Designing a Thinking Curriculum

Designing a Thinking Curriculum responds to the challenge of disengagement in the middle years of schooling by providing teachers and administrators with ideas for the implementation of a thinking curriculum in their schools.

Teachers, teacher educators and curriculum consultants describe how they have been influenced by theorists, their use of appropriate cognitive theories, and strategies they have developed that will assist students to develop higher order thinking skills. Ways of accommodating a variety of learning styles and establishing supportive school structures are also presented.

Teachers in this book show how they have

• Modelled their curricula around ideas and issues generated by students
• Linked substantive, real problems to curriculum content
• Ensured that students achieve deep knowledge and understanding
• Fostered higher order thinking through the use of technology, creative thinking, the visual arts and mathematical and scientific ideas.

Designing a Thinking Curriculum will inspire, inform and motivate teachers looking to implement a thinking curriculum in the middle years of schooling. It is a practical first-hand account of the experiences of teaching colleagues based on sound pedagogy.