LINKS OF INTEREST

We welcome info on any links that you might want to recommend for us to include.  Simply email ThinkShop
And NO we don't have any affiliation whatsoever with any of the following (apart from free pages on our website) - but we have tried them and recommend them!

Click to jump to:
ASSESSING THINKING
HOMESCHOOLERS
MISCELLANEOUS GOODIES
NZ EDUCATIONAL SITES
PHILOSOPHY for students
PLANNING
SOFTWARE for thinking and learning
STRATEGIES AND MODELS
WEBQUESTS
MATHS

PLANNING

FPCST: Plans and resources for gifted
An amazing site created for the Frederick County Public Schools- don't be fooled by the unknown name- it's a wonderful treasure-box!!Check it out and bookmark it NOW...

ONLINE RESOURCE BANK OF information SITES: Blue 'n Web
Blue Web'n is an online library of 2158 outstanding Internet sites categorized by subject, grade level, and format (tools, references, lessons, hotlists, resources, tutorials, activities, projects). You can also browse by broad subject area (Content Areas) or specific sub-categories (Subject Area). See "About this Site" for a scoring rubric and answers to other burning questions!
Each month 5-10 new sites are added. You can get a description of these additions sent to you by signing up for free updates.

EDUCATION QUEENSLAND
Everything from differentiation to underachievement - outlines models, gives clear examples.... great site! Includes details of Kaplan's Content /Process/Product Model; Williams' Cognitive-Affective Model.

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ASSESSING THINKING

SWATS
Schoolwide Assessment of Thinking Skills - an easy-to-administer tool , to measure and graph students' knowledge and understanding of thinking tools and strategies.Used yearly across your school to monitor improvement; gives valuable feedback to teachers to base their teaching on. And it's free! Downloadable and printable pdf from ThinkShop.

PRACTICAL RUBRICS
Rubrics galore! How to use them, samples, guides... everything you needed to know about assessment and their different types. Easy to read, very useful.
CRITICAL THINKING RUBRIC
From Washington State University comes this very useful scheme for assessing critical thinking essays. With some modifications it has been used to fit History, English, Physics and a few other subject ares.Well worth checking out, even for looking at how to structure a rubric with the ability to assess varying levels and facets.
HELPING STUDENTS ASSESS THEIR THINKING
Shows some guidelines helpful to students as they work toward developing their reasoning abilities:
e.g.
All reasoning is done from some POINT OF VIEW.
* Identify your point of view.
* Seek other points of view and identify their strengths as well as weaknesses.
* Strive to be fair-minded in evaluating all points of view.
by Richard Paul and Linda Elder, Wayne State University 2006
RUBRICS FOR ASSESSING THINKING
Designing Rubrics for Assessing Higher Order Thinking, by William Peirce
A thoroughly useful and useable article; describes holistic and analytical rubrics developed by various practitioners, ending with examples that provide useful feedback on student thinking without using rubrics. Excellent reading and advice!

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WEBQUESTS

WHAT ARE THEY?
Webquests use a central question that honestly needs answering (i.e.an authentic one), combine web research with hard copy, encourage co-operative learning, and aim to develop higher-level thinking skills. Think critical thinking, authentic learning, authentic assessment, technology integration, constructivism, Understanding By Design...

WEBQUEST PORTAL
Your portal to webquest resources- everything you ever wanted to know about webquests...

SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY site for WEBQUESTS
Major site for webquests instigated by Prof Bernie Dodge of San Diego State University. A great place to start!

OPEN EDUCATION RESOURCES (OER)-
"A movement to make teaching and learning materials free and accessible for use and re-use by everyone"
A teaching and learning network of shared materials, from K-12 through college, from algebra to zoology, open to everyone. Open Educational Resources, or OER, offer new ways to engage with free-to-use learning content.Find college courses or K-12 lesson plans. Search lectures, labs, or syllabi that are open to adapt for your own use. Browse the Categories or Collections for what interests you.

WEB AND FLOW
A site by Tom March, guides you through creating your own web-based activities for learners. Has a fill-in-the-blanks tool - guides you through picking a topic, gathering good links, turning them into learning activities etc.

BUILD YOUR OWN WEBQUEST: FILAMENTALITY
A site called FILAMENTALITY by Ma Bell/AT& bringing you a fill-in the blanks guide to building your own webquests. Free too!

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NZ EDUCATIONAL SITES

The NEW ZEALAND MINISTRY OF EDUCATION site
The NZ Education site- online Gazette, many resources and departments from IT to Gifted to Literacy to Assessment. Databanks . A mine of information on education and resources-to-go.

New Zealand EDUCATIONAL WEB
The New Zealand educational web. Well worth a look and a bookmark.

things MAORI
All you ever wanted to know about things Maori; from marae protocol to resources to online vocabulary quizzes.... An excellent resource for teachers AND students!
http://www.maori.org.nz Learning Networks (formerly West Auckland Education Centre)
Wow - well done Learning Networks! A wealth of links, from the Ministry of Ed to NZ maps to special ed ..... check it out..

EDUCATION FOR ENTERPRISE
These websites and online resources have been selected by TKI (the NZ Ministry of Education website) to support school managers and teachers in embedding education for enterprise into the curriculum areas.

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PHILOSOPHY for students

p4c.net: philosophy for children on the web
Site containing info on P4C (Philosophy for Children), resources (both hard copy and online) - well worth a look... P4C is a world-wide network to foster the teaching of higher-level thinking skills through using philosophy in classes. From theory to resources.

P4C New Zealand
10 New Zealand lessons in P4C; resources; newsletter, and more links. Great site.

PHILOSOPHY AND REASONING NETWORK- Tibi Cogitate (Think for Yourself)
Offers free photocopiable booklets which have been prepared by teachers for classroom use. Ready to use or to adapt! Sample topics:
Deductive Logic: Propositional Logic, Truth Tables, Truth Trees, Finite Worlds, Traditional Logic...
Critical Thinking:Inductive Reasoning, Hypothesis, Argumentation, Causation, Fallacies of Reasoning, Probability...
Philosophy: Philosophy of Religion, Moral Philosophy & Ethics, Social Philosophy, Scientific Law

ICPIC: International Council for Philosophical Inquiry with Children
This site contains info and links too to all you wanted to know about resources, papers, Lipman...

QUEENSLAND NETWORK for Philosophy in Schools: Homepage
Another excellent site for links to resources, info and training for teachers. ..the FAPCA (Federation of Australasian Philosophy for Children Associations) are recognised body in this State and are authorised to issue their Level 1...

Philosophy for Children, Northwest (WESTERN OREGON UNIVERSITY)
Philosophy for Children, Northwest. Dale Cannon, director. ...
Philosophy for Children. What is it? The Philosophy ...

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STRATEGIES AND MODELS

HABITS OF MIND
A web site to help share resources and ideas about the Habits of Mind. Has links to browse some of the resources that have been shared by teachers around the world, as well as description of each Habit of Mind.

strong>ALPS, & LEARNWEB at Project Zero

strong>
Harvard Project Zero Resources. (ALPS=Active Learning Practices for Schools). Teaching for Understanding, the Big Idea; create curriculum units with their templates; online courses; forum. Need to register (free).

INTEGRATE I.T.
Want to integrate IT? This site is designed to help teachers with new technologies (ENT= Educating with new Technologies). Gallery, library, online tools for design....

MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES and BLOOM'S TAXONOMY
Downloadable units from Australian teachers, graded according to ability level. Everything from Hercules to Japan to...

BLOOM'S TAXONOMY AND GARDNER'S MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES sites
Ed Dept of Western Australia has a very informative site (includes a search facility)

LOS ALAMOS National Lab Home Page: INTEGRATION
Lots of useful explanations and links on INTEGRATION. “Seven major areas are identified in the area of educational components that include constructivism, Socratic dialogue, critical thinking, collaborative relationships, hands-on/minds-on activities, multidisciplinary approaches to learning..."Operated by the University of California for the US Department of Energy.

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HOMESCHOOLERS

ThinkShop FORUM
Questions, answers, free advice... it's all here- our new forum!

RENZULLI LEARNING PROGRAMME
For less than $2 US per week per child, your child can have access to INDIVIDUALISED learning. Choose from critical activities, creative activities, interactive online activities, virtual field-trips, quizzes, online videos... an all0in-one package that will knock your socks off!Buy through ThinkShop for great special rates.

KIWI HOME EDUCATOR
This home education / home schooling / homeschooling site for NZ (New Zealand) / Kiwis has information about home education or home schooling in NZ; legal and other info, Internet and other resources, NZ home educating families, support groups

WONDERBRAINS
Quality educational toys, games, and puzzles that inspire the natural wonder and genius in all of us. Educational games and activities enrich intelligence in all areas of education including communication, problem solving, math, music, science and creative play. WonderBrains is playful learning at its best for all kinds of minds!

EDUCATIONAL LEARNING GAMES.com
Educational Kids Card Games and Family Card Games
So many educational card games at such a great price - who could choose just one?
Fun and educational card games, family card games for math, reading, and spelling, but also fantasy, cooking, and just plain silly! e.g. SET, QUIDDLER, The Pocket UnGame...

CROSSWORDS and SUDOKU
For crossword and Sudoku fanatics! Lots of online crosswords puzzles, codewords and sudoku, at Crosswords for Fun, as well as many links to other related sites.

BEESTAR
FREE maths, language, science enrichment for your children! Loads of downloadable worksheets etc for FREE. Highly recommended.

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SOFTWARE for LEARNING and THINKING

RENZULLI LEARNING PROGRAMME
For less than $2 US per week per child, your child can have access to INDIVIDUALISED learning. Choose from critical activities, creative activities, interactive online activities, virtual field-trips, quizzes, online videos... an all0in-one package that will knock your socks off!Buy through ThinkShop for great special rates.

INSPIRATION - SOFTWARE for THINKING: organising and analysing and comparing
At last - a great Thinking Tool for the teachers and students to use on the computer!
"Welcome to the Inspiration Software, Inc. Onl..." YES this is that wonderful software for mindmapping,brain-storming, note-taking etc. Free trial of software to download. And actually ThinkShop DOES now sell this software- it's just too good not to spread the word!

RATIONALE
Thinking/reasoning and organiser software.Whether you need to consider the pros and cons of an issue, weigh up evidence, evaluate and analyse arguments or make your case, Rationale will enable you to present your ideas in a structured, logical format. At the following link, choose your area on the left column for free sample activities.

MOUNT KNOWLEDGE: ONLINE LEARNING SYSTEM
A Canadian company has designed this fascinating software that it claims will increase your students' speed of learning as well as depth of learning.If you need to learn a subject, pass a test, improve your English... simply paste in your textual information, and the system will process the info, prpare a pretest for you; then creat interactive exercises to improve your pretest scores. And all according to your learning style...$299 approx.

see also MISCELLANEOUS GOODIES below forsites highly-recommended by Jean at ThinkShop!

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MISCELLANEOUS GOODIES

New Zealand Biotechnology Learning Hub
The Biotechnology Learning Hub provides up-to-date examples of biotechnology in New Zealand, with unit plans, classroom activities, worksheets and other teaching resources. This site is a collaboration between educators and the biotechnology industry – providing cutting edge biotechnology ideas in student-friendly ways.

BURNOUT TEST!
This free online tool can help you check yourself for burnout. It helps you look at the way you feel about your job and your experiences at work, so that you can get a feel for whether you are at risk of burnout. Takes 30 seconds approximately...

KATHY SCHROCK's Guide for Educators
Award-winning site! Amazing treasure. It's categorized list of sites useful for enhancing curriculum and professional growth; updated often to include the best sites for teaching and learning.

EDUCATION WITH NEW TECHNOLOGIES (ENT)
A site designed to help educators integrate IT. The resources that you will find here have been recommended by users of the ENT community. Links from hardware reviews, to research on online learning environments, to teacher collaboration tools. A site to keep digging in to - great links!


BBC - WebGuide
Fantastic site! Just checking out their interactive Science site is worth 10 minutes of your time..... A "must-check" site!

FPS (Future problem-Solving)
Invented by E Paul Torrance, the creative thinking expert. Wonderful creative problem-solving skills here! International site (with links to NZ and Australia too)

TEACHERS HELPING TEACHERS
Written by teachers for teachers; lesson plans, units,resources. (Maybe you could recommend that they add ThinkShop to their list!!)

INTERNATIONAL CURRENCY CONVERTER

AUSTRALIAN COOL SCHOOLS
Check out these links for Bloom's units, IT ideas, Multiple Intelligence units and more..

THINKING AHEAD
A site for workshops and resources for gifted students and PD in the area of gifted education.

CLICKER 5 software
Clicker is a powerful and incredibly easy-to-use writing support and multimedia tool, which enables you to write with whole words, phrases or pictures. It has won five BETT Awards, the 'Oscars' of British Educational Software - as voted for by teachers. It can be used to support any area of the curriculum.

http://www.cricksoft.com/uk/products/clicker/default.asp"

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MATHS GOODIES

NEVER MISS A MATHS MOMENT

Maths practice to keep your kids in the zone! Wonderful site for students to go for enrichment activities or reinforcement. Sorted by grade level, from Kindergarten to Y10. From patterns, to money, to bar graphs, to decimals, to word problems, to algebra... it's here! (Kindly recommended by Maria Brodsky, a ThinkShop customer, and checked by us.)

ONLINE MATHS PROBLEM-SOLVING: THE TELEPORTER!
Kids just LOVE this site- great for buddy-work too! Corny storyline, but kids LOVE it. Sample text:
"Listen up! Don't call attention to yourself! You've landed at the Hotel Unknown. I'm Nobody's Fool and I'm here to put you wise to some valuable info.
There's two Mind Monitors here on a stakeout. They're right down the page. They're looking for YOU. If they catch you, you'll be, uh, reformatted, ya know what I'm saying?
Not to worry. Here in Nomean City you can get past any security as long as you know the right authorization code."