W08 - Killing two birds with one stone!
Infusing thinking skills to ‘Teach Less Learn More’

Dr Gloria Kong

Recently, the call to ‘teach less learn more’ has pose new challenges to all dedicated teachers like yourself. The only way to achieve this goal is through a strong intrinsic motivation and self regulation on the part of the learners, i.e., our students. One of the most important elements needed is skilful thinking, both critical and creative thinking skills. Ever since the resurrection of the thinking movement in education, teachers are left with even more tasks to juggle. They are not only expected to teach their subject matter well, but also to instil an inquiring mind among their students, in the form of various thinking skills. How nice it would be if we can ‘kill more birds with one stone’, so to speak, by teaching subject matter and thinking skills in unison! This can be done through the infusion approach.

The basic tenet of this approach is to teach content as well as the process skills necessary for in-depth understanding and acquisition of the subject matter. The main objective of this workshop is to train you to inculcate thinking skills within the content of your subject matter. Through a variety of hands-on activities and vivid examples, you will grasp the rationale of such an approach; its underpinning principles; as well as the psychological processes involved when integrating these techniques into the curriculum content. Incorporated skilfully, teaching thinking skills within your curriculum content will not only enable your students to gain factual knowledge in a certain subject, but more importantly, enable you to ‘teach less’ (teach only the main principles) and your students to ‘learn more’ (apply knowledge and skills for subsequent self learning in a critical and intelligent fashion).

Objectives

Upon completion of this workshop, participants will be able to

  1. understand the important relationship between thinking skills and effective learning
  2. identify important thinking skills which can help to enhance students’ learning of the lesson content, as well as to enhance students’ memory of content
  3. learn various approaches to teach thinking skills in the classroom, with special emphasis on the infusion approach
  4. design infusion lesson plans that arouse the interest of students in the subject
  5. identify and measure the development and improvement of thinking skills among students
  6. learn how to create conducive learning environment in the classroom in order to ‘teach less’ and for students to ‘learn more’

Contents

  • Thinking skills and information processing, knowledge construction
  • Five important dimensions for effective learning - Robert Marzano’s Dimensions of Learning
  • Thinking skills for clarification of factual knowledge
  • Thinking skills for evaluation of factual knowledge
  • Thinking skills for problem solving and decision making
  • Different approaches to fostering thinking skills in the classroom
  • How to “kill at least two birds with one stone”
  • How to design infusion lesson plans (examples from primary and secondary classrooms, in a variety of subjects/topics, will be shared)
  • Checklist for measuring the development of thinking skills among students
  • How to nurture a conducive climate for effective thinking and learning

Profile of trainer

Dr Gloria KongDr Gloria Kong Siew Lang did her BA Hons in Humanities with Education at Universiti Sains Malaysia. She obtained her MSc in Cognitive Science and Postgraduate Diploma in Psychology from the University of Wales Cardiff (United Kingdom). She received her PhD in Education from the Nanyang Technological University (Singapore). Her PhD dissertation is entitled Effects of a Cognitive Infusion Module on Critical Thinking and Attitude of Pre-Service Teachers. Dr Kong has a keen interest in understanding the processes and development of the human mind, as well as in how we can best design an instructional platform for maximising learning and transfer of learning. Dr Kong used to work as a school teacher in Sarawak, Malaysia. She has also taught in various institutions of higher learning in Singapore and Malaysia, including Temasek Polytechnic and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak. Since 1999, Dr Kong has been lecturing on a part-time basis at the National Institute of Education. She conducts various courses on thinking skills for both novice and experienced teachers. Examples include Thinking Skills to Enhance Learning and Strategies for Effective Thinking and Learning.

How to Order Workshop

If you’re interested to order any of these workshops, please contact Dr Ng Aik Kwang, Director, The Idea Resort.

Email:

Hp: 9780 2202 / 9118 3014

Workshop duration

1 Day - 9am to 5pm