Students in a 5th grade class were introduced to arthropods like spiders and asked about their initial thoughts. The students came up with observations like them being creepy or hairy. They then generated questions about how arthropods move or produce webs. The teacher used a thinking routine called "think-puzzle-explore" to have students share what they think, identify questions, and explore topics that may not seem complex. Visible thinking involves making thinking visible through speaking, writing or drawing so students can direct and improve their thoughts. It emphasizes documenting thinking for later reflection.
3. students in Naomi Arrow's 5th grade class at Bialik College in Melbourne,
Australia, came up with many initial observations when Naomi introduced a
unit on the creatures, everything from "I think they're creepy" to "They are
hairy and have many legs."
Beyond first impressions, the students generated questions on aspects of
arthropods that they were puzzled about: "How do they walk upside down?"
"How does the spider produce its web?" And
(in an intriguing somersault of perspective taking), "Is there stuff that they
stamp on, like we stamp on them?"
4. Naomi's students were applying a thinking routine called
think-puzzle-explore, which has students share what they
think about a topic, identify questions they puzzle about,
and target directions to explore. Thinking routines help
learners ponder topics that might not seem to invite
intricate thinking at first glance, such as arthropods. Such
routines jump-start thinking and make it visible.
5. So what is visible thinking?
We learn best what we can see and hear. We watch, we listen, we imitate, we adapt
what we find to our own styles and interests and we learn from them.
Mostly, thinking happens under the hood, within the marvellous engine of our mind-
brain and remains unrecorded.
Visible Thinking includes a number of ways of making students' thinking visible to
themselves and to others so they get more engaged by it and learn better.
When thinking is visible in classrooms, students are in a position to be more
metacognitive, to think about their thinking. Teachers benefit when they can see
students' thinking because misconceptions, prior knowledge, reasoning ability, and
degrees of understanding are more likely to be uncovered.
6. So what is visible thinking?
Six key principles anchor Visible Thinking and characterize our approach in
schools.
Learning is a consequence of thinking. Students' understanding of content, and
even their memory for content, increases when they think through—and with—the
concepts and information they are studying. Thinking through issues is not a solo
endeavour, however. Team members often share and build on one another's
knowledge.
Notational systems, specialized vocabulary, and various technological and other
tools also free up memory for more complex tasks.
7. Fostering thinking requires making thinking visible. Thinking
happens mostly in our heads, invisible to others and even to
ourselves.
Effective thinkers make their thinking visible, meaning they externalize
their thoughts through speaking, writing, drawing, or some other method.
They can then direct and improve those thoughts.
Visible Thinking also emphasizes documenting thinking for later reflection.
8. Classroom culture sets the tone for learning and shapes what is learned. We have identified eight
forces that shape classroom culture:
(1) classroom routines and structures for learning,
(2) language and conversational patterns,
(3) implicit and explicit expectations,
(4) time allocation,
(5) modelling by teachers and others,
(6) The physical environment,
(7) relationships and patterns of interaction, and
(8) the creation of opportunities.
Depending on their form, these forces can support or undermine the rhythm of thoughtful learning
(Ritchhart, 2002, 2007).
9. The development of thinking is a social
endeavour. In classrooms, as in the world,
there is a constant interplay between the
group and the individual. We learn from
those around us and our engagement with
them.
10. Good thinking is not only a matter of skills, but
also a matter of dispositions.
Open mindedness, curiosity, attention to evidence,
skepticism, and imaginativeness all make for good thinking
(Perkins & Ritchhart, 2004; Perkins, Tishman, Ritchhart, Donis, & Andrade, 2000).
Such characteristics concern not so much a person's abilities
as how the person invests those abilities.
Children and adults often greatly underutilize their thinking
capabilities. Accordingly, besides nurturing relevant skills,
education needs to promote open-mindedness over closed-
mindedness, curiosity over indifference, and soon.
11. What are the visible thinking routines?
Thinking routines are ways in which our thinking can be
recorded visibly further enhancing the higher order skills.
Such routines are short time bound goal oriented activities
that can be used as classroom learning tools.
The visible thinking routines are a product of Visible Thinking
developed at Project Zero at Harvard University –Graduate
School of Education
12. So now going back to what we did at the
beginning of the session-
Work in pairs and share which visible thinking
routine did I engage you in
Activity 1- Activity 2
Gr 1- Gr 1-
Gr 2- Gr 2-
Gr 3- Gr 3-
Gr 4- Gr 4-
Gr 5- Gr 5-
Gr 6- Gr 6-
13. ATL-Approaches to learning
ATL are deliberate strategies, skills and attitudes that permeate the IB teaching
and learning environment.
ATL supports the IB belief that a large influence on a student’s education is not
only what you learn but also how you learn.
Teaching students how to learn has always been a part of IB teaching, but now
the IB is providing more explicit support for teaching these skills, aligning the
Diploma Programme (DP) with the Primary Years Programme (PYP), the Middle
Years Programme (MYP) and the IB Career-related Programme (CP).
Focus on ATL will improve the quality of teaching and learning across the
programmes and may result in more engaged teachers and students.
14. What are the IB approaches to learning
skills?
1. Thinking skills
2. Communications skills
3. Social skills
4. Self-management skills
5. Research skills
15. What are the IB approaches to teaching
skills?
1. based on inquiry
2. focused on conceptual understanding
3. developed in local and global contexts
4. focused on effective teamwork and collaboration
5. differentiated to meet the needs of all learners
6. informed by formative and summative
assessment.
16. How can you show evidences of ATL?
One way to create and reflect on your ATL and ATT
practices in classrooms are by using Visible Thinking
Routines.
For inspiration-
Cultures of Thinking routine- Sentence-Phrase-Word -
YouTube (360p).mp4
Mark Church demonstrates the Headlines routine -
YouTube (360p).mp4