MindLab Edinburgh - information for schools

New Classes Starting
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MindLab's vision and goal is to provide the generation of tomorrow with thinking skills and life skills that will help them fulfil themselves and be more aware, more successful and happier individuals who contribute to society.

"My daughter is quite a rigid, black and white person. Since starting MindLab sessions I have noticed that she is becoming more flexible and better at problem solving at home – such as confrontations with me or her sisters, and homework."

D. Lovett,
MindLab mother

MindLab is an innovative educational programme for children aged 4-14 which complements and enhances the teachings of the National Curriculum. Typically run as an after-school club which parents pay for, MindLab's carefully designed curriculum uses board games, puzzles, social and card games from around the world to help children develop critical thinking skills, life skills and personal qualities including:

decision making
problem solving
spatial thinking
logical thinking
memory training
planning & execution
grouping & sequencing
mathematical thinking
probability studies
scientific thinking
research methods
effective questioning
resource management
tactics and strategy
investigative skills
creative thinking

social cooperation
communication
team work
collaboration
influencing
conflict resolution
competition

self discipline
self confidence
personal responsibility
winning and losing gracefully
learning from one's mistakes
self esteem
anger management
management of emotions

MindLab Teachers are Disclosure Scotland approved.

MindLab's ethos is spot-on for the Curriculum for Excellence and runs parallel with its aims.

We run classes on school premises and leave classrooms exactly as we find them. No school resources are used.

We will support you at school events such as Christmas and Summer Fairs, giving pupils and parents a free and fun games playing experience.

We will help your PTA run fundraising events for your school.

The MindLab teacher(s) for your school will build a relationship with your pupils and with your school, becoming a positive part of your school's culture.

Pupils will have the chance to compete in the annual MindLab Olympics, a celebration of brain over brawn. The competition is held in May / June every year with the final event enabling your school to compete with schools in ten other countries.

MindLab's "thinktionary" is particularly popular with schools and parents alike: by giving children a name for thinking tools and strategies they are able to use them much more effectively.

"MindLab gets kids thinking about thinking. It gives them strategies that help them to think before they act and the vocabulary to discuss these strategies with others. It does all this using games that are so much fun that the kids don't even realise how much they're learning each day". J Metzler, MindLab teacher.

Real life reinforcement - At the end of each lesson pupils discuss with their teacher ways to use their new skills when facing challenges at home and in school.

Children with all personality types and abilities and from all different backgrounds benefit from and relate to the games. Each game in the curriculum is chosen for the different intelligences and talents it brings out in the children, whether it be spatial, strategic, logical, mathematical or interpersonal. But most importantly the children have terrific fun while they learn.

MindLab has four different curricula to cover different age ranges and abilities and the weekly sessions are grouped into courses which focus on different thinking skills - such as problem solving, resource management, planning and sequencing and information analysis. The lessons are structured so that children are given the opportunity to learn new games and experiment with learned strategies and thinking concepts in a fun and safe environment. Children's confidence and self esteem quickly grows as they see their success and receive recognition for losing gracefully, good gamesmanship, helping others, integrity, and successfully applying the strategies.

Please click here to see how MindLab can help your school with special projects.