ROTORUA Year 7 and 8 students at John Paul College will get more than the usual during science lessons this year. They will be involved in the Rotorua schools Thinking Kids project, a strategy designed to develop students critical thinking skills and ultimately raise their levels of achievement.
John Paul College is a member of a cluster of Catholic schools which also includes Aquinas College, Tauranga; St Mary’s School, Putaruru; St Josephs School, Whakatane; and Campion College, Gisborne that has been accepted for inclusion in the Ministry of Educations Extending Higher Standards Across Schools initiative.
This initiative aims to strengthen professional learning communities of schools, increase collaboration, improve teacher quality and provide improved academic outcomes.
The ministry will fund the project for the next four years.
As part of their years 7 and 8 science programmes, students will undertake a series of lessons that will challenge their concepts of science and mathematics and present them with problems they are unable to solve using their current mental strategies.
The Thinking Kids programme aims to make them aware of their thinking and reasoning strategies, and help them develop new ways of thinking.
This improvement in cognitive ability has been shown overseas to allow students to achieve significantly higher grades not just in science, but in mathematics and English as well.
