The ThinkWell Practice Gym is for anyone who wants to think more clearly about something real: a learner choosing subjects, a student weighing up a decision, a teacher looking for a ten-minute thinking exercise, or an adult with a problem that will not sit still.
A thinking skill gets stronger with reps. The gym takes the ThinkWell thinking skills, developed by the EquipU4 team at Stellenbosch University, Dr Ludolph Botha, Professor Charl Cilliers and Dr Alten du Plessis, for the LearnWell programme (2002), and gives you one real prompt to work through with short, clear steps. It is free, needs no account, and your notes stay in your own browser: nothing is sent anywhere.
You choose a skill and an area of life, or let the gym surprise you. The areas are the six dimensions of wellness: physical, emotional, intellectual, occupational, social and spiritual. Each skill comes with its own image and quick steps. Pros, Cons and Alternatives, the magnifying glass, asks you to list all the pros, then all the cons, then alternatives that are completely different, and only then to decide; one of its prompts is simply "to work for an overall distinction". Determine the Real Problem, the X-ray machine, asks you to look beneath the symptoms. Different Perspectives, the video camera, has you step into each person's position in turn.
I suggest you begin with Pros, Cons and Alternatives on the intellectual area, and do one rep. If you enjoy the reps, the full gym lives inside the course ThinkWell4Life, where it keeps every rep you do and each skill is taught in full.
Dr Alten du PlessisFounder, LearnSmart4Life