BENEFITS &
OUTCOMES

Situation

Doesn’t it seem that just as group work is being seen as essential to learning, so your pupils seem to be less than ever socially equipped to benefit? Because don’t you find that when working together your pupils…

• - Don’t know how to share ideas
• - Seem unproductive in their conversations
• - Soon lose concentration and focus
• - Miss the opportunity to rehearse their ideas for writing
• - Find it difficult to include peers they don’t like
• - Use listening time simply as a chance to reload for their next talking slot?

 

Solution 

Using visual tools gives you a unique approach to these problems. By making your pupils’ thinking visible, you’ll find that they have a framework that focuses their thinking and interactions. This scaffolding of group thinking develops their social skills as a natural consequence. As a teacher you can see progress at a glance saving you time on questioning for clarification.

 

Benefits

When visual tools are systematically taught and consistently used to support collaborative learning, you can expect to see your pupils…

• - Explaining their ideas clearly and with reasoning
• - Listening attentively to their peers’ contributions
• - Discussing and elaborating a point of view with others
• - Allowing others’ contributions to influence their thinking
• - Accepting the validity of others’ different opinions
• - Making sure everyone feels included in the discussions
• - Presenting group thinking in an organised way

 

Links 

As you can see, these benefits have an impact on other areas of learning. Click on the following to read about… Thinking Skills, Learn to Learn