Thinking Skills

 Week: 2                                          Duration : 45 mins

Topic :    P.M.I.

Aims  :     To help pupils to focus when evaluating a situation or statement.  

Objective/Goal:  By the end of the session the pupils should:

1.     Feel more confident in the way that they make their decisions,

2.     Know how to think objectively taking into consideration the three components of the tool: Plus Minus and Interesting,

3.     Identify areas where they could practice the tool,

4.     Get accustomed to the time factor when using the P.M.I.

Warmer   :    How do you feel today?  (3 minutes)

Children will say how they feel using a scale from 1-10.  1 is the lowest/saddest that one can be, 10 is the best that one can feel.

Activity 1:    

1.  Story/anecdote.(5 minutes)

Paul celebrated his birthday last weekend.  His grandmother could not go out so she gave him money to buy a present.  Paul was very happy about this because he could buy whatever wanted.

So he went to the confectioner close to his house and spent all the money on sweets.  He was so happy with himself that he was showing everyone what he had bought.  Within an hour Paul had eaten all the sweets.

Some time after this happened Paul was in his room playing with the toys he had received on his birthday.  He displayed all the toys in a row and tried to remember who gave him each toy.  Soon enough he realised that he did not have a toy from his grandmother and he started feeling sorry about the foolish way in which he had spent all the money.  

Paul had not thought long enough before he made the decision and now he will just feel sorry about it because he cannot turn back time.

Had he done the P.M.I. he would have been in a position to think about all the points involved in this decision before acting.

Teacher should elicit responses from the pupils and write them on a whiteboard or flipchart paper.

2. Teacher explains what thinking skills are and that the pupils will be learning a method designed by Dr. Edward de Bono. (5 minutes)

Rationale :    Starting this session with a story will help the pupils realise how important it is to think before we act.  They will be much more likely to generate responses throughout the lesson because they can associate the use of the tool with the story.

Tool Explanation:

1.  What is P.M.I.? 

P.M.I. stands for Plus Minus Interesting.  

P - Plus, what I like about an idea       

        I like this idea because ..................

M - Minus, what I don't like about an idea     

       I do not like this idea because........................   

I - Interesting points about an idea.  These are neither positive nor negative.  The pupils here have the opportunity to invent and be creative.  They can come up with solutions to points that were mentioned under the Minus.

    It would be interesting to see if/how/when........   

2.  When do we use it?

The P.M.I. is used when we need to evaluate something or when we have to make a decision.

How do you do a P.M.I.?

To do a P.M.I. you can divide the board or page into three.  One column is for the Plus Points, one for the Minus Points and one for the Interesting Points.

Activity 2 :  (15 minutes)

Practice Item 1.  What if we had 3 arms instead of two?

Pupils work in pairs.  One person in every pair is to write.  

1.  Pupils are given 5 minutes to generate as many Plus points as possible.

2.  After 5 minutes, the pupils are asked to stop writing.

3.  Pupils are given another set of 5 minutes to generate as many Minus points as possible this time.

4.  After 5 minutes. Time up. Pupils are asked to stop writing.

5.  Pupils are given another set of 5 minutes to generate as many Interesting points as possible this time.  As this a relatively abstract concept, the teacher could generate one or two responses before the pupils start generating their own.

N.B. As this is the first time for the pupils, the teacher could do this as a class activity on the board.  It will be much easier for the pupils to grasp the concept.  They will then be able to do it on their own.

Processing:

Teacher asks the pupils the following questions to stimulate metacognitive talk. 

1.  How did you feel when doing the P.M.I.?

2.  Do you think that separating the P, M, & I helped you? How?

3.  What can you notice? (that maybe the idea is not as great as we thought at the beginining because we were only seeing the Plus points then)

Activity 3 :

Practice item 2.  Imagine that we decide not to go to school any longer (15 minutes)

Processing:

Pupils now share the outcome of their thoughts 

Activity  4:

 Transfer.

Making sure that the children will be able to use the tool in a variety of situations is of paramount importance.  The teacher can either do another practice item or ask the students where they think that they could use this tool.

E.g.     

Activity  5:  

Recap and concluding comments (7 minutes)

Teacher summarises what was covered during the session.  Alternatively the teacher could elicit what was covered from the pupils.

Materials needed:

 Loose sheets of paper (Unless they have the Thinking Diary already in hand)

Flipchart paper and markers if there is no board in the room being used for the sessions.

Portable reverse timer

Symbol of the tool