An evaluation of a South African thinking skills programme for primary school learners : a follow-up study

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: There is a need for learners to be taught thinking skills in South Africa andany thinking skills programme which is implemented needs to have beenformally and scientifically researched. Unfortunately, many of the availableprogrammes have not been fully researched.The Keys to Thinking Programme is a thinking skills programme, which hasspecifically been designed for South African learners. The programme wasonly partially evaluated (Hermanson, 1998) and there was therefore a need tocomplete the research. This study has set out to do this.The research objective of this study is thus to complete the research startedby Hermanson (1998) and to evaluate the Keys to Thinking Programme todetermine its efficacy in enabling learners to become better thinkers. In orderto determine this, the study focused on four main aspects to establish iflearners were indeed better thinkers as a result of the implementation of theprogramme:1. Enjoyment of the programme; .2. Transfer of the various skills and concepts taught in the programme;3. Metacognition - the awareness of learners about their own thinking;4. The ability of learners to be aware of and apply the four thinkingdispositions. The study was conducted within a qualitative framework and was descriptivein nature.The study was conducted at a high school in the Western Cape with a groupof Grade 8 learners. This was to ensure continuity, because Hermanson hadconducted the study with the same group of learners who had then been inGrade 7. The study was conducted for eight months.The following were the most important findings of the study:• The learners enjoyed the programme.• They were able to transfer skills and concepts which they had learnt in theprogramme to their school work and to other situations.• Learners were more aware of their thinking.• Learners were aware of and were able to apply the four thinkingdispositions.It was therefore possible to conclude that on the whole the Keys to ThinkingProgramme was effective in enabling learners to be better thinkers.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University