fitness programmes
Modelling pleasure in their own
thinking and learning
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to add to an existing idea
to make something new
to improve on an idea
to generate possibilities
to question the way things are
to think beyond what already exists
TheGiftedKidsProgramme
CREATIVE THINKING
8. TheGiftedKidsProgrammeexcellenceingiftededu BLOOM’S REVISED TAXONOMY
Creating
Generating new ideas, products, or ways of viewing things
Designing, constructing, planning, producing, inventing.
Evaluating
Justifying a decision or course of action
Checking, hypothesising, critiquing, experimenting, judging
Analysing
Breaking information into parts to explore understandings and relationships
Comparing, organising, deconstructing, interrogating, finding
Applying
Using information in another familiar situation
Implementing, carrying out, using, executing
Understanding
Explaining ideas or concepts
Interpreting, summarising, paraphrasing, classifying, explaining
Remembering
Recalling information
Recognising, listing, describing, retrieving, naming, finding
9. TheGiftedKidsProgrammeexcellenceingiftededu
Creative Thinkers
Take care to ensure that we give careful
consideration to a number of different
possibilities before a decision is made.
Care about looking at all possible problems
and solutions.
Have concern for the quality and usefulness
of ideas.
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Creative Thinking Skills: Paul Torrance
Fluency
Flexibility
Originality
Elaboration
Risk Taking
Complexity
Curiosity
Imagination
Generate many ideas, its about
quantity
Generate a variety of ideas, its about
having a range of ideas
Seek new, unusual, different ideas
Expanding, enlarging, enriching, or
embellishing, its about adding detail
Taking chances or experimenting
Dealing with a lack of structure,
certainty
Follow a hunch, question alternatives,
ponder outcomes
Visualize possibilities, build images in
the mind, or reach beyond the limits
AffectiveCognitive
