In recent years there has been growing interest across the world in ways of developing children's thinking and learning skills. This interest has been fed by new knowledge about how the brain works and how people learn, and evidence that specific interventions can improve children's thinking and intelligence. Thinking skills are important because mastery of the "basics" in education (literacy, maths, science etc.), however well taught, is not sufficient to fulfil human potential or the demands of active citizenship. The challenge is to develop educational programmes that enable learners to become effective thinkers, for if thinking is how children make sense of learning, then developing their capacities for thinking will help them get more out of learning and life. When pupils are taught the habits of effective thinking through dialogue, they grow in confidence, their learning is enriched, and they are better prepared to face the challenges of the future. (Contains 5 notes.)