Teaching Thinking Skills / Edition 2

by Stephen Johnson, Harvey Siegel, Christopher Winch

Overview

Teaching Thinking Skills by Steve Johnson was initially published by the Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain in 2000. In this new edition, Johnson has updated his argument, Harvey Siegel has contributed a counter-argument and Christopher Winch has provided a foreword and afterword drawing the debates together.

The issues debated in this new edition of Teaching Thinking Skills include:
Do thinking skills exist?
What are the aims of education?
Can thinking skill be taught?
Are thinking skills transferable?

Teaching Thinking Skills raises issues not only for those concerned with thinking skills per se but more broadly for those concerned with the role of thinking in professional and vocational activities and with the extent to which abilities are broad or narrow, transferable or non-transferable.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781441186560
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	05/18/2010
Series:	Key Debates in Educational Policy
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	144
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Christopher Winch is Professor of Educational Philosophy and Policy at King's College London, UK.

Christopher Winch is Professor of Educational Philosophy and Policy at King's College London, UK.

Table of Contents

Series Editor's Preface - Key Debates in Educational Policy vii

Foreword Christopher Winch xi

The policy background in the United Kingdom xiv

1 Teaching Thinking Skills Stephen Johnson 1

1 The argument 1

2 Present interest in thinking skills 2

3 Thinking as a skill 7

4 General transferability 13

5 Conceptual errors 20

6 The direct teaching of thinking and the importance of content 25

7 Thinking as mental processes 28

8 Examples of general thinking skills 32

9 The dangers 36

10 Conclusion 42

References 47

2 On Thinking Skills Harvey Siegel 51

1 Introduction 51

2 Problems with thinking of thinking as a skill 54

3 'The myth of general transferability' 61

4 The 'direct' teaching of thinking and content/subject matter knowledge 75

5 Mental processes and general thinking skills 78

6 The educational dangers of thinking of thinking in terms of skills 80

7 Conclusion 82

References 83

Further reading 84

Afterword Christopher Winch 85

1 Skills 88

2 Skills and transferability 96

3 The question of efficacy 101

4 What is thinking? 103

5 Mental processes 104

6 A summary of Johnson's claims 107

7 Reasoning 109

8 The role of philosophy 112

9 Reason and argument 113

10 Inductive arguments 120

11 Concluding remarks 122

References 123

Index 125

Editorial Reviews

'Timely and welcome; I recommend this to all interested in this important contemporary educational issue.' David Carr, Professor of Philosophy of Education, University of Edinburgh, UK

A significant and stimulating contribution to the philosophical literature on critical thinking with an important bearing on educational policy and practice.
William Hare, Professor Emeritus, Mount Saint Vincent University, Canada

From the Publisher