Quotations from children:

"I like break most' cos during lesson time the teacher does the thinking for you."
"The best teachers are the ones that make you think when you do not want to."

Robert Fisher, 1999, www.teaching thinking.net

Let us think about what it is that we want learners to learn and how we plan to encourage them to do that. We know what the national Department of Education considers to be important because they have published a national curriculum which includes a list of outcomes which they call critical outcomes. If you are not familiar with these then have a close look at them.

We can see from this list of critical outcomes that thinking is mentioned often.  We can also see a number of references to the word "critical" and to problem-solving and to working collaboratively. As you work through the activities you will explore these ideas further. You will consider some classroom situations in which you may be able to  encourage your learners to achieve some of these critical outcomes.