News

Swings and Roundabouts and SOLO Taxonomy

June 30, 2017

“Hook and Casse have nailed it!” Working with early childhood educators this week reminded me of the great review we got for SOLO Taxonomy in the Early Years -Making connections for belonging, being and becoming. The book was co-authored with that fabulous early years teacher Bridget Casse Using SOLO Taxonomy as a model, young learners […]

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New Ways of Thinking about the Science Capabilities

June 27, 2017

A new book is always a moment of celebration – a marking of a collaboration stuffed with many examples of how to think with the science capabilities in the context of the material world. Hook, P., and Tolhoek, W. (2017). Using SOLO Taxonomy to Think Like a Scientist. How to develop curious minds with the […]

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Making explanation visible with SOLO Taxonomy

June 25, 2017

I have recently enjoyed thinking with Derek Neve (Waimate High School) about the challenges in making “explanation” visible to senior secondary students (NCEA Levels 1 to 3). When visiting Waimate High School this term Derek challenged me to develop a visual SOLO map and rubric to support a deeper factorial and sequential explanation process than […]

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SOLO Hexagons iPad App

June 19, 2017

Dead chuffed to announce that SOLO Hexagons has just been released on the Apple iPad Store. Love the versatility in new SOLO Hexagons App – the team at CactusLab has developed earlier work by Dave Carpenter and have captured that “sandpit pedagogy” feel that makes SOLO Hexagons such a flexible strategy for shifting students from […]

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SOLO Taxonomy in Gladsaxe Kommune in Denmark

April 23, 2017

Travel involves a lot of alone time – a lot of waiting in public spaces time – with opportunities to observe and new provocation for thinking. Reflecting on the different places visited makes me realise that I prefer to gaze uninterrupted – on this most recent trip – I did not use a camera – […]

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Update on Danish version of First Steps with SOLO Taxonomy

December 17, 2016

It is great to finish 2016 with a fab review. This one is for the Danish translation of “First Steps with SOLO Taxonomy.  Applying the model in your classroom.” Published by Dafolo. The review in Danish is featured in Læsepædagogen nr. 5/2016.  After describing the content the reviewer states: “I truly believe that many students […]

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SOLO Hand Signs

September 21, 2016

SOLO Taxonomy hand signs are a powerfully simple way to watch thinking in action. These spontaneous gestures of thought are a learning strategy that helps students and teachers make sense of learning. In using gesture to represent increasing levels of cognitive complexity – surface to deep to conceptual (transfer) outcomes – SOLO hand signs have […]

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Horses for courses

September 2, 2016

Embed from Getty Images Just as there are “different horses for different courses” so there are different learning strategies for different stages of the learning process A recent article by John Hattie and Gregory Donoghue (2016) uses meta-analyses, effect sizes and a more nuanced model of surface and deep understanding to look at learning strategies […]

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Essence of wet dog thinking

August 27, 2016

Embed from Getty Images “Less is more” thinking lies at the heart of a SOLO rubric. When we make the SOLO Taxonomy level of learning outcomes visible using text-based success criteria – SOLO differentiated rubrics – we show students that learning outcomes are malleable not fixed. They focus on the strategies that might help shift […]

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5 Strategies for Deep Learning

August 21, 2016

Using SOLO Taxonomy as a model for surface and deep learning learning is a sandbox pedagogy. Embed from Getty Images Using SOLO helps create learning environments that are option rich – collaborative, adaptable and much like a sandbox – always open to the introduction of new possibilities and opportunities for deep learning. The following slides […]

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