ABOUT THE SCHOOL
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“Teaching the world to think”
Since 1979, School of Thinking lessons have reached over 100 million people worldwide. Today, SOT lessons are exported, from Australia, to members in more than 51 countries … 24/7/365.
I’m Michael Hewitt-Gleeson, Principal of the School of Thinking. Welcome to the world’s most socially inclusive school. Anyone. Anywhere. Anytime. There are no fees.
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The School of Thinking is the only school in the world that utilises the hyperlink to accelerate the teaching of metacognition. It is the largest neuroplastic program in the world for:
- teaching “thinking skills” and
- teaching “teaching thinking skills”.
- This school is pro-science, pro-business and pro-family. It operates in a non-sectarian, non-partisan, non-political, non-theist precinct in cyberia.
- School of Thinking (SOT) is an independent school for the direct teaching of thinking, creativity, innovation, thought leadership and cognitive science.
- SOT training is pro bono and available on an opt-in/opt-out basis for those who are interested. You may opt-in for training and lessons or opt-out at any time you choose.
- There are no fees.
- School of Thinking is the greenest school in the world. This is the school that you don’t have to go to. We come to you!
- All are equally welcome–anyone, anywhere, anytime.
In 2010, more than one million thinking lessons were exported online from Melbourne, Australia to SOT members in the following 46 countries: Australia, United States, United Kingdom, India, Canada, New Zealand, China, Malaysia, Netherlands, Germany, Philippines, Spain, South Africa, Singapore, Ireland, Sweden, Japan, Belgium, Uganda, France, Mexico, Nigeria, Finland, Israel, Korea, Republic of, Norway, Czech Republic, Italy, The Vatican, Egypt, Brazil, Europe, Austria, New Caledonia, United Arab Emirates, Romania, Hungary, Dominican Republic, Cambodia, Luxembourg, Thailand, Macedonia, Cameroon, Azerbaijan, Qatar and The Bahamas.
30 years ago I had an idea. That idea was to start a Family Thinking Project to train 300,000 ‘teachers of thinking’ around the world. I shared this idea with Edward de Bono who suggested we call this project the Edward de Bono School of Thinking and so we kicked it off in New York in 1979.
This project was so successful that it has led to the largest program in the world for the teaching of thinking skills in families, classrrooms and boardrooms.
Even in China they are now training ‘teachers of thinking’ because they are beginning to realise that China’s greatest asset may be the potential brainpower of its families.
In business in the 80s, CEOs like Jack Welch of GE were among the first to see the value of innovation which could come from the brainpower of GE’s knowledge-workers. Since then, other companies like Apple and Google have followed suit and developed employee brainpower to deliver extra value to their shareholders.
Over the years, this Learn-To-Think Project has developed and published an evolving range of cognitive technologies including CoRT thinking skills, School of Thinking caps, universal brain software (cvs2bvs) and the XIO memeplex.
In 1995 I put the School of Thinking (SOT) on the internet. This was the first school on the internet. It was also the first school ever to use hypertext – text with hyperlinks – as a teaching tool. We believe hypertext is one of the cleverest learning tools of the www era.
SOT began to send out millions of pro bono thinking lessons by email to students in over 50 countries worldwide and it still does this every day. These brain technologies have reached over 100 million people worldwide since 1979.
In those first days the ethos of the internet was “Information wants to be free!” and SOT became the world’s first pro bono school for teaching thinking to anyone, anywhere and at anytime. As Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the WWW puts it, “The spirit of the internet was not one of patents and royalties but of academic openness”. In 1997 SOT won the coveted ‘Top 5% of the Web Award’.
Today the School of Thinking (SOT) is still run by Dr Michael Hewitt-Gleeson who is based in St Kilda, Australia. St Kilda is located in Melbourne by Port Philip Bay in Victoria.
SOT is now the world’s oldest and largest pro bono program for the teaching of THINKING AS A SKILL. It is an online school whose mission is “Teaching the world to think”. There are two strategies for accomplishing this mission:
- direct pro bono training online. It accomplishes this training goal through a series of daily emailed lessons, and
- by getting THINKING taught in schools and universities as a CORE curriculum SUBJECT.
Members start off with The First Ten Lessons and then they may proceed to further advanced training. The training is designed to help each trainee to become a skilled thinker through daily practice in speed thinking, creative thinking, positive thinking, lateral thinking and new brain software.
This training is provided because it goes beyond judgement to design thinking. It helps to provide a balance to hard-edged, religious ‘critical thinking’–the 2,500 year old Aristotelian Logic and Platonic Truth which was exported by Europe, with missionary zeal, around the world during the last millenium and which so dominates Western thinking.
Today, thousands of SOT members in over 50 countries from diverse cultures, careers and age groups received their email lessons. Some surf the lessons on a superficial level, others wade through each one slowly and academically and, of course, there is every other kind of utility in between.
Like an intellectual smorgasbord, members take from the training what they are ready to take and they apply the brain software – neuroware – in their own way and on their own terms. Nothing is ever imposed on them, however, each individual member does get his or her lesson from Michael every single day!
- SOT is pro bono, the training is FREE. It changes lives.
- In 1979, SOT originated the strategy of not just teaching thinking skills but training ‘teachers of thinking’ which has became the world’s largest movement for the teaching of thinking in schools.
- In 1983, SOT originated the method of using ‘thinking caps‘ for the teaching of thinking skills of which Edward de Bono wrote in Six Thinking Hats: “may well be the most important change in human thinking in the past 2300 years”.
- SOT also originated the concept of ‘brain software’ for the teaching of thinking skills worldwide and for raising innovation intelligence. The basic brain software taught by SOT can be stated in ten keystrokes as cvsx10=bvs/ and has been described as “the simplest idea in the world” .
- SOT designed, built and operates the The Core Subject which is the world’s fastest platform for raising the innovation intelligence of an enterprise–a family, a school, a corporation or a city or a nation.
To opt-in and get involved go to www.schoolofthinking.org and enrol with your name and email address if you want to start getting your First Ten Lessons. You can, of course, opt-out at anytime.
June 21st, 2011 at 4:06 pm
One of the best things i found on the Internet. Thanks Michael
March 18th, 2011 at 3:47 pm
[...] of thinking that will open doors that you never thought existed. And I encourage you to visit the School of Thinking website more if you’re interested in exploring [...]
February 6th, 2011 at 4:39 pm
[...] – Michael Hewitt Gleeson [...]
March 16th, 2010 at 11:55 pm
Dear Michael,
Many thanks! There’s a lot we know, but more often than not we don’t give time to thinking about what we know.
My sincerest thanks for making me think again!
November 26th, 2009 at 10:38 am
thank you
October 18th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
hi Michael,
I attended your two (2) sessions at the Brisbane Ideas festival in March 2009.
I am writing to request a certificate for attending the course at The Queensalnd State library.
Thanks
Mark Reedman
October 14th, 2009 at 9:39 pm
so, I am a clinical psychologist, specialised in intellectual and cognitive problems. I am also based in France though raised throughout the world.
Just discovered you existence.
Tell me more!
August 17th, 2008 at 3:19 am
In science, the power of a theory is the number of things it explains divided by the number of things it assumes. The more things that can be explained by a theory that assumes as little as possible is what gives the theory its power
answer why : its an interesting theory given by darwin about the power of theory and even explains how to know relationship between explanations ans assumptions
March 27th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Thank you for this wonderful opportunity to be with myself guided by your lessons in something that will always be the most personal event in the world: my own thinking.
The invitation came from the CEO of http://www.ImagesOfOne.com and I’m really excited to develop my thinking to new heights, because I highly respect David Cameron’s work and have read 3 of Edward de Bono´s books. I’m sincerely grateful and happy to grow …. again!
November 30th, 2007 at 8:31 pm
Excellent site and service. The first ten lessons have seen me through some tricky times and given me renewed faith in the power of improved thinking skills. Thank you so much!
October 11th, 2007 at 5:50 am
Michael, I am just about to embark on this journey via your School of Thinking and am excited about the process. I will post comments as I go along. Thank you so much for all you do, and cheers to a fun, meaningful and prosperous remainder to 2007.
October 8th, 2007 at 6:24 pm
… and the Truth will set u free. I guess u have to use your thinking to find the Truth, so I’ve been given the directions to learn thinking. Thank your for your work! Hope that I will learn something useful. Corneliu
August 17th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
I’m interested to enhance my thinking skills and The School of Thinking is a wonderful oppurtunity to start today.
July 28th, 2007 at 9:37 pm
I have read Edward de Bono’s ‘Six Thinking Hats’ and ‘How to have a beautiful mind’. Both books have helped me in my quest to sharpen my thinking skills, and I am keen now to continue with the School of Thinking course.
July 11th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
I love SOT !!! I have been doing the lessons and am up to lesson 35 now. It is fantastic, the skills are so applicable to any situation . I have found it so useful,, in particular the DFQ’s I use the DFQ process on any challenge
July 11th, 2007 at 1:52 am
Please tell me, what is DOS software?
July 6th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
Many thanks to you Michael for coming on the radio today or else I would have remained ignorant of SOT.
It has been a while since I have been looking for an opportunity to learn more about how to think in an orderly and constructive manner and get more skilled in treading beyond our social and cultural preconceptions.
I have been trying ,without much success to get a group of friends to come together on regular basis and just “think” for a while but now I am going to try and get these people to enrol at SOT.
Looking forwards to the first ten lessons and beyond.
June 24th, 2007 at 5:55 am
I am very excited knowing that there exists a school of thoughts for free.
Informally, I may have been using this method in some of my works that somethimes difficult and critical job looks easier for me to do.
I can’t wait to be enrolled in the SOP to be a recepient of this kind of
formal training in critical and logical thinking.
More power to all SOP student of the universe.
June 23rd, 2007 at 3:56 pm
Something I may be able to use in addition to “the secret” I hope.
Thanks to Fred and Gen for connecting me once again!!
June 7th, 2007 at 4:51 pm
Talk about synchronicity. There is a definite reason I have come onto this site. Looking forward to much learning and sharing.
April 29th, 2007 at 12:54 am
I look forward to learning more of what you have to offer. Thinking is a skill I would like to expand on.
April 27th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
I have just signed on, amd have not yet looked at the material,
but I have already started trying to think of ways to get some of
the described concepts into the educational system in this country.
Let me get into it……
April 24th, 2007 at 6:08 pm
looking forward for the lessons..i really need to workout my thinking skills….
April 18th, 2007 at 11:43 pm
I have never heard of such extrodinary school but I think I need to master thinking skills. Thank you for such opportunity. I am looking forward to the first lessons.
April 8th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
i want to purchase a copy of “Brain Freebie” course please contact me.
April 6th, 2007 at 11:13 pm
Thanks for this most welcome treat. The invitation came from the CEO of http://www.ImagesOfOne.com and I’m only to happy to visit, and now enroll, because I highly respect David Cameron’s work and have heard of Edward de Bono. I’m sincerely hopeful.
March 28th, 2007 at 11:27 pm
Thanks for welcoming to school of thinking
March 28th, 2007 at 9:27 pm
i want to be a member
March 16th, 2007 at 3:27 pm
I am a 65 year old grandfather (retired from the workforce)with a dependant 11 year old grandson Tyler.
I would like to see Tyler reach his true potential in life.
In order to be of some value to him in his education it is obvious to me that I first must try to catch up with the latest learning methods and requirements, so I am more than eager to put all the time neccessary to try to complete these lessons.
Thanks for your offer.
March 6th, 2007 at 4:22 am
I’m really curious and excited to start! I can’t wait to get into this…
February 17th, 2007 at 2:19 am
this is my firstime, i’m excited about this school of thingking. i know this school help me very much in my problem. I want to grow and i’m going to try it and see how it works for me and what happen after all.
February 4th, 2007 at 6:30 pm
If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have paradise in a few years.
January 17th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
I have to say I’m quite excited about this School of Thinking. I’m going to try it out and see how it works. If it works well, and I’m sure it will I’ll do a review of it on my web site http://www.edu-lution.com which is devoted to improving education world-wide. I’m glad I found this site. I think our sites compliment each other well.
Cheers,
Jeremy
http://www.edu-lution.com
December 2nd, 2006 at 9:42 pm
It sounds promising and geared to a wide community. Whether it delivers, remains to be seen. I’ve enrolled at any rate.