Creating Cultures of Thinking: Investigating the Forces that Shape Culture

LOCATION: Online
COST: $295 per individual on teams of 3-5 people. $375 for individuals without a team who will be placed on virtual teams. Late registration: $325 & $405.
DATE(S): March 06, 2023 to April 02, 2023
REGISTER BY: February 14, 2023
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Event Details

Often, when we think of effective teaching, good planning and instructional design come to mind. Yet effective teaching requires more than that; it also requires attention to the culture of the classroom in which those plans and designs are to be carried out. But how do we create culture? How do we shape and mold it so that it supports students’ development as thinkers and learners capable of deep learning? The “Cultures of Thinking” framework offers us eight forces for building culture that we can use as levers for transforming our classrooms and schools. This course offers a guided exploration into four of those forces: modeling, opportunities, interactions, and environment. Through this exploration you will look critically at your own teaching while acquiring new tools, practices, and principles that will help you enhance your classroom culture and promote the deep learning of your students. Although this course builds off of the introductory course, it is not a prerequisite. The weekly investigations and discussion with your teams will be a supportive platform from which educators at all level of experience can benefit.


Course Designers & Instructor

Co-Designer & Instructor: Ron Ritchhart has been a researcher at Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Education since 1994. His research focuses on understanding how to develop, nurture, and sustain thoughtful learning environments for both students and teachers. His interest in “cultures of thinking” has led him to conduct research in such areas as intellectual character, mindfulness, thinking dispositions, teaching for understanding, creativity in teaching, and the development of communities of practice.

Ron's research is classroom and school-based, believing that teaching is a complex art and science that must be understood in context. A strong theme of learning from best practice runs throughout much of Ron’s work. On many of the projects on which Ron has worked, he has produced videos of best practices related to teaching for understanding, creative and innovative teaching, and the use of thinking routines.

Prior to joining the Project Zero research group, Ron taught for fourteen years. He began his teaching career in New Zealand teaching 35 six- and seven-year-olds in a state school in Christchurch as part of a teaching internship program. From there he taught art in Indiana before moving to Denver, Colorado where he taught third and fourth grade. Frustrated with the way he was teaching mathematics, Ron pursued a mathematics education degree and later taught middle school mathematics. In 1993 he received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Secondary Mathematics Teaching.

Ron earned his Ed.D. degree (2000) in human development and psychology from Harvard University. Ron's research on how teachers create thoughtful learning environments that support the development of students' intellectual character was the basis for his book: Intellectual Character: What it is, Why it matters, How to get it. His framework for understanding group culture detailed has been influential in shaping education in schools and museums throughout the world. His new book, Making Thinking Visible, explores how teachers around the world have been using the ideas of Ron and his colleagues at Project Zero to improve students’ learning.

Prior to attending Harvard, he earned a Master of Arts degree (1990) in curriculum and instruction from the University of Colorado at Denver, and a Bachelor of Science degree in education from Indiana University.

Co-Design & Instructor: Mark Church works with schools throughout the world wishing to create cultures of thinking in their classrooms. He believes in the difference teachers can make for students when they strive to make thinking visible, valued, and actively promoted as part of the day-to-day experience of their learners. Mark encourages teachers to become students of their students, and more broadly, students of themselves and the choices they make to leverage the power of making thinking visible.

Mark is currently a consultant with Harvard Project Zero's Making Thinking Visible and Cultures of Thinking initiatives, drawing upon his own classroom teaching experience and from the perspectives he has gained working with educators throughout the world. Together with Ron Ritchhart, Mark is co-author of the book Making Thinking Visible: How to Promote Engagement, Understanding, and Independence for All Learners (Jossey-Bass, 2011) and The Power of Making Thinking Visible: Practices to Engage and Empower All Learners (Jossey-Bass, 2020).

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