(20) 16 ways to use the Thinking Kit

(20)16 ways to use the Thinking Kit

The new year is in full swing. Teachers across the world are back to work, sharing thoughts, ideas and resources...ready for what 2016 may bring.

With this in mind, we thought when better than to share 16 ways to use the Thinking Kit. Using the Thinking Kit Creator (currently free), educational activities can be created on any browser. The user saves the activity, gets a code, then uses that code in the Thinking Kit App (free) to download the activity onto iPads (or get students to). This teams two really strong themes together - learning using iPads AND digital content creation, whether by teachers or the learners themselves.

Activities involve one main goal/objective/question and snippets of information or images to help learners complete/answer it.

The Thinking Kit App can be used individually, but works brilliantly as a group activity too. It seamlessly allows for multi-touch and engages learners in face to face collaboration as they learn. There is a dedicated Reflection Stage and lots of tools to help them become better problem solvers, critical thinkers and team players.

So, without further ado, let’s get started…

1. Simple grouping tasks - add lots of images, pieces of text or both then get learners to sort them accordingly. Get students to use the ‘group tool’ to give groups a name and sort the snippets into them.
   
   E.g. Lots of images of animals and facts on vertebrate and invertebrate - students must then create mini groups, e.g. ‘mammals’ and drag and drop the relevant snippets into them.
   
   
   
2. Reading - break up a large topic into lots of digestible snippets which students can read together to answer an intriguing question about the topic.
   
   E.g. Introduce your class to a piece of literature by giving them key points of the book before they read the full text. Or do this afterwards as a reflection activity.
   
   
3. Ordering task - Get learners to sort the snippets/images into some kind of order, whether that’s chronological, size or even relevance.
   
   E.g. For history, add key moments in time and get students to arrange them correctly.
   
   
4. Custom background - Add a map or image and get students to move the slips into the correct space
   
   E.g. Use a map as the background and have students put countries in the correct place on it, or have a human body as the background and get learners to place the names of bones in the correct place.
   
   
5. Problem solving - Have an engaging story based problem accompanied by an open question to answer.
   
   E.g. A maths murder mystery - learners must piece together elements of the story and clues, do the maths involved and put forward an argument as to who could have been the killer.
   
   
   
6. Questions and answers - Add 10 question slips and 10 answer slips then get students to match them up. To make it a bit harder, don’t answer some of the questions - they can add them with the Note Tool.
   
   E.g. A more ‘fact-based’ subject would go well with this, perhaps scientific reactions or checking understanding of storylines in a book.
   
   
7. Quickly create an activity on breaking news - The Thinking Kit Creator is ideal for getting something together for the following day (or same day) if a sudden or unexpected event occurs which you want to address with students.
   
   E.g. There may have been a natural disaster or a world crisis. Educators could use the current high awareness of it to create an activity and get students to understand it better/share their views.
   
   
8. Learners on a school trip - With access to a camera, smartphone or tablet, students could take these devices on a trip and record their own evidence. They can then create a Thinking Kit activity and use their own images and notes to work on it themselves or as an activity for other groups.
   
   E.g. An example is ‘Does Warkworth need a bypass?’ Students would go there, take pictures of the place, record some local statistics and possibly ask some locals’ opinions.

9. SOLE session review - If you haven’t heard, SOLEs are “created when educators and/or parents encourage kids to work in groups that they form, and are free to change, to answer big, open questions by using the internet” (SOLE toolkit). The origins lie in Professor Sugata Mitra’s Ted-Prize winning talk here. For more information go to School in the Cloud. Give students a big question and carry on a SOLE session as usual. Following their research, the groups could make a Thinking Kit activity with what they have discovered. They could then ‘do’ the activity at a later date or get their fellow students to!
   
   E.g. In the Greenfield Arts’ session, they used the question ‘What makes us human?’ Before/after the class discussion they had, to answer this question, groups could use their gathered information/views to create activities for each other.
   
   
10. 
    Encourage discussion on difficult issues - An activity can be created on a more sensitive issue in a ‘different’ way to the norm. The snippets could include different points of view, facts and engaging images. Working through these in small groups will be less intimidating than as a whole class, it will be easier/less daunting for students to speak up and those at the end who feel more confident, can then engage in a whole class discussion.
    
    E.g. Topics such as bullying or sex education can be broken down and discussed as small groups as an introduction. A ‘scenario’ can be given through a Thinking Kit activity and students can begin to understand ‘taboo’ subjects through relatable stories and even ‘give advice’ to the characters in them.
    
    
11. Work on different strands of the same topic - Split the class into groups of three, then give each group a different strand of topic to research. They then create an activity themselves to share this with other groups, so they learn through each other.
    
    E.g. The topic may be key figures in history - each group focuses on one, creates a Thinking Kit activity, and gives the code to another group for them to learn about a different strand to what they created theirs on.
    
    
12. Ice breaker activity - Thinking Kit could be used to help students get to know each other better, whether that’s because they have just met (new class) or they have had a long break. Students could create an activity about themselves for others to use or get into pairs, then their partner creates one about what they have discussed.
    

    

    
    

13. Revision - Educators could create an activity for students to ‘do’ when early on in the teaching of a topic. They could do it upon completion of teaching of that topic, then again a few weeks later to see how much they have remembered. Alternatively, students could create one on their own. Understanding, interpreting and then reiterating points in their own words can be great for retention of information. When they do this a few weeks later then again nearer an exam, the information will be more likely to soak in.
    
    
14. Record of learning - Use the ‘reports’ feature of the Thinking Kit App to review how students have done in a particular task. Students can print or email these reports too, which include the list of content of an activity, screenshots of the process of doing an activity and anything they have added, e.g. named groups or notes.
    
    
15. Whole class discussion - When students have completed a session on the Thinking Kit App, one (or more) group’s session can be played to the whole class as a point of discussion. Using this dedicated Reflection Stage on a projector for example, can open up the class to share their views and get into a debate.

16. Differentiation - If learners are at different levels of their understanding of a topic, or you would rather lightly ease some groups in, you can create different versions of the same activity. Just get the core of information in, save it, add more things (whether they are images/information to make the task easier… or more complex things being added to broaden the activity) then click ‘Save As’.

We hope these have been interesting to read through and that you enjoy creating your own activities or getting students to themselves.

Thinking Kit is out now. The Thinking Kit App is always free, and the Thinking Kit Creator has a completely free 30 day trial. All you need is your email address and your name! Register at www.thinking-kit.com/signin. No other details are required to sign up.

It's fascinating for us to hear about all the ways Thinking Kit is being used. Let us know how you've used Thinking Kit by emailing info@reflectivethinking.com.

A quick, free and engaging way to help students understand flooding

In light of this weekend’s terrible flooding in the North of England, we wanted to alert you to our FREE app which has a dedicated task on flooding.

Click here to see more about the app and download it on iPads free.

This activity is aimed at 11-16 year olds; three difficulty levels mean it can be adapted to suit different levels of knowledge/ability. It is in our popular ‘mystery’ format which means it involves a story with characters as well as facts and different statements which students must take into consideration.

The case study involved is the 2004 flooding of Boscastle in Cornwall. Through the main question, ‘Why is Colin facing his worst fears?’ students learn about the causes and effects of flooding through a narrative thread.

Students sort through snippets about Colin himself, the local area and statements about the flood. They work together to explore how the event may impact Colin, other residents/visitors and of course the place itself, in different ways. They usually go through these stages:

1. Read through the statements together
2. Begin to develop ideas of possible strands to their answer, sort statements into particular groups and make any notes that come into their heads
3. Connect slips together in a wider chain to help break down the causes of flooding, the aftermath and how it can have such a huge impact on people
4. Enter a dedicated Reflection Stage as a group, with their teacher or as a whole class

To get this mystery (no sign up/registration required), please click here to go to the App Store. It is one of three tasks in Digital Mysteries: KS3/4. If you don’t have any iPads, you could download our trial for Windows or Let Us Know if you want a free PDF version which you can print off and cut out. 

Here are two screenshots from the app…

Happy 1st birthday to Digital Mysteries

This week (Friday) marks the first birthday of Digital Mysteries apps for iPads! It was on the 13th of November 2014 that our very first iPad app came out. This is one of the various free ‘samples’ we have on the store now and has three full ‘mysteries’ for 7-11 year olds.

Now, we have 38 apps on the App Store; 17 for 7-11 year olds and 21 for 11-16 year olds. Topics range from Ancient Greece to computer networking (with an exciting island) to volcanic eruptions to Romeo & Juliet. We have made some of our apps FREE and others half-price to celebrate (until 24th November)!

These apps have now been downloaded in 69 different countries. We love that teachers all over the world are helping students develop key skills of collaborative learning and higher level thinking AT THE SAME TIME as they cover the topics many schools have to learn about.

If you haven’t heard of Digital Mysteries before, the full range can be viewed on our website or in the App Store on our Developer page.

In summary though, they are apps designed to be used by pairs or small groups. Most mysteries ask students one main open question then give them lots of different digestible snippets of illustrated information on the screen. They must then work together to make sense of that information, link different ideas together and discuss how they can answer that question. All the actions are recorded too, so students and teachers can go through a short Reflection Stage at the end and/or get a PDF report.

They were developed following years of research by Dr. Ahmed Kharrufa, who researches the impact technology can have on various elements of learning. If you’re interested in the papers on such topics, please go to our research section.

To celebrate our birthday, we have decided to make 6 of our apps completely free and another 6 of our most popular apps almost half-price! This price drop will last for 12 days: one for every month that Digital Mysteries have been on the App Store. We hope you enjoy using them and would love to hear from you once you’ve explored the mysteries with your students.

These apps (except Amy) are usually £1.49 UK, $1.99 US, $2.99 AU.

Apps for 7-11 year olds now half price:

• Jenny's Shadow (Science)
• Theo in Ancient Greece (History)
• Trev the Triff (Mathematics)

Apps for 11-16 year olds now half price:

• Earthquakes (Haiti case study)
• Volcanic eruptions
• WW1 Trenches

Apps for 7-11 year olds now free:

• Amy (Citizenship/PSHE/English)
• Where does Pebbles live? (Science)
• Cup and Ring Marks (History)

Apps for 11-16 year olds now free:

• Flooding in Bangladesh
• Roaring Twenties
• 1933 German Election

If pre-existing content isn’t your thing, we are almost ready to release a new tool ‘Thinking Kit’ which lets you create YOUR OWN mystery-like activities for iPads. If you want to hear more about this, comment ‘TK’ on our form and we’ll let you know when you can have a one month FREE trial of the Thinking Kit Creator. The apps to use these created activities on will be free.

Thanks,
Natalie

Helping primary age children learn about Remembrance Day

It’s that time of year… waking up to darker mornings, thick coats and scarves coming out plus pumpkins (and snowmen) adorning the shelves of the shops. Half term is nearly here, and before long, poppies will be all around us – many will wear them, whether at home, school or on the television.

Students will even sell poppies themselves to raise money. Remembrance Day is on the horizon, but how much do young people know about the real story behind it?

With the topic fresh in people’s minds, it makes it an ideal topic to teach students about ‘events beyond living memory that are significant nationally or globally’ or relatable ‘significant historical events, people and places in their own locality’. What better way to teach history than a topic that is bound to have a direct link to many of the students in the room – whether that’s in their current day or their grandparents’?

Our classic mystery 'Remembrance' by an excellent teacher has been made into a FREE iPad app (usually £1.49) - search 'KS2 Remembrance' on the App Store to download or click here. It is a relevant, story-based task consisting of 24 illustrated slips which pairs or threes work through together. It has the key dates of the world wars and hints at how they link to our lives now, but all through the eyes of a young person like them, Sarah.

 

Get this iPad app FREE - click here or search 'KS2 Remembrance' on the App Store

Students read through the slips, create groups and give them names (to drag and drop slips into), add sticky tape to link similar slips together or use the note tool to add thoughts they have along the way. They do all of this, with the goal of answering "Why did Sarah attend the Remembrance Service?"

The process involved in this free app, and the fact that there is no one right answer, lends itself to helping students develop key skills of collaboration, higher level thinking and retention of information.

For more information, please go to the information page on our website OR download the app now.

Edited re-post from November 2014 (last year's was about our Windows version)

Are toddlers too young for technology?

This post was on our original blog which we replaced. I came across an article lately which discussed this topic again and thought it was worth re-sharing...it has been slightly re-worded as the TV programme discussed was aired that week, and it was around two years ago!

It has been a debate for some time now but ITV’s Tonight’s focus was on the question, “Are toddlers too young for technology?” It was a very interesting watch, both from a personal perspective (I have a nephew of primary school age) and a professional perspective (working for Reflective Thinking – thought leaders on technology in education). The programme was definitely worth a watch but unfortunately it's no longer available on ITV Player (it may be available on YouTube but I can't guarantee quality). As a summary though, throughout the documentary, many questions were asked and explored by the presenter and they incorporated views both for and against. The perspectives included teachers, headteachers, parents, psychologists, learning experts, technology experts and very importantly, the children themselves.

A screenshot of the show

A key section of the show was a small experiment: seven children went into a room and were observed by a psychologist, and their parents. This group went into one of the rooms at a time, as different content was included in each:

1. More ‘traditional’ toys
2. Technology like smartphones and tablets
3. Both traditional toys and technology

Interestingly, in all three situations, the children found something to occupy them (except one child asked for her iPad after a while in session one). It was quite striking seeing the difference between collaboration and playing together from 1, to 2 and 3. The more traditional toys were primarily shared and used together, they talked amongst themselves and worked a high level of interaction was present. In both 2 and 3, for almost the full duration, all children sat individually, 1 on 1 with their seperate screens.

What came to mind for me here was that essentially, it is very important to consider what the children are doing on the tablet, rather than seeing a tablet or smartphone as ‘one thing’ with ‘one sole purpose’. The choice of applications and games available now is vast – some for individual play and some for group play. This could play a part in how they are used and whether they are interacting with other children while using, or are completely one-on-one with their tablet. In these experiments, although not specifically confirmed, the apps being used were most likely educational: they may be in the form of a game, but they are offering educational benefits at the same time.

One point to think about is; was the reason the traditional toys were used in groups of 2-3 because they were designed that way? In light of the learning expert on the show saying that “face to face contact is vital for communication” and tablets may  “actually be preventing children from interacting with other children and learning how to behave through practise”, do we need to focus on creating more apps and games that are designed specifically for use of 2-3, if we want children to interact more, and build those collaboration skills? Another point is how the technology is used too – is it a replacement for interaction, or actually an addition, to help interaction and learning?

Working together, collaborating

Our area of expertise is slightly older children (from 7+), but some elements of Reflective Thinking’s research could be applied to younger children too. Digital Mysteries are specifically designed for working in pairs or small groups. The whole concept is based around it being an additional tool for learning and developing useful skills (like higher level thinking, problem-solving), one that complements the teacher, rather than replacing the teacher (or parent/guardian/leader).

Maybe this idea could be applied to apps aimed at younger children too, with an aim to make apps or games something to be shared with each other, or with their parent/teacher rather than an individual experience. This way, one of the key problems brought up in the documentary – that devices can prohibit children interacting and developing social skills for life - could be combatted, yet the children will still benefit from the advantages the devices bring; like preparing them for their future where technology will be a major part of their lives. One of the major arguments to come from the programme – which takes into account case studies at nurseries like Cogan Nursery in Penarth – is that the use of such devices must be in balance with non-screen time.

Especially with young toddlers, it seems that a “bit of both” is seen as the best situation – what do you think? If you have any opinions on this, please write a comment - I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Natalie

SOLE with a twist

After planning it before Christmas, we were very much looking forward to visiting Greenfield Arts’ SOLE Room 13, again. They do amazing work with students of different ages, and are one of the schools chosen to host a SOLE (Self Organised Learning Environment) area. When last there, we observed a ‘SOLE Grannies’ session (more info on these here), but today was going to be a little different. We were running a session of Digital Mysteries within the SOLE room – with some features of SOLE, but not quite the same.

Mrs Pattison, two colleagues and her year five class walked along the road from Byerley Park Primary School. They often make visits to Greenfields for SOLE sessions, and do really well. If you don't know SOLEs very well, these are “created when educators and/or parents encourage kids to work in groups that they form, and are free to change, to answer big, open questions by using the internet” (SOLE toolkit). The origins lie in Professor Sugata Mitra’s Ted-Prize winning talk here. To find out more, go to School in the Cloud.

Students were provided with mini iPads, enough for half of the class. It is deliberate that they only have one between two, as mysteries are designed to be worked on together and they can both interact with the screen at the same time. The whole process is designed to encourage discussion throughout – so they’re always engaging with each other.

Pip the Dog – 5 minute intro

Since students have not used our app before, we started with a little introduction with Digital Mysteries: Pip the Dog, a fairly simple PSHE/Citizenship app. It didn’t need much explaining but we went through; how to resize a slip, how to progress from one stage to the next and what each stage asks from you.

After about 5 minutes we asked if everyone was ready to begin the full session, and there was lots of shouts of ‘Yes!’, it was time to move on.

Theo in Ancient Greece

Since the students had covered Ancient Greece in another term, we chose Digital Mysteries: Theo in Ancient Greece as the task for this session. This was good to re-jog their memories at the same time as collaborating, thinking, learning new things and reflecting.

The main question in this app is ‘What is Theo most proud of about Ancient Greece?’

Set up

• Mostly pairs, one three, then as the time went on, a few working on their own.
• Medium difficulty (each app has Easy, Medium and Hard settings – this usually determines how many slips and hints the group are given). In this case, Hard would have brought in an extra topic to consider – democracy.
• Two stages – reading, then grouping the slips, followed by typing in their answer and then the Reflection Stage. By default, there would usually be a Sequencing Stage in between grouping and answering, but we eased them in for today, especially because we wanted more time than usual to reflect at the end.

Activity

While it wasn’t a traditional SOLE session as such, we were in SOLE Room 13. It’s a flexible working space, with brilliant decor and different places to sit. In traditional SOLEs, the students are free to sit wherever, move around and have full control over their learning. One of the walls is clear glass – so it is a small way of observing what is going on.

What we did, was integrate some elements of a SOLE session. We stayed within the room for a little while until we knew the students were settled into the task (as well as for taking some pictures).

Reading Stage

• Students got to grips with this straight away: there are a few different ways of making the icon sized slips bigger so you can read everything on them. Many tended to double tap and a few used the ‘pinch and zoom’ gesture.
• The majority of students read the slips in numerical order – this helps them be organised as they know which they have read. The information on the slips is deliberately not in correlation chronologically with the numbers of them, so this works fine.
• Some read the slips together and some pairs had a pattern of having one student re-size the slip then the other reading it while the other listened.

Grouping Stage

Students are asked to create at least three named groups to sort the slips into. There was a good mixture when having a look at the end. One pair did only have two (relevant, not relevant), but even this helped see how the students thought (that's why we call it Brains on the Tablet).

Reflection Stage

As mentioned, there would usually be a Sequencing Stage, but due to the nature of the session and the time restrictions, the students then went straight to typing in their answer. The Reflection Stage then followed. For the groups that got to this point, it was so good to see the enthusiasm and pride on many of their faces.

The two in the video finished before everyone else, and the benefit of this set up in Room 13 was how freely they could move around and show other pairs bits of their process. This was excellent to see. One group, when asked how many groups they had made and what they were called, started talking about theirs, and used the Reflection Stage to emphasise their point. This ‘Stimulated Recall’ was interesting.

Back to us…

Katy Milne (Director of Arts and Creativity) and Mrs Pattison very kindly asked the students lots of questions at the end. These involved thinking about the setup, the content of the app, the usage of the app, what they’d learned and whether they’d do it again.

Some questions asked:

How many groups did you create?

One pair created six different groups/categories, which was interesting, and several others: four or five. As mentioned, there was one pair who created two groups.

What did you learn in this session that you didn’t know before?

A few students talked about the main character Theo. An answer included ‘We learned that Theo has a statue of him’. We then made it clear that Theo was a fictional character who was created in that time frame to help them learn about what it would be like to be someone at this time.

Another answer was ‘that builders used columns called Doric, Ionic and Corinthian to hold up roofs’ and that ‘the British Museum in London is built in a classical Greek style’ (interesting that this student used the iPad (on the app’s Reflection Stage) to point to this fact.

What was Theo most proud of about Ancient Greece? (The main question)

There was many answers but the majority said that it's Theo and his father being in the Olympics. An addition was that one of his favourite foods is olives and ‘because he won the Olympics, he got a prize of an olive crown, so he would have been proud of that’ – the connecting of two separate pieces of information was good to see. A different answer was that Theo would have been most proud of his uncle’s building work. On the Hard level of this mystery, additional slips about democracy would have been added – this could have brought in a different slant.

What did you think of how you were grouped together? Do you prefer how you usually work in a SOLE session, in bigger groups, or were you pleased with working in pairs?

Following on from the success we’ve seen in the bigger groups before, it was surprising to note that the students who spoke up, really found benefit in working in pairs:

“When you’re in pairs, you just listen.”

“I like it in little groups more, because you concentrate better.”

When Katy then asked if they felt free to move around (a big benefit of SOLE), one students said they did when they were finished: ‘Well they didn’t really get it, so me and Ryan sat and helped them’.

If you could think of a way to improve the app/mystery, what would you suggest?

It can of course be difficult for students to put their hand up and say something they feel may upset someone, but we tried to encourage them as much as possible, because feedback can only help us improve. One student did say it would be good if there was some way you could get rid of any notes and sticky tapes that you didn’t need any more/you’d done by accident – there is in actual fact, a ‘Trash’ group where you drag and drop stuff you don’t need. So although you can’t get rid of it entirely (the idea is that all thoughts/notes/actions are there if needed), you can remove it from main view and concentrate on the bigger picture.

Would you use Digital Mysteries apps again?

This was met with many enthusiastic exclaims of ‘yes’ and ‘definitely’, and when asked if they thought they could do a fresh mystery without any ‘instructions’ next time, they were very confident. A few highlights:

‘I thought that it was a bit different to any other game. In a good way.’
‘It was new.’
‘I liked it because I never knew you could do, like, this type of stuff on it.’
‘It was easy to use.’

Recap

It was a brilliant afternoon. We want to say a big thank you to Katy who organised the session, as well as James Brady for ensuring that all of the tech was running smoothly for the students.

Also a big thank you to Mrs Pattison and her colleagues for bringing the students in, asking questions and being supportive of the task. Of course, another thank you to the Byerley Park year five class who came in. They were a pleasure to work with, came up with some great ideas and were very polite at the end, coming up to us to say thank you.

At some point in the future, it will be great to do it again!

To read Greenfield Arts' blog post on this session, click here.
To try Digital Mysteries, go to our Developer's Page on the App Store.

How can you double the availability of your iPads?

More and more schools are taking up iPads, with teachers excited about the various ways they can be used. With the expense of the devices though, the plan is often to start off with a small amount at first. While cost-efficient, this does mean that some miss out as another class has already booked them.

However, did you know that the iPad can actually be the perfect device for working in pairs? Picture the scene: 15 iPads, one whole class fully absorbed in the task, or 30 iPads, two whole classes fully absorbed.

The iPad actually allows multiple touches meaning two students could be around one iPad and interacting with it, and each other, at the same time. For this to really be utilised, it does need to be with the right app, as not all make the most of this feature.

I’d like to introduce you to our free iPad app Digital Mysteries Lite: KS2. This is a result of years of academic research in Newcastle on collaborative learning and education in general. Because it has been specifically developed for true collaboration between pairs, it is ideal for schools who would like to spread their iPads out.

Whether this interests you probably depends on what the app entails. The good news is it’s a cross-curricula app which involves solving a ‘mystery’. Each mystery aligns to the National Curriculum for England, and our first version has tasks on English/PSHE, Maths and History.

Users are given illustrated slips of information which they read, organise into groups and move around the screen to show how they’ve came to their answer. This is in response to the open-ended question for each particular task.

An example is a pair working out ‘Who killed King Ted?’ by making calculations on the suspects’ whereabouts, medicine measurements and motorbike speeds.

If you’d like to try it, please click here or search Digital Mysteries on the App Store.