APPENDIX V
The Impact of Teaching Thinking on the Eight Teachers involved in the Project
The action research that was carried out by the three thinking skills teachers in Malta between October 2000 and February 2001 describes the impact of the direct teaching of thinking on primary school pupils and on their class teachers. It was decided, however, to asses whether there had been any particular impact of teaching thinking on the eight teachers who were involved in the project. A questionnaire was prepared for this purpose and distributed to teachers in April 2001 (after the initial implementation phase). It is to be noted that the de Bono Thinking Skills were used by the teachers involved in the project and the project coordinators during a number of regular meetings. The following are the results of the questionnaires:
1. Use of the thinking skills (T.S.) in your work: Planning lessons and activities x 4 teachers
Evaluation of lessons and activities
Planning and evaluating a situation
To be more objective (PMI and CAF)
With time-tabling (FIP)
To sort out ideas
Decision making
For charts and worksheets
Integrated thinking skills in P.S.E. topics
2. Use of the thinking skills with your family: To take important decisions x 2
To see how others perceive a situation (OPV)
My two children have learnt to use the thinking tools
Priorities (FIP)
Goals and objectives (AGO)
Yes, not as often as I wish
No, adults are too set in their ways
No, distinction between work and family life
x 2
3. Use of thinking skills in your community: No, but aware of where I can apply them
No, not involved in community at the moment x 2
No, not much time for socialising at present
No, too busy
No, as others may not have heard of the skills
No, but I use them myself regarding the community
No, distinction between work and family life
4. Differences in how you teach thinking: More focussed, more strategic, more fun, more communicative and easier to organise group work
Move from teaching role to facilitating x 2
Since February more focus on transfer
More flexible re. content of lessons
More confident
Better thinking and different ideas
More time for pupils to think and reflect
Use of pictures (Y 1 – 3) to generate more ideas
More understanding of pupils’ ideas
More focus on objective
5. Differences for pupils in/out of classroom: Effective participation and easy collaboration
Learning is fun for the pupils x 3
Feedback from pupils re transfer of thinking skills
Unanimous interaction
Metacognitive thought is evident in class
Feedback from parent re use of T.S. at home and re. how pupils are learning to think
Parents should learn T.S. for better use outside class
Pupil feedback on use of T.S. outside class, eg decisions x 2
No evidence yet from outside classroom x 3
Plus:
Most of the topics we deal with in P.S.E. link well to T.S.
I am getting more confident with the content and the methodology and feel that my teaching of T.S. is proressively etting better.
Thinking skills are very useful
Very scheduled, organised, moving swiftly
Children who have had thinking lessons discuss better during P.S.E. sessions and come up with a lot of ideas
Pupils respond positively
Pupils see T.S. as fun
Class teachers welcomed the introduction of T.S.
In the second part of the project (Feb – Jun) children already used to class set-up, to teacher, to timetable x 2
Experience already gained teaching T.S. in the previous school (Oct – Jan)
Children have matured a bit during the second part of the scholastic year (Feb – Jun)
Minus:
T.S. takes up a substantial amount of time from P.S.E. programme
Contact with the pupils only once a week breaks the continuity of their exposure to T.S.
Thinking skills should not be mistaken for P.S.E. skills
Not as interesting as P.S.E. lessons which include more games.
Thinking everything out can be boring!
Children miss P.S.E. lessons x 2
Short time spans for lessons, lessons could be longer
Having a fixed room is best
Children feel the change between P.S.E. and T.S.
Interesting:
Some children seem to prefer T.S. to P.S.E.
It would be interesting to have some sessions for parents so as to recruit their efforts also in teaching thinking to the children
Ask the children whether they have noticed the difference!
I wonder whether all Malta will become more "creative and rational" thanks to thinking skills
Perhaps P.S.E. teachers should teach only P.S.E. and thinking skills teachers only T.S. x 2
Interesting to see how changes work out as the programme is developed and improved
Interesting to introduce new ways of teaching thinking
Each teacher, every child and every town are different and it is interesting to see different reactions
It is evident that there are a number of issues which emerge in the responses of the teachers to the questionnaires which need to be dealt with in an attempt to develop and improve the implementation of the de Bono Thinking Skills project in Primary Schools. Amongst the more pressing issues which can be identified which should be addressed are the following: