Thinking Processes Level 4 (Years 5 and 6)
Learning focus
As students work towards the achievement of Level 4 standards in Thinking Processes, they make observations and pose questions about people and events within and beyond their own experience, and develop a growing awareness of the complexity of the world around them.
Using these questions as a basis, students undertake investigations independently and with others. Their investigations include time for sustained discussion, deliberation and inquiry, with teachers providing appropriate tools and support in this process. Students develop strategies to find suitable sources of information and they learn to distinguish between fact and opinion. They develop an understanding of how our views are socially constructed and not always based on evidence.
Students increase their repertoire of thinking strategies for gathering and processing information. These include identifying simple cause and effect, elaborating and analysing, and developing logical arguments. They begin to consider which strategies may be most appropriate for particular learning contexts. They increasingly focus on tasks that require flexible thinking for decision making, synthesis and creativity.
Students participate in activities in which they identify problems that need to be solved. They use a range of techniques to represent the problem and, working individually and with others, develop a range of creative solutions and explore the advantages of generating unconventional rather than conventional solutions. They begin to develop criteria to select and prioritise possible solutions.
They learn to make links between ideas and use portfolios and/or journals to reflect on how their ideas and beliefs change over time. In structured activities, they practise transferring their knowledge to new contexts.
Standards
Reasoning, processing and inquiry
At Level 4, students develop their own questions for investigation, collect relevant information from a range of sources and make judgments about its worth. They distinguish between fact and opinion. They use the information they collect to develop concepts, solve problems or inform decision making. They develop reasoned arguments using supporting evidence.
Creativity
At Level 4, students use creative thinking strategies to generate imaginative solutions when solving problems. They demonstrate creativity in their thinking in a range of contexts and test the possibilities of concrete and abstract ideas generated by themselves and others.
Reflection, evaluation and metacognition
At Level 4, students use a broad range of thinking processes and tools, and reflect on and evaluate their effectiveness. They articulate their thinking processes. They document changes in their ideas and beliefs over time.
Downloads
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Thinking Processes booklet (
PDF - 224KB) - Thinking Processes standards table (Doc - 40KB)
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Victorian Essential Learning Standards Level 4 ( PDF - 751KB)
