What's the Big Idea? Teaching Kids to Think

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So what is the big idea in education right now? Big ideas! Passion Projects and Genius Hour are becoming quite popular. I know I have been dabbling with them for several years now. I think on the surface, many teachers are seeing them as ways for students to have fun while learning and to be able to think more critically and creatively. However, Genius Hour is the beginning of a shift in education.

The Move to Higher-Level Thinking Skills

Across the United States, many districts continue to be focussed on sets of skills followed by testing of these skills. While basic skills are very important, the application of these basic skills coupled with a set of higher-level thinking and communication skills cross over all curricular areas and into life. The big idea is not the acquisition of many skills. Students need the skills to navigate the curriculum in deeper ways using the most essential skills and emphasizing critical thinking and creativity.

This way of thinking about education allows more access for all learners. Rather than having to differentiate curriculum, teachers are able to plan lessons with a universal design for learning (UDL) lens.

As professionals, many teachers spend time observing the students’ work and can see clearly that they know certain skill sets. Maybe it is in their journal writing. Maybe it is in center work or even in discussions with other students or as a whole class. It’s there. Some teachers cannot move forward with certain students due to so much testing rather than gathering many forms of evidence of learning. It does need to look exactly the same for each student (aka the standardized test).

Challenging Students in Their Learning

Moving students on from where they are currently and challenging them laterally increases their learning capacity and also prevents boredom! We all know that boredom in the classroom can cause students to engage in behaviors that can disrupt learning and the learning of others in the classroom. One way to begin to learn about each individual is to ask them what interests them. I created this My Brain Growth Mindset Activity to make it fun for kids to showcase their “smarts”. You can grab yours here.

In simple terms, the BIG Idea is defined as “What is it that we really want students to learn”? For example, if we teach children about money and counting coins, the ultimate big idea is that students will learn financial literacy. We teach students to read, write, listen, and speak. The big idea is that we want students to become effective communicators.

The curriculum is evolving in many places to reflect this “new” way of thinking. In Finland, schools are successful because of many factors. One factor is that they have gone against the evaluation-driven model. The national curriculum is only a set of “broad guidelines” – The BIG ideas.

Finland and British Columbia

Here is a great link from Business Insider on why schools are so successful in Finland.

In British Columbia, the model is quite similar in terms of moving towards big ideas and not over-testing. The new curriculum is being developed incorporating the big ideas and breaking some of them down into subsets. What educational developers are calling CORE COMPETENCIES are being woven into all academic areas in order to promote the development of the Whole Child.

Inquiry learning, genius hour, passion projects, and project-based learning all aim to address these very important qualities of the modern-day learner. Our classrooms are moving towards this mind shift and instead of having an “hour” to do this kind of work, it is slowly becoming the norm in some classrooms. But the process is slow. Change is slow.

Developing Thinking Skills

Thinking skills develop in a safe environment where students are shown that making mistakes is part of learning. Thinking out loud strategies will help students begin to think more critically – especially if they are able to discuss their ideas openly with a partner or small group. Creative thinking is not only in the Arts. Creative thinking can be across all disciplines. Reflective thinking is effective in helping kids and adults process and make decisions based on their experiences and lessons learned. Journal writing has long been a way to be reflective. Classrooms are now using class meetings to help students be reflective. Mindful awareness and social-emotional learning are woven into lessons through literature and direct instruction to help students reflect and react appropriately.

Personal Identity

I absolutely love to explore cultural identity with my students! It is important that students learn about their own identity and the identity of others. When students are proud of their heritage and in my experience, they are so happy to research, interview family members, and share their culture with others given the opportunity. It helps them to value and appreciate their ethnicity and not want to “fit in” as much. When we value diversity we build community, in our classrooms and beyond.

Communication Skills

Communication skills are becoming a very important part of our curriculum. It’s very important for students to be able to not only communicate their needs but to be able to express their learning and solve problems effectively. Some kids are natural communicators but most students need to be taught. A big part of communication is active listening and nonverbal communication. Once students are comfortable communicating, they are much more easily able to collaborate and work cooperatively which is a key goal once students graduate and go out into the workforce. These skills must be introduced early. Another aspect of communication, digital literacy, is beginning to make an impact and it is important for children to learn to use technology efficiently and safely.

As education moves forward with changes to society and technology, our students’ skills need to change, develop and move forward too. When teachers can teach the BIG ideas and spend more time differentiating and facilitating the learning of all students, it is then that learning can occur.

There is no place for over-testing and packing so many skills into one set of curricula where the teacher isn’t able to cover it all effectively and without a great deal of stress. We want students who are critical, reflective, and creative thinkers, socially responsible and aware, who have a sense of cultural identity, and who are effective communicators.

Are you an educator that supports this engaging and student-centered learning? Be sure to follow along over at TPT so you can be updated when new resources come out that support your students’ skills development and thinking skills.

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