Brain Tech
The Megamix
“For there is nothing either good or
bad, but thinking makes it so.”
[Hamlet Act 2, Scene 2]
Task: Have a go at the puzzle...
Why?
O We have a moral responsibility to develop active and lifelong learners.
O Students need to think critically, creatively and reflectively. They need
to be able to problem solve and have the resilience and mindset to
encourage them to persist in the face of setbacks or adversity.
O This is a key focus on our Brain Tech curriculum in Year 7. Once students
can understand how they learn best and how to develop themselves as
learners, we begin to get closer to realising our goal of creating active
and lifelong learners at Redden Court School.
Key aims:
O
Short term: To create more positive and active learners.
We want to create learners who are willing to take risks,
yet take responsibility for their own progress and
learning. We want to create resilient learners who do not
give up and only learn from these experiences.
O
Long term: We hope that long term, we will begin to see
an improvement in exam results at both KS3 and KS4.
Even though ‘Brain Tech’ is only part of the KS3
Curriculum, we hope that students and staff will continue
to use thinking skills in all lessons and around the school.
All about you…
Use the ‘role on the wall’
technique to find out
more about you/your
team...
Note down
your ideas
inside the
template...
‘Me Puzzle’
Students
use the
puzzle
template
to note
down
many
different
aspects of
their life...
To develop
this further,
we colour
code the
puzzle
pieces so
that the
responses
are linked
to the
thinking
hats
Articulate
The person facing the screen needs to describe the terms or words on the screen for
the partner to guess. You have three minutes to guess all five...
• Philosophy 4 Children
•
•
•
•
Growth mindset
Independent learning
Learning styles
Creative thinking
Now your partner's turn...
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Thinking hats
The learning pit
Emotional intelligence
Memory
Problem solving
Brain Gym
O Start with 8 hands to knees
O Then 8 elbows to knees
O Finger to nose x 8
O Belly and head rub for 8 beats
O Reverse arms for 4 slow beats (one way), 4
slow beats in the opposite direction
P4C
Note down traits of
an effective learner
in the boxes. Can
you get a full
house?!
BINGO!
THE EFFECTIVE
LEARNER
MULTIPLE
INTELLIGENCE
Can you draw 20 types
of ‘ice’?
CREATIVE
THINKING
Students had the
opportunity to create their
own thinking skills products
for ‘The Apprentice’ project.
Students are stranded on
a desert island
THE
ISLAND
They use a different hat
each lesson to try and
escape the island
EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
SNAKES AND LADDERS
Step 1: A selection of students act out a scenario - there is usually a conflict or
something that would generate mixed response or a debate
Step 2: The ‘actors’ are assigned specific members of the class to give them
advice
Step 3: The students start the drama from the beginning but must now follow the
advice of their peers
This can be repeated as many times as needed - and the ‘audience’ can be moved
to support different actors/characters during the process
CRITICAL THINKING AND PROBLEM SOLVING
Murder Mystery
Challenge –
students were
detectives but
also had the
chance to design
their own games.
Brain Tech Evaluation Process:
What did you enjoy the most?
The island/thinking hats
Being creative
Using the mega-bloks
EI – Snakes and ladders
Group work
Murder mystery
Homework tasks
Working on the
computers
Looking at different
ways to learn
What was most beneficial?
Problem solving games
The Island
The brain games
Revision techniques
Mega bloks
Your goals
Stress management
Emotional intelligence
Mental health
Future lessons?
Human psychology
Goals for life
How your brain figures
things out
What type of person
am I?
More discussion
How your brain works
out riddles and puzzles
How the brain works
More brain games
I would like to do the
theme park challenge
How could we improve?
More visual learning
Use the mega bloks
more
More team work
Time to expand and
improve on our work
More practical work
Go on a trip
More problem
solving scenarios
More computer work
Go over the thinking hats
Question: Did it help you to
become an effective learner?
Effective learner?
Yes because I’ll have good
revision for my GCSEs by
revising and controlling my
emotions
Yes because learning to learn
will affect my grades
positively for my GCSEs
Possibly. This could have an
impact with the thinking hats
and also the island, expanding
my creativity
I think it will because I now know
how to revise and learn better
Yes because now I know how
to concentrate in lessons more
and more ways to figure out
problems
Yes because I will be able to
work out answers faster
Yes – to make me more positive
Yes, I now have new ways
of learning
Yes, because I think the
thinking hats have really
improved me and made me
learn harder
Contact:
Gemma Aukett:
[email protected]