Dimensions of Learning

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Learning to think . . .
Thinking to learn . . .

Dimensions of Learning equips pupils with the skills they need to build knowledge, understand learning processes and take a responsible approach to learning. As learners, they are encouraged to become aware of, manage and extend their own thinking. Dimensions of Learning enables pupils to develop a capacity for learning that will take them well into the future.

Ibstock Place School has implemented Dimensions of Learning as the foundation for the curriculum in the Senior School. Developed by educational researchers and practitioners, this framework emphasises the acquisition of knowledge and skills as fundamentally important and encourages intellectual rigour in learning. It improves the quality of learning by teaching strategies that develop flexible, creative and critical thinking.

 Dimensions of Learning focuses on five types (dimensions) of thinking:

Dimension 1: Attitudes and Perceptions

 
Pupils are encouraged to develop positive attitudes towards others, their learning environment and learning tasks, to perceive all learning as valuable and make responsible choices in order to enhance their learning. Teachers foster a classroom climate where both pupils and learning are valued and where individuals are challenged to extend their knowledge and thinking.

Dimension 2: Acquiring and Integrating Knowledge
  

In order to acquire knowledge and skills more successfully, pupils are encouraged to think actively about what they need to learn. Opportunities to link new information to what they already know facilitate deeper understanding. Pupils are provided with strategies to organise facts and processes in ways that help commit them to long-term memory.

Dimension 3: Extending and Refining Knowledge
 
     
Pupils are taught eight complex reasoning processes that allow them to engage more deeply with what they need to learn and, consequently, promote success in learning. 

Comparing Classifying Abstracting Inductive Reasoning

Deductive Reasoning Analysing Errors Analysing Perspectives Constructing Support

 Dimension 4: Using Knowledge Meaningfully

 
Applying knowledge in meaningful, real life contexts allows pupils to develop critical, creative thinking. This is done by making pupils aware of critical thinking processes and strategies.

Decision Making Invention Investigation

Problem Solving Experimental Inquiry Systems Analysis

Dimension 5: Habits of Mind


Positive, mature approaches to thinking allow pupils to learn more effectively and encourage them to become resilient, independent thinkers. Pupils are taught to reflect upon and manage their own thinking and learning by developing 16 key habits of mind.

Persisting Managing impulsivity Listening with understanding and empathy Thinking flexibly Striving for accuracy Questioning and posing problems Applying past knowledge to new situations Metacognition (thinking about thinking)

Thinking and communicating with clarity and precision Gathering data through all the senses Creating, imagining, innovating Responding with wonderment and awe Taking responsible risks Finding humour Thinking interdependently Remaining open to continuous learning

Ibstock Place School has implemented Dimensions of Learning as the foundation for the curriculum in the Senior School to ensure the best possible opportunities for pupils’ success and to foster the kind of flexible, creative and critical thinking that future success demands.