Philosophy: �Thinking Maps
28-02-2023
Journey of understanding thinking
Howard Gardner: Multiple intelligences
Matthew Lipman: Philosophy for Children
Edward de Bono: Lateral thinking and “six thinking hats”
Art Costa:
Multiple intelligences
Daniel Goleman: Emotional Intelligence
David Perkins:
“Smart Schools”
David Hyerle: Thinking Maps
Models of understanding thinking and learning
Education field
Theory, research, concrete applications
Thinking schools
The Grove Primary School
Benjamin Bloom: Taxonomy of Cognitive Objectives (revised)
Reuven Feuerstein: Instrumental Enrichment
David Hyerle – Thinking Maps
Dr. Hyerle earned a doctorate and bachelor’s at the University of California, Berkeley and has served as a visiting scholar at the Harvard School of Education.
After gaining his elementary and secondary teaching credentials from the Bay Area Writing Project and teaching in the Oakland and Berkeley public schools, David received his doctorate from UC Berkeley with continuing studies as an Exchange Scholar for two years at the Harvard School of Education. He is an international leader in the field of thinking skills development, critical reflection, and 21st century learning. His ground breaking book in the field of education–”Visual Tools for Constructing Knowledge” (ASCD, 1996)–focused on the comprehensive, researched based practices of how teachers facilitate creativity, analytical thinking, conceptual understanding, and “systems thinking” using visual tools. David has always attempted to integrate the fields of cognitive-neuroscience, high quality collaborative teaching and learning models, and assessment into the fabric of everyday classroom teaching. ASCD (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) honoured his work by distributing his visual tools book to over 120,000 educators worldwide. Recent published writings by David include insights into assessment, knowledge cartography (knowledge creation and transfer), visual representations of data and the direct facilitation of dispositions of thinking, or Habits of Mind (Costa and Kallick).
Thinking skills and Thinking Maps
Need for inclusion of content that has not historically been represented in the traditional school curriculum - global issues, financial literacy, health issues and environmental awareness
Need to support students to ‘transform information into knowledge’ (Hyerle, 2009)
New-generation learning and thinking skills: critical thinking and problem-solving, communication, creativity and innovation, collaboration, information and media literacy skills, and contextual learning …
Links perception, interpretation, cognitive transformations, and creativity - integrative
Inviting explicit thinking - knowing and thinking about thinking
A reflective thinker/learner is one who is independently and actively reflecting on both the process and the content of his/her learning
Students take ownership of learning
“construction of knowledge” as a framework for learning and “communities of learning” expressing the communal quality of the educational experience
Thinking Maps® is a language of eight visual patterns each based on a fundamental thought process. These patterns are used individually and in combination across every grade level and curriculum area as an integrated set of tools for life-long learning.
Language of mapping
A reflective thinker/learner is one who is independently and actively reflecting on both the process and the content of her learning
Cognitive-Neuroscience of the Brain, the Mind & Learning Theory
Neuroplasticity of brain: brain has a high degree of plasticity
brain development is dynamic
re-wiring all the time
Thinking maps encourage these things.
patterns
three cognitive processes
brain and mind processes represented in the Thinking Maps
categorization
sequencing.
These three cognitive processes link to other capacities
form the basis for each Thinking Map
brain is dominantly visual
generated from our perception of simple sequences
supports us in conducting causal reasoning
How does it translate to the classroom?
1. Takes time
Flow between maps – relating, linking, informing - combining
2. Common language and scaffold for ideas in classroom practice - meaningful and relevant to context
We need to help even very young children to recognise the thinking that their brains are doing and provide them with skills to recognize certain types of thinking and when each is needed.
3. Teacher quoted: “I had to unlearn the idea that teaching was about my content; I had to learn that it was about their thinking and their skills” (Trilling and Fadel, 2009, p39)
4. Clear and uniform pattern in which to capture information
Learning Modalities as represented through visual, auditory, and kinaesthetic modes of processing information
5. Process of co-constructing knowledge
Valuing students’ knowing and ideas
6. Peer learning – everybody able to participate
Term ‘constructivist conversations’ as an expression of how Thinking Maps become a new language for deepening conversations so that people come together through the maps, facing their own and each other’s thinking, “opening the space” for problem-solving and transforming the quality of thinking and learning (Larry Alper).
7. Students reflecting and reporting on their learning and thinking –– ‘ownership established’ - authentic assessment
Learning with them about their skills and knowledge
8. Widening scope of enquiry – ‘deeper enquiry’
Nurturing students to become equally adept in asking questions as they are in answering them
‘Ultimately, as the maps expand and integrate with words, number, and other symbols on a page … learners face the boundless nature of their own thinking. ‘
9. Personal thinking development, opportunities to refine teaching practice through reflection and
re-thinking processes.
Art Costa – School as the Home for the Mind
The school house is a place where we are
Teaching FOR thinking: school-wide and classroom conditions that support thinking development
Teaching OF thinking: instructing students in the skills and strategies of thinking directly and/or implementing thinking programs
Teaching ABOUT thinking: helping students become aware of their own and others’ thinking processes, brain research, and use in real-life situations and problem solving.