Fifth field of action: Making thinking visible

We learn by thinking (Perkins 1992) about societal issues. It is therefore important to make learners think about societal issues and to make their disposition to think visible. This means that not only thinking processes are made visible, but also knowledge, sensitivity and motivation.

But how can thinking be made ‘visible’? It can be achieved

– by using the language of thinking (in spoken and written language)

– by visualising (making visible to the eye)

Examples of how thinking can be made visible are the Djapo visual thinking tools, the thinking routines of Project Zero, the ‘thinking maps’ of David Hyerle and many other conceptual structures such as mind mapping, relationship circles, etc.

By making thinking visible

– pupils feel more involved on the basis of their own interests and the desire to take action may grow;

– as a result, the pupils actively shape the learning community together with the teacher;

– more opportunity is created for formative assessment, as it enables dialogue between pupil and teacher about the learning process itself; thinking dispositions are developed because we give pupils the message that thinking itself is valued. Pupils thus become more motivated to develop and use their thinking dispositions (Ritchhart & Church 2020).

– metacognitive disposition is strengthened, and therefore the disposition to know how to look for an answer. This increases the disposition to think and to learn.

We explore these two ways of making thinking processes visible, below.

The language of thinking (Costa & Kallick 2008)

Identifying and stimulating your disposition for thinking through spoken and written language is a powerful way of making thinking visible. Developing a language of thinking is ideally a process that teachers and pupils go through together, making sense of all the elements that make up the disposition to think. Once the disposition to think has acquired language and meaning, it can be recognised and named. By then discussing the context and purpose of the thinking processes, we create a powerful learning environment in which to develop our thinking dispositions. The language of thinking thus expresses not only the thinking processes themselves, but also the context in which they are applied and their ultimate goal: to provide choice, analysis, a set of options, a list of pros and cons, or an opinion.

By using the language of thinking at school, pupils learn the value of thinking together and of learning from that process. The language of thinking is in this way a medium for creating a thinking culture. A thinking culture in which the language of thinking comes to the fore can be recognised by four actions: questioning, reflecting, valorising and paraphrasing.

– Asking questions that stimulate thinking These are questions that probe learners’ knowledge and understanding, probe the thinking processes they have used, or ask them to apply their knowledge and understanding in other contexts. Less relevant here are ‘absolute’ questions (where the pupil is expected to give an answer that the teacher sees as ‘correct’) and rhetorical questions.

– Reflection is important in assessing which thinking processes have been applied when, in what context, in what combination and how effectively. It is crucial to be able to express reflection in words.

– Valorising through specific feedback. Pupils’ disposition to think are stimulated by evaluating an answer, regardless of whether it is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. By identifying what is right and what is wrong, the answer is valorised and the development of the disposition to think is stimulated. This cannot be done without thinking.

– Paraphrasing a learner’s answer, not only valorises their thinking, but also stimulates them to think further. For this, the teacher’s disposition to listen is essential.

Example:

– You choose to focus on the systemic disposition of pupils. You want to explicitly provide pupils with opportunities to develop this disposition through the design of your ESD experimental environment.

– You choose a manageable number of thinking processes that are important for you to develop with your learners. For example: making connections, asking questions and describing.

– Together with your learners you explore the meaning of these concepts (making connections, asking questions, describing). You explore not only what they can mean, but also when learners use them in everyday life at home and at school, what they are used for, when they are used and when they are not, who uses them often and in what context. You try to be alert as a group, noticing when someone in the class applies these concepts, and being aware of interesting opportunities to further apply them. This is how you build a common language of thinking together.

Thinking routines as devised by Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (Ritchhart, Church & Morrison 2011) (Ritchhart & Church 2020) are a very effective way of stimulating thinking through the use of the language of thinking.

These are well-defined sequences of specific thinking processes, each of which serves a particular purpose: to enhance understanding, stimulate creativity, explore themes, build argumentation, etc. Thinking routines, even more than fixed thinking strategies, build a thinking culture in the school. A shared language of thinking is an important medium here. Thinking routines in themselves are a good starting point for further development in the school community.

Visualisation

Thinking can be visualised, by which we mean made visible to the eyes. This is interesting from an educational point of view, because visualisations show at a glance what is going on in the heads of learners. This makes it easier to design tailor-made learning activities that match the level of learners’ learning processes. The learners themselves can also gain insight into their own thinking through visualisations. We point to two types of visualisation.

– Visualising can be done by documenting the pupils’ investigations in order to discuss them afterwards. This can be done with the help of aids like video and photographic material, portfolios, drawings, notes and diagrams on a whiteboard or large sheet of paper. Pupils and teachers can use these aids for review, or as a basis for telling others about their investigations. Parents, for example, form a particularly interesting audience in kindergarten contexts. But documentation can also be used simply as a window into what is going on among the learners at that moment, what insights and knowledge are available to them and what questions have arisen. – Visualising can also be done by using visual thinking tools. These are graphic tools that connect standalone information and knowledge into a meaningful, dynamic whole by applying at least one fundamental thinking process. These visualisation tools are closely related to documenting, but we identify them separately because they do something that the above-mentioned documentation method does not - they portray certain thinking processes very specifically. Well-known examples are mind maps and relationship circles. Djapo’s visual thinking tools are also designed to build knowledge and understanding together with others, to rediscover or structure already-acquired information, to share ideas and experiences, to give meaning and to engage in dialogue with others.

For Djapo’s visual thinking tools see: www.djapo.be