Visible Thinking With Mark Church at AISL

​All AISL teachers and teaching assistants recently participated in a two-day workshop with Mr. Mark Church on Making Thinking Visible, which is part of an initiative at Harvard’s Project Zero. Founded in 1967, Project Zero is a Harvard-based research centre that explores issues in education connected to deep thinking, understanding, and creativity, among other topics. 

Mark Church modelled a number of thinking routines, which are strategies teachers can use to scaffold and support student thinking. By applying the routines, thinking becomes visible as learners' ideas are expressed, discussed, and reflected upon regularly. These routines promote the various kinds of thinking that we want our students to develop, including making connections, reasoning with evidence, forming conclusions, and observing closely, among other skills. Not only does employing these strategies cultivate students’ thinking, but it also deepens subject-area content learning.

In addition to learning about visible thinking in the classroom, Mr. Church also explored aspects of “classroom culture” with teachers and shared ways to enhance this environment. Classroom culture comprises elements such as time, routines, expectations, interactions, and language. Teachers learned about how to pay closer attention to these elements to optimise the environment for learning.

Visible Thinking aligns perfectly with the MYP Approaches to Learning (ATLs). Thinking skills are paramount if we want to prepare our students to be successful now, at university, and in later life.

On Tuesday 17 March, Ingrid Turner, Terry Maguire, Leslie Jeffrey, and Julie Baldry will be facilitating a workshop for parents interested in learning more about Visible Thinking as a way to promote deeper critical thinking with their children at home.

Please click here for more information about Visible Thinking.