You caught a beauty!!!
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Download a PDF of this scaffold here.
theory behind scaffold…
Educators and owners of academies who claim to teach critical thinking usually assume that it is a skill, like riding a bicycle, and that, like other skills, once you learn it, you can apply it in any situation. This has, in fact, not proven to be true. The process of thinking is intertwined with the content of thought – that is, domain knowledge. This is crucial in designing lessons that include critical thinking activities. It makes no sense to try to teach critical thinking devoid of factual content.* The trick, then, is to teach our students as many techniques as possible so that they have a toolbox of critical thinking skills that they can access in different context and the better and more efficient thinkers they will be in a wider context.
This scaffold uses an adaption of the ancient Egyptian writing – hieroglyphs – as a critical thinking exercise. Students need to tap into inferential and deductive reasoning to be able to successfully complete the combination of textual and visual puzzles.With this technique, students examine images and decode how they are linked phonetically. The identified sounds, they will realise, are scaffolded academic language that will appear in their next unit of study. You may feel as though there is little enough time to cover the material in the curriculum, but this activity will bring a bit of lightness to the classwork and you’ll see your students continue with more energy and enthusiasm. You spend a little classtime on an infusion of positive energy.
- *Willingham, Daniel T. (Summer, 2007). ‘Critical Thinking: Why is it so hard to teach?’. American Educator.
step by step…
- Choose 5-10 words from the unit you’re about to begin.Break down each word into several syllables.Find an image that represents each syllable and join these images with ‘+’ signs. Use ‘-‘ signs when letters need to be subtracted.Make a set of the completed ‘hieroglyphs’ for each pair of students.Students work together to decode the images and then write sentences with those words, in the context they believe they’ll find them in the next unit of study.Use the Power Point presentation below, or one you have prepared yourself, to go over the decoded words.Students are now ready to begin the unit with more familiarity and so more confidence in the academic words used.
(see answer below)
Answer: brain & carbohydrate
Share ideas on how these activities work for you
Power Point Presentation with more Brain Hieroglyphs
Scaffoldingmagic.com is your entryway into DYNAMIC bilingual learning methodologies, such as Phenomenon-Based Learning, CLIL, EMI, and ESL. You’ll find ways to implement critical thinking tools (DOK) to promote higher level thinking, the growth mindset, instill an ethic of excellence, deep reflection on learning, and all through multi-cultural, interdisciplinary activities. We have the keys to turning competences into action and to creating collective efficacy in your school so you move ahead as a unified, enthusiastic team.