Thinking Tools – managing cognitive overload
Author: Gerard Alford Date Posted:3 November 2022
The worth of using thinking tools is well documented; they provide a clear pathway to complete a given task, they provide students the means to organise their research...
Thinking Tools – managing cognitive overload
The worth of using thinking tools is well documented; they provide a clear pathway to complete a given task, they provide students the means to organise their research and thoughts in a systematic way and they provide teachers with a clear insight into the student’s thinking, usually at a very key stage of the task.
However, have you thought of employing thinking tools to manage your student’s cognitive load?
Thinking tools can act as an intermediary step in an assessment task and so separate two important stages of the process: the thinking and the writing stages.
When students are completing the relevant thinking tools, such as a Double Bubble Map, KWHL, Decision Matrix or Y Chart to name just a few, the focus should be on the thinking – what are the key points, arguments, evidence and issues? What are the different perspectives? Who are the leading voices? How reliable are the sources I am using?
With so much to think through, there should NOT be an emphasis on the writing at this stage. Once the thinking tool is completed, then the writing process can be explicitly taught.
The old teaching adage, ‘Don’t let the writing get in the way of thinking; don’t let the thinking get in the way of the writing,’ is very apt here.
To see this process in more detail, including using targeted and aligned thinking tools and language for the different cognitive verbs, view these articles on cognitive verbs and thinking tools.