| Title | Chapter 2: The Thinking Hats teaching strategy |
|---|---|
| Subtitle | Potential benefits to advance metacognitive self-directed learning |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.4102/aosis.2024.BK484.02 |
| Landing page | https://books.aosis.co.za/index.php/ob/catalog/book/484 |
| License | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ |
| Copyright | Bernadette Geduld, Byron J Bunt & Divan Jagals (eds.). Licensee: AOSIS (Pty) Ltd. The moral right of the editors and authors has been asserted. |
| Publisher | AOSIS |
| Long abstract | This chapter reports on the findings of a qualitative phenomenological study with a heterogeneous group of willing first- to fourth-year pre-service teachers from a South African University (n = 450). The participants were representative of different subject fields and received purposeful exposure to training as part of professional development in four classroom-based teaching strategies to encourage the development of metacognitive self-directed learning (SDL). The project engaged pre-service teachers as self-responsible and self-directed initiators of change to their teaching practices to become effective self-directed adult students. Furthermore, the chapter explores the pre-service teachers’ written reflections about their experiences with the professional development training and, in particular for this chapter, their perceptions about the project’s potential benefits for advancing metacognitive self-regulated learning. The findings revealed that exposure to the Six Thinking Hats strategy holds benefits for equipping pre-teachers with a variety of thinking skills and dispositions to advance metacognitive awareness and, to a limited extent, metacognitive regulation through problem-solving to self-direct learning. |
| Print length | 25 pages |
| Language | English (Original) |
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Gideon P van Tonder, an associate professor at North-West University, South Africa, is renowned for his work in the Self-Directed Professional Development of Teachers. He is part of the Research Unit for Self-Directed Learning at the university’s Faculty of Education. His significant academic contributions include numerous papers in international education journals, focusing on education management, critical thinking, metacognition and teacher professional development. Since 2015, he has authored various book chapters for publishers like Van Schaik and AOSIS. His initiatives at the North-West University include projects enhancing research capabilities among staff and developing SDL skills in pre-service teachers using innovative teaching strategies. He is also deeply invested in community projects, which aim to integrate entrepreneurship education across all subjects and school phases in South Africa by 2030. His excellence in teaching was recognised in 2019 when he received both the NWU Teaching Excellence Award and the Distinguished Teaching Excellence Award across the university’s faculties.
Prof. Mary Grosser is an extraordinary professor at North-West University, Vanderbijlpark Campus, in the Optentia Research Focus Area. Her research interest centres on teaching that optimises cognitive development and critical thinking development among students at school. She has supervised 15 master’s and 15 doctorate students, delivered several papers at national and international conferences, published in national and international peer-reviewed journals, authored five chapters for textbooks and edited a publication that focuses on the development of critical thinking. She headed an NRF-funded project entitled ‘Improving the critical thinking abilities of prospective teachers (2010–2013)’, as well as the Schools as Thinking Communities Project (2012–2016) at her university. She currently works together with Prof. Mirna Nel, who heads the sub-programme Inclusion, Capability and Optimal Functioning in the Optentia Research Focus Area (NWU), on a research project entitled ‘Developing Advanced Performers for the 21st century (2017–)’. She serves as an Advisory Board member for a newly established non-profit organisation, Institute for the Advancement of Cognitive Education.
Nicolaas van Deventer is a lecturer in the History for Education within the Faculty of Education at North-West University. He is also a member of the Research Unit Self-Directed Learning (SDL). He has achieved academic distinction at North-West University, earning a Master of Education (MEd) in Curriculum Studies, a Bachelor of Education Honours (BEd Honours) in Curriculum Studies and a Bachelor of Education (BEd) in Senior and Further Education and Training (FET). His research primarily focuses on self-directed learning and historical thinking. Contributing to the academic community, he has co-authored several articles and book chapters centred on self-directed learning. Additionally, he plays a key role in various research initiatives to develop SDL skills among pre-service teachers, employing innovative and effective teaching strategies.
Byron Bunt is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Education of the NWU, South Africa, and is part of the Research Unit Self-Directed Learning. He is the subject leader for History Education. His research niche encompasses cognitive education and game-based learning (GBL), specifically focusing on developing students’ creative and critical thinking via gamification approaches. He has published in the fields of History Education and GBL. He is the author of several chapters in scholarly books and articles in renowned academic journals. In addition, he has begun a project involving a self-developed trading card game called ‘Dogs of War’, which will be used within his history classroom to develop his students’ SDL abilities. Another research project focuses on using open educational resources (OERs) and games to develop board and card games in the history class, eventually culminating in uploading them as OERs to an online repository. He also completed a project that used a mobile gaming app called ‘Habitica’, which involved an intervention where students had to role-play in the history classroom to form habits of mind.