Guide to Thinking Bigger

Overview
At the end of each topic in the Student Book is a summary spread entitled Thinking Bigger.
These spreads all follow the same format and although the content of each one is different,
the approach and objectives are the same. The Thinking Bigger feature can be used with your
students in a variety of ways: in class, for homework, in group work and independently. The
guidance below gives some suggestions for how to do this and explains the purpose of each
aspect of the spread.
Each spread is based broadly on the content of the chapter that students have just
completed, and also draws on prior learning from earlier in the course as well as prior
studies and points towards future learning and broader and less familiar contexts.

Purpose and process

The purpose of the Thinking Bigger feature is to help students to:
● bring together aspects of their learning from across the course as a whole
understand their learning in a wider context
apply knowledge and skills to unfamiliar aspects of science or new contexts
think in a bigger way and more holistically about the science they are learning.
This is achieved by taking students through a process of reading, analysing and digesting
information from a range of real-life sources, and supporting them with thinking critically
about those sources, then using that thinking to complete a range of questions and tasks.
Each Thinking Bigger spread requires students to:
● read real-life scientific writing that is directly relevant to the course and the specification
● analyse both the content and the style or features of the writing
● think critically about the nature of what they have read and the issues, problems and
challenges that may be raised
● answer questions and complete written tasks that draw on what they have read and how
they have thought about it
● understand where they are in their own learning journey and how different aspects of
learning piece together.

Exploiting the Thinking Bigger feature in teaching and learning

The source material
Each spread begins with a piece of real-life scientific writing. This may be an extract from a
scientific journal, a research paper or a website, along with any relevant images and data. The
source of the material is always given and where the writing is extracted from a longer item,
students can be encouraged to read the full item for themselves in order to extend their wider
reading.
Teaching and learning suggestions:
● Ask students to read the extract and make a list or table of prior learning that is in any
way relevant to the subject of the extract.
● Ask students to underline or list all specialist terminology that is used and find definitions
for any terms they do not know.
Refer students to the full item and have them read it as background and preparation.
● Refer students to other items from the same source in order to extend their reading
further.
● Ask students to find one or more pieces of writing on the same subject for themselves
from library journals, the internet and other sources.

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 Guide to Thinking Bigger
Questions and critical thinking
Each written extract is followed by a series of questions or problems. The questions on the
page are designed to help students think critically about what they have read and from this to
develop critical approaches to all scientific material that they encounter. The questions are
not intended to be exhaustive but rather act as a stimulus to analysis, discussion and wider
thinking. Many of the questions lend themselves to whole class discussion as well as to
individual written work.
Teaching and learning suggestions:
● Students could be asked to work through the questions independently and make notes
to prepare for class discussion or group work.
● Divide the class into groups and have all groups consider the same question(s) and feed
back to the whole class in turn.
● Where time is short, allocate different questions to each group and have each
group feed back to the whole class as a carousel.
● Prompt groups to challenge each other to explain, give examples and justify their
responses and to award each other points or marks.
● Have each group draw up a spider diagram on a large sheet of paper to show how
learning from elsewhere in the course is relevant to the subject matter of the article.
Groups compare diagrams until a single, definitive diagram is agreed upon.
● Prompt students to draw on their learning from other science subjects and more widely,
to help them in their process of deconstructing, analysing and discussing the source
material and in answering the questions.

Tips
The Interpretation notes and Thinking Bigger Tips may include extra help with how to
approach a particular piece of writing, or guided support with critical thinking.
Teaching and learning suggestions:
Students can be asked to keep their own scrapbook of helpful hints and key terms.
Where students have access to a digital version of the Student Book they can use
annotation tools to add their own notes to the spreads as they work through them.

Activity and written answers

Each spread includes either a substantial activity or one or more questions requiring
longer, written answers. These follow on directly from the questions designed to stimulate
thinking and analysis and encourage students to use what they have read, and how they
have thought about that reading, to help them with constructing writing of their own, or
working through a solution to a similar problem. The tasks and activities are self-
explanatory and many are open-ended so that students may differentiate themselves by
what they do and how well they construct their responses.
Most of the tasks can be completed as a written response on an individual basis. Below are
some suggestions for introducing variety and encouraging students to exploit fully the
content, style and broad understanding of what they have read.
Teaching and learning suggestions:
● Ask students to make a spider diagram or table of all aspects of prior learning, both
from earlier in the course and from prior studies, that they think could be relevant to the
task. For each point students should identify what the learning is, how it is relevant and
how they intend to use it in completing the task or activity.
● Think about different formats for written responses; for example, students could
be asked to present their work as an oral presentation to the rest of the class, with
accompanying written slides and visuals.
● In addition to, or instead of, the tasks on the spread ask students to write an article for
the same publication as the source material on a similar or related subject.

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Thinking Bigger
● Ask students to write a letter to the publisher of the source material in which they
take an opposing view to the author, or question the validity or ethics of the science
or the scientific process, or conversely in which they offer their support, explaining
why and justifying their stance.
● Students could construct their own scientific journal, selecting articles and letters
from among the group and adding to these as they complete each successive
Thinking Bigger spread, until they have something they can publish for the school
library.

© Pearson Education Ltd 2018. Copying permitted for purchasing institution only. This material is not copyright free