How to Learn at Home - Free Online

How to Learn at Home - Free OnlineIf you are looking for some Free Online Tutoring, you can find it out there. In the internet there are many sites that provide free tutoring. If you have been searching for free tutoring, you will definitely find lots of sites that offer free tutoring.There are sites that offer free tutoring for kids. You can choose from the alphabet lesson plan, math lesson plan or art lesson plan. These sites also provide English language course, grammar and spelling course, science course and many more. They can be found online and you just need to follow their tutorials to learn any type of subject online.Most of the time there are a lot of sites that offer Free Online. But only few websites offer it for free. So, it is important to choose the best site for your type of learning. Nowadays most of the famous schools have their own sites and you can learn at the sites of the famous schools.Free Online tutoring is one way to learn at home without hiring a teacher. T eachers are in high demand but if you are looking for free tutoring you can always go to the website of the school. This way you can choose the subject that interests you and the tutor will guide you on the topic and he/she will also have the time to answer your questions when you ask them.Online tutoring is very much helpful and convenient. You can easily search for the tutors and select one from the site of the school. You can learn at your own pace and you can even go to another site that provides more of information about the subject you are interested in. These sites also provide different types of subjects and you can choose one that suits your needs the best.Tutoring is an easy method to learn in school. Many schools in the world to offer free tutoring to their students.It is helpful to know the basic knowledge of the subject you are interested in so that you can get an idea of the language. Reading through the tutorials and getting information helps a lot in completing the t ask and is also the best way to complete all the topics with a minimum of effort. So, now you can learn online and choose the right teacher for your subject.

Science homework help by Tutor Pace guarantees you better grades faster and easier

Science homework help by Tutor Pace guarantees you better grades faster and easier School is one such institution where we spend most of our wonderful years. It is also called our second home as we spend near about fifteen years of our life in schools. From the very initial years of our schooling, there are some subjects that we have to take care of. Mathematics, English, science, social sciences are the basic and the most common subjects that are taught from very small age. It helps you to open up broad spectrum into one’s mind and helps them in the further classes. Each subject is very much important to build up a base for any child. It is essential that each subject should be taken good care of. The subjects that help in building up a base for further studies are only initiated in school. Now let us take one subject that is very much demanding as well as tough. This subject helps in landing you towards a noble job in the society that the society always admires and respects. The subject is none other than science. Science and its various divisions Yes it may sound a bit different but science is such a subject that has always been on the top priority list of every parent as well as each child. Every one wants to study science further so that they can be counted as an intelligent layers of the society and so that society treats them correctly with deference. When we reach middle school the subject is divided into three main parts and they are chemistry, physics and biology. Each subject has some extra knowledge with some extra topics initiated in it. Then after we pass our class ten exams we land up into some more divisions of the particular subject and that subject leads us to a new direction of our lives. Botany, zoology, is some more divisions. To learn the subject better one should always take care of the subject as well as one should know about some fine teachers those who can help to learn the subject better way. What about online tutoring? In this high end competitive market people always wants such solutions that will help them for a better solution and this is possible only through online tutoring. Online tutoring is the best way through which you can deal with your problems. The entire process of online teaching is conducted through the help of internet and it takes much less time and duration to get completed. This is considered as the best and the easiest way of learning. Various advantages of online tutoring This is new type of teaching process but it involves a lot of help for the students as they can sit at home and learn. This type of process encounters various types of help that is very helpful for a student. Now let us look into some of the factors that will help them to know the entire process better and in a much composed way. The teachers that are present in such institutes are very much friendly and also know how to deal with the subject in brief. They can help the student to learn better and also get deep into the subject with much less time. With the help of good teachers the students can also learn better. Weak students can also cope up from the fear they get with any of the difficult subject. There is availability of teachers throughout the clock. The teachers are present whenever you want them to be present. The teachers can help you with the doubts as whenever they occur. It an also help you to attend the classes whenever you have time and you are comfortable with. The classes are conducted every now and then. The teachers help the students to receive help for various types of projects and assignments that they have to complete. Today every school pours various types of assignments and projects for each child and it is always not possible for a child to complete it with ease. Parents also are unable to help them as they are also not so much aware of what the projects are about and how to conclude. So, these online teachers come to rescue. They even help a student with completion of their home works even. Each individual student is attended by every single teacher. This can be said as one of the biggest benefit one students can ever get. This is very much helpful for any weak student who is shy and cannot open up with their problems in front of many people. With online teacher by their side they can come forward with their problems and this can help them to learn better. When you enroll yourself in such an institute where you do not have to work so much harder in going and coming into one place, then it saves your time and energy both. This online teaching process helps in saving your time, energy and money and is one of the best way through which you can acquire better. It takes lees time and you can utilize that transportation time in studies which will be more beneficial for you and your studies. By now you may be satisfied with the kind of help and benefit an online tutoring process provide you. But still if you are in the thinking process as to which institute to choose among so many, then you can go with one of the reputed institute of your times and that is Tutor Pace.  Is Tutor Pace helpful?  You may be in a thinking that is Tutor Pace helpful in providing you with the best services. Then let me tell you that all the benefits stated above are installed in Tutor Pace. It has some efficient and best teachers who are always present all round the clock to help the students. They even charge very minimum. Science homework help is also available with Tutor Pace.  

The Chinese Languages at a Glance

The Chinese Languages at a Glance How can you Recognise the Different Types of Chinese? ChaptersThe Top Reasons for Learning Different Variants of Chinese!CantoneseLearning Wu and Travelling to ShanghaiMin Chinese“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.” - Nelson MandelaIf there’s a language that makes you want to travel, makes you want to dream, and is pretty complicated, it’s Chinese. With Mandarin Chinese’s writing and tonal pronunciation, it can seem pretty complicated to master. However, Chinese itself actually includes several different languages, dialects, and regional variants which make learning “Chinese” even more difficult.Chinese is spoken by around 1.3 billion people by 7 main groups of people. From Chinese as it’s spoken in Shanghai to Mandarin, which most students will learn when they study Chinese, you need to be aware of the different languages that make up Chinese and what’s special about each of them.So what are the different languages that make up Chinese?In this article, we’re going to have a look at a few of them! NingChinese Teacher 5.00 (10) £25/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors LorraineChinese Teacher £10/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors YuweiChinese Teacher 4.33 (6) £19/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors JoyceChinese Teacher £15/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors NicoleChinese Teacher £60/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors KatyChinese Teacher £16/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors YangChinese Teacher £18/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors ChengChinese Teacher £20/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutorsThe Top Reasons for Learning Different Variants of Chinese!Learning a foreign language is often a good idea, especially if you opt for a language as common as Chinese. As you’ve understood, there’s no such thing as Chinese in the singular. There are different languages and dialects that are spoken across China in different regions around the country.In f act, Chinese is a group of Sino Tibetan languages. The most common is Chinese Mandarin, a standardised version of spoken and written Chinese which is based on the Beijing dialect. Mandarin is also known as Putonghua. While learning Mandarin is also really rewarding, there's more to learning to speak Chinese than just that. Of course, Mandarin is taught in most Chinese lessons.Travelling through China is arguably the best way to discover them and you’ll soon see why people in certain regions don’t understand one another. In fact, a number of different Chinese people speak languages that are completely different from one another. You'll soon see that everyday phrases are different, each syllable sounds unique, and the way people communicate can make having a conservation almost impossible if you don't speak the local language.Of course, many Chinese people are taught the Mandarin language as it's the official language of China and many people have a good level of proficiency in it . However, you can't assume that everyone in China is a native speaker of the language.In fact, learning all the different varieties of Chinese would be quite the challenge, especially given you’ll have to learn all about the different characters as well as the language and culture specific to each region, too. Being able to make yourself understood wherever you are, be it Shanghai, Hong Kong, or Taiwan, is a useful skill to have!Furthermore, being familiar with the various dialects and languages around China will help you better understand the history and culture of the country as well as help you better understand your own language. Of course, not every single Chinese language is easy to learn even to a basic or intermediate level since you need to spend a lot of time understanding the fundamentals of each, learning the characters, practising the phonemes, and studying the culture of where it’s spoken.  Learning the different languages and dialects will certainly help you more as you travel around China. There’s nothing better than immersing yourself in the local culture to learn more about it and its language.Additionally, learning the specifics of certain Chinese languages and dialects will be a major benefit depending on where you travel to. Knowing these different languages will help you distinguish them better, too. This might be massive in an interview, for example! While no language or dialect is inherently more interesting than another, we won’t be able to get through all of them in just one article so we’ve had to pick a few select ones.Cantonese“Those who know nothing of foreign languages know nothing of their own.” - Johann Wolfgang von GoetheWhat do you know about the Cantonese language?Chinese is actually a group of languages rather than one language. (Source: tillahrens)Most people actually know very little about Cantonese. Cantonese is actually one of the top three languages spoken in China and is often compared to Mandarin. The origins of Cantonese are very interesting.Spoken in the south of the country (mainly in the Canton region), Cantonese is also the main language of Hong Kong, which looks over to Mainland China. Cantonese is generally more fluid than Mandarin Chinese.Those who defend Cantonese will mention that Mandarin was only really created 100 years ago while Cantonese is over 1,000 years old. This basically means you can’t talk about Chinese history without talking about Cantonese.There are Chinese tones and vocabulary unique to Cantonese. For example, simplified Chinese characters are different from those in Cantonese, which also have different versions in Hong Kong.  Furthermore, Cantonese grammar is much deeper and richer than that of Mandarin Chinese, making the language very interesting to learn. It also makes it more challenging to learn Chinese.Furthermore, since it plays an interesting role in Chinese culture, why not learn it instead of Mandarin Chinese as spoken in Mainland China?In fact, in addition to making yourself understood in Hong Kong, speaking Cantonese will also make your conversations with Cantonese speakers more interesting than they would be if you spoke to them in Mandarin.However, Cantonese isn’t the only language native to China and nor is it the only language to learn if you want to learn more about Chinese culture. There are other regions with other languages, regional variants, and dialects, such as Wu, which is spoken in Shanghai.Cantonese is the main language of Hong Kong rather than Mandarin. (Source: skeeze)Learning Wu and Travelling to ShanghaiAs we’ve said, there are different languages in different parts of China. Shanghai is no exception to the rule, where they speak a variant of Wu Chinese, a language spoken by between 7 and 8% of the Chinese population. Learning Wu Chinese to travel to Shanghai would probably be a good idea if you really want to learn more about the local culture of this city.Wu Chinese probably isn’t the firs t language that gets mentioned when people talk about Chinese. While little probably comes to mind when somebody says Wu, there are a number of good reasons to learn about this language:You can learn more about Chinese culture.You can better understand certain populations of China.You can discover more about the places where Wu is spoken, such as Shanghai.You can learn to speak a language that is spoken by very few people in the West.It will help you develop transferable foreign language skills that will come in useful for other language courses.And much more!The bustling megalopolis of Shanghai, whose name means “on the sea”, is the biggest city in China and one of the biggest cities in the world. While the official language of Mandarin is often spoken, they also speak Wu Chinese here. It’s used in informal conversations all over the city.The writing is one of the most complicated aspects of learning Chinese languages. (Source: PublicDomainPictures)Learning Wu Chinese would b e a great way to get to know the locals of Shanghai better. It’s a language worth discovering. There are so many interesting facets to the language that you’ll enjoy learning about as you learn it.There are around 14 million speakers of the language. Wu is the second largest language in the People's Republic of China, after Mandarin and before Cantonese, and is the world’s biggest non-official language. You could even look for private Wu tutorials!Are you looking for Mandarin classes London? What you really need is a Superprof Mandarin tutor!Min ChineseThere’s another language in China as interesting as Wu Chinese, that’s spoken in the southeast of the country, Min Chinese. This type of Chinese is mainly spoken in the Fujian Province by around 70 million people. It’s a pretty big deal!There are different languages all over China. (Source: jplenio)So what exactly is Min Chinese?Fujian is where Min is mainly spoken, in the southeast of mainland China, near Taiwan. At aroun d 110BC, following the defeat of the Minyue Kingdom, Chinese peoples moved into the region. There are different varieties of Min Chinese which are generally classified according to the regions where they are spoken:Min Bei is spoken around Naping, in the Fujian Province.Min Dong is present in the Fuzhou region, the capital of Fujian Province.Min Nan is the largest of the dialects and is spoken in a number of different places in Guangdong and Taiwan.Min Zhong is the variety spoken in the Sanming prefecture.Pu-Xian Min is spoken in Putian and Xianyou County.Min Chinese actually uses the same characters as Mandarin Chinese for a number of terms. This can make it easier to learn via private tutorials if you’ve already decided to learn Mandarin Chinese. In fact, a tutor is a great option for learning languages like Min Chinese as well as learning more about the accompanying culture.As you’ve probably understood, Chinese isn’t just one language and nor is it just one type of food, b ut rather a series of languages, a multitude of different cultures, and impossible to classify as just one civilisation.So are you ready to learn more about them?Language learning is incredibly rewarding, especially if you choose to speak, read, and write a new language like Cantonese, Shanghainese, or Min.

French Holidays Celebrating La Fête des Rois

French Holidays Celebrating La Fête des Rois Sign up successful In France, more people probably still remember that according to the Christian calendar, the Christmas season doesnt officially end until after Epiphany, also known as Twelfth Night or the Feast of the Kings (La Fête des Rois), on January 6th. Why? Well, because many French still celebrate it in one way or another. For those who are practicing Catholics, church may still be an important part of the Epiphany celebration. It recognizes the day when the baby Jesus was visited by wise men bearing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, becoming some of the first to anticipate the influence the then newborn would later have. Though Biblical accounts dont give an exact number and describe them as magi (as opposed to kings), these wise men have traditionally been represented as a royal threesome by the names of Balthazar, Melchior, and Gaspar or Casper. Galette des Rois The most notable French tradition to spread beyond religious or practicing Christians is the galette des rois, a flaky cake with sweet almond or fruit-based filling. A fève, usually a small plastic trinket or a bean, is hidden inside the cake, which is often sold with a crown. The cake is divided by the number of guests, plus sometimes one extra poor mans part for the first person to arrive at the door. The one who finds the fève is crowned king or queen for a day. Those living in France can find a galette des rois at any typical French boulangerie during this season. If you are living in the US and want to experience this tradition for yourself, it is more difficult but not impossible to find une galette. Especially in larger cities, there is often a bakery that has discovered and decided to capitalize on the local population of French-speakers and Francophiles. If you cannot find one locally, consider ordering online. Cuisin  for example, delivers galettes seasonally anywhere in the US and Canada. Galette des Rois Recipe If you like cooking French food, why not try your hand at preparing your own kings cake or galette des rois? We like this recipe from French Today: Ingredients: 1/4 cup almond paste 1/4 cup sugar 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened Pinch of salt 2 eggs 1/4 teaspoon vanilla 1/4 teaspoon almond extract 2 Tablespoons flour 1 package frozen puff pastry sheets, thawed according to package directions 1 dried bean (lima or kidney beans work well) 2 teaspoons confectioners’ sugar Preparation: Preheat oven to 450 °F. Buttered large baking sheet (not dark metal). 1. In a food processor, purée the almond paste, sugar, butter and pinch of salt until smooth. 2. Add 1 egg, vanilla and almond extracts and purée until incorporated. 3. Add the flour and pulse to mix it in. 4. On a lightly floured surface, roll out one sheet of the puff pastry into an 11-1/2 inch square. 5. Invert an 11-inch pie plate onto the square and cut out a round shape by tracing the outline of the pie plate with the tip of a paring knife. 6. Brush the flour from both sides of the round and place it on the buttered baking sheet. Put in the refrigerator to chill. 7. Repeat the procedure with the second square of puff pastry, but leave it on the floured work surface. 8. Beat the remaining egg and brush some of it on top of the second round. Score decoratively all over the top using the tip of a paring knife and make several small slits all the way through the pastry to create steam vents. 9. Remove the first sheet from the refrigerator and brush some of the egg in a 1-inch border around the edge. Mound the almond cream in the center, spreading slightly. 10. Bury the bean in the almond cream. Place the scored round on top and press the edges together. 11. Bake the galette in the lower third of the oven for 13 to 15 minutes, until puffed and golden. Remove from oven and dust with the confectioners’ sugar. 12. Place oven rack in the upper third of the oven and return galette to cook for an additional 12 to 15 minutes or until the edge is a deep golden brown. Transfer to a rack to cool slightly. Serving Instructions: Serve the galette warm. Make sure everybody knows about the bean so no one breaks a tooth! Are there any special French holidays that you celebrate? Share them with us in the comments below! Post Author:  Carol Beth L. Carol Beth L. teaches  French lessons in San Francisco, CA. She has her Masters in French language education from the Sorbonne University in Paris and has been teaching since 2009.  Learn more about Carol Beth here! Interested in Private Lessons? Search thousands of teachers for local and live, online lessons. Sign up for convenient, affordable private lessons today! Search for Your Teacher

The Importance of Vowels

The Importance of Vowels Suzy S. If youve been taking singing lessons for a while, youve probably practiced several silly warm-up exercises. You know, the ones where youre making funny faces and sounds, saying nonsensical phrases, and so on. All of these exercises have one common goal: to prepare the voice and help you learn to keep your mouth and throat open. Read on as Seal Beach instructor Carl B. explains why vowels are important for this very reason A few years ago I coined a phrase that clarifies the importance of focusing on the vowels while singing.   It is: “A song is a series of songs called vowels.” Each vowel should be perfectly formed, sung as beautifully as if it were a song unto itself, and sustained as long as the song allows, regardless of genre. The international singing vowels are ah, eh, ee, oh and oo.   These are the vowels sung in Italian, and also in Hawaiian.   I have read arguments that there are actually 7 vowels in Italian, and I leave that discussion to others for now.   Other languages also have additional vowels, for example in English we also have uh, ih and aa. The reason that we focus on vowels while singing is that vowels are the most open and also the most beautiful sounds we can make with our voice.   Because vowels are the most open sounds, the audience hears them best, and so hears the beauty of your sound, your personality, and the emotion in your song. Rather than use the term “resonance area,” I use a more descriptive term, “echo chamber,” because the throat is the echo chamber we use to enhance the sound of our voice.   As mentioned in my previous article, we create an echo chamber in our throat by implementing the beginning of a yawn.   In doing this, each perfectly-formed vowel creates its own particular echo chamber areas.   If a vowel is not perfectly formed, we lose some of that vowel’s particular echo chamber areas, and thus reduce the beauty of the sound and the emotion. Many singers do not realize how well their vowels are or are not being formed.   Even very good singers can lose focus on their vowels and think they are forming perfect vowels when they are not.   The reason most people say “That’s not me!” the first time you hear yourself on an answering machine or other recording is that we dont hear ourselves primarily through our ears, as others hear us.   Instead, we hear ourselves primarily through the vibration of our jaw bone.   The only way to truly hear yourself as others hear you is to listen to yourself in a recording. When you begin taking perfect vowel formation seriously, youll be surprised at the improved sound of your recordings, and also of your audience’s more emotional response to you and your singing. Carl B. teaches singing and speaking voice lessons to students of all ages in Seal Beach, CA. Carl  teaches singing in English, Italian, Spanish, German, in all styles including pop, jazz, classical, country western. He joined the TakeLessons team in August 2012. Visit TakeLessons to search for a vocal teacher near you! Photo by michael_swan.

How to Set the Right Goals for Learning Guitar

How to Set the Right Goals for Learning Guitar Suzy S. Learning the guitar is a great goal in itself but youll need to get more specific if you want to truly make some progress! Read on as Hillsboro, OR guitar teacher Geoff A. walks you through the goal-setting process For Beginners The first goal is getting the fingers of the fretting hand to cooperate in forming chords. I begin with E, A, G, C, B7, and D chords. Practice ten to fifteen minutes twice a day and understand: your fingers will hurt a few weeks until calluses form, depending on how much you practice. The second goal is learning to string chords together with smooth transitions, in time to a beat. This takes practice and time. Practicing with a metronome is essential for beginner. Set the metronome to around 54 beats per minute and strum once per beat, four beats per chord, then switch to the next chord. At first there will be beat clicks between chord changes â€" but always play in time with the metronome. The “game” is to remove clicks between chords one by one, until there are no clicks between changes. You should also give yourself permission to not do well at first. Allow yourself the time necessary to understanding what you are learning. Your progress may be slower than others, but try not to compare yourself too much. I have worked with students who learned quickly, then struggled with improving. Others have struggled at first, then made amazing progress afterward. For Intermediate Players It is important to discover what you lack. You might know you struggle with things, like good time-keeping and chord knowledge. And you know nothing about other things. You need improved chord knowledge â€" not just learning new chords, but learning how chords are put together, which requires knowing your scales. Limitations in chord knowledge undermines long-term enjoyment, so brush up on your theory. For Advanced Players At this stage, musicians often need a reality check. Many believe they are more “advanced” than they are. Once you accept this truth, then you are ready to do the necessary work to improve. This generally includes similar things to intermediate players’ needs, which is to find where the holes in your knowledge lie. Once determined, a plan must be created to overcome obstacles and meet challenges to make the strides toward advanced abilities. Bottom Line This article covers a very limited view of goal-setting for each level, based on my 25 years of teaching experience. At the end of the day, it is about embracing life-long learning and growing in your pursuit of musical excellence, whether for fun or for career aspirations. You have to be open to the unknown, the “undiscovered country,” with a good teacher giving you the guidance you need. The right teacher will help you down that road, as long as you understand the journey may be longer, and more difficult, than you imagined. As they say, the journey isn’t exciting if it doesn’t scare you a little. The reward is that playing music will deliver dividends far beyond the technical knowledge you learn. And that is a journey worth taking! Geoff A. teaches songwriting, music theory, bass guitar, and guitar lessons in Hillsboro, OR. His specialties include rock, blues, Americana, pop, alternative, folk, finger style, bluegrass, worship CCM, gospel, and jazz styles. Geoff joined the TakeLessons team in February 2013. Learn more about Geoff  here! Interested in Private Lessons? Search thousands of teachers for local and live, online lessons. Sign up for convenient, affordable private lessons today! Search for Your Teacher Photo by Eryne Donahue

The Limitations of Core Standards on Higher Order Thinking Skills

The Limitations of Core Standards on Higher Order Thinking Skills How Basic Education Limits Students’ Ability for Higher Order Thinking ChaptersThe Ongoing AssessmentsOn Building Cognitive SkillsCommon Core Versus Blooms TaxonomyHow to Bring Higher Order Thinking Into the ClassroomIt’s really not hard to see why so many students are able to obtain their school leaving certificate yet have no idea how to think or reason through a problem: all you have to do is ask a school teacher.Assessment, marking work and reporting students’ progress make administrators out of teachers.These tasks take up too much of the teachers’ lesson planning time and too much classroom time, with the net effect being more teachers abandoning the profession before replacement teachers can be fully qualified.That phenomenon has a spiral effect. Because there are fewer teachers, the student-teacher ratio increases: more kids in class mean more papers to mark and more reporting to do.Where, in all of this, do teachers get to use all of the classroom strategies they learned in their teacher training?If students cultivating higher order think ing skills were simply a matter of teacher availability, solving the problems that beset teachers would mean that they would be available to encourage students to think critically and solve problems, right?To be sure, the pressure teachers labour under is untenable and something must be done. Hopefully soon!However, if the Department for Education intends to arm British students with 21st-century skills and help them learn how to think, they will have to make some major changes to our education system.Let’s take a look at where such changes could be made and how much better general education could be â€" for teachers and for our students.Multiple choice questions do not require critical thinking or problem-solving Image by tjevans from Pixabayteaching to the test: for all of the summative assessments being conducted, our national curriculum leaves little room for teachers to make use of any classroom strategies they might have picked up during their professional development.Or, if you prefer analogies, you might say that teachers are harnessed to a careening carriage and expected to keep upright and in control.Teaching to the test is only half of the trouble.The other half â€" and perhaps the bigger issue at hand is that a lot of the learning in today’s classrooms is more a matter of memorization than a cognitive process.That claim is substantiated by the fact that exams seem to consist of more multiple choice questions than essay questions.There is value in multiple choice, but the downsides far outweigh them: one can score well on such an exam by guessing or merely memorising the correct answers.There is nothing wrong with building a fantastic memory but, no matter how many questions a student answers correctly on a bubble sheet, it still gives no indication on how well s/he understands the concepts s/he is being tested on.You can encourage your students to build cognitive skills by asking open-ended questions Image by Tumisu from PixabayOn Building Cogn itive SkillsCognition: the mental act or process by which knowledge is acquired.For children in the Early Years Foundation Stage, the education program is all about building cognitive skills.Teachers in these classes employ a variety of teaching strategies designed to maximise student learning, such as brightly coloured visual material, music and movement.Students are mainly taught through games and play but are expected to sit still for maths and literacy lessons.In fact, EYFS is a fantastic example of educational psychology at work: it emphasises teaching and learning methods and is focused on cognitive development.And then, as though a water tap had been suddenly shut off, all of the pedagogy that addressed every learning style and all of the active learning is replaced by teacher-centred instruction.Starting at Year 1, students are treated to teacher-led lessons. Reading skills are cultivated, math and science are taught... but little critical thinking is encouraged.In fact, rel atively little room is given for students to exercise any kind of thinking skills. That pattern follows students throughout their academic career and it is not the fault of any teacher.Learn more about higher order thinking here.Common Core Versus Blooms TaxonomyThe term ‘common core’, imported from across the pond, represents the most important subjects of a curriculum.Maths, English and science are considered common core. Other subjects, like arts and humanities, are not considered core subjects.You can find a good reflection of UK schools’ core subjects in the compulsory GCSEs: the subjects that everyone must sit are considered ‘core’.Of our core subjects, only English and Literature truly lend an opportunity for group work; for students to cultivate critical thinking skills.For example, a teacher may group students and assign them various aspects of the text to dissect and render conclusions about. Or s/he might task student groups to engage in character analysis, to d iscuss the setting and the period of the piece...Opportunities for creative thinking are much more difficult to spot in other classes.The critical question here is: while students’ formal learning goals are generally met â€" often with the help of a private tutor, are their learning needs being met?An Overview of Benjamin BloomMr Bloom was an American educational psychologist who pioneered the classification of educational objectives.  Specifically, his work resulted in the understanding of three realms of knowledge acquisition:the cognitive domain, which encompasses the analysis, comprehension and application of knowledgethe affective domain is the emotional dimension of learning which includes how students characterise, organise, value and respond to information, andthe psychomotor domain: this aspect touches on the perception and adaptation of knowledge and the mechanism through which it is applied.Teaching a student how to use a computer would involve all three domains.The fir st domain would involve the understanding of how a computer works, the second would attach a value to this skills set as a tool for both entertainment and a way to earn a living and the third would entail addressing the machine through typing and activating the mouse.Our public education system does a great job of addressing the cognitive domain but does little to evoke any affective response to the material being learned and permits virtually no physical activation while class is in session.Between crowded classrooms, overwhelmed teachers and only one aspect of student learning being addressed, something needs to be done to change the status quo!You may group your students so that they may debate an issue before presenting conclusions Image by StockSnap from PixabayHow to Bring Higher Order Thinking Into the ClassroomNobody is disputing teachers’ role as an educator; we only point out that their work might be more stimulating and rewarding if they thought of themselves as facilit ators of knowledge.What’s the difference?A teacher teaches, meaning, s/he imparts knowledge. Whether said information is understood, assimilated and useful remains to be seen â€" and is not necessarily demonstrated through assessment techniques.By contrast, a facilitator is someone who helps bring about a certain outcome. In educational circles, those would be learning outcomes.Here is one example of how facilitating could work.First, you would organise your classroom to permit group study. You would then seat students of similar cognitive abilities together â€" your more advanced learners, your SEN students and students anywhere along that spectrum.You may even consider putting some of your more advanced students with groups who are not quite at that level to make use of peer teaching strategies.Next, you would assign them to work according to their abilities and interests.Your high achievers may enjoy higher level thinking projects â€" those that call on both problem-solving ski lls and critical thinking.The bulk of your students may focus on either critical thinking or problem-solving and your SENs might be comfortable summarizing the lesson or other learning activities that target their interest but are related to the material currently being learned.Far from being a classroom out of control, you will find your student engagement at an all-time high!Meanwhile, you can circulate around your groups asking open-ended questions designed to assess their understanding of the material and the work at hand.You may even find time to mark papers while your students are engaged.Another way you could help your students develop thinking skills would be through debate.Choose an issue that is related to your day’s study topic. It can be a current event or something that affects student life (that helps students find value in the exercise). Write the issue on the board.Label each the four corners of your room: Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree and Strongly Disagree.As yo ur students start their learning session, point to what you wrote on the board and then indicate the four positions they may take. Invite them to take a few minutes to think about the issue and then head to the corner which represents their position.You will be pleasantly surprised to find that debate over the issue will start spontaneously, in each corner, as students reinforce each other’s views.You would then ask them to explain their views, either in writing, orally or a combination of both.  You might even permit them to create a visual of their position.There are so many ways teachers can encourage higher order thinking skills; doing so might lighten their load and may even help rediscover their passion for educating!Now discover the difference between critical thinking and higher order thinking?