Thinking strategies: a teacher's guide

What are thinking strategies?

Metacognitive thinking strategies help pupils become aware of their own reasoning. Critical thinking skills are essential to educational attainment and civic responsibility. We all want our students to develop these attributes alongside emotional intelligence skills. When we talk about critical thinking strategies it is not always clear what this actually is. For the purpose of this article, we are examining them from a classroom perspective. We are talking about the self-initiated problem-solving skills that walk hand-in-hand with positive educational outcomes. These are the sort of strategies that children use to accomplish academic tasks. These critical thinking strategies are often thought of as independent learning skills. We hear a lot about 'spoon-feeding and the negative effects this has in the long run. In this article, we are talking about the alternative thinking strategies that students develop and have at their disposal when they encounter difficult challenges.

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What sorts of thinking strategies help learners?

For the purpose of this article, we are focusing on visual thinking strategies that help students organise their thinking. These are the types of strategies that a school smoothly integrate into everyday classroom life. At Structural Learning, we are particularly interested in academic competency development through explicit thinking strategy instruction. By this we mean, enabling a pupil to think their way through classroom tasks and complex challenges. We believe that tools that work'upstream' in the student's mind have a greater positive impact as they enable the learner to 'think for themselves'. These types of strategies include:

1) Graphic organisers

2) Learning journals

3) Checklists

4) Planning tools

5) Oracy frameworks

The development of thinking strategies should enable children to tackle tough questions. Using a thought-provoking strategic question in the classroom can cause a child to really grapple with the problem. These sorts of strategic questions need appropriate levels of scaffolding. The use of dual coding techniques and graphic organisers provide teachers with support mechanisms for deeper learning. Oracy is a great medium for advancing active listening as well as talking. These types of techniques have been shown to help groups of children build deeper knowledge. Neil Mercer coined the term 'Interthinking' when describing how children conceptualise new ideas together.

These sorts of strategies can be thought of as a learning toolkit that helps students utilise strategic thinking skills to achieve specific goals. A strategy that we have been developing over the last two years is the Universal Thinking Framework. This toolkit enables teachers and students to develop an optimal strategy for achieving complex academic goals. The taxonomy organises all of the learning words we would typically use when describing how to accomplish educational tasks.

The way the framework is laid out enables educators and students to focus on strategy formation. We refer to this as the 'how' of learning. On one hand you have the curriculum, the 'what', and on the other hand you have the 'how', your critical thinking strategies. We have been encouraging schools to align these domains to improve curriculum delivery. Children find the colour-coded nature of these visual thinking strategies helping. Very quickly, children learn the strategic thinking skills and the language that accompanies them. This enables them to make strategic plans about the very process of learning.

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How do learners use thinking strategies?

There have been many studies in the field of education that have reported positive impacts from the development of critical thinking strategies. The Education Endowment Foundation has been one of the most recent organisations to focus in on this area. In schools, this area is often referred to as metacognition. The visual thinking strategies that we have been researching enable pupils to understand the critical thinking skills they need to use and manage in order to succeed in the classroom.

We usually begin a project with a professional development program that enables teachers to understand the theory behind the practice. Once teachers are comfortable with how the framework is used to develop strategic plans of learning, we shift our focus to the student.

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Quite often, learners are not aware of where they could take their learning by using alternative thinking strategies. Having the framework visible in the classroom allows education communities to choose an optimal strategy that can be adapted as the task progresses. We often ask the question 'How should we get started?' This prompt immediately helps a student to begin to explore the ultimate strategies available to them. Once they have got started, we might then ask them the question 'How should we organise our ideas?'.

This prompt is designed to encourage the student to choose a critical thinking strategy that enables them to organise the content of the lesson appropriately. For example, this could be: sequence, compare or connect. The student is now beginning to build an action plan of carefully chosen thinking skills, the basis of a metacognitive mindset.

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Critical thinking strategies for driving the curriculum

The Education Endowment Foundation report high impact for low-costs when researching the efficacy of metacognition. These sorts of strategic thinking skills can be used in traditional teacher-directed classroom settings as well as inquiry-based learning environments. The framework can be thought of as an 'educational sat-nav', the process of learning is carefully guided using visual thinking strategies. In time, these strategic thinking skills become a habit that students can draw upon when faced with complex tasks.

This approach to strategy formation is helping for the learner as it equips them with a set of skills that can be put to use to achieve many different goals. We describe the thinking and learning words as the foundation of an action-oriented strategy. That is, all of these words require the pupil to engage in an active strategy of some kind, are required to act on the information in front of them. There will never be one set way of approaching a task, having a bank of alternative strategies at your disposal means that the learner is 'cognitively equipped' when faced with difficult situations.

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Unit planning using thinking strategies

We have been focused on the strategic planning process of learning. We are encouraging schools to use the framework for designing individual lessons right up to unit planning. Educators don't generally have tools that they can use to develop a unit of study. It often becomes a mishmash of resources found on the hard drive. This process of zooming in and out means that the curriculum becomes a cohesive jigsaw puzzle that all learners can piece together.

The supplementary materials that we have created enable teaching staff to facilitate rich learning conversations about the process of learning. The physical cards can be laid out and ordered into an order that paves the way to academic success. The future development of the framework lies in a new application that allows teachers to drag and drop the learning actions into stunning lesson plans. As always, we do welcome conversations about learning and if you're interested in finding out more, you know where to find us. Happy learning everyone!

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Frequently Asked Questions

What exactly are thinking strategies and how do they differ from traditional teaching methods?

Thinking strategies are self-initiated problem-solving skills that help students tackle academic tasks independently, moving beyond 'spoon-feeding' approaches. They include visual tools like graphic organisers, learning journals, checklists, planning tools, and oracy frameworks that work 'upstream' in the student's mind. These strategies enable pupils to think their way through complex challenges rather than relying on teacher-directed instruction alone.

This connects closely with research on digital tools for metacognition, which provides further classroom strategies for teachers.

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How can teachers practically implement the Universal Thinking Framework in their everyday lessons?

Teachers can use the colour-coded Universal Thinking Framework as an 'educational sat-nav' by making it visible in the classroom and using strategic prompts like 'How should we get started?' and 'How should we organise our ideas?'. Students then choose appropriate thinking strategies such as sequence, compare, or connect to build action plans for their learning. The framework helps align curriculum content (the 'what') with strategic thinking skills (the 'how') for optimal delivery.

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What are the main benefits of using visual thinking strategies with students?

Visual thinking strategies use dual coding techniques for deeper understanding and help transform dependent learners into self-dire cted problem solvers. The Education Endowment Foundation reports high impact for low costs when using metacognitive strategies like these. Students develop a toolkit of strategic thinking skills they can apply to various complex academic challenges, building both independence and confidence.

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Which thinking strategies work best for different age groups and learning needs?

Graphic organisers suit all ages with adapted complexity and work particularly well for visual learners tackling complex concepts. Learning journals are most effective from upper primary onwards for developing reflective thinking, whilst checklists can be used from early years to secondary for task completion. Oracy frameworks require confident speaking skills and benefit collaborative learning across all age groups with appropriate scaffolding.

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What challenges might teachers face when introducing thinking strategies, and how can these be overcome?

Common challenges include strategies becoming too rigid if overused, students requiring consistent practice and time to develop skills, and some tools needing initial teacher guidance. Teachers can overcome these by varying their approach, providing sustained support during the learning process, and ensuring proper professional development to understand the theory behind the practice. Starting with simple prompts and gradually building complexity helps students develop confidence.

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How do thinking strategies support metacognition and independent learning?

Thinking strategies build metacognitive awareness by helping pupils understand which critical thinking skills they need to use and manage for classroom success. Students develop self-awareness of their learning process and can track their progress through reflective practices. This approach creates habits that students can draw upon independently when facing complex tasks, forming the basis of a truly metacognitive mindset.

This connects closely with research on habits of mind, which provides further classroom strategies for teachers.

Flavell (1979) identified metacognitive experiences as the conscious feelings and judgments that arise during cognitive tasks, such as the sudden realisation that a passage has not been understood. These "aha" and "stuck" moments are the raw material teachers can use to build metacognitive awareness.

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Can you give specific examples of how different thinking strategies work in practice?

Graphic organisers help students visually map complex concepts using dual coding techniques, whilst learning journals encourage reflection on learning processes and progress tracking. Checklists provide clear structure for task completion and self-monitoring, and planning tools help students develop strategic approaches to project management. Oracy frameworks promote 'interthinking' where children conceptualise new ideas together through active listening and collaborative discussion.

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