Can a robot be kind? Can you touch the wind? Is there more future than past?
Since publishing The Little Book of Thunks over a decade ago, Ian Gilbert’s ‘beguilingly simple-looking questions’ have caused brain ache across the world in children, young people and the wider school community. Born out of Ian’s work in Philosophy for Children, questions like those posed above leave everyone thinking new thoughts about everyday life, love, the things around us and the world beyond.
Whereas a right answer is a thinking cul-de-sac, a Thunk has no one right answer. And without that – and without the fear that many people have of coming up with wrong answers – all that remains is the opportunity for thinking, reflecting, philosophising, debating, thinking new thoughts and rethinking old ones.
Such is the power of a Thunk. Now, for the first time, 50 of these probing provocations are presented in a brand new format – on a specially designed set of cards for use in a range of fun and innovative ways, both inside and outside the classroom.
Caution: Reported side effects of Thunks include thinking, creativity, talking, arguing, changing your mind and brain ache.
A complete downloadable list of suggested activities comes with the card set – here are a select few:
• Stick a Thunk on a wall/board/large piece of paper and get the class to write their responses and why they think that way around it.
• Allocate a ‘Yes’, ‘No’ or ‘Other’ response to individuals or groups before the Thunk is revealed. They then have to argue their case accordingly.
• Give each pupil a random card. Give them 15 minutes to produce an artistic interpretation of the dilemma covered by their Thunk. Make a class Thunks display for use in future lessons.
• Find some space, read out a Thunk and give the class the choice of standing on one side if they think ‘Yes’, the opposite side if they think ‘No’ and in the middle if they think ‘Other’. Get each faction to come up with the reasons why the others are wrong, in order to persuade them to defect to their side.
In The Compleat Thunks Book Ian Gilbert brings together classic Thunks from a number of his books, as well as hundreds of new ones, all designed to make your brain hurt as you think, question, debate and argue your way to a better understanding of how to survive in a world gone dangerously bonkers.
We are living in an age in which facts don’t count, certainty no longer exists and complexity means we never quite know what just happened, let alone what will happen next. To better prepare ourselves for such a world, we need a brain workout that isn’t so much about finding answers as getting our heads around questions.
We need The Compleat Thunks Book: a collection of beguiling questions about everyday things that stop you in your tracks and help you start to look at the world in a whole new light. At times controversial and often provocative, Ian Gilbert’s brainteasers are sure to stimulate philosophical enquiry and debate during the thinking, reasoning, logic or panic employed in arriving at (or deviating from) the answers and conversations that ensue. In other words, it’s not about the answers at all and, as in life, there are none at the back of the book.
Covering as wide a variation of topics as possible – from love and lies to parking a car and molesting robots – The Compleat Thunks Book will appeal to people of all ages, tastes and prejudices, and can be used to steer pub, dinner party or family discussions away from the same old topics.
Some of these Thunks were previously published in The Book of Thunks, ISBN 978-184590092-2, The Little Book of Thunks, ISBN 978-184590062-5, and Independent Thinking, ISBN 978-178135055-3. Thunks is a registered trademark of Independent Thinking Ltd.
Parental Advisory: A few of these Thunks are unsuitable for use with children.
300 more of those intriguingly annoying questions that have the power to change everything.
The Book of Thunks will definitely shake up your templates, rattle your thought routines and force you to think about things differently. The follow-up for a wider audience to Ian’s award-winning Little Book of Thunks, The Book of Thunks is packed full of 300 more of those gob-smacking little questions that make you think, make you see the world with different eyes and, yes, make your brain really, really hurt. With Thunks for everyone like ‘If I don’t notice the cow when I drive past it is it invisible?’ and ‘Can an ant see a mountain?’ (not to mention some for adults such as ‘Would it be wrong to have sex with a dog in an online virtual world?’) this the perfect book to fire up your brain cells.
Can you bend air, does a dog know it’s a dog and 258 other questions to get children thinking for themselves.
‘Thought hand grenades!’ That’s how one teacher described Ian Gilbert’s notorious Thunks. A Thunk is a ‘beguiling question about everyday things that stops you in your tracks and helps you start to look at the world in a whole new light’ and, on top of that, they make your brain hurt. A lot. Drawn from his experience – and frustration – with Philosophy for Children, Ian Gilbert’s Thunks are in use with children of all ages and abilities around the world and never fail to get children to think quickly, creatively, deeply and for themselves. Awarded the Society of Authors first-ever educational book award, The Little Book of Thunks is a guide to the origins and uses of Thunks followed by no fewer than 260 powerful questions guaranteed to get children’s brains hurting.
Think for yourself – before someone does it for you.
The first in a new series by and for people who know how important it is to think for yourself. Written by Independent Thinking founder Ian Gilbert, this book is an invaluable collection of reflections, ideas and insights on the nature of learning, thinking, creativity and, drawing on Ian’s experience in three continents, the role education has in changing not only people’s lives but also entire societies. Combining articles published in the UK, Middle East and South America plus examples of his controversial online postings and Tweets with new observations and insights – and at least 100 Twittered Thunks or Twunks – this book is the informed ramblings of a passionate educationalist who has made a significant difference to classrooms for over 20 years and has earned the right to speak his mind.
Since establishing Independent Thinking 25 years ago, Ian Gilbert has made a name for himself across the world as a highly original writer, editor, speaker, practitioner and thinker, and is someone who the IB World magazine has referred to as one of the world’s leading educational visionaries.
The author of several books, and the editor of many more, Ian is known by thousands of teachers and young people across the world for his award-winning Thunks books. Thunks grew out of Ian’s work with Philosophy for Children (P4C), and are beguiling yet deceptively powerful little philosophical questions that he has created to make children’s – as well as their teachers’ – brains hurt.
Ian’s growing collection of bestselling books has a more serious side too, without ever losing sight of his trademark wit and straight-talking style. The Little Book of Bereavement for Schools, born from personal family experience, is finding a home in schools across the world, and The Working Class – a massive collaborative effort he instigated and edited – is making a genuine difference to the lives of young people from some of the poorest backgrounds.
A unique writer and editor, there is no other voice like Ian Gilbert’s in education today.
Here are 10 things to think about this week.
1. Be who you needed when you were at school
2. Connect before content
3. Make regular deposits into the social capital bank
4. Small ripples create big waves - Do the simple things well
5. Know your…
#BeingASendco It is vital that we listen to the staff who work with our children on a daily basis. They know their children best. We might go into a meeting with a clear idea of what we think a child needs to support them but finish the meeting somewhere completely different.
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