Mind Muse provides consultation and professional development for integrating higher order thinking and communication skills into your classroom.
Mind Muse offers the expertise and passion to enhance educators’ understanding of vital thinking and communication skills. PD is typically provided on site for one day, half day or after school 90 minute sessions. Programs are suitable for secondary and tertiary levels and provided throughout Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.
Training
Mind Muse programs are customised to suit your needs and encompass the following thinking and communication skills.
Critical Thinking
Critical thinking involves looking beyond the surface of information in order to formulate a sound judgement. It includes analysing, evaluating and judging information, ideas and perspectives.
Mind Muse PD for critical thinking includes providing an understanding the elements of critical thinking and resources to assist integration into classrooms. Topics include: identifying, creating and communicating arguments; analysing assumptions and logical and fallacious argument structures; justification of views with evidence forms; evaluation process and questions; formulating judgments; writing argumentative and analytical essays.
Creative Thinking
Creative thinking involves generating ideas, playing with possibilities and thinking beyond the surface of problems to locate original and innovative solutions.
Mind Muse PD includes understanding the value of creative thinking and risk taking in all subject domains and how this translates to more productive and innovative outcomes. Methods to develop creativity in the classroom are investigated including an array of brainstorming techniques; formulating associations and writing exciting essays and presentations.
Metacognition
Metacognition is awareness of and reflection upon, what one thinks and how one thinks. This is no mere navel gazing as a concerted effort is required to become aware of, address and overcome blind spots, bias and belief foundations.
Mind Muse PD explores the nature and importance of metacognition; learning to “see” things we don’t automatically see; overcoming bias and reflection techniques for all stages of the learning process.
Argumentative & Persuasive Essay Writing
There are many techniques that can persuade audiences to accept a point a view. These include language, reasoning, and emotional tactics.
Mind Muse PD programs consider language devices; sound and fallacious reasoning forms; types of evidence and provide essay structure templates to convey a logical progression of ideas to justify a perspective.
Advanced Visual Thinking
Visual Thinking is a way of using visual mediums to aid learning and teaching. It is also a means to deepen understanding, make connections, assist memory and structure essays and presentations.
Mind Muse PD provides methods to enhance visual learning and teaching techniques. We provide templates and if desired, incorporate your existing ICT software/ graphic organisers.
Critical Thinking with Rationale Software
Rationale provides a visual framework to track, organise, structure, evaluate, analyse and communicate reasoning, information and ideas. Rationale workshops provide participants with a theoretical understanding of argument mapping and the critical thinking process. It also equips educators with practical application of the software and its pedagogical use in classroom environments.
Workshops are conducted by Dr. Fiona Patterson, one of the creators of Rationale and its key trainer.
Problem Solving
Problem solving encompasses critical and creative thinking and decision making skills. It starts with defining and analysing a problem, generating ideas, evaluating pros and cons, considering consequences, selecting a viable option and planning implementation.
Mind Muse PD includes practical techniques and analytical tools to assist problem based learning programs.
Curriculum Development, Integration & Assessment
This program is focussed on understanding and integrating VELS Thinking Processes domain and looking ahead to the general capabilities of thinking skills and creativity designated in the National Curriculum (see The Shape of the Australian Curriculum).
Mind Muse Curriculum driven program demystifies what we mean by thinking skills and thinking processes; how we can identify these skills in our students; how we can utilise and develop our existing methodologies and practices; how we can build these skills with everyday classroom tools and how we can assess and report them.
Assessment for Thinking & Communication Skills
Assessing skills that are seemingly elusive and subjective can be a very difficult task. For instance, students may be “creative” but what exactly does this mean? Can we measure and rank their level of skill and provide them with meaningful feedback to improve?
Mind Muse assessment programs focus on deconstructing various thinking and communication skills, looking at alternative assessment forms and creating rubrics to inform, report and assess. (Refer to Resources page for examples).
