Valiant, Etc.

HYPOTHESIZING
Bob Valiant, 15 March 2004

Thinking Skill Emphasized: HYPOTHESIZING

Hypothesizing may be used either in an attempt to generate potential causes for an event or to predict the outcome based on a given set of circumstances. (Read on …)

Detecting Patterns
Bob Valiant, 15 March 2004

Thinking Skill Emphasized: Detecting Patterns

Detecting patterns is an important skill that helps us recognize ways to organize data that is seemingly chaotic.
(Read on …)

INTERPRET STATEMENTS
Bob Valiant, 15 March 2004

Thinking Skill Emphasized: INTERPRET STATEMENTS

When we are given new information it is necessary to pay close attention in order to determine its meaning.
(Read on …)

CREATIVITY
Bob Valiant, 15 March 2004

Thinking Skill Emphasized: CREATIVITY

Creating a new product involves using previously learned skills in new ways.
(Read on …)

Elsewhere on this web site we document what experts believe will be the basic skills of the 21st Century. For example the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory has identified digital-age literacy, inventive thinking, effective communication, and high productivity as the new basics. Closer examination of these four skill areas indicates a concentration of skills generally categorized as higher-level thinking and their use in real-world situations. Several articles on this site identify these skills and even include teaching activities to help students master them. It turns out that knowing the skills and being able to use them is not enough, however.
(Read on …)

Introduction

In this era of top-down reform and rapid change in many aspects of education, facility planning might be likened to completing a jigsaw puzzle of a motion picture while the film is still running. Before the pieces for one image can be put in place the projector has moved to the next frame. So it is with school planning. Technology, curriculum, instruction and school organization are in a state of flux and planners are compelled to deal with each of these factors while developing a long-range plan or the design of a particular school.

One strategy for dealing with confused circumstances is to seek high ground to get a view of the entire picture and perhaps to see what is ahead. This article seeks to provide the reader with a path to the high ground. From this vantage point participants can develop a collaborative conception of what future schools could be like. We will begin by examining current social trends and the conditions they create. This will be followed by a description of a process for developing a future vision shared by the various stakeholders. The final section is a nuts-and-bolts discussion of the activities required to successfully complete the process.
(Read on …)