The Thinking Classroom: Learning and Teaching in a Culture of Thinking

Going beyond the piecemeal approach of injecting thinking skills into existing classroom lessons or units, The Thinking Classroom shows how to transform the classroom, through a culture of thinking, into a place where the many aspects of high-level thoughts, skills, attitudes, values, and habits of mind are supported and encouraged by the learning environment. ISBN: 978-0205165087

Smart Schools: Better Thinking and Learning for Every Child

In this book, David Perkins draws on over twenty years of research which indicates that students from the first grade through college often have only the most superficial kind of knowledge even after considerable instruction in a subject. Here he reveals some commonly misguided strategies students use in trying to understand a topic, and why traditional-teaching approaches often fail. ISBN-13: 978-0028740188

Making Thinking Visible: How to Promote Engagement, Understanding, and Independence...

From the back cover:

How can classrooms become places of intellectual stimulation where learning is viewed not in test scores but in the development of individuals who can think, plan, create, question, and engage independently as learners? Making Thinking Visible offers educators research-based solutions for creating just such cultures of thinking. This innovative book unravels the mysteries of thinking and its connection to understanding and engagement. It then takes readers inside diverse learning environments to show how thinking can be made visible at any grade level and across all subject areas through the use of effective questioning, listening, documentation, and facilitative structures called "Thinking routines". These routines, designed by researchers at Project Zero at Harvard, scaffold and support one's thinking. By applying these processes, thinking becomes visible as learners' ideas are expressed, discussed, and reflected upon. Making Thinking Visible includes a DVD of instructive video clips featuring Visible Thinking strategies being applied in a variety of classrooms. ISBN: 978-0470915516

Creating Cultures of Thinking: The 8 Forces We Must Master to Truly Transform Our Schools

"Let's build dynamic learning communities that engage students, promote deep understanding, and sustain a lifetime of inquiry. Once again we are in the throes of curriculum reforms designed to transform education. However, these efforts generally neglect the vital role classroom and school culture play in promoting learning. Any curriculum, good or bad, will sink or float on the culture of the classroom in which it is enacted. Culture matters not only to realize curricular goals, but also as a shaper of students' development as powerful thinkers and learners. Creating Cultures of Thinking, written by leading Harvard University researcher Ron Ritchhart, builds the case for "enculturation" as the key to deep learning and the development of the habits of mind and dispositions needed in a changing world. He demystifies the process of creating dynamic learning communities by first identifying and then walking us through the eight forces we must marshal to build strong group culture. Case studies, practical guidelines, self-assessments, and inquiry projects enable teachers and administrators—as well as anyone interested in fostering group learning—to understand and shape powerful learning communities."

Slow Looking: The Art and Practice of Learning Through Observation

Slow Looking provides a robust argument for the importance of slow looking in learning environments both general and specialized, formal and informal, and its connection to major concepts in teaching, learning, and knowledge. A museum-originated practice increasingly seen as holding wide educational benefits, slow looking contends that patient, immersive attention to content can produce active cognitive opportunities for meaning-making and critical thinking that may not be possible though high-speed means of information delivery. Addressing the multi-disciplinary applications of this purposeful behavioral practice, this book draws examples from the visual arts, literature, science, and everyday life, using original, real-world scenarios to illustrate the complexities and rewards of slow looking. ISBN-13: 978-1138240407