According to a primary school in Jakarta about its own practice
“The approach has been quickly accepted and valued by students and teachers. The simple and straightforward system makes metacognition easy for the students to understand and is simple for those who are new to English.”
A 6th form teacher has reported,
“It is the most powerful innovation I have come across in 23 years of teaching. The framework is so agile it can be used in all contexts; it provides a common vocabulary for students to be able to unpack and process what is being asked of them.”
But back to Shanghai and a remarkable anecdote sent by another kindergarten teacher:
‘One of my favourite moments happened on a field trip to the zoo. As we stood watching the pandas, a student asked me, “Do you think the panda is happy or sad?” Before I could respond, he continued, “I think it’s happy because it gets lots of food, and friends come to see it every day.” Then he excitedly exclaimed, “I just used PICTURE, Teacher, because I pretended, I was a panda.”
Clearly 3 – 4-year-olds can use the scheme to talk and reason about thinking and feeling, just as well as 6th form (Grade 11 and 12) geographers.
A comprehensive language for teaching metacognition
There is now therefore every opportunity to apply and develop the use of a comprehensive language of thinking and metacognition as a child progresses through school. The scheme is available in Arabic, and Century publishing company in Shanghai will be launching a bilingual Chinese-English version in April 2025. Because the scheme identifies all the fundamental moves of human thought, it underpins (and helps students understand) any thinking routine or strategy, and brings the goal of effective metacognition within practical reach.