The concept of ADVERTISING examines the role that advertising plays in our environment, using Big Understandings such as “Advertising preys on people who want to increase their self-esteem” through to Essential Questions such as, “Are ads differentiated according to their target market? (Age, sex, race, ….)”. All the hard work done for you – provides ... Read more

The concept of ADVERTISING examines the role that advertising plays in our environment, using Big Understandings such as “Advertising preys on people who want to increase their self-esteem” through to Essential Questions such as, “Are ads differentiated according to their target market? (Age, sex, race, ….)”.All the hard work done for you – provides you ... Read more

FREE: ON-GOING SELF ASSESSMENT TOOLS Three free assessment tools for you. Simply SAVE pdf to your desktop! Especially useful if you’re synthesising your own blend of inquiry learning strategies and models such as Understanding By Design, Deep Questions, Learning with Concepts (ILC) etc. These assessment tools were made by Jean Edwards, distilled her during many ... Read more

Book 1, Year 3-4 Stimulating warmer-uppers designed to give you 5 to 10-minute activities to rev up your students’ brains and get them into gear for thinking! Compiled from various ThinkShopbest-sellers, with some new Brain Revvers added in to the mix. All are aimed at higher-level thinking; the activities are mainly language-based critical thinking and ... Read more

Book 3, Year 7-10 Stimulating warmer-uppers designed to give you 5 to 10-minute activities to rev up your students’ brains and get them into gear for thinking! Compiled from various ThinkShopbest-sellers, with some new Brain Revvers added in to the mix. All are aimed at higher-level thinking; the activities are mainly language-based critical thinking and ... Read more

Considers opposites such as joy vs grief; personal vs shared; celebrate vs commiserate; positive vs negative. A couple of samples of the Big Ideas:Every culture has special events that they celebrate; Celebrations are special, happy ways of marking an event; and Celebrations are a way of expressing your happiness and sharing it with others.The Essential ... Read more

Inquiry Learning unit, with the Big Understanding for students that “In life there are always constants; and within them, changes are occurring as a consequence of choices made by myself or others”. Essential questions such as: Is there any such thing as  no change (explain)? What choices were you given at the start of today? ... Read more

The concept of COMMUNICATION examines the role that communications play, using Big Understandings such as “We all have to communicate in some way”, and “Communication involves both sending and receiving messages or information”, through to Essential Questions such as, “What problems can lack of communication cause (e.g. prejudice)?” and “Why do messages sometimes get misunderstood?” ... Read more

Ebook version. Community and Change Intro. Enduring understanding; students will understand that the community is a group of social beings interacting and sharing common interests: e.g. history or, social, economic, and political interests.  Sample essential questions: which communities do you belong to? In what ways do you contribute to your community/communities? Can you belong to ... Read more

Extenders to push units in mind-expanding new directions. Students absolutely LOVE these; use them as assignments or simply offer as choice for those spare times. Unit topics include recycling, space, natural disasters, insects, and 10 more thought-stimulating concepts. As requested, and based on our best-selling Creativity Extenders format; complete with student self-assessment tools. Getting further ... Read more

This is the book you need to introduce your students to creative thinking as well as to teach them to assess and improve their individual scores. Fluency, flexibility, originality and elaboration all addressed. Students love these creativity starters! Fun discussions, either one-on-one or with the whole class, to brainstorm creative ideas such as “What if ... Read more

The concept of CULTURAL IDENTITY examines the role that icons play in a culture, using Big Understandings such as “Cultural icons are an outward symbol of pride” through to Essential Questions such as, “Are there global as well as national/cultural icons?”. PLUS a choice of creative thinking activities, assessment tools etc. All the hard work ... Read more

Students can approach these worksheets with either realistic, practical creative solutions; or with futuristic or off-the-wall ideas. Very simple instructions, offering students the chance to re-design their bedroom, design a way of saving water in the garden, design a billboard ad for your school… 25 activities to fire up their enthusiasm! Besides creative thinking, students ... Read more

The concept of DISASTERS examines the role that natural or human-made hazard play in negatively/positively affecting society or the environment, using Big Understandings such as “Disasters can be seen from the viewpoint of those affected, and those who can help,” through to Essential Questions such as, “What kinds of disasters can be avoided?”. PLUS a ... Read more

The concept of ENDANGERED versus INVASIVE examines the causes of endangerment, using Big Understandings such as “Maybe humans are an invasive species” through to Essential Questions such as, “Why are some local species endangered?”. PLUS a choice of creative thinking activities, assessment tools etc. All the hard work done for you – provides you with ... Read more

Simply CLICK HERE to download your free set of PK cards. Our famous Prior Knowledge cards, on the olympian topic of SPORT. A free download! Full instructions included. Students absolutely LOVE this activity – so will you!

Addresses concepts like freedom versus oppression, individual versus collective; and offers Big Ideas such as “Freedom as a concept is a relatively modern philosophy”, and “Laws limit freedoms for some for what is considered ‘the collective good’..”. Examples of the Essential Questions provided to stimulate your students’ thinking: “Do all societies have the same concept ... Read more

Another in our best-selling series of thinking-skills-based units, this unit on Greek Myths offers students the opportunity to use lower- and higher-level thinking skills, creative thinking activities, research projects- even culminating in a Greek Day option! Your students will soon be experts in the gods and goddesses of Ancient Greeks. Even includes an enrichment flowchart ... Read more

AN AMAZING BUY- this set is worth it’s weight in gold! This instructional manual includes hundreds of short, accessible explanations of the philosophical ideas and issues written into HARRY the novel, and as such is a valuable introduction to philosophy. Adults with no experience in academic philosophy will have no trouble using this manual to ... Read more

A practical guide to help you get past that camouflage, and accurately identify Gifted and talented students. Details specific tests and screens for you to get the ball rolling in your school with defensible ID. A companion to our best-selling “How To Teach Thinking Skills”, this book could unlock some surprises in your classrooms!

Students definitely get to use their brains while studying them too! This fascinating unit applies all the thinking skills in a variety of extenders, complete with 6 levels of Bloom’s activities, and self-evaluation forms. Students love finding out about the human brain!

The concept of LEADERSHIP examines the role that leadership plays in our environment, using Big Understandings such as “Leaders can have a positive influence or a negative one” through to Essential Questions such as, “Can you have more than one leader in a group/community? “.All the hard work done for you – provides you with ... Read more

Help students to learn to make decisions. Thought-provoking exercises using topical ideas to catch students’ interest- wonderful for groups, pairs or individual work. Start with gut feelings or red hat thinking, and move through to either Pros and Cons or PMIs. Effective tools for transfer to Social Studies, Language and Problem-solving situations.

Visual discrimination and visual memory form an integral part of many daily activities. They are essential and critical skill areas; but we don’t often, or regularly, teach or consciously ‘develop’ them in our classrooms. Visual discrimination and visual memory skills can be enhanced by practice, and your students will benefit from regular exercises of a ... Read more

“Please can we do those Memory Skills activities now??” Students LOVE these activities- students have actually ASKED for more of them! Re-issued by popular demand. Also used by SPELD teachers!   Easy to administer: takes less than 5 minutes a day (or once per week, etc) Students’ page and teachers’ answers page included Self-monitoring ongoing ... Read more

ebook: Morphing into Adolescence advanced version, is another thoroughly-crafted Inquiry Learning through Concepts book. Considers opposites such as acceptance vs rebellion; fads vs fashions; timid vs bold.. A couple of samples of the Big Ideas: There are both internal and external factors that influence how we change; Mental and physical health both affect a person’s ... Read more

The concept of POETRY examines the role that poetry plays in our world, using Big Understandings such as “Poetry and prose are two sides of the same coin” and “There are many different kinds of poem” ,through to Essential Questions such as, “Why would writers choose to write a poem instead of prose or a ... Read more

The concept of PROBABILITY versus IMPROBABILITY examines the values and uses of probability theory,involving finding patterms that are not always obvious and which enable predictions. Using Big Understandings such as “Choices in data collection can affect interpretation”, “Probability is not an exact or precise way of predicting every outcome”,through to Essential Questions such as, “What ... Read more

Interested in developing QUESTIONING? Want to get teachers and students asking thoughtful and rich questions? The ebook version of the set of Question Starters ready to go – print them out yourself on different-coloured card and save! Makes forty colour-coded A4 posters; one for each week of teaching, to remind students of the different important ... Read more

The concept of RELIGION examines the role that religion plays in our world, using Big Understandings such as “Religion can be expressed through fulltime devotion (monks, nuns etc) or merely as a personal belief or conviction” through to Essential Questions such as, “In what circumstances can a religion become a prejudice?”. PLUS a choice of ... Read more

The concept of RIGHTS & RESPONSIBILITIES examines the role that you and others play in a co-operative environment, using Big Understandings such as “Although we are individuals we need to consider other people’s points of view to be part of a society or group” through to Essential Questions such as, “Which of your traits of ... Read more

INQUIRY LEARNING through Concepts. Advanced version. All the ‘hard bits’ done, and ready for you to personalise for your class! The concept of RULES examines the role that rules play in a community or a culture, using Big Understandings such as “People’s values and knowledge determine whether they think a rule is fair or unfair” ... Read more

Ebook version of SCHOOL CAMP, intro version- years 7-12. Inquiry learning with Concepts (ILC).

SPACE (advanced version) examines the role that space plays in negatively/positively affecting society or the environment, using Big Understandings such as “Cultures use myths & legends to explain phenomena in their world,” and “Both Inner and Outer Space have many commonalities as well as unknowns yet to be explored”,through to Essential Questions such as, “Who ... Read more

The concept of SUSTAINABILITY examines the role that humans play in our environment, using Big Understandings such as “People should be educated about the reasons for using a range of environmentally-friendly packaging” through to Essential Questions such as, “What can each person do to ensure that we limit the amount of packaging we use?”. PLUS ... Read more

Very effective for vocabulary and creative thinking skills. These analogy-based worksheets will help your students to learn and practise important skills including logical thinking, classifying, analysing, perceiving patterns and relationships (such as cause and effect). Great for vocabulary,language structure, and thinking!

Great gift for friends and colleagues! Thinkshop’s very own graphic designer Peter Lole,  and writer Matt Lawrey, have come up with a hilarious comic book, The Little Things, which takes those tender, desperate, ridiculous and monotonous moments of parenting and finds a lovely, gentle humour in them. A fabulous gift for family, friends, grandparents – ... Read more

Analogy-based worksheets that help students to learn and practice important critical thinking skills from the Essential Skills needed for real-world problem-solving. Including logical thinking, analysing, classifying and perceiving patterns and relationships (such as cause and effect). Also very effective for vocabulary and creative thinking skills.

Thinking Treasures for Philosophical Thinking in the classroom! Provocative topics that really make students use all the thinking tools and strategies at their command. Rich Concepts include: Happiness; Choice; Ownership; Identity; and 10 more that lead students into thoughtful, guided discussion. Student warmups to start ideas flowing, then move through various exercises and respond to ... Read more

Help your students to make up their mind about various problem situations that commonly occur, such as Late For School; Friends; In trouble with parents; Put-Downs. Three sequential steps (Think Outside the Square, Underlying Problems, and Forming criteria) provide activities to show students (and adults) that there are often alternative solutions to problems – the ... Read more