Creative Teaching & Learning

Visible Thinking

Lotta Norell describes an approach to promoting engagement, understanding and independence for all learners which is being actively adapted in the Lemshaga Akademi, Stockholm.

Create an account to read this article

£7.00+ VAT

One-off purchase

Purchase and Download today

Register for free

No Credit Card required

Register for free
Access to 3 free articles
Free TeachingTimes Report every month

array(8) {
  ["distinct_key"]=>
  string(10) "post#39294"
  ["title"]=>
  string(16) "Visible Thinking"
  ["categories"]=>
  array(1) {
    [0]=>
    string(10) "Leadership"
  }
  ["url"]=>
  string(49) "https://www.teachingtimes.com/sltvisiblethinking/"
  ["post_date_timestamp"]=>
  int(1320244028)
  ["objectID"]=>
  string(12) "post-39294-2"
  ["_snippetResult"]=>
  array(2) {
    ["excerpt"]=>
    array(2) {
      ["value"]=>
      string(174) "Lotta Norell describes an approach
to promoting engagement,
understanding and independence for
all learners which is being actively
adapted in the Lemshaga Akademi,
Stockholm"
      ["matchLevel"]=>
      string(4) "none"
    }
    ["content"]=>
    array(2) {
      ["value"]=>
      string(419) "... Stockholm(Varmdo) in 1996 and was coordinator for a projectconducted by Project Zero at Harvard Graduate Schoolof Education 2000-2005 at Lemshaga exploring how tocultivate thinking dispositions in school settings andpresenting what was called ”Visible Thinking”. In 2010she organized an international conference within thenetwork for users of Visible Thinking at ..."
      ["matchLevel"]=>
      string(4) "full"
    }
  }
  ["_highlightResult"]=>
  array(4) {
    ["title"]=>
    array(4) {
      ["value"]=>
      string(34) "Visible Thinking"
      ["matchLevel"]=>
      string(4) "full"
      ["fullyHighlighted"]=>
      bool(true)
      ["matchedWords"]=>
      array(2) {
        [0]=>
        string(7) "visible"
        [1]=>
        string(8) "thinking"
      }
    }
    ["excerpt"]=>
    array(3) {
      ["value"]=>
      string(174) "Lotta Norell describes an approach
to promoting engagement,
understanding and independence for
all learners which is being actively
adapted in the Lemshaga Akademi,
Stockholm"
      ["matchLevel"]=>
      string(4) "none"
      ["matchedWords"]=>
      array(0) {
      }
    }
    ["content"]=>
    array(4) {
      ["value"]=>
      string(2426) "learningin combination with a considerable effort in class-roomenvironment. All parts of Visible Thinking were developedin a class-room enviroment, initially in Sweden and later inmany countries. The approach is constantly revised by itspracitioners and ideas constantly exchanged in a network likecooperation, user conferences etc. In so doing it is ascertainedthat the routines are easy to use, available and effective inorder to give nourishment to rich thinking and that bothteachers and students are engaged in a thorough manner.Visible Thinking today, is being used in education of alllevels from pre-school to university and around the world.Also museums and the professional world are beginningto see the advantages of the Visible Thinking approach toincreased effectiveness in its educational processes.So, what happened to the students working with theVikings? Well, after weeks of work, the students had gainedgood understanding and knowledge of the subject. Theperiod was rounded off by using the routine I used to think– but now I think. A routine meant to help review onesstudies – excellent way to examine and explain how and whythe thinking and ideas changed which in turn enhances thestudents’ ability to reason while demonstrating cause andeffect.Lotta Norell has over 40 years experience as an educatorin Sweden. She joined Lemshaga Akademi in Stockholm(Varmdo) in 1996 and was coordinator for a projectconducted by Project Zero at Harvard Graduate Schoolof Education 2000-2005 at Lemshaga exploring how tocultivate thinking dispositions in school settings andpresenting what was called ”Visible Thinking”. In 2010she organized an international conference within thenetwork for users of Visible Thinking at Lemshaga.She was a presenter at the International Conference onThinking (ICOT), latest in Belfast in June 2011.Referencewww.pz.harvard.edu/vt and Ritchhart/Church/Morrison: Making Thinking Visible, (Jossey Bass 2011)LeadershipSchoolThe independent voicefor school leadersTo subscribe call 0121 224 7578 NOW www.teachingtimes.comChris Watkins …on the new Ofsted Regime.Professor John MacBeath on lessons fromabroad.Malcolm Trobe on the new financialenvironment.Plus Legal Briefings, Reports Update andManager’s Briefcase.nnnnComing up in the next issue"
      ["matchLevel"]=>
      string(4) "full"
      ["fullyHighlighted"]=>
      bool(false)
      ["matchedWords"]=>
      array(2) {
        [0]=>
        string(7) "visible"
        [1]=>
        string(8) "thinking"
      }
    }
    ["categories"]=>
    array(1) {
      [0]=>
      array(3) {
        ["value"]=>
        string(10) "Leadership"
        ["matchLevel"]=>
        string(4) "none"
        ["matchedWords"]=>
        array(0) {
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Leadership

Visible Thinking

2 Nov 2011

array(8) {
  ["distinct_key"]=>
  string(10) "post#44540"
  ["title"]=>
  string(34) "The Quest for Deeper Understanding"
  ["categories"]=>
  array(6) {
    [0]=>
    string(10) "Assessment"
    [1]=>
    string(26) "Cognition and Intelligence"
    [2]=>
    string(32) "Creative Teaching & Learning"
    [3]=>
    string(17) "Critical Thinking"
    [4]=>
    string(13) "Deep Learning"
    [5]=>
    string(15) "Thinking Skills"
  }
  ["url"]=>
  string(58) "https://www.teachingtimes.com/questfordeeperunderstanding/"
  ["post_date_timestamp"]=>
  int(1546947394)
  ["objectID"]=>
  string(12) "post-44540-3"
  ["_snippetResult"]=>
  array(2) {
    ["excerpt"]=>
    array(2) {
      ["value"]=>
      string(240) "Achieving a deep understanding of something can be challenging for many students, however the benefits can be transformative. Tina Grotzer shares some approaches for developing adaptive expertise and helping children become deeper learners."
      ["matchLevel"]=>
      string(4) "none"
    }
    ["content"]=>
    array(2) {
      ["value"]=>
      string(355) "... Lewis say it’s not. Here they report on the strategies uncovered during an action research project in South Wales to extend and deepen pupils’ thinking – even from a very young age. https://library.teachingtimes.com/articles/fostering_deep_thinking_in_the_primary_classroom2.		Learning In Depth: A Curriculum InnovationDeep ..."
      ["matchLevel"]=>
      string(7) "partial"
    }
  }
  ["_highlightResult"]=>
  array(6) {
    ["title"]=>
    array(3) {
      ["value"]=>
      string(34) "The Quest for Deeper Understanding"
      ["matchLevel"]=>
      string(4) "none"
      ["matchedWords"]=>
      array(0) {
      }
    }
    ["author"]=>
    array(1) {
      [0]=>
      array(3) {
        ["value"]=>
        string(12) "Tina Grotzer"
        ["matchLevel"]=>
        string(4) "none"
        ["matchedWords"]=>
        array(0) {
        }
      }
    }
    ["excerpt"]=>
    array(3) {
      ["value"]=>
      string(240) "Achieving a deep understanding of something can be challenging for many students, however the benefits can be transformative. Tina Grotzer shares some approaches for developing adaptive expertise and helping children become deeper learners."
      ["matchLevel"]=>
      string(4) "none"
      ["matchedWords"]=>
      array(0) {
      }
    }
    ["content"]=>
    array(4) {
      ["value"]=>
      string(4623) "know. Try to understand how learners are making sense and help them to see the tacit structures in their sense-making.Help learners experience where their current understandings work and where they fall down. Help learners to gain models of what more expert understanding looks like.Look for critical distinctions and disconfirmatory evidence that will drive learners towards more powerful conceptions.Position learning as a journey, not a destination.Despite the challenges, the pay-off for the quest for understanding can result in deep and big understandings that David Perkins has called, ‘lifeworthy learning’. The promise of education should offer no less!NotesPerkins, D. N. (2010). Making learning whole: How seven principles of teaching can transform education. NY, NY: Jossey-Bass. Engle, R.A., Lam, D.P. Meyer, X.S., & Nix, S.E. (2012). How does expansive framing promote transfer? Several proposed explanations and a research agenda for investigating them. Educational Psychologist 47(3): 215-231. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2012.695678See for example, Driver, R., Guesne, E., & Tiberghien, A. (eds.) (1985). Children’s ideas in science. Philadelphia: Open University Press.Driver et al. (1995).A website with curriculum to help teachers assist students in assessing and revising their causal schemas can be found at www.causalpatterns.org.Chi, M.T. (1992). Conceptual change within and across ontological categories: Examples from learning and discovery in science. In Giere, R. (ed.), Cognitive models of science: Minnesota studies in the philosophy of science (pp. 129-186). Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.Grotzer, T.A. (2002). Expanding our vision for educational technology: Procedural, conceptual, and structural knowledge. Educational Technology, March-April: 52-59. Mathematics Teaching and Learning to Teach, University of Michigan (2010). SeanNumbers-Ofala. http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/65013Grotzer, T.A. Derbiszewska, K., Gramling, M.D., Solis, L.S., & Bialik, M. (2015). Becoming responsible individuals: Understanding distributed causality. Causal Learning in the Classroom (CLIC) Modules. Cambridge, MA: President and Fellows of Harvard College. https://clic.gse.harvard.edu/The reasons that we accept probabilistic causation are a matter of continued discussion and may include an inability to process so much information, to hold it in mind (cognitive load) and/or forgetting in contrast with an understanding of statistics and probabilistic outcomes. See Grotzer, T.A., & Tutwiler, M.S. (2014). Simplifying causal complexity: How interactions between modes of causal induction and information availability lead to heuristic driven reasoning. Mind, Brain, and Education 8(3), 97-114. Petitto, L.A. & Dunbar, K. (2004, October). New findings from educational neuroscience on bilingual brains; scientific brains, and the educated mind. Presented at the conference on Building Usable Knowledge in Mind, Brain, and Education, October 6-8, 2004, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA.Csikzentmihalyi, M. (2008). Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics. Grotzer, T.A., Vaughn, D., & Wilmot, W. (in press). Living curriculum: How does it change how education is defined? Independent School Magazine, March 2019. Knowledge Trails1.		Fostering Deep Thinking In The Primary ClassroomIs it ever too early to teach children how to think? Researchers Russell Grigg and Helen Lewis say it’s not. Here they report on the strategies uncovered during an action research project in South Wales to extend and deepen pupils’ thinking – even from a very young age. https://library.teachingtimes.com/articles/fostering_deep_thinking_in_the_primary_classroom2.		Learning In Depth: A Curriculum InnovationDeep knowledge of one topic has the potential to transform the schooling experience of nearly all children, says Kieran Egan. https://library.teachingtimes.com/articles/learning-in-depth-cross-curriculum-projects3.		Project Plan – Learning In Depth A Cross Curriculum Project with a difference. The rationale is that learning about one topic for the whole of their school career will radically change students’ understanding of the nature of knowledge.https://library.teachingtimes.com/articles/project-plan-learning-in-depth4.		The Young Researchers Ryan Hughes argues the case for Learning in Depth – a casual, yet effective, mode of teaching and learning. https://library.teachingtimes.com/articles/ctl6-4-the-young-researchers"
      ["matchLevel"]=>
      string(7) "partial"
      ["fullyHighlighted"]=>
      bool(false)
      ["matchedWords"]=>
      array(1) {
        [0]=>
        string(8) "thinking"
      }
    }
    ["categories"]=>
    array(6) {
      [0]=>
      array(3) {
        ["value"]=>
        string(10) "Assessment"
        ["matchLevel"]=>
        string(4) "none"
        ["matchedWords"]=>
        array(0) {
        }
      }
      [1]=>
      array(3) {
        ["value"]=>
        string(26) "Cognition and Intelligence"
        ["matchLevel"]=>
        string(4) "none"
        ["matchedWords"]=>
        array(0) {
        }
      }
      [2]=>
      array(3) {
        ["value"]=>
        string(32) "Creative Teaching & Learning"
        ["matchLevel"]=>
        string(4) "none"
        ["matchedWords"]=>
        array(0) {
        }
      }
      [3]=>
      array(4) {
        ["value"]=>
        string(26) "Critical Thinking"
        ["matchLevel"]=>
        string(7) "partial"
        ["fullyHighlighted"]=>
        bool(false)
        ["matchedWords"]=>
        array(1) {
          [0]=>
          string(8) "thinking"
        }
      }
      [4]=>
      array(3) {
        ["value"]=>
        string(13) "Deep Learning"
        ["matchLevel"]=>
        string(4) "none"
        ["matchedWords"]=>
        array(0) {
        }
      }
      [5]=>
      array(4) {
        ["value"]=>
        string(24) "Thinking Skills"
        ["matchLevel"]=>
        string(7) "partial"
        ["fullyHighlighted"]=>
        bool(false)
        ["matchedWords"]=>
        array(1) {
          [0]=>
          string(8) "thinking"
        }
      }
    }
    ["tags"]=>
    array(3) {
      [0]=>
      array(3) {
        ["value"]=>
        string(18) "Deeper Learninging"
        ["matchLevel"]=>
        string(4) "none"
        ["matchedWords"]=>
        array(0) {
        }
      }
      [1]=>
      array(3) {
        ["value"]=>
        string(12) "Project Zero"
        ["matchLevel"]=>
        string(4) "none"
        ["matchedWords"]=>
        array(0) {
        }
      }
      [2]=>
      array(4) {
        ["value"]=>
        string(34) "visible thinking"
        ["matchLevel"]=>
        string(4) "full"
        ["fullyHighlighted"]=>
        bool(true)
        ["matchedWords"]=>
        array(2) {
          [0]=>
          string(7) "visible"
          [1]=>
          string(8) "thinking"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Assessment

The Quest for Deeper Understanding

8 Jan 2019

array(8) {
  ["distinct_key"]=>
  string(10) "post#93435"
  ["title"]=>
  string(59) "How To Use Visual Tools For Thinking,  Learning And Feeling"
  ["categories"]=>
  array(2) {
    [0]=>
    string(32) "Creative Teaching & Learning"
    [1]=>
    string(15) "Thinking Skills"
  }
  ["url"]=>
  string(69) "https://www.teachingtimes.com/visual-tools-for-thinking-and-learning/"
  ["post_date_timestamp"]=>
  int(1616973171)
  ["objectID"]=>
  string(12) "post-93435-1"
  ["_snippetResult"]=>
  array(2) {
    ["excerpt"]=>
    array(2) {
      ["value"]=>
      string(265) "Visual tools can not only lead to students significantly improving content and conceptual learning but engender  self-reflection and empathic understanding. In advance of his course for TeachingTimes, David Hyerle, provides an insight in the their power and promise"
      ["matchLevel"]=>
      string(4) "none"
    }
    ["content"]=>
    array(2) {
      ["value"]=>
      string(402) "... visible thinking.” Visible thinking, as offered by educational leaders in the field, is used less to describe how to actually help students visually show their thinking, and more as a broad approach for making all students’ thinking the center of classroom practice. Visible thinking, oddly, is not much about explicit ..."
      ["matchLevel"]=>
      string(4) "full"
    }
  }
  ["_highlightResult"]=>
  array(6) {
    ["title"]=>
    array(4) {
      ["value"]=>
      string(68) "How To Use Visual Tools For Thinking,  Learning And Feeling"
      ["matchLevel"]=>
      string(7) "partial"
      ["fullyHighlighted"]=>
      bool(false)
      ["matchedWords"]=>
      array(1) {
        [0]=>
        string(8) "thinking"
      }
    }
    ["author"]=>
    array(1) {
      [0]=>
      array(3) {
        ["value"]=>
        string(12) "David Hyerle"
        ["matchLevel"]=>
        string(4) "none"
        ["matchedWords"]=>
        array(0) {
        }
      }
    }
    ["excerpt"]=>
    array(3) {
      ["value"]=>
      string(265) "Visual tools can not only lead to students significantly improving content and conceptual learning but engender  self-reflection and empathic understanding. In advance of his course for TeachingTimes, David Hyerle, provides an insight in the their power and promise"
      ["matchLevel"]=>
      string(4) "none"
      ["matchedWords"]=>
      array(0) {
      }
    }
    ["content"]=>
    array(4) {
      ["value"]=>
      string(5923) "maybe all but a few learners in our ever more inclusive classrooms—to show and communicate patterns of thinking. These tools leverage learning well beyond the common linear presentations of information that is found in text—now often for online learning. Ideas in linear text and now regularly around the world in bulleted Powerpoint presentations (while great achievements of human kind) under-represent the holism of human thinking that may be conveyed in visual-spatial-verbal modes. Importantly, for the longer term of a lifetime of the continuous learning through multiple jobs, when learners become fluent visual tools users, they are improving their awareness of how to transfer and adapt fundamental cognitive processes of mind and brain to new challenges. Learners’ need to be able to improve and transfer their common and unique thinking processes to different learning environments, virtually, in person, and through dynamic interactions with new AR, VR and AI applications.This means that in schools and the workplace, this generation of learners needs to be able to do the higher resolution, granular thinking of problem solving, decision making and moral reasoning borne of human intelligence and our evolutionary social-emotional place in the world. Metacognition is the key: we humans are uniquely evolved to think about how we are thinking, improving on our skills and abilities, and collectively taking action using tools of all kinds. But visual tools for thinking are quickly replacing the agrarian and industrial tools of past ages. Once fluent with a range of visual-spatial-verbal patterning tools, learners are much more able to be engaged in the kind of complex thinking and visual networking required of our age. We can explicitly facilitate and provide tools to all learners at any age for thinking in patterns and systems.There is urgency here: unfortunately, educational innovation almost always lags behind governing, political systems that direct school systems. Often education is a conserving activity, not a progressive one. Right now this new generation of learners around the globe is facing the daunting, transformative challenges of our day:seeking sustainable solutions within ecosystems from backyard decisions to climate change and global warming issues;within our own physical mind-body-brain systems as we create artificial intelligencemachines and use algorithm driven “search” engines;how to make daily decisions and take action as citizens within and across political systems.Making Thinking Visible and Thinking About the BoxBefore moving on to a brief view of types of visual tools and different uses, a key distinction needs to be made between “visual tools” and the popular term “visible thinking.” Visible thinking, as offered by educational leaders in the field, is used less to describe how to actually help students visually show their thinking, and more as a broad approach for making all students’ thinking the center of classroom practice. Visible thinking, oddly, is not much about explicit visual representations of thinking and learning processes as it is about using routines, strategies, and verbal communication that are explicit and metacognitive. Facilitating inner dialogue and having students verbalize their thinking, keeping records and journals of their thinking over time, engaging others in dialogue, and using technologies and projects to show what they know all fall under this broad concept of making visible thinking. So ‘making visible thinking’ may be recognized as an umbrella term for supporting teachers in creating a classroom environment grounded in routines that keep the processes of thinking as central to classroom engagement, rather than invisible, hidden away in a rigid content-dominant curriculum and assessment framework. There is a positive overlap in the Venn diagram of the two fields: visual tools and making thinking visible that is worthy of further discovery.Within this century, visual tools have become a main driver of the broad concept of making thinking visible, as this wide variety of tools are drawn from a wide range thinking processes and represented as visual thinking patterns. My first effort to define three types of visual tools (Hyerle, D. 1996) remains useful today in detailing how a range of tools is so important: brainstorming webs, graphic organizers, and thinking process maps.Brainstorming webs, commonly known as “Mindmaps” (Buzan, T.), are used for thinking creatively outside the box of the daily classroom and workplace mental routines. These open webbing approaches have been around for over forty years, and are still used to facilitate ‘blue sky thinking’ in schools and the workplace. Based on associative logic, brainstorming webs help us to break mental and emotional barriers, reflecting the millions of rapid firing of associations occurring in your brain … as you read these words and develop a schema for the content you are processing.A second type of visual design is driven by tools such as isolated flow charts, diagrams, and visual templates. These typical graphic organizers help students think inside the box as they are often highly structured by teachers or in curriculum guides. Graphic organizers have the most well researched and documented use over the past thirty years as they are easily integrated into teacher lesson plans. While teacher driven, these organizers help students see a big picture by analytically organizing information and are often assigned to students in order to guide a task or project. While"
      ["matchLevel"]=>
      string(4) "full"
      ["fullyHighlighted"]=>
      bool(false)
      ["matchedWords"]=>
      array(2) {
        [0]=>
        string(7) "visible"
        [1]=>
        string(8) "thinking"
      }
    }
    ["categories"]=>
    array(2) {
      [0]=>
      array(3) {
        ["value"]=>
        string(32) "Creative Teaching & Learning"
        ["matchLevel"]=>
        string(4) "none"
        ["matchedWords"]=>
        array(0) {
        }
      }
      [1]=>
      array(4) {
        ["value"]=>
        string(24) "Thinking Skills"
        ["matchLevel"]=>
        string(7) "partial"
        ["fullyHighlighted"]=>
        bool(false)
        ["matchedWords"]=>
        array(1) {
          [0]=>
          string(8) "thinking"
        }
      }
    }
    ["tags"]=>
    array(3) {
      [0]=>
      array(3) {
        ["value"]=>
        string(12) "concept maps"
        ["matchLevel"]=>
        string(4) "none"
        ["matchedWords"]=>
        array(0) {
        }
      }
      [1]=>
      array(3) {
        ["value"]=>
        string(9) "mind maps"
        ["matchLevel"]=>
        string(4) "none"
        ["matchedWords"]=>
        array(0) {
        }
      }
      [2]=>
      array(3) {
        ["value"]=>
        string(12) "Visual Tools"
        ["matchLevel"]=>
        string(4) "none"
        ["matchedWords"]=>
        array(0) {
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Creative Teaching & Learning

How To Use Visual Tools For Thinking, Learning And Feeling

28 Mar 2021

array(8) {
  ["distinct_key"]=>
  string(10) "post#44542"
  ["title"]=>
  string(34) "Transferring Ownership of Learning"
  ["categories"]=>
  array(6) {
    [0]=>
    string(32) "Creative Teaching & Learning"
    [1]=>
    string(17) "Critical Thinking"
    [2]=>
    string(13) "Deep Learning"
    [3]=>
    string(11) "Mathematics"
    [4]=>
    string(7) "Science"
    [5]=>
    string(15) "Thinking Skills"
  }
  ["url"]=>
  string(50) "https://www.teachingtimes.com/ownershipoflearning/"
  ["post_date_timestamp"]=>
  int(1546947668)
  ["objectID"]=>
  string(12) "post-44542-2"
  ["_snippetResult"]=>
  array(2) {
    ["excerpt"]=>
    array(2) {
      ["value"]=>
      string(366) "Finding opportunities for interactions within the classroom is crucial for empowering students to take ownership of their learning and gain deeper conceptual understanding. Continuing on from their previous article in CTL (Cultivating a Culture of Thinking), teachers Jeff Watson and Roger Winn continue to share how the ‘Cultures of Thinking ..."
      ["matchLevel"]=>
      string(7) "partial"
    }
    ["content"]=>
    array(2) {
      ["value"]=>
      string(459) "... years of the International Baccalaureate Programme https://www.ibo.org/programmes/middle-years-programme/ ‘What Makes You Say That?’ Visible Thinking. http://www.visiblethinkingpz.org/VisibleThinking_html_files/03_ThinkingRoutines/03d_UnderstandingRoutines/WhatMakes/WhatMakes_Routine.html‘Think Pair Share.’ Visible Thinking,  http://www.visiblethinkingpz.org/VisibleThinking_html_files/03_ThinkingRoutines ..."
      ["matchLevel"]=>
      string(7) "partial"
    }
  }
  ["_highlightResult"]=>
  array(6) {
    ["title"]=>
    array(3) {
      ["value"]=>
      string(34) "Transferring Ownership of Learning"
      ["matchLevel"]=>
      string(4) "none"
      ["matchedWords"]=>
      array(0) {
      }
    }
    ["author"]=>
    array(2) {
      [0]=>
      array(3) {
        ["value"]=>
        string(14) "Jeffrey Watson"
        ["matchLevel"]=>
        string(4) "none"
        ["matchedWords"]=>
        array(0) {
        }
      }
      [1]=>
      array(3) {
        ["value"]=>
        string(10) "Roger Winn"
        ["matchLevel"]=>
        string(4) "none"
        ["matchedWords"]=>
        array(0) {
        }
      }
    }
    ["excerpt"]=>
    array(4) {
      ["value"]=>
      string(419) "Finding opportunities for interactions within the classroom is crucial for empowering students to take ownership of their learning and gain deeper conceptual understanding. Continuing on from their previous article in CTL (Cultivating a Culture of Thinking), teachers Jeff Watson and Roger Winn continue to share how the ‘Cultures of Thinking’ model is changing their Maths and Science classrooms."
      ["matchLevel"]=>
      string(7) "partial"
      ["fullyHighlighted"]=>
      bool(false)
      ["matchedWords"]=>
      array(1) {
        [0]=>
        string(8) "thinking"
      }
    }
    ["content"]=>
    array(4) {
      ["value"]=>
      string(5253) "were given some time to discuss with each what they had written down. Students then had time to mingle a bit as they had been sitting for a while: ‘Those who feel comfortable, write some items on the whiteboard from your list.’ Students would start heading to the board to write information. This allowed Jeff to circulate to those students who were still at their desks to see if they had any questions or confusion, or just to talk about what they had written down. It gave the students some space to ask him things that maybe they wouldn’t have asked in front of the whole class. Once the whiteboard was filled with information, Jeff then told the students: ‘Let’s take a few minutes and head to the whiteboard with a marker and put a question mark next to any item that is puzzling to you. Perhaps you can put a star next to the items that you feel comfortable with.’ Consider for a minute about this type of interaction versus the original QRE interaction. In the original way of introducing systems, the teacher and one other student were telling the class what system to solve and how to solve it. It left little room for debate, questioning or creativity. The new pattern of discourse gave the students time to get all of their thinking sorted out, then gave them a chance to bounce it off of their peers, while allowing time to get it on the board for clarification. Finally, the new way allowed students to put question marks next to their puzzles in a somewhat anonymous manner so it took any stigma away of being ‘wrong’. It also allowed the students’ ideas to direct the lesson for the day. Why spend time on, say, the substitution method of solving a system if none of the students put a question mark next to it on the board?‘But, what about whole group discussion? We can’t always break away from that and do something else – it’s going to happen. How do we change it? This is a very important question. There will be times where you will be standing at a whiteboard in front of the whole class – that is inevitable. What are small things that can be done to promote better interactions in this circumstance?Try to instill the idea in your students that what you say as a teacher is important, but that is only one piece of the puzzle. What their peers contribute is key as well. We have noticed many times that when a student has a contribution to make or has a question, other students will tune out because it is not their question or their contribution. We will say to students, ‘be sure to listen to what everybody is saying in whole group discussion. Listen carefully as if you had to respond to everybody’s contribution.’ When a student asks a question or is providing a comment, look at the floor or look elsewhere. This will force the student to make eye contact with the other learners in the room as they won’t have anywhere else to look. We sometimes tell them, ‘look around at your peers as if you are talking to all of us, because you are!’ This will help to break the QRE model.Many times a student will ask a question. Another student will start responding to the question, but they will look at the teacher when they are doing so. We will frequently point to the originator of the question and say to the student answering, ‘talk to them’. The two students then look at each other and start interacting and discussing. Change your location in the room. If you position yourself with other students in between you and the speaker it will encourage them to make eye contact with other students. Instead of the ‘hands-up norm’,8 try using the TeamShake app available on your smart phone. It allows you to enter your class lists, and then you can tap on the list to generate a random name to call on. We use this not as a ‘trap’ or a ‘gotcha’, but as a way to help more students to join the conversation.As with Opportunities, the Interactions that we are fostering in our classrooms are a work in progress, ultimately aiming to move away from simple transmission and placing more emphasis on rich interactions. Designing lessons that leverage these forces is an iterative, exciting process that takes time, creativity and trial-and-error.NotesRitchhart, Ron. (2015). Creating cultures of thinking: The 8 forces we must master to truly transform our schools. New York: San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2015, p. 203.Watson, J., & Winn, R. (2018). Cultivating a culture of thinking. Creative Teaching and Learning, 8(2-3): 30-37. https://library.teachingtimes.com/articles/acultureofthinkingMYP is the Middle Years Programme – the pre-diploma years of the International Baccalaureate Programme https://www.ibo.org/programmes/middle-years-programme/ ‘What Makes You Say That?’ Visible Thinking. http://www.visiblethinkingpz.org/VisibleThinking_html_files/03_ThinkingRoutines/03d_UnderstandingRoutines/WhatMakes/WhatMakes_Routine.html‘Think Pair Share.’ Visible Thinking,  http://www.visiblethinkingpz.org/VisibleThinking_html_files/03_ThinkingRoutines/03d_UnderstandingRoutines/ThinkPairShare/ThinkPairShare_Routine.html  Ritchhart, 218. Ritchhart, 213.Ritchhart, 225."
      ["matchLevel"]=>
      string(4) "full"
      ["fullyHighlighted"]=>
      bool(false)
      ["matchedWords"]=>
      array(2) {
        [0]=>
        string(7) "visible"
        [1]=>
        string(8) "thinking"
      }
    }
    ["categories"]=>
    array(6) {
      [0]=>
      array(3) {
        ["value"]=>
        string(32) "Creative Teaching & Learning"
        ["matchLevel"]=>
        string(4) "none"
        ["matchedWords"]=>
        array(0) {
        }
      }
      [1]=>
      array(4) {
        ["value"]=>
        string(26) "Critical Thinking"
        ["matchLevel"]=>
        string(7) "partial"
        ["fullyHighlighted"]=>
        bool(false)
        ["matchedWords"]=>
        array(1) {
          [0]=>
          string(8) "thinking"
        }
      }
      [2]=>
      array(3) {
        ["value"]=>
        string(13) "Deep Learning"
        ["matchLevel"]=>
        string(4) "none"
        ["matchedWords"]=>
        array(0) {
        }
      }
      [3]=>
      array(3) {
        ["value"]=>
        string(11) "Mathematics"
        ["matchLevel"]=>
        string(4) "none"
        ["matchedWords"]=>
        array(0) {
        }
      }
      [4]=>
      array(3) {
        ["value"]=>
        string(7) "Science"
        ["matchLevel"]=>
        string(4) "none"
        ["matchedWords"]=>
        array(0) {
        }
      }
      [5]=>
      array(4) {
        ["value"]=>
        string(24) "Thinking Skills"
        ["matchLevel"]=>
        string(7) "partial"
        ["fullyHighlighted"]=>
        bool(false)
        ["matchedWords"]=>
        array(1) {
          [0]=>
          string(8) "thinking"
        }
      }
    }
    ["tags"]=>
    array(12) {
      [0]=>
      array(3) {
        ["value"]=>
        string(8) "autonomy"
        ["matchLevel"]=>
        string(4) "none"
        ["matchedWords"]=>
        array(0) {
        }
      }
      [1]=>
      array(3) {
        ["value"]=>
        string(13) "collaboration"
        ["matchLevel"]=>
        string(4) "none"
        ["matchedWords"]=>
        array(0) {
        }
      }
      [2]=>
      array(3) {
        ["value"]=>
        string(15) "cultural forces"
        ["matchLevel"]=>
        string(4) "none"
        ["matchedWords"]=>
        array(0) {
        }
      }
      [3]=>
      array(4) {
        ["value"]=>
        string(29) "Cultures of Thinking"
        ["matchLevel"]=>
        string(7) "partial"
        ["fullyHighlighted"]=>
        bool(false)
        ["matchedWords"]=>
        array(1) {
          [0]=>
          string(8) "thinking"
        }
      }
      [4]=>
      array(3) {
        ["value"]=>
        string(9) "exploring"
        ["matchLevel"]=>
        string(4) "none"
        ["matchedWords"]=>
        array(0) {
        }
      }
      [5]=>
      array(3) {
        ["value"]=>
        string(16) "group discussion"
        ["matchLevel"]=>
        string(4) "none"
        ["matchedWords"]=>
        array(0) {
        }
      }
      [6]=>
      array(3) {
        ["value"]=>
        string(12) "Independence"
        ["matchLevel"]=>
        string(4) "none"
        ["matchedWords"]=>
        array(0) {
        }
      }
      [7]=>
      array(3) {
        ["value"]=>
        string(12) "Project Zero"
        ["matchLevel"]=>
        string(4) "none"
        ["matchedWords"]=>
        array(0) {
        }
      }
      [8]=>
      array(3) {
        ["value"]=>
        string(9) "reasoning"
        ["matchLevel"]=>
        string(4) "none"
        ["matchedWords"]=>
        array(0) {
        }
      }
      [9]=>
      array(3) {
        ["value"]=>
        string(10) "reflection"
        ["matchLevel"]=>
        string(4) "none"
        ["matchedWords"]=>
        array(0) {
        }
      }
      [10]=>
      array(4) {
        ["value"]=>
        string(25) "thinking routine"
        ["matchLevel"]=>
        string(7) "partial"
        ["fullyHighlighted"]=>
        bool(false)
        ["matchedWords"]=>
        array(1) {
          [0]=>
          string(8) "thinking"
        }
      }
      [11]=>
      array(3) {
        ["value"]=>
        string(11) "whole group"
        ["matchLevel"]=>
        string(4) "none"
        ["matchedWords"]=>
        array(0) {
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Creative Teaching & Learning

Transferring Ownership of Learning

8 Jan 2019

Cookie	Duration	Description
cookielawinfo-checbox-analytics	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checbox-functional	11 months	The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checbox-others	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy	11 months	The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.

Create an account to read this article

£7.00+ VAT

Register for free

Cookies