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Aug 28, 2024 · What is Building Thinking Classrooms? The Building Thinking Classrooms framework is a collection of 14 teaching practices developed by Peter Liljedahl over 15 years of research. When implemented in concert, these practices are designed to increase student thinking and improve math learning.
A thinking classroom looks very different from a typical classroom. Students are working in groups rather than individually, they are standing rather than sitting, and the furniture is arranged so as to defront the room.
- Classroom Culture of Thinking. Create a classroom culture that values thinking, learning, and intellectual development. Start with thinking tasks that are separate from your curriculum.
- Opportunities to Think in Groups. Provide opportunities for students to think and engage in meaningful group learning experiences. The Thinking Classroom practices emphasize “visibly random groups” that change frequently.
- Vertical and Non-permanant Workspaces. You may have noticed that the traditional method of having students sit at their desks and take notes is only sometimes the best way to promote active thinking in your classroom.
- Room Layout. Research has shown that traditional, front-facing classrooms promote passive learning. At the same time, a more flexible, de-fronted setup—where students are free to face any direction—can be much more effective in promoting active thinking and engagement.
Mar 5, 2023 · A Thinking Classroom is built on 14 practices, many of which were developed by looking at what was already happening in typical classroom, doing the exact opposite, and seeing what happened. Some of the key practices are summarized below.
- Use Artful Thinking Routines
- Close Reading of An Art Composition
- Cooperative Poetry
- Using Ekphrasis Poetry as A Visual Thinking Strategy
- One Word Focal Points
- Collaborative Narrative
- Sketch to Write
- Art Recipe
- Haibun Poems
- Human Slide Show
Teaching with the Artful Thinkingroutines is one of the best strategies for engaging and motivating students to learn.Studies show that approximately 65% of our students are visual learners. Why not help students develop deeper understanding of the content by tapping into this phenomenon? You will not only get kids talking excitedly about it with e...
You could have students use an activity that involves creating poetry in response to a close “reading” of an artwork. For example, look at one of the “veil” paintings— an abstract-expressionist color-field painting that artist, Morris Louis created by pouring paint in layers on a canvas. In small groups of five to eight, the docent asked us to look...
In this activity, small groups of students construct original poetry. Poems are written by combining individual student’s responses to a selected painting, sculpture, photograph, portrait, image, or artifact with their classmates’ responses. Each student, in a group of 4-8 students, reacts to an art piece by independently writing one line of poetry...
Ekphrasisis a way to vividly offer a verbal description of a piece of visual art. It can be either real or imagined and often appears as a form of poetry. Here are 3 more ideas for making thinking visible through Ekphrasis.
One Word Focal Points is another hands-on activity that has students looking at and physically combining text and image. This strategy builds on the one-word idea of the previous strategy. As an example, look at artwork by Ed Ruscha. This is an artist who experimented with words as part of the art form. Many of Ruscha’s pieces depict single words a...
The next two making thinking visible strategies – Collaborative Narrativeand Sketch to Write– involve “pass the paper” activities. This is a good way to offer students the opportunity to be a part of the writing process but still be comfortable with giving up some control over the outcome. First, let’s start with Collaborative Narrative. Here are t...
Sketch to Write is perhaps the most literal strategy for making thinking visible. In this activity, we’re not focused on the quality of the sketch itself. It’s more about showing what students are thinking or learning. There are two versions to this: using images and using language as a prompt for the sketch. 1.Sketching with Images: Sixty Second S...
There are a number of other good activities for practicing descriptive (detail) writing with art that are quick. One that always intrigues students is called Art Recipe. The activity combines a sequencing exercise along with practice in identifying details. It involves a close observation of a 3-D artwork, such as a contemporary sculpture. It works...
A haibunis a form of Japanese poetry that combines imagery in prose and a haiku poem. Traditionally, it was written while traveling to record personal experiences. However, we can use it to record any scene or special moment in a highly descriptive manner. Simply, in a few short sentences- typically five. The description is then followed by a relat...
This activity is great for demonstrating sequencing and summarization. It comprises a series of tableaux staged to show a series of events or related ideas. A tableauis a silent group of students in frozen action: the students communicate a key moment or idea by creating a composition through body language and facial expression just like characters...
As mentioned, a thinking classroom is a classroom that is not only conducive to thinking but also occasions thinking, a space that is inhabited by thinking individu- als as well as individuals thinking collectively, learning together and constructing
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In this chapter I first introduce the notion of a thinking classroom and then present the results of over ten years of research done on the development and maintenance of thinking classrooms.
