Why It Matters

"Learning is a consequence of thinking. Retention, understanding, and the active use of knowledge can be brought about only by learning experiences in which learners think about and think with what they are learning."  (1).   This very succinct and straightforward statement by Professor David Perkins perfectly sums up why we as teachers should care about thinking.  To be sure, we can train people in various skills and get them to memorize information through rote practice, but real learning, that is, the learning we can use, apply, transfer, work with flexibly and retain for the long haul, requires thinking.  It is thinking that builds understanding and promotes deep learning. 

Whereas we often talk about knowledge in a possessive sense—that is, something we have or can lay claim to—understanding is "a matter of being able to carry out a variety of performances concerning the topic" (2).  It requires us to go beyond the information given to produce something new.   There are 3 key elements that underlie understanding, all of which are rooted in learner’s thinking:

1. The integration of new knowledge with prior knowledge to form a coherent understanding of the topic at hand.

2. The development of conceptual schema to facilitate retrieval and application of information.  These schemas are what helps make learning powerful.  They aid in the retrieval of new information, the learning of new information, and the freeing of brain power when engaging in content. The more connections we establish, the more powerful our learning becomes (3).

3. Metacognition, or the thinking about how we think  (4, 5).  Our reflection on our learning can serve to “lock in” our learning, helping to solidify it, and enhance retention (4).

Incorporating these principles into teaching have been shown to be particularly important for learning and understanding as they help to organize information and provide structure to understanding (5).  

Engaging in thought-fueled learning allows students to be more sensitive to context and perspective, leading to more control over their experiences.   Research by John Hattie reveals that thought-filled learning and metacognition are associated with above average effective sizes and thus more positive learning outcomes. These include such practices as reciprocal teaching in which the thinking process is externalized through conversation (effect size = 0.74), metacognitive strategies (0.69), self-verbalization (0.64), concept mapping (0.57), and comprehension strategies (0.77-0.58) (6).

Research has also shown that the regular use of thinking routines to prompt, support, and scaffold student thinking produces better learning outcomes (7, 8). However, it is not nearly enough simply to teach and use these thinking routines in the classrooms-- students must learn when to use them and be able to use them across various contexts. Research suggests that thinking strategies and routines are “most effective when students integrate and flexibly use reading and thinking strategies across a wide variety of texts and in the context of a challenging, engaging curriculum” (9).  Overall, when teachers place the focus of the classroom on thinking and understanding rather than performance and completion, students will be able to engage fully with their learning and make it their own. 

So, thinking matters, but what kinds of thinking are most useful in promoting deep learning and understanding?  The Understanding Map identifies eight thinking moves that are central to the enterprise of building understanding:  seeing, noticing, and describing what’s there; wondering and questioning; considering different viewpoints and perspectives; reasoning with evidence; uncovering complexity; making connections; building explanations and interpretations; and capturing the heart and forming conclusions.  We wouldn’t necessarily engage in all of these in a single episode of learning, but over the course of a unit of instruction, it is certainly possible to make sure we provide students opportunities to engage in them. 

Although thinking is central to the enterprise of building understanding, we shouldn’t draw too sharp a line between understanding and knowledge acquisition when it comes to thinking.  Thinking yields benefits in knowledge acquisition as well.  Information—what we have heard, read, or seen— that does not make sense to us is quickly forgotten.  Thus, understanding benefits retention. When new knowledge is connected to our prior knowledge, it is not only easier to recall but easier to apply.  Engaging in self-questioning that takes one deeper into the content has been shown to be an effective study technique with results equal to self-quizzing  (10).  Trying to explain concepts to oneself or someone else, the central process in the Feynman Learning Technique, builds both understanding and knowledge (11).

What It Looks and Sounds Like

Of course, there is no one way to enact the principle that learning is a consequence of thinking. Individuals have ample room to add their own creative stamp on things. The list below is a sampling of ideas that might be useful to advance your practice.

• Craft and share clear understanding goals for your units of instruction.

• Identify the thinking needed to explore the content (use the Understanding Map to aid this identification).  Don’t assume listening will lead to understanding.

• Promote active learning in your classrooms by using a participatory learning approach so that students can actively engage with material. Confront students misconceptions about learning with this simple experiment (see Exhibit 1)

• Employ thinking routines regularly to help scaffold, structure, and support students’ thinking.

• Create a language of learning that enables you to talk about thinking and understanding explicitly with your students. This might include displaying and using the Understanding Map to identify thinking moves that students are expected to use for tasks.

• Keep the purpose of activities central. When introducing and explaining a task, locate the learning in the task and name for students the thinking they will need to do as they carry it out. Present the thinking routine not as an activity but as a tool for accomplishing the task.

• Make sure learning tasks that regularly go beyond the reproduction of knowledge and that call for original thinking are the norm in your classroom.

• Press students for thinking so that they go beyond giving information, using such questions as, “What makes you say that?”

• Overcome the “principle of least effort” by using “high-intensity” activities that make sure students can’t get by with mere listening, agreement, and compliance (see reference).

• Engage students in analyzing tasks to identify the thinking they will need to do, steps they will need to take, and supports they will need. This builds metacognitive and self-regulated learning skills.

• Engaage students self-questioning to promote the three areas of metacognition: directing our thinking as we plan our learning, monitoring our thinking during the task, and reflecting on our thinking and evaluating our learning (see Exhibit 2).

• Encourage students to spot occasions for the use of thinking skills within and outside of the discipline.

• Communicate and demonstrate the value of thinking in your feedback to students.

• Use “Split Screen Teaching” in which you share both content goals and process goals (see Exhibit 3).

Reflecting on Your Teaching

Reflect on the role thinking plays in your classroom.

• Could my students tell an outsider what kinds of thinking are important in our class?

• What kinds of thinking are absolutely essential in my classroom and within the discipline I teach? What kinds of thinking am I trying to make routine?

• What are the “go to” routines for learning and thinking in my class? Why these routines? What do I learn from them? What do my students learn?

• Where, when, and how do I think aloud and make my own thinking visible?

• To what extent do my assessments require students to think? Can they complete my tasks, assignments, projects, and assessments without thinking?

• How would my students answer the question: “Who have you become as a learner and thinker this year as a result of your time with me?”

• What tools, structures, and experiences have I given them to help them both develop as thinkers and learners and gain a sense of themselves as powerful and capable thinkers and learners?

• Do I always “lead with the thinking needed” when I explain assignments, tasks, and projects to students?

• As a class, do we regularly reflect on our process as learners in order to adjust and fine tune our learning?

Using Quick Data to Inform Your Efforts

Use the “In This Class” survey to identify what kinds of thinking you are making a priority (and students are noticing) in a particular lesson. At the end of a class period have students complete the survey (5 min). You should complete the survey as well after the class. If you have a colleague observing, have them complete the survey too. Note: students might have a hard time identifying a type of thinking if it has not previously been discussed, explored, and examined so that they know what it looks like and feels like.

Results of this survey are only a snapshot of students’, teacher’s, and observers’ perceptions of a single lesson. These results are useful for the questions they raise and the insights they suggest and not for making judgements or evaluations of the teaching. Over time, patterns might emerge within a class, department, or school that warrant additional investigation.

Connection to the 8 Cultural Forces

Routines. We use routines and structures to help scaffold students’ thinking in the moment as well as to provide tools and patterns of thinking that can be used independently. Over time, by using thinking routines, it is the thinking that becomes routine.

Time. It is important that we allocate time for thinking. We must provide time for exploring topics in depth as well as time to formulate thoughtful responses. When we don’t give students time, we communicate that only the quick right answer or superficial response is necessary.

Opportunities. Our lessons and assignments must be planned with the thinking in mind. What kind of thinking will students need to do to make sense of the content we are exploring? By regularly providing purposeful activities that require students to engage in thinking and the development of understanding as part of their ongoing experience of the classroom, we send the message that thinking is central to learning in our classroom.

Modeling. We need to model who we are as thinkers and learners so that the process of our thinking is discussed, shared, and made visible. Draw attention to the thinking of experts, fellow students, characters in books as models of thinking. When thinking is visible it becomes a model.

Language. A robust, rich, and specific language of thinking provides students with the vocabulary for describing and reflecting on their thinking. We use that language of thinking to notice, name, and highlight the thinking students are doing and draw attention to it. When we do so, we send the signal that we care about thinking.

Interactions. When teachers and students show a respect for and valuing of one another’s contributions of ideas and thinking, it cultivates a spirit of ongoing collaborative inquiry and a climate of safety and respect.

Expectations. Set an agenda of understanding and convey clear expectations for the thinking that is needed in completing tasks. Focus on the value for thinking and learning as outcomes as opposed to mere completion of “work.”

Environment. Make thinking visible by displaying the process of thinking and development of ideas. Arrange the space to facilitate thoughtful interactions and collaborations.

Mindset # 5: Learning is a consequence of thinking