Thinking tools

This technique has had a recent resurgence of interest and is in use in many schools. I originally used it with postgraduate students working in schools, but then realised that it made a good tool for helping undergraduates. It is particularly useful for those in their first year as it gives them scaffolds for looking at ways of discussing items from the media and later to use in their writing. We used the technique in workshops first, taking current examples from their own lives and interests. It has been particularly successful in broadening responses to assignments and providing a scaffold for organising materials. In some cases thinking tool templates were used to give a visual prompt. The responses to the lost £10 note have been particularly interesting. Thinking tools can be used independently or when students work as small groups of two or three.