Guðmundur Arnar Sigurðsson

The writer argues that the teaching of Thinkers´ Games leads to good thinking in the classroom.

 

Students learn to use multidimensional thinking: critical thinking, creative thinking and caring thinking. It´s good to teach the games in specific philosophy classes, where students get a chance to ponder about life, through animated dialogue and improvisational exercises. It´s also ideal to use Thinkers´ Games in various subjects, and thereby make a connection between the life of the students and what they are studying.

 

Thinkers´ Games are taught in a Community of Inquiry where the students aren´t told the “right answer” but get training in making a good argument for their case, which can lead them to very different answers.

 

To change one´s mind, when hearing a better argument for a different opinion, shows good thinking. The teacher keeps his distance in the Thinkers´ Games, so that the students look to each other and get better at communicating.

 

The students get to flourish on their own terms, when they take on questions that intrigue them and get to reach their own conclusion, through dialogue and inquiry.

 

The students get a sense of being active citizens through the Thinkers´ Games, which increases the likelihood of them taking on an active role in their democratic society. Icelandic students haven´t been up to pair in the PISA-test, which gives international comparison of students. The Icelandic government have suggested changes to the timetable of elementary schools to react to these poor results. The road that has been paved to better results, is looked at through a critical lens. Other measurements in education are compared to the PISA-test, as well as that which is immeasurable in the school system.

 

The writer looks at his own experience of the school system, in the context of academic material of philosophers and teachers such as: Sigrún Aðalbjarnardóttir, Páll Skúlason, John Dewey, Maxine Greene, Matthew Lipman, Jason Buckley and Tom Bigglestone.

 

 

 

 

 

Guðmundur Arnar Sigurðsson
gui2504 [at] hotmail.com
Advisor: Jóhann Björnsson
20 ECTS
Útskriftarár: 2022