For most people, thinking is automatic, and it happens without any thought as to how or why we are doing it. These days though, teachers, parents and legislators, are working together to figure out how educators can teach children to think more in order to reach their full learning capacity. They want to teach children to expand on the things they are thinking about which will result in students having increased achievements during their academic years. This is known as higher order thinking, and, as everyone is different, is easy for some, and more difficult for others. As children move to a higher grade each year, they are expected to, and most times do, think in more ways than one. They are asked to perform tasks that require more thought, such as to think about, and rewrite a new ending to the book they are currently reading. Or, the teacher might ask the child to think about why a particular character in the book behaved in a certain manner. These points are not actually in the book, but the child has to think about what he or she has read about the character, and then expand on that, using his or her own thoughts. Older children, who are studying heat in science class for example, could be asked to invent a new type of water heating element. Whatever they are learning from their books in class, should be thought about carefully, and developed in a way that increases the information they have already learned about. The great thing about this form of thought though, is that, just like most things, it can be taught. Also, the more it is practised, the easier it will become for the person to think this way automatically. Parents can help small children to increase these skills by talking out loud about their own thoughts and how they are expanding on those same thoughts, about the same subject. About The Author: GLN Consulting offers a unique approach to helping teachers facilitate the development of these skills in their students. It specializes in helping teachers of psychology develop and refine these Related Articles -
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