GLP-W Lead School Coordinator’s Notes

Twilight Session: Critical thinking in Global Learning

Title: Critical thinking in Global Learning
Overview: This session is designed to actively engage participants in thinking about critical thinking. The short sessionis designed for about30-35 minutes.
Organisation: Seat participants at tables so they can work in groups of about three.
Development opportunities: You could:
  • extendthe session by applying participants’ understanding of critical thinking to their planning for a lesson, series of lessons or unit of work(total: 60 minutes plus – see below)
  • use the short session as the basis for reviewing opportunities for critical thinking within the wider curriculum, for example, preparing for the Welsh Baccalaureate.

Session objectives
  • To explore what critical thinking means, and consider ways to promote and improve critical thinking in the classroom
  • (Extension) To apply participants’ understanding of critical thinking to examples of their planning or the school curriculum.

Resources
  • Data projector and (desirable) internet connection
  • PowerPoint™ ‘Critical thinking in global learning’
  • Handout 1: ‘Critical thinking overview’ from GLP-W guidance.
  • Handout 2: ‘Higher order thinking skills’ from GLP-E network support
  • Handout 3: ‘Questions for critical thinking’
  • Handout 4: ‘Critical thinking examples’
  • Post-its and highlighters may be helpful.
Preparation:
  • Explore the PowerPoint™; adjust the session objectives as you wish
  • Make copies ofthe handouts you want to use. You might want to use Handout 2 at A3 size, or cut into cards and organised in envelopes, one set per small group.
  • If you plan to work with Handout 3: ‘Questions for Critical Thinking’ you will need to choose a resource to apply them to, e.g. newspaper article/s or image/s on a global issue.
  • Extension: In advance, ask participants to bring in lesson plans or medium term/unit plans focused on global learning, or print and copy examples from GLP-W resources.

Structure

Agenda item, activity / Timing / Method/Resources
1. Welcome, introduction and overview of critical thinking / 10-15 minutes / Show title and slide 2, session objectives.
Show slide 3, ‘What is critical thinking’. You could:
  • use the prompts to get people to consider what they think critical thinking in global learning involves, e.g. using think pair share.
  • get people to think this out before showing the quotes, or show the quotes, get people to choose their best, and/or get them to decide on their own essential definitions.
Show slides 4 and 5 – a quick reminder of how critical thinking fits in with the programme.
2. Exploringcritical thinking in global learning / 20 – 25 minutes / Show slides 6: talk through the key issues – the (often) lack of clear definition about critical thinking – the session is designed to help participants firm up their ideas and a way of applying/improving critical thinking in their practice.
Introduce the activity, designed to get people thinking in more depth about what critical thinking in global learning means. Depending on your choice of starter activities, you could:
  • useHandout 1 ‘Critical Thinking Overview’:ask people to discuss and highlight/mark or group the central bullets: which are core to critical thinking; which are more general?
  • alternatively use Handout 2‘Higher Order Thinking Skills’; ask people to discuss and classify which skills/attributes are critical thinking or not; you could do this as a card sort, or by highlighting on an A3 copy.
  • reviewHandout 3 ‘Questions for Critical Thinking’and discuss the opportunities for using them in the classroom, for example, how to differentiate.
  • If you have rather longer, provide people with copies of a resource such as newspaper article/s or image/s on a global issue to apply them to.

3. Plenary/ summary options / 10 minutes / Show slide 9 and refer to further support for critical thinking on the GLP-W site. You mightthen ask people to:
  • firm up their own quote/definition of critical thinking from the initial activity, and take feedback;
  • agree three/five principles for critical thinking that they want to take away and share with their colleagues;
  • show the prompts on slide 10 and ask choose four or five people to respond to different ones
  • sharetheir next steps.

4. Extension: applying understanding of critical thinking / 20 minutes / Alternatively, ask participants to work on their examples of planning before a similar plenary:
  • Show slides 7 and 8, which have examples of critical thinking applied to two common global themes in geography. Ask people to come up with one or more other examples, or use this as a stimulus to review their planning.Handout 4 contains the same information.
  • Most of the resources in the subject section of the GLP-W website integrate critical thinking skills (along with literacy and numeracy). You could ask participants to compare three or so of these, or apply this approach to their own plans.

5. Summary and next steps / 10-15 minutes / Ask groups to feed back from their work, and what they will do to follow this up.
Summarise any key themes, and perhaps opportunities for collaboration in developing further work.

Links:

GLP-W Critical thinking overview:

ESDGC (2008) ‘Developing thinking’ 22

DEA Thinkpiece‘Critical thinking in global learning’:

‘Ten questions for global learning’; a model of questioning applied to food waste:

‘Teaching controversial issues’ guidance from Oxfam: (see also Global Dimension site).

© Crown copyright 20131 Title of document