Teaching Thinking Skills, 2nd Edition (Key Debates in Educational Policy)

144 Pages·2010·0.26 MB·English

by  Stephen Johnson

Teaching
Thinking Skills
Also available in the Key Debates in Educational Policy Series
Special Educational Needs, Mary Warnock and Brahm Norwich,
edited by Lorella Terzi
Educational Equality, Harry Brighouse, Kenneth R. Howe and
James Tooley, edited by Graham Haydon
Teaching
Thinking Skills
2nd Edition
Stephen Johnson
and Harvey Siegel
Edited by
Christopher Winch
Key Debates in Educational Policy
Continuum International Publishing Group
The Tower Building 80 Maiden Lane
11 York Road Suite 704
London, SE1 7NX New York, NY 10038
www.continuumbooks.com
© Christopher Winch; © Part 1, Stephen Johnson; © Part 2 Harvey
Siegel 2010
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or
retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the
publishers.
Stephen Johnson and Harvey Siegel have asserted their right under the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Authors
of this work.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978-1-4411-8656-0 (paperback)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Johnson, Stephen.
Teaching thinking skills/Stephen Johnson and Harvey Siegel; edited
by Christopher Winch.
p. cm.–(Key debates in educational policy)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4411-8656-0 (pbk.)
1. Thought and thinking–Study and teaching. I. Siegel, Harvey, 1952-
II. Winch, Christopher. III. Title.
LB1590.3.J65 2010
370.15'2–dc22 2009045433
Typeset by Newgen Imaging Systems Pvt Ltd., Chennai, India
Printed and bound in Great Britain by the MPG Books Group
Contents
Series Editor’s Preface – Key Debates in
Educational Policy vii
Foreword xi
Christopher Winch
The policy background in the United Kingdom xiv
1
Teaching Thinking Skills 1
Stephen Johnson
1. The argument 1
2. Present interest in thinking skills 2
3. Thinking as a skill 7
4. General transferability 13
5. Conceptual errors 20
6. The direct teaching of thinking and the
importance of content 25
7. Thinking as mental processes 28
8. Examples of general thinking skills 32
9. The dangers 36
10. Conclusion 42
References 47
2
On Thinking Skills 51
Harvey Siegel
1. Introduction 51
2. Problems with thinking of thinking as a skill 54
3. ‘The myth of general transferability’ 61
4. The ‘direct’ teaching of thinking and
content/subject matter knowledge 75
vi
Contents
5. Mental processes and general
thinking skills 78
6. The educational dangers of thinking
of thinking in terms of skills 80
7. Conclusion 82
References 83
Further reading 84
Afterword 85
Christopher Winch
1. Skills 88
2. Skills and transferability 96
3. The question of effi cacy 101
4. What is thinking? 103
5. Mental processes 104
6. A summary of Johnson’s claims 107
7. Reasoning 109
8. The role of philosophy 112
9. Reason and argument 113
10. Inductive arguments 120
11. Concluding remarks 122
References 123
Index 125
Series Editor’s Preface – Key
Debates in Educational Policy
IMPACT pamphlets were launched in 1999 as an initiative of the
Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain. Their aim was to
bring philosophical perspectives to bear on UK education policy,
and they have been written by leading general philosophers or phi-
losophers of education. At the time of writing, 18 have been
published.
They deal with a variety of issues relating to policy within the
field of education. Some have focused on controversial aspects of
current government policy such as those by Andrew Davis on
assessment, Harry Brighouse on disparities in secondary education,
Mary Warnock on changes in provision for pupils with special
educational needs and Colin Richards on school inspection. Others,
such as those by Michael Luntley on performance related pay
and by Christopher Winch on vocational education and training,
have been critical of new policy initiatives. Yet others have been
concerned with the organization and content of the school cur-
riculum. These have included pamphlets by Kevin Williams on the
teaching of foreign languages, Steve Bramall and John White
on Curriculum 2000, David Archard on sex education, Stephen
Johnson on thinking skills, Graham Haydon on personal, social
and health education, and John Gingell on the visual arts.
The launch of each pamphlet has been accompanied by a sym-
posium for policy makers and others at which issues raised in the
pamphlets have been further explored. These have been attended
by government ministers, opposition spokespersons, other MPs,
representatives from the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority,
employers organizations, trades unions and teachers’ professional
viii
Series Editor’s Preface
organizations as well as members of think tanks, academics and
journalists.
Some of the original pamphlets have made a lasting impression
on the world of education policy and have, in addition, sparked
debates in both the policy and academic worlds. They have revealed
a hunger for dealing with certain topics in a philosophically
oriented way because it has been felt that the original pamphlet
initiated a debate in a mode of thinking about educational issues
that needs and deserves to be taken a lot further. The Key Debates
in Educational Policy series aims to take some of these debates
further by selecting from those original Impact pamphlets whose
influence continues to be keenly felt and either reproducing or
expanding them to take account of the most recent developments
in the area with which they deal. In addition, each of the original
pamphlets receives a lengthy reply by a distinguished figure in the
area who takes issue with the main arguments of the original pam-
phlet. Each of the Key Debates volumes also contains a substantial
foreword and/or afterword by an academic with strong interests in
the area under discussion, which gives the context and provides
extensive commentary on the questions under discussion and the
arguments of the original author and his/her respondent.
There are a number of reasons for doing this. Philosophical
techniques applied to policy issues can be very powerful tools for
clarifying questions and developing arguments based on ethical,
aesthetic, political and epistemological positions. Philosophical
argumentation is, however, by its nature, controversial and con-
tested. There is rarely, if ever, one side to a philosophical question.
The fact that the Impact pamphlets have often aroused lively debate
and controversy is testament to this. There has been a desire for a
more rounded version of the debate to be presented in a format
accessible to those who do not have a formal philosophical
background but who find philosophical argumentation about
educational issues to be useful in developing their own ideas.
This series aims to cater for this audience while also presenting
ix
Series Editor’s Preface
rigorous argumentation that can also appeal to a more specialist
audience.
It is hoped that each volume in this series will provide an intro-
duction and set the scene to each topic and give the readership
a splendid example of philosophical argumentation concerning a
complex and important educational issue.