A Thunk is a seemingly simple question about everyday things that stops you in your tracks and helps you start to look at the world from a new perspective. Thunks are a great way to engage Higher-Order Thinking Skills (HOTS), encourage philosophical and critical thinking and develop oracy, debating and discussions skills. Thunks can get your students thinking as soon as they enter your classroom; like most of the best philosophical questions there is usually no clear right or wrong answer to a thunk. Usually a ‘Thunk’ will seem a little silly or abstract to begin with but when students really start to think about it amazing discussions and debates follow. Thunks are a great educational tool for both lessons and form/tutor time.
We took the idea of thunks and created a teaching resource that focuses on 'Metacognitive Thunks': deep, philosophical questions about the fundamentals of learning, thought, education and knowledge. One of the goals of metacognition is to create 'Reflective Learners' (Perkins, 1992), students who monitor and regulate their learning-processes and reflect on what approaches are most effective. As discussed in this article, philosophical/epistemological enquiry is an important strategy in creating reflective learners. Check out the previews and sample slides of our 'Metacognitive Thunk Generator' below!
