WHY THINKING MATTERS IN SCHOOLS

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"Learning is a consequence of thinking, not something extra we tack on for good measure but something in which we must actively engage to promote our own and other's learning."
- Ron Ritchhart, Creating Cultures of Thinking (2015)

Education researchers, policy makers and private enterprise all agree that, in addition to content knowledge, students in the 21st Century need to acquire particular skills to equip them for a modern world, one of which is the ability to think - and think well.
The Australian Curriculum, including the adapted NSW Syllabus, recognises the importance of the development of these skills through the general capabilities that are developed across the whole curriculum. These curriculum's are detailed and articulate clearly the critical and creative thinking skills that a child needs to develop as they progress through school. How and where these skills are taught remains the decision of the school (ACER Teacher Magazine, 2015).

As educators, we want students to become proficient with the kinds of thinking they can use to develop their own understanding of things. For example, we want students in our schools to:

• Ask questions, identify puzzles, and wonder about the mysteries and implications of the objects and ideas of learning.
• Make connections, comparisons, and contrasts between and among things - including connections within and across the discipline as well as with one's own prior knowledge.
• Build ongoing and evolving explanations, interpretations, and theories based on one's ever-developing knowledge and understanding.
• Examine things from different perspectives and alternative points of view to discern bias and develop a more balanced take on issues, ideas and events.
• Notice, observe and look closely to fully perceive details, nuances and hidden aspects and to observe what is really going on as the foundational evidence for one's interpretations and theories.
• Identify, gather, and reason with evidence to justify and support one's interpretations, predictions, theories, arguments, and explanations.
• Delve deeper to uncover the complexities and challenges of a topic and look below the surface of things, recognising when one has only a surface understanding.
• Be able to capture the core or essence of a thing to discern what it is really all about.

(Ritchhart, 2015)

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HOW CAN WE MAKE THINKING VISIBLE?

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1. QUESTIONING: Teachers can ask questions that model our interest in the ideas being explored; help students to construct understanding; and facilitate the illuminations of students' own thinking to themselves. Good questions, that is, questions that drive learning, don't come from some prescribed list or set of guidelines; they arise in response to students' contributions.
2. LISTENING: Listening conveys a sense of respect for and interest in learner's contributions. Good questions arise in response to students' contributions - "It is one thing to ask good questions, but one also has to listen for the answers." As teachers, our listening to students provides a model for our students of what it means to listen.​

    3.  DOCUMENTING: Trying to capture the conversations, events, questions, acts; as a basis for reflecting on 
        one's learning and considering as an object for discussion. The process of documenting must serve
        to Advance Learning (over time) not just capture it. When teacher's capture students ideas, they are
        signalling that those ideas and thoughts have value and are worthy of continued exploration and
        examination. Documenting learning is a process that makes thinking about learning processes visible,
        meaningful, shareable and amplified. It facilitates student-driven leaning, helping students to reflect on
​        and articulate their own learning processes

When deep learning experiences are visible, valued and involve students directly in the documentation process, it enables them to identify moments worth remembering (Rosenthal Tolisano and Hale (2018)

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HOW DOES JOHN HATTIE'S WORK ABOUT VISIBLE LEARNING RELATE TO RITCHHART'S 8 CULTURAL FORCES?

Learning is a process, not an event. Some things students only understand at the surface level, which is perfectly fine. You have to know something in order to be able to do something with it. With appropriate scaffolding and instruction on how to relate and extend ideas, surface learning becomes deep understanding. Deep understanding is important if students are going to set their own expectations and monitor their own achievements.

Learning demands that learners be able to

• apply
• transfer

their knowledge, skills and strategies to new situations.
-Fisher, Frey & Hattie (2016)