Course summary
This course will guide you in enriching the learning experiences of young children by fostering their higher-order thinking skills. Learn how to create opportunities for exploration, discovery, and problem-solving, helping children develop critical thinking and ignite their curiosity.
You’ll explore the stages of Bloom’s Taxonomy and discover how to use open-ended questions and play-based learning to promote independent thinking. Plus, gain practical tips for designing open-ended learning experiences and download valuable EYLF teaching resources to enhance your classroom practice.
You will learn:
- The stages of Bloom’s Taxonomy.
- How to use open-ended questions to guide play-based learning.
- How to create open-ended learning experiences.
- How to download EYLF teaching resources.
Course time:
This course will take you 2 hours to complete. Enjoy it in one session or spread it out over a few weeks. You will have ongoing access via your personal dashboard.
Accreditation:
All of our courses are mapped to the Australian Professional Teacher Standards (AITSL), and your completion can be logged as relevant, teacher-identified professional development activity with all Australian state teaching regulatory authorities. To do this, grab your certificate of completion from your personal dashboard once the course is complete.
Proficient Teacher – all states and territories:
- 2.5.2 – Apply knowledge and understanding of effective teaching strategies to support students’ literacy and numeracy achievement.
- 3.3.2 – Select and use relevant teaching strategies to develop knowledge, skills, problem solving and critical and creative thinking.
- 3.4.2 – Select and/or create and use a range of resources, including ICT, to engage students in their learning.
This course is accredited by TQI for 2 hours of professional development for teachers in the ACT for 2025.
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Course Content
Getting Started
Thinking In Early Childhood
Using Open-Ended Strategies
Your Teaching
Reflection
Course instructors
Heather Kerr helped to write this course. Heather is an early childhood educator who has been recognised as an innovative and exemplary practitioner. She has worked in early childhood for almost four decades as a teacher, deputy principal, parent- infant programme facilitator and outdoor environment coordinator. Heather has worked with hearing impaired, speech and language delayed children and mainstream. As an educator she is interested in language and speech development and its connection to thinking and learning and in creating rich, authentic learning experiences for young children.
Mark Drummond from Cool Australia is your course teacher. He has worked in the education sector for over 11 years as a classroom teacher, Leader of Pedagogy within an Ed-Tech startup and as an educational consultant. Mark is an absolute science nerd and loves talking about dinosaurs as much as he loves talking about education (which is a lot)!
Frequently asked questions
How long will this take to complete?
This course will take you 2 hours to complete. Enjoy it in one session or spread it out over a few weeks. You will have ongoing access via your personal dashboard.
Will I get proof of completion?
You will get a Cool.org certificate when you finish, which you can access any time via your personal dashboard, it will also be sent to you by email.
Is this course accredited?
This course is mapped to the Professional Standards for Teachers. It is accredited for teacher professional development hours:
Proficient Teacher – all states and territories:
- 2.5.2 – Apply knowledge and understanding of effective teaching strategies to support students’ literacy and numeracy achievement.
- 3.3.2 – Select and use relevant teaching strategies to develop knowledge, skills, problem solving and critical and creative thinking.
- 3.4.2 – Select and/or create and use a range of resources, including ICT, to engage students in their learning.
This course is accredited by TQI for 2 hours of professional development for teachers in the ACT for 2025.
What are the curriculum links?
Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF):
- Outcome 2: Children are connected with and contribute to their world
- Outcome 4: Children are confident and involved learners
- Outcome 5: Children are effective communicators
National Quality Standard (NQS) – Quality Area 1:
- 1.1.1 – contribute to each child’s learning
- 1.1.2 – current knowledge, abilities and interests are fostered and respected
- 1.1.3 – routines are organised to maximise child’s learning opportunities
- 1.1.6 – each child’s agency is promoted
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