Saturday, 15 September
Conference Hall "Venta"

Chair: Kirsi Urmson, Rauma Primary School, Finland

09:00 - 09:25    Kirsi Urmson, Rauma Primary School, Finland. Thinking in the Primary School.

The learning results in Finnish schools are good but the pupils lack motivation according to PISA studies. This could mean that Finnish teachers are not using the full learning capacity of the pupils and are underestimating their skills.  Could the teachers change this by adding more challenge into teaching? The aim of this presentation is to share some ways how a primary teacher can start using the Thinking Task Framework  in adding creativity and thinking skills in teaching. The examples are from Science and Finnish language in grades 3 and 4. The focus is on creating the challenge and finding a red thread to follow both for the teacher and for the pupils. The biggest change from normal classroom activities is building projects which will ensure more time and room for developing thinking skills. 

09:25 – 09:50   Giedre Joudyte, Vilnius International School, Lithuania. Recognising Learning in Play.

As a pre-school teacher, I am always looking for ways to improve my teaching and broaden the range of learning play/experiences in my toolbox. When making my first steps in introducing thinking, I took the available tasks and tried to use them with my pre-school children. This approach did not work! It led, on my part, to more research and experimentation with activities and games for the children. In this talk, I will reflect on my experience, describe what I did, why some tasks could not work and what I learned as a result. I will also share the approach I currently use.

09:50 – 10:30  Kurt Teugels, Primary School Teacher, Belgium. Using ‘Six Thinking Hats’ for structural and creative thinking.

Using the method of ‘Six Thinking Hats’, created by Professor Edward De Bono ( a leading autority in the world on the field of creative thinking ), helps children and adults to think on a very structural and creative way. You give with this method every person an easy and understandable skill to make the ( creative ) thinking process more high quality. You can use this method one two ways. You can use it as ‘management’ thinking tool in your organization. It brings better and more powerful thinking by the participants in a constructive way with more chances for results in a shorter time. Apart from a ‘management’ thinking tool, you can use ‘The Six Thinking Hats’ also in classroom as a powerful ( creative ) thinking tool in several lessons, especially lessons focused on ( creative ) thinking. In this workshop we will focus more on the second part, the powerful classroom thinking skill.

10:30 - 11:00   COFFEE BREAK

11:00 – 11:25   Ann S. Pihlgren, Stockholm University, Sweden. Socrates in the Classroom.

Socratic seminars have been practiced by educators as a supplement to classroom teaching. However, how the effects are achieved has not been thoroughly investigated. This study is an analysis of seminars conducted over three years with children five to sixteen years old. The students’ group interaction was analyzed closely through a phenomenological approach. The analysis focused on how the seminar culture was taught and learned and shows that the skilled participants shifted their interaction towards an “inquiring” dialogue, and that the rhetorical power changed to a more cooperative communication. The students’ learning proceeded through stages, partly different from the anticipated ideal. The facilitator’s ability to handle rule breaking, and to create a safe environment for intellectual exploration, was significant. The findings show that “silent” moves like gestures and glances helped maintain a productive and egalitarian culture. The participants developed their thinking skills over time, evolving from relativism to critical examination. 

11:25 – 11:50   Susanna Massa, primary school teacher, PhD student, Università degli Studi di Roma Tre, Italy. Philosophy

for Children in an Italian Primary.

This paper focuses on Philosophy for Children, a worldwide educational movement first introduced and developed in the USA by M. Lipman in the 1960s. It is based on the ideas of J. Dewey (1966) who argued for the need to educate pupils for democracy by engaging pupils’ interest and teaching from real-life contexts, and on Vygotsky’s socio-constructivist ideas (1934). In Italy it is a new approach and there weren’t much experiences. In Philosophy for Children, the group develops as a community of enquiry, which engages in the formulation and exploration of questions. Questions and dialogue are central to develop pupils’ thinking skills, their confidence to speak and listen, and their respect of other people’s viewpoints. I completed a philosophical project in 2008, my hypothesis was to analyze the connection between the philosophy for children and the creative and divergent thinking. 

11:50 - 12:30   Meeli Pandis, SOS Children`s Villages International, Estonia and Klaire Sinisalu, Merivälja School, Tallinn,

Estonia. Playing for Learning. Estonian Reading Association`s innovative education projects.

NGO Estonian Reading Association (EstRA, www.lugemisyging.ee) has gained rich experience in conducting literacy and wider education projects during its 20 years of existence.
In the workshop we will provide examples and activities from 3 EstRA projects what are concentrated on creating supporting and motivating learning environment and playful and creative activities for pre-school and elementary school children. Those methods are successfully tested in practice by the number of kindergarten, primary and special education teachers including presenters.
„The Reading Nest“, “More Parents Associated for Learning” and “Reading Games”projects will be presented by introducing practical methods and materials developing children`s creativity, problem solving and thinking skills in a child friendly playful way.
In a workshop we make participants to play physical, brain and reading games and learn in the process.