ABC of inquiry – ADAPTIVE THINKING: “The measure of intelligence is the ability to change” Einstein reminds us that learning not about recall and restating facts, it is about being able to use ideas to adapt and make changes that connect to problems and possibilities in the world beyond the class boundaries.
ADAPTIVE THINKING: Survival of the fittest adaptor
Adaptive thinking involves learners using their understandings in new ways to solve problems or face experiences that are new or previously unknown. In a world that is already undergoing rapid environmental, social, technological and other changes, learners must be able to adapt their understandings to see possibilities and ways forward when faced with the unknown.
One of the best ways to support adaptive thinking is give learners opportunities to make mistakes and then use these mistakes as gateways to adapt what was previously done to find a new, more relevant or effective solution. Another option is to present learners with openended problem– solving situations connected to real world experiences, or use the real world problems and possibilities that learners are currently engaged with to inform in-class inquiries.
Adaptive thinking encourages innovation, and invention. Uber is a great real world example of adaptive thinking.
Adaptive thinking is a key to resilience. Learning to adapt, to be capable of responding to rapid physical, emotional, social and environmental changes isa vital skill for todays learners to survive and thrive in an ever changing world landscape. Adaptive thinking is a way of positioning oneself, part of a skill tool box that supports people to see the possibly in problems and then adapting current knowledges and understandings to the new situations.
Words to be explored in the A sections of our dictionary will include
Action
Active
Adaptive thinking
Agency
Anchor charts
Application
Assessment
BCW will now use ‘They — themself’ as a singular, gender-neutral pronoun in all subsequent material generated on our website.
