More Thinking Allowed: Thinking Tools for the Mathematics Classroom

by Sue Gunningham

More Thinking Thinking Tools for the Mathematics Classroom offers a range of tasks aimed at stretching primary students' thinking in mathematics. Its goal is to help teachers improve their pedagogy by incorporating higher levels of thinking into their mathematics classrooms. Many of the ideas were gathered in discussion with practising teachers, while others derive from academic research.More Thinking Allowed first identifies the key concepts and theories to consider when planning a 'thinking' focus in the mathematics these include Costa's 'Habits of Mind', Claxton's notion of the teacher's role in a thinking classroom, de Bono's 'Thinking Hats' and Ryan's 'Thinker's Keys'. It then moves to a discussion of four additional classroom strategies that maths teachers can use to encourage higher-order providing points of reference; fostering the skill of sense-making; linking classroom mathematics to 'real life'; and using games to capture student interest. Each chapter contains a plethora of practical, ready-to-use mathematics activities, along with background information for each exercise and some suggestions for extension and differentiation. The exercises are most suitable for students in middle to upper primary school, but many strategies and tools could be modified for lower primary or lower secondary classrooms.

88 pages, Paperback

Published July 2, 2013