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"There is a lot of talk of "Computational Thinking" as a new imperative of education, so I wanted to address a few questions that keep coming up about it. What is it? Is it important? How does it relate to today's school subjects? Is Computer-Based Maths (CBM) a Computational Thinking curriculum? Firstly, I've got to say, I really like the term. To my mind, the overriding purpose of education is "to enrich life" (yours, your society's, not just in "riches" but in meaning) and different ways in which you can think about how you look at ideas, challenges and opportunities seems crucial to achieving that. Therefore using a term of the form "xxx Thinking" that cuts across boundaries but can support traditional school subjects (eg. History, English, Maths) and emphasises an approach to thinking is important to improving education."

What should our goal for student thinking be? How do we scaffold student thinking in ways that are meaningful while developing autonomy and encouraging students to think effectively when we are not there? What would success with thinking strategies look like? These were the challenging questions that Mark Church presented to teachers at the most recent 'Cultures of Thinking Teach Meet' hosted by Masada College.

"You ask any teacher about the skills they want their students to develop and critical thinking will be among the first cited skills. So what is critical thinking all about ? Critical thinking is a cognitive process that requires disruptive patterns of thinking, ones that question the status quo of propositions and leads to the creation of alternative lines of reasoning. Defining critical thinking as a process signifies by implication the presence of different elements, stages, steps you name it that constitute and shapes its core. These elements are what I want to share with you today."

"APPS & WEB TOOLS 20 FREE characters to encourage Scientific Thinking1 ByPaul HamiltonPosted on January 1, 2016 I've learnt a few things in my 15 years of classroom teaching. One of these gems is 'the power of visuals' to prompt, stimulate little imaginations. Whether it be using world builders to ignite creative writing, or a simple image to develop thinking routines. One subject area that I see huge potential to prompt thinking is Science. I often have my students taking photo's of different stages of science experiments and investigations. But it is sometimes difficult for my students to think scientifically and communicate these ideas with others. So here are 20 FREE kids scientist images that I hope will act as a stimulus for scientific thinking."

"It's high time for students to move beyond an hour of coding exercises and learn computational thinking. That's the message of a new report from Digital Promise that examines what's important to know and be able to do in a "computational world." Digital Promise is a non-profit that that promotes the use of innovation in education, particularly as it uses digital technologies. The new report, "Computational Thinking for a Computational World," explains its theme of computational thinking by borrowing a description from a long-ago article published by the Association for Computing Machinery: It is "a way of solving problems, designing systems and understanding human behavior that draws on concepts fundamental to computer science… a fundamental skill for everyone, not just computer scientists." More simply, the report noted, "The skill required to tell a computer what to do is programming. The thought process behind programming is computational thinking." What it isn't is humans thinking like computers. And, according to the report's authors, it's something that needs to be taught across subjects in K-12 schools."

"The terms "fail forward and computational thinking" are trending recently, but what does that really mean? Computational thinking is a method of reasoning that teaches students how to solve real-world, complex problems with strategies that computers use. Computational thinking and the Design Thinking Process are frameworks for problem-solving to help address the need for 21st century skills across our nation's K-12 school system. To make 21st century skills easier to comprehend and teach, Tata Consultancy Services and Discovery Education have teamed up to introduce "Ignite My Future In School," a free resource offering professional development, educator guides, model lesson plans, and curriculum connector resources that provide educators and students with 24/7 support. Aligned to national standards, "Ignite My Future in School" provides teachers, including Learning Leaders, with exclusive, cost-free, professional development experiences across the country and the initiative inspires educators to adopt a transdisciplinary approach. As part of Ignite "My Future In School," we've identified seven effective thinking strategies to equip young innovators with valuable problem-solving skills:"

"Think about dreaming, like building stilts. Think about designing, like collaborating in a flexible space from funky-colored chairs on wheels. Think about testing, like crafting conductivity testers needed for your classmates. Think about making, like programming and assembling a security card system for the space. Above all, think. Schools now are thinking a lot about maker spaces, and the term can mean many things, as shown in the examples above, from Brandywine High, St. Elizabeth, Newark High and Tatnall schools, respectively."

"In this article, I'll take you on a tour of design thinking. It's the process that I've used countless times as a teacher, curriculum leader, technology coach, author, and entrepreneur. Here's what we'll cover: What is Design Thinking (and the LAUNCH Cycle)? How is design thinking used around the world? How can I use design thinking in (and out of) my classroom?"

"It sounds very high brow - however, it's not! Bloom is simply the name of the person who devised this idea and taxonomy simply means to categorise or classify So what is being categorised or classified? 'Thinking' is the quick and accurate answer! Bloom researched what really made people think and what didn't require much of the grey matter to be engaged. These thinking skills were further grouped into two categories, lower order thinking skills and higher order thinking skills. I'll start with the first of the lower order thinking skills, a familiar term called…"

"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…"

"This guide aims to help develop a shared understanding of the teaching of computational thinking in schools. It presents a conceptual framework of computational thinking, describes pedagogic approaches for teaching and offers guides for assessment. It is complementary to the two CAS guides published in November 2013 (Primary) and June 2014 (Secondary) in supporting the implementation of the new National Curriculum and embraces the CAS Barefoot and CAS QuickStart Computing descriptions of computational thinking. Computational thinking lies at the heart of the computing curriculum but it also supports learning and thinking in other areas of the curriculum."

"Hexagonal thinking is a rich new way to inspire discussion. Now, if you're like me, high school geometry was about as appealing as high school cafeteria beef stroganoff, and you're not too sure about this whole math-English crossover thing. Don't give up! Hexagonal thinking is a really unique way to get kids thinking about connections they might never otherwise make. When you give kids a series of ideas on hexagons, and ask them to connect the cards into a web with clear reasons for each connection, you get them thinking critically, debating, giving evidence, and basically, lighting up a whole bunch of parts of their brains. Each card could connect to six others, or just to one or two. Every person in every group will have a different concept of how things could connect. There will be no right answer."

"Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test. Go Back and Forth. Get Reactions. Rinse and Repeat. There are many ways of looking at the design thinking process. The main premise remains the same though: Take Action and Create Something to Solve a Problem of Some Sort. Below, I describe the most commonly used and taught Design Thinking Process. However, it is not about what the names of the 5 spaces are. Rather, "doing" design thinking is about understanding what each space involves and that the process rarely occupies a single space. In fact, any project will have the designers focusing in one area, but working within the constraints of several spaces. For example, new ideas will occur everywhere along the way to the "permanent" solution, even in the testing stage. And, the process is cyclical - it never ends... There are always improvements to be made."

"Think back to 2005. Since the dot-com bust, there had been a steep and steady decline in undergraduate enrollments in computer science, with no end in sight. The computer science community was wringing its hands, worried about the survival of their departments on campuses. Unlike many of my colleagues, I saw a different, much rosier future for computer science. I saw that computing was going to be everywhere. I argued that the use of computational concepts, methods and tools would transform the very conduct of every discipline, profession and sector. Someone with the ability to use computation effectively would have an edge over someone without. So, I saw a great opportunity for the computer science community to teach future generations how computer scientists think. Hence "computational thinking." I must admit, I am surprised and gratified by how much progress we have made in achieving this vision: Computational thinking will be a fundamental skill used by everyone in the world by the middle of the 21st century. By fundamental, I mean as fundamental as reading, writing and arithmetic."

"Critical thinking skills truly matter in learning. Why? Because they are life skills we use every day of our lives. Everything from our work to our recreational pursuits, and all that's in between, employs these unique and valuable abilities. Consciously developing them takes thought-provoking discussion and equally thought-provoking questions to get it going. Begin right here with the Critical Thinking Skills Cheatsheet. It's a simple infographic offering questions that work to develop critical thinking on any given topic. Whenever your students discover or talk about new information, encourage them to use these questions for sparking debate and the sharing of opinions and insights among each other. Together they can work at building critical thinking skills in a collaborative and supportive atmosphere."

"Developing Critical Thinking through Web Research Skills is a free PDF eBook from Microsoft for teachers and educators.This short 37 pages ebook provides a wide range of ideas for teaching web search skills and critical thinking in all grades (k-12). It also features different resources to introduce teachers to the concept of critical thinking and provides them with practical guides on how they can go about incorporating critical thinking skill in their instruction."

"Innovating thinking is one of those awkward concepts in education-one that is often espoused, but isn't measured, reported on, trained around, or celebrated. It's just sort of there. Innovative thinking in students will flower when we design classrooms that absolutely can't survive without it. Same with critical thinking, self-direction, creativity, and so on. Until we reach that point, it's on the shoulders of the classroom teacher to tease it out of students through a combination of inspiration, modeling, scaffolding, and creating persistent opportunity. The following graphic by Mia MacMeekin offers 27 ways to think about this idea. As usual, some of the tips are better than others-"Flip: Start from the End" makes sense, but may or may not promote innovation. The same with "Grow: Grow with each approach.""

"The term "design thinking" is often attached to maker spaces and STEM labs. However, design thinking is bigger than STEM. It begins with the premise of tapping into student curiosity and allowing them to create, test and re-create until they eventually ship what they made to a real audience (sometimes global but often local). Design thinking isn't a subject or a topic or a class. It's more of way of solving problems that encourages risk-taking and creativity. Design thinking is a flexible framework for getting the most out of the creative process. It is used in the arts, in engineering, in the corporate world, and in social and civic spaces. You can use it in every subject with every age group. It works when creating digital content or when building things with duct tape and cardboard."

"If "children grow into the intellectual life around them" (see L.S. Vygostky's Mind in Society), then what kind of intellectual life are we providing to the students in our classrooms and schools? Teachers all over the world have had to accept the compromise of focusing more on delivering prescribed curriculum than developing understanding - test-taking rather than learning. This, among other reasons, is why strategies focused on ingraining cultures of thinking have been such game changers in many of today's classrooms. One good example of this that I've worked with is the Cultures of Thinking Project, led by Ron Ritchhart as part of Harvard's Project Zero. The Cultures of Thinking Project focuses on two main ways of moving towards cultures of thinking: the eight cultural forces that act on a classroom, and documentation. Curious as to what that means? Continue reading for more."

"Many people believe getting our learners to begin thinking independently is the main goal of education. "Teach students so that they don't need the teacher." But what if that wasn't the case? What if there were something higher than independence? After all, Stephen Covey reminds us: independent thinking alone is not suited to interdependent reality. Thinking independently comes as a part of working together collaboratively. In order to get there, these are the stages that we want to lead our students through: dependence to independence to interdependence. If we can get them from dependence to independence, we're almost there. Interdependence comes with applying their hard-earned skills toward relationship building. How are we going to help our students to start thinking independently so that they may eventually use those skills in practicing interdependence?"