Knowing;
Understanding;
Creativity/Innovation & Wisdom
Almost every educator
would agree that we need to encourage learners to think better but if
we cannot clearly say what thinking is, then we clearly are not in a
position to develop the capacity in our learners to be able to "think"
better than they did when they first came into the room. It is important
to realise the learners can think before they enter a classroom and
it does not require an educator to teach them to think per se, but it
does take an educator to teach them to think in different ways and to
think more effectively.
25
Billion: Processing capacity of a typical desktop computer
Huang
Gregory; New Scientist;
3 May 2008
The
thinking ecology that schools need to adopt allows learners to extend
the end point for their learning world from knowing (competence), to
building understanding.
To
teach for understanding requires educators to ask rich, open, fertile,
high order questions and to do this requires rich information and communication
environments. The primary role for ICT's is to provide this information
and communication environment.
The
second part of this ecology is to encourage the understanding to be
crafted into creativity and innovation via the use of imagination.
100
Billion: Estimated number
of nerve cells in the brain
Huang
Gregory; New Scientist;
3 May 2008
An
important part of that understanding is knowing who we are and what
we can do... Ultimately, we must synthesize our understandings for ourselves.
The performance of understanding that really matters are the ones we
carry out as human beings in an imperfect world which we can affect
for good or for ill."
Howard Gardner
Thinking
Initiators
Thinking
is Complex
