Thinking Skills Yr 7 ~ the course so far……..

Thinking Skills was introduced into our curriculum this year and we have decided to continue the project next year with the new Year 7 students. It is a programme which has been designed with three modules to give our pupils the skills and tools to really think carefully about their studies.

Module 1 (Tim Fulford)

This module introduces a number of specific skills which the students can then use in other lessons.

The first skill is Observation and Recall.

Kim’s Game is a game Lord Baden Powell (who started Boy Scouts-that’s another story) is said to have used to train his troops. It’s a memory and recall game.

You have many objects gathered together (usually 10).  I lay them out on the table with the students all sitting round. As I produce each object I describe what it is and usually add some humourous comment, this serves to remind the students about the object when they come to recall it later.

This system works in the same way as the technique used to help students learn to spell properlly.

We play that one team takes all the objects away and then the other team takes turns remembering all the objects. As they are “recalled”, they are placed back in view.

Another way of playing this game is to use a theme like CSI or Spy Training School.

This link will take you to an online version of Kim’s Game: http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/studyskills/5to9/remember/KimsGame/resources/genericcontent_tcm4272469.asp