Headteacher, Bernadette Hancock describes how thinking maps have been used at her Cardiff school in all curriculum areas, helping children to become more fluent in developing key communication skills.
Provides information and advice on recent developments in the area of cognitive education with specific reference to past, present and future research and publications produced from Exeter University's School of Education and Lifelong Learning (SELL).
Links to thinking schools across the UK.
Aims to support high quality research on cognitive skills and critical thinking development in order to transform learning, teaching and leadership.
Visual thinking tools for educational results.
Picture the Music Create is a multi sensory teaching tool that motivates and inspires creativity.
MPNS is an experienced group of educational professionals whose core purpose is the development of coaching skills and cultures within organisations.
Working with a network of colleges and private training providers supplying key support services.
Helping schools and consortia to identify and meet the challenges of an ever changing educational environment.
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Set up by the Gatsby Charity Foundation to develop a model of effective teaching and learning drawn from research and best practice.
Links to various education websites.
The SCAMPER technique (created by Michael Mikalko), will assist you in thinking of changes you can make to an existing product to create a new one via a checklist, these can either be used directly or as starting points for lateral thinking.
SCAMPER is an acronym which stands for questions relating to the following:
S - Substitute - components, materials, people
Think about substituting part of your product/process for something else. By looking for something to substitute you can often come up with new ideas
C - Combine - mix, combine with other assemblies or services, integrate
Think about combining two or more parts of your probortunity to achieve a different product/process or to enhance synergy.
A - Adapt - alter, change function, use part of another element
Think about which parts of the product/process could be adapted to remove the probortunity or think how you could change the nature of the product/process.
M - Modify - increase or reduce in scale, change shape, modify attributes (e.g. colour)
Think about changing part or all of the current situation, or to distort it in an unusual way. By forcing yourself to come up with new ways of working, you are often prompted into an alternative product/process.
P - Put to another use
Think of how you might be able to put your current solution / product / process to other purposes, or think of what you could reuse from somewhere else in order to solve your own probortunity. You might think of another way of solving your own probortunity or finding another market for your product.
E - Eliminate - remove elements, simplify, reduce to core functionality
Think of what might happen if you eliminated various parts of the product/process/ and consider what you might do in that situation. This often leads you to consider different approaches.
R - Reverse - turn inside out or upside down.
Think of what you would do if part of product/process worked in reverse or done in a different order. What would you do if you had to do it in reverse? You can use this to see from different angles and come up with new ideas.