Somerset Thinking Skills Course - as a resource for Specific Learning Difficulties

By Dr Nigel Blagg

Introduction


STSC as a cognitive enhancement programme

STSC is designed as a comprehensive cognitive enhancement programme. It does not offer a 'quick fix' solution to learners with specific or general learning difficulties. There are approximately 150 activities which have been structured and carefully sequenced in a modular format to build student confidence and competence. Vocabulary, thinking skills, codes and conventions introduced in earlier modules are developed and used progressively throughout each module and throughout the course. Hence, teachers need to be careful if they use the programme as a resource, rather than a course. Some of the problems can be reduced if teachers study the guidelines carefully and refer back to related activities.

The modular structure

Module 1: Foundations for Problem Solving is different from the rest of the course and for a number of reasons it makes sense to use activities from this module when first introducing STSC. Module 1:

  • prepares students for the STSC course
    - introduces logo, design features
    - introduces 3 task types
    - draws on many different resources that become the focus of later modules
  • includes more abstract tasks than other modules
    - to build confidence
    - to reduce impulsivity
    - to encourage pupils to think about their thinking
    - to promote a more reflective, cautious approach
    - to promote thinking about transfer
  • introduces
    - the importance of looking for implicit and explicit instructions
    - labelling and coding systems eg co-ordinates

Modules 2, 3 and 4 are equivalent in terms of cognitive demand but focus on different resource issues ie analysis and synthesis (Module 2), description, comparison, categorisation and classification (Module 3) and reference points in time and space (Module 4).

Modules 5 and 6 require higher level thinking (beyond the first few activities in each module).


Module 5: Understanding Analogies builds on the systematic work on comparison and classification contained in Module 3. Analogy involves a complex series of comparisons. There are sections within module 5 that map directly into language work on cliché, simile and metaphor.

Module 6: Patterns in Time and Space builds on module 4 and involves the pupils in making predictions about the future on the basis of patterns and relationships given at one point in time.

Module 7: Organising & Memorising is the one module in the course that takes the form of a resource that can be used selectively at any stage. Nevertheless, there are particular links between organising and memorising and the categorising section of module 3.


STSC and verbal mediation

Many individuals with learning difficulties do not use their language skills to mediate their own learning ie they do not ask themselves questions, label what they see etc. Often, they interact with tasks at a very superficial and impulsive level. All of the STSC activities provide the opportunity to encourage appropriate self talk and mediation provided the lesson format recommended for STSC is followed.

STSC Lesson Format

Introduction (5 - 10 minutes)
Cognitive icebreaker linked to the STSC activity. This gains learner attention and provides a meaningful basis for the activity to follow. Sometimes the ice breaker serves to prepare the learner for important vocabulary or other specific demands of the task.

Exploration phase (10 minutes)
This is where students explore the ambiguity posed by the STSC activity and try to make sense of the information. It is vital that students have the chance to work out for themselves what the task is all about. In some ways, this problem posing phase is the most important part of the lesson.

Students are prompted (in an open-ended way) to:

  • Explore/clarify the task
  • Anticipate difficulties/misunderstandings
  • Agree on the problem and issues to be addressed

Group work phase (20 minutes)

  • Students work on the problem (in groups)
  • Teacher circulates and mediates to prompt:
    - wider and more careful consideration of issues
    - active involvement by all group members

Class Review/Summary phase (10 - 15 minutes)
Class discussion of:

  • Content issues - answers & solutions - exploring variation and the justification for different answers
  • Process issues - resources & strategies - how pupils worked on the task and what kinds of thinking tactics did they use.

Transfer & Generalisation (5 - 10 minutes)
Class discussion of:

  • Wider applications of resources & strategies (with examples from teachers)
  • Rules, principles & counter examples


STSC & language development

The oral bias of the sessions (with discussions and groupwork) promotes confidence and competence in oral communication. Throughout the course there is an emphasis on introducing students to the vocabulary of problem solving and thinking which in turn helps them to share and communicate their ideas and self reflections more effectively. Studies have shown that there is a dramatic change (within a year) in the quality of language use in learning environments where STSC is used.

In addition, the open-ended stimulus tasks and the ambiguity posed by many of the other activities promotes hypothesis testing and divergent interpretations.

Examples of specific STSC activities that relate to particular language issues are given in the table below.

 

Themes

Tasks

STSC Module

Activity Number

Hypothesis Testing

The Living Room

Thinking Keys

The Bedroom

Parts & Wholes

The Dustbin/Record Page

The Body in the Garden

The Skeleton/Museum Display

Destination unknown

Mealtime

The Hospital

Rush Hour

The Looking Glass

Television

Celluloid Image

Needs and Wants

Holiday Memories

1

1

1

2

2

2

2

3

4

4

4

5

5

5

7

7

1

3

19

1

2, 3

5

25, 26

18

1

14

15

1

19

26

1

3

Language registers

The Burglary/Record Page

Fogbound

2

3

4

17

Deep versus surface learning
Read with Care

7

13
Description
Street Scene/Descriptions
3
3, 4
Comparison

Robo Girl A and B

Street Scene Cameos

Similar/Different/Identical A, B & C

Compare and Draw

Bicycle Shop/Choosing a bicycle

3

3

3

3

3

1, 2

5

6-8

9, 10

12, 13

Building Categories

Holiday Checklist

Creating categories

Compare and Categorise

Shopper's Dilemma

Sorting tools

3

3

3

3

3

19

20

21, 22

23

24

Classification

Reference Points

Classification chart

The Organiser

Muddle Mugs

Shoes Please!

Zoo Poster/Zoo Plan

Cross Reference

1

3

3

3

3

3

5

15

25

26

27

28

29, 30

11

Transformations

Pictorial Transformations

Cartoon Transformations

5

5

3

7

Relationships
Signal Systems A and B

5

9, 10

Analogies

Pictorial/Verbal analogies

Verbal Analogies A and B

5

5

16

17, 18

Similes

Introducing Similes

Understanding Similes

Developing Simile

5

5

5

21

22

23

Cliche
Coded conversation

5

25
Metaphor

Simile and Metaphor

Green Goliaths/Elegy

5

5

24

27, 28

 

 

STSC as a resource for other specific learning requirements

Although STSC has been designed as a programme, it can be used as a resource to broaden and support teaching to address a number of specific learning requirements. The following tables provide some examples.

Visual spatial development

Themes

Tasks

STSC Module

Activity Number

Visual motor difficulties, Impulsivity, dyspraxia

Abstract Search Tasks A - L

Abstract Error Tasks A & B

Patchwork Pieces

Nets and Solids

Symmetry

Models

Figural Transformations A, B & C

Teaching Figural Analogies A and B

The Organiser A and B

Cloud Patterns A and B

1

1

2

2

2

2

5

5

6

6

4-6, 10-12, 16-18

27-29

21-22

6

8, 9

10

11

4-6

12, 13

13-16

Spatial referents (left, right, front, back)

Orientation A, B and C

The Classroom/Where are they?/Who am I?

4

4

2-4

5-7

Instructions

Find the Party A and B

Instructions & Drawings A and B

Errors in Instructions A and B

4

4

4

8, 9

10, 11

12, 13


Temporal development

Themes

Tasks

STSC Module

Activity Number

Temporal Sequencing

Operations 1 and 2

Cartoons A and B

Words in Time and Space A and B

The Photograph Album A and B

Personal Time

Fantasy

2

4

4

4

4

4

12, 13

16, 17

19, 20

21, 22

23

29

Instruction Sequences

Instructions 1, 2 and 3

Flowchart

Car Assembly

Services

2

2

2

5

14-16

17

18, 19

8

Planning and prioritising

Lost

Car Breakdown

Lost Key

Shopper's Dilemma

1

1

1

3

9

20

24

23

Schedules & Time Management

Timetable Patterns

Birthday Plans A, B and C

Delivery Schedules A and B

Time and Motion A and B

Restaurant C: Reservations and Schedules

6

6

6

6

6

8

9-11

17, 18

19, 20

23

Time lines

Biography A and B

6

24, 25

 

Organising & memorising

Themes

Tasks

STSC Module

Activity Number

Systems for . . .

Categorisation & Classification (see above)

Mnemonics and rhymes

The Learner

Approaches to Learning

The Memory Room

7

7

7

7

7

5

11

12

14

14

Visual Memory

Memory Grids A and B

Visual Images

7

7

7-9

10

 

Social & emotional development

Themes

Tasks

STSC Module

Activity Number

Understanding other people's points of viewand needs

The Lost Key/Blank Activity Page

The Hospital

Rush Hour

Communication Breakdown A and B

Accident Analysis

The Looking Glass

1

4

4

4

4

5

24, 25

14

15

26, 27

28

1

Rules

The Workshop/Record Page/Kitchen

2

22, 23

 

 

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