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Big Little Thinking (BLT): A framework for critical, consilient and creative thinking about wicked problems in complex times.

Year: 2021

Author: Adam, Raoul, Shipway, Bradley, Wijesinghe, Thilinika, Siegel, Lisa

Type of paper: Other

Abstract:
Modern educators face challenges and opportunities in a global milieu that is recognised for its polarising social issues, wicked problems and existential disruptions. There are clear calls for twenty-first-century thinking skills that foster learning to ‘tackle problems and issues that do not respect disciplinary boundaries’ (Gardner, 2004) and ‘reimagine ways of thinking and working in complex and uncertain times’ (AARE, 2021).  This session introduces Big Little Thinking (BLT) as a new transdisciplinary framework for critical, consilient and creative thinking about wicked problems and dilemmas. The BLT framework is complemented with processes, models, and activities - designed by educators for educators to facilitate thinking through real-world problems. It encourages relational and contextual approaches to problems through interdisciplinary explorations of relationships along conceptual spectrums such as subjective-objective, nature-culture, standardisation-differentiation, and unity-diversity.  The proposed 90-minute session consists of: An introductory session (Synchronous) A sequence of interactive application sessions (Synchronous) A collective Q & A session with the presenters as panelists (Synchronous) A sequence of snapshots of educational applications (Asynchronous) A set of online resources for asynchronous access beyond the session. (Asynchronous) The schedule and summary of topics include: Introductory Session. An introduction to Big Little Thinking (BLT): This presentation introduces the BLT framework and contextualises it in a milieu of disruptions and wicked problems relating to globalisation, digitisation, secularisation and industrialisation.Application Session I. BLT about Educational Philosophy: This presentation uses BLT to identify and explores some of the paradigmatic tensions experienced in modern education.Application Session II. BLT about the Past of the Future: This presentation uses BLT to explore tensions and spectrums between past-future, imagination-reality and art-science through the medium of speculative drama.  Application Session III. BLT about Environmental Education: This presentation uses BLT to explore tensions and spectrums in environmental education. Snapshot I. BLT about Critical and Creative Thinking: This snapshot highlights the need for models like BLT to explore relationships between critical and creative thinking in the context of their interdisciplinary applications in the Australian Curriculum.Snapshot II. BLT about the ‘Maths Wars’: This snapshot highlights the need for models like BLT to explore tensions and spectrums in Mathematics education as a way of engaging learners in deep and self-reflective learnings about the nature of mathematics.Snapshot III. BLT about religious-secular dilemmas for school leaders: This snapshot highlights the need for models like BLT to identify and explore dilemmas experienced by school leaders in their recognition and response to controversial issues in schools.

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