An important aspect of metacognition concerns the student’s understanding of motivation, after all: metacognition is the personal study of one’s thought and learning-processes and student motivation towards a given subject is influenced by their thoughts and attitudes towards it. One of the surest ways to increase motivation is by providing a clear understanding of the reasons, benefits and advantages that come with studying particular subjects. This download contains over thirty PowerPoints presentations: one for each school subject. The purpose of the presentations is to lead discussions and debates about the value of each subject. Each session contains: A Starter Discussion Prompts Video Links A Writing-Based Assessment Task Plenaries/AfL Debate Prompts The general strategy of the sessions is to get students to: Explore the personal significance of the selected subject Understand why the subject is taught Identify the importance of the subject: how it benefits the student and wider community Determine potential connections to their career ambitions Each session follows the same format so it’s probably best not to use them all at once with students within a short time-frame! They are, nonetheless, a great resource to have available to your teachers so that they can be used as interventions for individuals or groups that are struggling with motivation in a given subject. The preview images show the general approach each session follows, using the ‘English Literature’ session as an example. Thank you for looking at our resources! Make sure to download some of our free samples: just visit globalmetacognition.com We offer a range of whole-school metacognition resources that aim to enhance metacognitive skills and strategies in students aged 11-16. You can download individual resources or buy our ‘Whole School Metacognition Toolkits’ that make establishing a whole-school metacognition initiative easy. Our resources specialise in: Boosting Learning-Power Teaching Metacognitive Skills & Strategies Increasing Metacognitive Power (Intelligence, Memory etc.) These resources are made and distributed in partnership with The Global Metacognition Institute. Find more metacognition resources at globalmetacognition.com Join our Facebook Metacognition Working Group for Teachers & Leaders! https://www.facebook.com/groups/EducationalMetacognition/ Copyright Adam Godwin (2019)

This multi-use interactive philosophy lesson explores philosophical and ethical issues relating to space, space exploration and alien life. This session is ideal for teachers who want to explore philosophy in science lessons with students aged 8-16; we’ve carefully selected the most significant issues and questions relating to space and space exploration so that young learners can engage in fun philosophical discussions and debates. This session explores topics such as: Cosmology: the nature and potential origins of space and the universe Ethical issues such as: The rights of native species when colonising planets Terraforming Artificial panspermia The development of space-based weaponry Extra-terrestrial life One of the main philosophical debates explored by this instructional resource concerns ‘the fabric of space’: the debate between ‘Substantivalism’ (the view that space exists in addition to any material bodies situated within it) and the contrasting view ‘Relationalism’ which claims that there is no such thing as space; there are just material bodies, spatially related to one another. According to the relationalist view, what we call ‘space’ is literally just the empty nothingness between things that actually exist (atoms, planets, etc.). The big question asked in this session is “Is colonising other planets actually a good idea?”. Using a variety of engaging activities students will discuss and debate a wide range of other philosophical and moral questions such as: What is ‘space’ made of? (if anything) In what ways might aliens be different to us in terms of how they communicate, think and feel? If you reached the edge of space (the edge of the universe) and threw a rock over the edge: what would happen? To what extent is it a good idea for large corporations to lead humanity when it comes to space exploration? How would the discovery of alien life impact humanity? Students will also analyse and evaluate an eclectic mix of philosophical claims such as: “If aliens exist, they’ll probably be hostile and unfriendly” “The Universe had a beginning, and it will have an end” “It’s more important to focus on fixing the environmental issues on our planet than exploring space” and “Unless we colonise other planets it is only a matter of time before humanity goes extinct” This session uses our unique format for philosophy teaching resources and features an integrated menu that allows teachers to select from a variety of starter, main, plenary, assessment and end-of-lesson reflection activities. With a massive selection of activities designed to trigger philosophical discussions, debates and reflections: you can re-use the resource numerous times with the same group.