Core Concepts for Teaching Thinking

Carol McGuinness is Professor Emerita at Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland. Her research interests are in the application of cognitive and developmental psychology to classroom learning, specifically, how teachers can promote the development of children's thinking skills. She authored the influential Department of Education (then DfEE) report From Thinking Skills to Thinking Classrooms (1999), and directed the Activating Children's Thinking Skills (ACTS) project, funded by the ESRC's Teaching and Learning Research Programme (2002-2005). Working with Glenda Walsh and colleagues, she led the longitudinal evaluation of the play-based curriculum in the early years of primary school in Northern Ireland, the Enriched Curriculum (2000-2009). Both these strands of research have had significant influence on education policy in Northern Ireland and elsewhere. More recently, with Robert Swartz (Center for Teaching Thinking, Boston), she is advising the International Baccalaureate on the development of thinking in their curriculum (2014-2016).