Ron Ritchhart, principal investigator for the Cultures of Thinking project and senior research associate at Harvard University’s Project Zero Classroom, identified eight vehicles for promoting a culture of thinking within one’s classroom and school community. These cultural forces, as he termed them, are comprised of time, opportunities, routines and structures, language, modeling, interactions and relationships, physical environment, and expectations.
We will focus on the cultural force that is represented through routines and structures. According to Ritchhart, routines and structures refer to the “tools” educators use to support their students’ thinking. These tools come in a variety of forms. They may be concrete and tactile, such as Thinking Maps, or structured conversations that activate specific cognitive behavior (e.g., Thinking Routines). Initially, teachers facilitate the active use of these tools through purposeful planning and application. The ultimate goal is for students to develop and sustain thinking strategies such that these behaviours become more intuitive, and the students become better able to independently utilise them.
These routines and structures also provide teachers with tools for documenting the thinking process of a group of students and of the individual children who make up a classroom. Documentation is a necessary component of making thinking visible. Ritchhart and Perkins assert that “the development of thinking is a social endeavor” and one of the underlying principles of this approach to teaching and learning. It is within the context of interdependent and supportive relationships, which encourage and support thinking, that enable students to thrive not only in their classrooms, but also beyond the walls of their schools.
Thinking maps
Thinking Maps is a “language of eight visual patterns” developed with David Hyerle’s research. At the heart of Thinking Maps is the finding that people are visual beings. There are eight maps, each highlighting a cognitive process. Through these maps, students see what thinking can look like. They are strategies for organizing ideas through specific structures. Each thinking map is embedded with a thinking skill, and this enables students to construct meaning and filter out relevant information.
Circle map: A fun parent night activity
Palm Beach Day Academy teachers and students love to use the Circle Map. It is one of the more popular maps because we use it for defining something in context. That “something” can be a number in maths, an important character in language arts, a concept in science, or even one’s own self.
Our kindergartners use the Circle Map to tell others about themselves. Each student has the opportunity to define himself through pictures or words, sometimes dictated to their teachers, which include favorite foods, colors, hobbies, and games. During Parent Night, the children’s maps are displayed across classroom bulletin boards. Parents are challenged to identify their child, whose face or name is covered, by the defining clues each student has provided on their Circle Map.
Subhead: Tree map: Probability made easier
Probability is a difficult concept to grasp; however our first grade teachers have found a creative way to make it accessible to young children. The Tree Map, which we utilize for classifying information, is the perfect tool for illustrating and making concrete the abstract concepts of “certainty” and “possibility.”
Thinking routines
Another useful tool in a teacher’s toolkit is the employment of thinking routines. Thinking routines are designed to promote deeper thinking about a topic or concept by engaging a child in specific steps to enhance a specific type of thinking such as critical, creative, or reflective thinking. The routines are easy to learn and can be used successfully in whole or small group situations or with an individual student. They can also be used with children of all ages and in all subject areas.
Many of the routines used at Palm Beach Day Academy originated from Project Zero’s Visible Thinking and Cultures of Thinking research teams at Harvard University. For the past several years, teachers from Palm Beach Day Academy have attended Project Zero’s summer programs and have returned to school ready to implement the routines and to model the routines for their colleagues. As we witnessed beneficial effects as a result of using such routines, excitement and interest grew throughout the faculty.
See, think, wonder
Given the ages of the children in our Lower School (ages 2 through 9), certain routines have become mainstays in our program. The See, Think, Wonder routine is used at all grade levels to begin investigating a topic. For example, if using a piece of art or a photo with the routine, almost all children can easily describe what they see. Most children will be able to tell what they think about the piece of art. And some will be begin to formulate questions they may have as they share what they wonder about. This routine not only helps them to think more deeply, but it also provides a teacher with insights about what the children know about a topic or, more importantly, what they would like to know.
Chalk talk
Another frequently used routine is the Chalk Talk routine. The beauty of this routine lies in its simplicity: A question or idea is written in the middle of a large sheet of paper surrounded by a circle and participants respond to the question or thought by writing on the sheet. As they do, other students may come and add a new thought or respond to something already written. Done in silence, it is like having a conversation with many people at the same time. It encourages reflective thinking and allows everyone to see one another’s perspectives.
I used to think, now I think
A very simple, yet powerful routine, called I Used to Think and Now I Think encourages a child to engage in the important skill of developing metacognition. It provides the student with a chance to see how their thinking has changed as a result of being exposed to new information or a new experience. As children become more aware of how their thinking evolves as the result of the very act of engaging in thinking, they truly are demonstrating the principle of assimilation and accommodation.
When thinking tools converge: Mapping the routines
Over the past several years, our teachers and students have increasingly moved from purposeful behaviour to intuitive behaviour in their application of Thinking Maps and Thinking Routines. This has taken much work and commitment on the part of our faculty, who are looking at creative ways and discerning when and how to use these tools to support our students’ thinking. It is this mindful practice that makes routines and structures a force toward creating a culture that truly makes thinking visible.
I used to think, now I think: A natural flow
When documenting thinking, it becomes obvious that a natural sequence occurs. Oftentimes, this process can be messy. Thinking is messy. The beauty is being able to discern the path a student has taken to get from one mindset to another. Identifying the point in time during which a student, or a collective group of students, has made a new discovery is worth the effort of sifting through the process.
During a maths activity involving fractions, one faculty member recognised that that it took a collective group effort for her students to wrap their minds around fractions. She documented separate conversations amongst small groups and was struck by one particular conversation. The children slowly moved from talking about equal parts to many different parts. Capitalising on a students’ comment of fractions being “fractures,” another student emphasized the correct term, which led the children to examine the connection between parts and whole.
A sample of this conversation was recorded and displayed on the bulletin board to serve as a frame of reference for the teacher and all her students. To highlight this change in thinking, the teacher creatively utilised a Flow Map, which represents the process of sequencing. For this particular Flow, she wanted to document how the students’ thinking had changed, and framed the conversation around the thinking routine I Used to Think, Now I Think. The children expanded the dimensions of their thinking, and clearly demonstrated this in their conversations with one another.
A final reflection
It is essential to nurture young children’s inclination to use their thinking skills in various situations. A teacher does this through modeling and scaffolding what thinking looks like for their young students. When children see how their teacher defines, classifies, wonders aloud, and changes their thinking, it affects how they view their own thinking. Young children become more cognizant and capable of making jumps and leaps in the thinking process when engaged in routines and structures that both support them and encourage their independence.