Twig Science

About Twig | Twig Science

Twig is an online resource for Science subjects and includes many audio visual and interactive resources including quizes and tests. It is a paid for service but might be interesting to see how such resources could be programmed into the curriculum.

De Bono's Six Thinking Hats

Edward de Bono discusses some of the skills required to think creatively, but also challenges us to reflect about how our notion of thinking is stuck in the ideas behind Greek philosophy and we need to develop new ways of thinking - specifically creative thinking. It is a fairly didactic presentation, possibly aimed at the business market, but interesting if we consider how some of these skills can be developed in a school context? De Bono also proposes his 'Six Thinking Hats' process, which involves people thinking in parallel, which he explains below:



As teachers, it makes sense that we employ a number of strategies and activities with students that will encourage them to take different approaches to thinking about a situation. Edward de Bono's methods can easily be adapted to help structure students' thinking towards a creative outcome although allow space for personal expression. You can read in more depth about the Six Thinking Hats by clicking here.

Here are some quotes by De Bono:

"An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea."


"Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way."


"Creativity is a great motivator because it makes people interested in what they are doing. Creativity gives hope that there can be a worthwhile idea. Creativity gives the possibility of some sort of achievement to everyone. Creativity makes life more fun and more interesting."


"Most of the mistakes in thinking are inadequacies of perception rather than mistakes of logic."


"One very important aspect of motivation is the willingness to stop and to look at things that no one else has bothered to look at. This simple process of focusing on things that are normally taken for granted is a powerful source of creativity. "


"The need to be right all the time is the biggest bar to new ideas."

You can read more about De Bono by visiting the following websites:

• Official Edward de Bono website

• The Edward De Bono Foundation

• De Bono Consulting
• More quotes by De Bono

Or purchase this book from Amazon:

Wordle Posters

Wordle is a program that allows you to generate a visual representation of the most commonly found words in a text.

http://www.wordle.net/

You could use it to display key words and content and then enlarge it using block posters (see previous post).

Idea Generator

Ever find that you need something a random words generator to help spark your imagination? This online tool does exactly that and might be a useful starting point for generating ideas:

http://www.tdbspecialprojects.com/

Applying colour to mood

The following website asks you to vote on different colours in relation to words and provides an interesting reference point for analysing how we apply colour to mood and is probably used by advertising companies. It might be useful in identifying some of the colours that you use in your displays to enhance (or suppress!) moods:

http://www.cymbolism.com/

Create Large Posters Easily

The following website enables for to create large posters by enlarging an image to fit a number of A4 pages:

http://www.blockposters.com/

Teaching Photos Website

Another website that might be of interest is the 'Teaching Photos' site, which can be viewed here. Below is a display of the body with photos of the teachers and students stitched together to make up a Frankenstein image:

Classrooms Displays Blog

There is currently a blog managed by an ex-teacher assistant called Linda Hartley, where you can find lots of ideas about display layouts and ideas. It is mostly aimed at primary schools, but you might find some interested areas for consideration. The blog can be accessed here and below is her flickr group slideshow:

Projecting Images/Text

A useful technique for tracing shapes onto a wall is to use an overhead projector to enlarge your image/text and then go over it with pen or marker pens. We often use this technique in art to transpose images onto large areas.