GiftedThinkers.com/High-order Thinking

Just Think Programs add breadth and balance to critical and creative thinking

Focusing on discussion to obtain the highest levels of thinking and idea generation, Just Think begins with Young Think 1, for ages 4 and 5, through Just Think 7, for high school and beyond (Just Think 4 has been used in Stanford University's engineering courses).

Just Think is based in part on two models: Dr. Edward De Bono's CoRT Model for Teaching Thinking and the cognitive domain of Dr. Benjamin Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (commonly known as Bloom's Taxonomy). Both, respectively, are shown below:

From the beginning of time, philosophers opined that the highest levels of thinking could be obtained one way...

...through thoughtful discussion with others--with each person's ideas building on those of the others'. This time-proven method continues to be used today in think tanks, successful corporations around the globe...and in progressive homes and classrooms.

                  Why do we consider them GREAT THINKERS?

     Our most gifted thinkers throughout history have changed the world through their original ideas (like Jesus Christ and Gandhi), inventions (such as Edison and Carver) or both (as Einstein and Benjamin Franklin did). It is important to note that they DEVELOPED and USED their brains, allowing the results to become a gift to society as well as to themselves.

“The power of the car is the potential of the car just as intelligence is the potential of the mind. The skill of the driver determines how the power of the car is used. The skill of the thinker determines how intelligence is used.” --Dr. Edward De Bono (Worldwide management consultant/thinking pioneer)

            How do we teach creation of ORIGINAL IDEAS and INVENTIVENESS?

An old joke answers this question perfectly:

Question: How do you get to Carnegie Hall?
Answer: Practice, practice, practice!

     By actually engaging in thoughtful discussions--brainstorming significant, age-appropriate topics-- AND by inventing methods and devices to solve real problems, children gain practice in generating original ideas and inventing.

     The program we found that encompasses all of these areas is Just Think.
In Just Think, the students first engage in a discussion of a real-world problem, using the same thinking processes employed by think tanks and major corporations today! They invent unique ways to solve problems by drawing diagrams (planning, sequencing, abstract visualization) and labeling parts, then writing an explanation of how their ideas work. In the last section they do more creative thinking, problem-solving and writing!

Each Just Think book is a year's course in thinking!

Students develop:

Intra-personal skills (oral language development and social skills) by conversing and brainstorming with, and questioning and encouraging other students
Organizational skills by designing and diagramming ways to solve problems
Writing skills by labeling parts and explaining the purpose of their inventions and how they work
Visual thinking skills (used in all computer, artistic and science-related careers) by technical drawing or creating artwork to accompany creative writing activities
Critical thinking skills by discussion lessons drawn from the CoRT Model for Teaching Thinking and Bloom's Taxonomy
Creative thinking skills by invention design and creative writing activities

     Developed in 1956 By Dr. Benjamin Bloom, this is the model most used in gifted education in the United States today. Bloom describes how the thinking process has levels, where higher-order thinking skills are at the top. The skills become progressively more difficult, and you cannot reach the highest without going through the lower levels. For example, if you had no knowledge (lowest level) of the Civil War, you wouldn't be able to comprehend (second level) additional information about Civil War battles or heroes. Nor would you be able to apply (third level) new information.
    There is some dispute in the educational realm as to whether the top three levels are in the correct order (some feel synthesis--rather than evaluation) is the highest level and others believe the last three are equal.
     Most textbooks and programs claiming to teach thinking cover only the three lowest levels.

Which book should I use?

Just Think is the main program, with one book per grade. It's best to use Just Think UNLESS you are in the following special situations:

1. Children are below 6 years old. Then Young Think I or II would be best.
2. You have WIDE AGE RANGES and/or WIDE ABILITY RANGES
3. You're teaching 4th grade or higher, with students who have NEVER USED THE PROGRAMS (Stretch Think 3 "catches older children up" by presenting beginning thinking skills with older, age-appropriate material).

YOUNG THINKS help nurture Critical and Creative thinking skills, like observing, recalling, examining and experiencing our world, through discussions and quick, outside "field trips".

They encourage creative-thinking by providing age-appropriate drawing and designing exercises, like "Design the perfect tree for a cat" (from YT 1 program). In this example, children discuss cats and things cats like, before drawing their trees. Afterwards, they explain their work, and an adult writes these explanations under the pictures.

Stretch Thinks are set up the same way as Just Thinks, but lessons are more general and less age-specific, covering three or four grades each.

ST1 or ST2 are best for students with WIDE AGE RANGES and/or WIDE ABILITY RANGES.

ST 3 is for students in 5th grade and up, who have NEVER USED THE PROGRAMS in earlier grades. It "catches older children up" by presenting the lower thinking skills with older, age-appropriate material. (Lower levels must be mastered before reaching the higher levels).