Cognitive acceleration in the classroom

In moving from theory to practice, two further ‘pillars’ are needed to complete the model of
cognitive acceleration: ‘concrete preparation’ and ‘bridging’. These are described below.
Concrete preparation
Pupils cannot simply be thrown a new and difficult problem, then left alone to struggle.
Instead, they need to be led towards it and introduced to it. You, the teacher will help them to
establish:
• what the activity is about;
• what they already know about this topic;
• what new vocabulary will be used.
This phase is called ‘concrete preparation’, and it sets the scene for the problem.
Bridging
The thinking abilities developed during a particular activity need to be generalised for use in
other contexts. Therefore the final ‘pillar’ of cognitive acceleration is identifying where else
similar thinking can be used and applied; this is known as ‘bridging’. In Let’s Think through
9, bridging does not necessarily come at the end of the activity; you may find
Science! 8 &
opportunities for it at any time.
The five pillars of cognitive acceleration
9 activities will provide practical examples of all five pillars
The Let’s Think through Science! 8 &
of cognitive acceleration in action:
• concrete preparation;
• cognitive conflict;
• social construction;
• metacognition;
• bridging.
An initial familiarity with the terms, and the opportunity to refer back to their definitions from
ti me to time (above and on pages 3-4), will help you to understand:
•why the activities are the way that they are;
9, since the method required is somewhat
how to teach Let’s Think through Science! 8 &
different from normal teaching practice (see also pages 10-11).