What happens when Classrooms meet Higher Order Thinking | Dylan Hyman | TEDxAmsterdamED

Dylan Hyman wants to inspire teachers and students to create their own world and practice the sort of thinking skills they will need to make their wildest dreams a reality. To achieve this, she incorporates activities that encourage higher-order thinking in the classroom and is a champion of bringing innovative “20% time” to schools. In this passionate and utterly convincing talk, Dylan helps us understand why asking kids questions like “what is the difference between a fishbowl and an apple tree?” can help them make better sense of the world around them.
Dylan Hyman is a primary school teacher in Amsterdam’s new west district. Following a Master in Special Education Needs she began teaching a gifted students program in addition to her regular classroom teaching, and has since made it her mission to bring the skills learned in gifted education to all students. She is involved in various projects to encourage higher level thinking in schools and facilitates an online collaboration network of gifted education teachers in Amsterdam.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx

[@SH-pi9rv]

I really appreciate teachers like her. I was a gifted student in elementary school and GT class time was my favorite time that just kept engaged at times I knew I wasn’t going to be. She talks about how nothing was graded in the classes, and that really has an effect on how a student performs. You see, throughout elementary school I went to a separate classroom once or twice a week with kids who would understand what I talk about. Then, we’d get topics to debate. Real topics from the news or debates that a people were debating right then and there. And all we had to do was talk about the pros and cons of both sides. Our teacher never judged what we said, just kept the ball rolling. Through this, since we knew it wouldn’t affect our academic performance, we’d explore more and think outside the box. Then, I went into middle school, where I was put in their version of the gifted program. They had us do yearly projects on whatever we wanted, we’d have free reign over all of our elements. Except, we were graded. We had standards to uphold and we had deadlines and minimums we needed to meet. Because of this, most students asked their parents to pull them out of the program or they’d do lack-luster projects just because they had to. And the grades affected our core classes. It ended up just being a project that we were forced to do but not everyone in our classes had to. To us, that wasn’t fair. We weren’t engaged, we were disengaged. No one wanted to do it and we saw no point in it. All it was was another project that would be turned in for a grade soon. We lost our spark of curiosity and saw it as a burden more than an opportunity to explore things.

[@EddyMakes]

"Test are good, but they are like very . . . accurate telescopes that are focused on just a few stars at the expense of a universe of knowledge" - D Hyman.

[@MichaelRodriguez-vl8by]

Reminds me of a metaphor I’ve heard about how the ADHD mind analyzes the world. It’s not that the mind is unable to focus but that it focuses on too much at once. Like looking at the world through a straw and looking at the world through a pipe.

[@Betcaligarcia]

THIS IS WHAT I DO DAILY IN MY CLASS AS AN ART TEACHER - THE ISSUE IS TEACHING PARENTS THAT ITS ALL ABOUT THE PROCESS NOT THE FINAL PRODUCT OR GRADE - ESPECIALLY GIFTED PARENTS

[@pallavidalvi5826]

Hey Dylan I really like thought and I closely correlate them with my insights. I agree, working towards thinking classrooms is certainly the path for new age schooling.

[@calandRomeo]

I was one of her students. And i am proud.

[@mirachan6951]

Are you that kai?

[@MrAirCombs]

Sounds like bait,

[@Justin-yp1dz]

Beautiful indeed, I've always believed schools should allow kids to pick what they want to learn. I often didn't get enough time to learn something before a teacher would hop to the next subject and then look at me like "to bad for you".

[@redpillcounselling227]

Some good points here. It seems that in many classrooms the rush to cram in as much information as possible to consistently pass ever continual tests is detracting from the education process. The focus seems to be placed squarely on the 'what' rather than the 'how', and teaching kids 'how' to actually think and problem solve is clearly more important as they can apply such knowledge to any situation. The ancient greeks taught their kids in this way, why don't we?

[@Justin-yp1dz]

@Red Pill Counselling - Exactly, I've been saying this since a kid 😄

[@nah131]

And yet there are people who defend the traditional education system even though it destroys the spark of curiosity within us

[@MikeFuller-ok6ok]

I have a supervised Mensa IQ in the 'High Average' range, and I was placed in remedial sets at school. "Everyone is born a genius, but the process of living de-geniuses them." Richard Buckminster Fuller ( 1895 - 1983 )

[@psychicspy]

We talk a lot about identifying gifted children, but not so much about identifying gifted teachers. The two really should be paired up. How can we possibly expect teachers with ordinary abilities to challenge gifted children? Is any effort being made to identify gifted teachers? If so, how is it being done? Where is it being done?

[@guayabita27able]

In US there is an attempt called TIA Teacher Incentive Allotment, intended to identify outstanding teachers. So far, I have not seen any step taken toward the TIA.

[@colorswordsandlearning]

I don't agree.. all students deserve to be taught by teachers gifted in various ways.. Too many such pairing and you are going a segregating way.. where only the gifted get the beat of the best.. and that's NOT the way ... Everyone should have access to the best teachers and education issues and materials , not just gifted...

[@psychicspy]

@colorswordsandlearning Everyone should have access to qualified teachers. The gifted should be taught by the gifted. Teachers who are themselves gifted are very rare. We should not waste their talents on ordinary minds. Ordinary - but qualified - teachers can teach the average students.

[@ladyhiennguyen279]

discover and make the dream come true, that's so inspiring.

[@racheldemain1940]

This is really interesting! How teaching is and should be done , collaboratively!!

[@AdrienChristophe]

Very interessting, we didn't use enough this method in university or company

[@MarciaArleneDebra]

Higher order thinking in math requires that the content be well codified in the long term memory, and that kind of teaching is not suited to subjects with well structured domains like math.

[@Dragon76Red]

Excellent talk...gives me hope

[@Anonymous-bm8sv]

I really have to say that I wholeheartedly agree with her. We need more HoT in our classrooms. I think formative assessment may be a way to step away from the standardized way of treating lessons (generating a more HoT-geared backwash effect). I do hold the believe that children sometimes lack the basic understanding of things. For example the fact that she wasn't told that she should have written 'by' instead of 'bij' on the makeshift pricetag. I think that LoT skills need to be taught before you move on to the HoT. Is this me thinking in a very linear way?

[@robertog8008]

I think it’s written in Dutch, and it seems to be correct. It’s a TEDxAmsterdam event so it might explain it. And regarding your point, I feel like we can learn parallely HoT and LoT. We learn by doing and by failing, so by trying to be creative when we still don’t know much, we can probably still succeed. That being said to make a complicated project, it can be useful to know LoT.

[@renzcruzmabalatan2225]

GOOSEBUMPS tnx madamoisslle

[@First_Principals]

IQ tests are the best predictor of intelligence and have more research to back them up then all other metrics combined. The ability to use abstract thinking to solve problems is what an IQ test is testing for and you can use an IQ score to make very accurate predictions about how people will to at school and in life from their IQ score. If kids were given an IQ test every 3 years from the age of 4 schools could cut down on the time taken preparing for tests and spend it doing more useful things.

[@stratovation1474]

Brilliant people are so different. I know many. IQ tests are fine but limited. Like testing artists on color theory, which is important but misses creativity. Leonardo was tops at many skills including gymnastics music spatial ability and on and on. His questions like how the tongue of a hummingbird words? He figured out how the aerotic valve works. But he was not good at algebra. Not very smart according to some test. Curiosity and motivation are so important. All kids have that. Some teachers nurture that. Others kill it altho not intentionally. Also, nothing kills talent like poverty, poor nutrition, dysfunctional households and communities...

[@annmarieabaldini6399]

OUTSTANDING!!!

[@hernanpurisima2792]

love da message

[@calandRomeo]

It is about the process and not the product!

[@racheldemain1940]

117386 caland Romeo The Journey not simply the Destination.

[@ladyhiennguyen279]

Totally agree.

[@violetblye3006]

TF 2:35 - Annie Who?

[@joshuapitong899]

Amazing.❤️

[@purpleact1v1st]

i learned alot tody

[@harshabhigyan928]

Plot twist - Kai was L from deathnote

[@purpleact1v1st]

what a motivational nice good ted talk thank you so much

[@martindamonarch5607]

What’s up with the camera angle at 4:02? Creepy camera man lol played it smoothed I guess

[@gujjarkhan-pl6nu]

Good

[@boleroinferno]

my answer to what can go around the world while staying in a corner : a pool ball in a pool table in the private jet of some rich person

[@racheldemain1940]

The Rain Shimmers clever isn't it?

[@zakUSDedelman]

novel

[@purpleact1v1st]

hi guys

[@MarciaArleneDebra]

I am a traditional learner, and the type of student who would not do well with that type of teaching.

[@renzcruzmabalatan2225]

step outside i guess, thanks for trying

[@nah131]

What you are doing is temporary, it is to pass a certain tests.

[@psychicspy]

Reading Writing Arithmetic When all students can do those three things at their grade level, THEN we can discuss creativity in the classroom.

[@hanimalihanim4439]

Very interessting, we didn't use enough this method in university or company