Abstract
M.Ed.
These words are being echoed more and more by all role players in the community. A caption on the front page of the magazine "People Dynamics" (1994) reads, "GOOD THINKING - THE MISSING LINK". In this article, the business community informs us that developing the good thinking skills needed to enable employees to participate in decision-making, is the "missing link". It would appear that good thinking skills are an important requirement for the future and that it is crucial for pupils to develop decision-making and problem solving skills, which may be linked directly to independent thinking. This raises the question as to how to empower our pupils to succeed in becoming independent learners and thinkers in order to cope with the demands of life. Katz (1994:37) maintains that thinking is rather like a sport or a hobby - it can be taught, practised and improved with the proper effort. The problem is that most of us never stop to analyse how we think - or more important, how we might improve our mental fitness and thinking processes. Katz (1994:37) also states that, contrary to popular belief, breakthrough ideas seldom appear as bolts out of the blue. Instead they occur most often through what Louis Pasteur described as "mental preparation" (the flexible state of mind which encourages proactive thinking). Instead of "mental preparation", Clur (1994:14) speaks of "cognitive skills empowerment". He argues that cognitive skills empowerment will underpin the success of all development programmes in South Africa over the next five years and ensure improved efficiency through the prevention of mistakes. Cognitive skills empowerment, according to him, releases the 'power of thinking' that lies within each individual. It develops the ability to transfer concepts, to apply reasoning skills and to identify and solve daily problems effectively. According to Beyer (1988:2), learning to think is not the incidental outcome of classroom study directed at information telling, or memorising, or the study of diverse subjects. Nor is it the result of simply responding to teacher or textbook questions. More than two decades ago, Little (1973:7) wrote that, implied in our traditional
teaching, is the acquisition of cognitive skills, that is, sifting and judging information and using it; the point is that these skills ought to be made a more explicit and selfconscious part of the education system. Little's impression is that content and matter are given greater priority than approach and manner. In other words, the acquisition of cognitive skills is not an explicit part of the education system. Perhaps the most important intellectual skill one can develop is intellectual independence; a capacity to be self-directing and self-regulating; to have independence of mind, judgment and motivation (Little, 1973:3). There is another reason why the emphasis needs to be placed on the teaching of thinking in our schools and that is because of the explosion of knowledge with which our children are being bombarded. Shaw (1994:7), in writing about the necessity for cognitive education in the development of quality education in South Africa, states that a further motivation for teaching thinking is the fact that we are living in an information age. Employers are recognising the need for thinking individuals, individuals who can adapt to career changes and who can process increasing amounts of information. When discussing the volume and almost transient nature of information around us, Beyer (1988:25) states that the long-range value of proficiency in thinking takes on special significance, and quotes psychologist Robert Sternberg as saying that bodies of knowledge are important of course, but they often become outdated. This is in contrast with thinking skills which never become outdated. To the contrary, they enable us to acquire knowledge and to reason with it, regardless of the time or place or the kinds of knowledge to which they are applied. "So in my opinion", says Sternberg, "teaching thinking skills is not only a tall order, but the first order of business for a school" (Sternberg in Beyer, 1988:25) According to Beyer (1988:35) to improve the quality of student thinking as much as we can, we must turn to teaching directly the skills and strategies that constitute thinking. He goes on to say that, in addition to the above, the teaching of thinking in certain subject matter has important humane benefits; he cites Lipman and others (1985) who point out that to teach thinking skills in isolation of certain subjects may communicate a mechanistic view of thinking skills and strategies and thus produce mere skill technicians, devoid of the affective components related to such skills and their uses. This means that, when we teach, for example, problem solving strategies to students, we must be cautious that we do not give the impression that problem solving is a bag of tricks that we can apply at the right time and place (Schmalz, 1991:19). According to Baer (1988:67), the renewed interest in how to teach students to be better thinkers is one of the most important directions that education has taken in recent years. Tishman, Jay and Perkins (1993:147) maintain that what sets good thinkers apart is not simply superior cognitive ability or particular skills; rather, it is their abiding tendencies to explore, inquire, seek clarity, take intellectual risks, and think critically and imaginatively. According to Tishman, et al. (1993:148), these tendencies can be called "thinking dispositions". The problem facing education is how we can teach thinking more effectively in the school curriculum to empower our children to succeed in life.