Cognition, Thinking & Understanding

Cultures of Thinking Student Recording Sheets

A set of worksheets for students to evaluate their own thinking and rationale in a CoT classroom.

The Theory of Multiple Intelligences: As Psychology, As Education, As Social Science

A reflective paper (2011) by Howard Gardner about MI Theory and the ways in which it was developed and has changed since it's initial conception.

10 Ideas to Start Building a Culture of Thinking at Your School

10 detailed activities designed to promote Cultures of Thinking, where a group’s collective as well as individual thinking is valued, visible, and actively promoted.

The Nature of Scientific Thinking Lessons Designed to Develop Understanding of the Nature

From the background: Students in many science classrooms are presented with the scientific method as the fundamental plan scientists use to gain their understandings. Scientists throughout history have come to their conclusions in a variety of ways, not always following such a specific method. Interestingly, even when scientists do use the scientific method, they rarely use it in the stereotyped, step-by-step way that schools tend to teach it. This is a curricular unit that helps students understand why and how scientists think through their process.

Accountability in Three Realms: Making Learning Visible Inside and Outside the Classroom

Abstract: This article describes the changing culture of a public school as members of its community explore new ways of being accountable to progressive ideals in an age of skills-based learning and standardized testing. Using documentation makes adult and student learning visible in and outside the classroom, supporting three forms of accountability: (a) accountability to self (looking at what one intended to teach in relation to what actually happened); (b) accountability to each other (contributing to collective learning as well as one's own); and (c) accountability to the larger community (evaluating the relationship between the school's mission and classroom practice). Documentation leads to more intentional and reflective teaching, provides evidence of student learning not represented by standardized tests, and supports the development of a school's identity. The authors conclude that documentation, although not a replacement for standardized tests, is a versatile tool that blurs the line between formative and summative assessment.