Olaya Fernndez Guardia

Scaling up higher order thinking skills and personal capabilities

in primary science: Theory-into-policy-into-practice Colette
Murphya, Lynne Bianchi, John McCullaghc, Karen Kerr

Firstly, I have to say that I have found this article very interesting. I believe that we all have in
our minds the statement that children learn better when are motivated and really into what
they are doing. And I say so, because we all have been children and have felt this way, it is not
really inspiring and almost an impossible task, to learn something that we are not interested
in. Indeed, this also happens to us nowadays being adults. For this reason, if we, as adults and
future teachers, realize about that, why do not we empower this thought?
Thanks to this article, I could see a framework introduced in the curriculum that worked
effectively in Northern Ireland primary schools and had interesting outcomes in children. This
approach fosters the pro-active learning and takes into account the context and environment,
so it is not an isolated performance. It makes clear that when children are encouraged and
perform as the principal agent of their own learning, there is a better understanding and
development of some capabilities or skills.
The most absorbing part was the theory into practice. Something to highlight is the
collaboration among the different agents. Without communication and collaborative work
among educative groups, the implementation of the framework could not be possible. Also,
the continuous work done that provided training and help to teachers and other agents was
really important and indispensable in order to succeed.
One aspect crucial in the practice was the coteaching, also a practice that continued during the
different projects carried out. The climate of sharing experiences and knowledge was helpful
to all members that took part in the process and moreover, the feedback received was even
more profitable. Collaboration between teachers should always be implemented in schools
due to it provides more opportunities to respond to the learning needs of diverse students, as
it is said in the article.
With the subject of science, researchers saw the chance to carry out the development of
thinking skills and personal capabilities and also to promote the enquiry-based Science
Education. It is essential to cultivate curiosity and thought-provoking scientific contexts in all
the projects put into action so students feel they are the subjects of their own learning.
Throughout the three projects explained, they all agree in the importance of coteaching and
collaborative work as key tool to succeed in the learning. Furthermore, it was used the
theoretical framework of Vygotsky's zone of proximal development for supplying children with
opportunities to develop scientific thinking and reasoning. If teachers prepare a rich
environment in which children can leader their learning with creativity, reasoning, observation,
teamwork, communication and other skills, they will be more motivated and enabled to

develop higher order thinking skills. In addition, the continuing professional development was
crucial in order to fulfill the activities and coteaching also help to exercise the "reflection-inaction", in which they could critique their own practice and approaches used so as to look for
the improvement.
Another appealing feature of the projects is that in two of them there is a combination of
teachers and student teachers, therefore this synergy is perfect for them in order to learn,
enhance confidence in adopting the approach, etc.
In conclusion, it does not matter which tools or resources teachers can use meanwhile the aim
is clear, which is to motivate students and provide a context where they can express
themselves and evolve. Science and all the subjects should look for developing mental
processes but also physical ones. This way, children learn by doing and take part of the
learning, so they are open to discussions, observations, collaboration, etc. When they
understand something it is more likely to be able to relate it with similar scenarios.