Workshops
Values
At Drop Thought Kids we aim to build confidence and skills to wonder and think critically. We navigate the modern world by recognise the impact of AI and technology and the importance of our human influence. We help students to harness their ability to collate and understand credible evidence. We empower children to share their findings and perspectives and to challenge their own biases. We focus on arriving at a possible solution, innovation or creation that is steeped in their own discoveries.
The Science Behind Drop Thought Kids
According to scientific research, wonder and awe (those moments of amazement) can keep stress low and make individual difficulties seem smaller. By exploring a world of wonder, children are exposed to new ideas and new challenges which helps to build new neuropathways in the brain. These new pathways can help children handle challenges in a less predictable world. Reducing stress linked to learning can help enhance working memory and deeper thinking. By researching new discoveries within neuroscience, learning and mental well-being we continuously learn how to reduce our brains tendency to focus on the familiar, avoid the discomfort of not knowing, the importance of creating a wonder-mindset, and the need to allow ourselves time to wander.
The Importance of Critical Thinking Skills
In many education systems we support the right answers. There is almost a self-inflated worth on being right and getting high scores. Metacognition, however, is the way we think about our thinking. It is a cognitive set of skills that can be taught so that students can better understand a concept and attempt to solve more complex problems. It is teaching students the importance and skills to recognize their own gaps in their understanding as well as their perceived biases. It is a way to not only stay curious about the world, innovate, create and problem-solve but also a much-needed human trait that surpasses the ability of AI. The assessments during Critical Thinking are on how each student can reflect upon their learning and factually support a possible outcome. In this way, assessments are not just a regurgitation of facts and key terms but a carefully thought out and supported outcome.
Current Workshops
This program follows the students’ needs and interests as we explore:
Formulating specific and testable questions.
Conducting research around what you know versus what you need to know.
Gathering data and analysis.
Research: credible versus unreliable sources. Recognising bias.
Your personal thinking style and perceptions. Cognitive dissonance and how our brains avoid conflicting beliefs.
The Default Mode Network and our need to back away to gain insight.
Presenting Conclusions.
Fun exploration into the purpose and habits of Critical Thinking.
Following the WHOA cycle, students are introduced to formulating questions of interest that create Wonder.
We consider the best ways to obtain factual information: research, experimentation, protypes, surveys etc. while harnessing the power of gathering and analysing data.
We explore how we open and share our ideas to consider the opposing or alternative viewpoints and re-evaluate our own ideas.
After consider evidence and perceptions we arrive at what could be possible.
Fun, confident building and skill based.
These unique workshops are centered around questioning and debating. A stimulus will be provided, and the questions and conversations generated from there. We explore the difference between a yes/no question, one where the answer is achieved by a quick internet search and those that benefit from further research and consideration. We play “devils advocate” and flip our script to consider opposing views and information.
About Me
As a mother and educator for over 30 years, I have had the great pleasure of dedicating most of my life to the well-being and learning of children. With a Masters in Comparative Education and 3 years exploration with Evidence Based Education on the Science of Learning, I am obsessed with how we can support children’s’ learning and build confidence when the demands on assessments and social pressures begin to increase.
With a strong base in science, I have had the unique privilege of fostering practical activities that stimulate discussion and awe in children. This wonder, curiosity and conversation is the core of development and innovation where a child can consider what could be rather than simply what currently is.
Contact us
For information on in person and online workshops
