Thinking
Canvas
bit.ly/thinkingcanvas
bit.ly/thinkingcanvas @charte
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Thinking Canvas
Thinking and learning are invisible processes that happen inside of a learner’s head. We can elicit this thinking and help to make it visible by designing proxies for learning; artefacts that are designed to show understanding to another person.
A Thinking Canvas is just that. A structured space with enough blank areas to invite learners to make their learning visible. The following canvases are some examples to start you thinking about the blank space you can make available to learners as a proxy for their thinking.
While some are classics; Venn Diagrams for example, other Thinking Canvases are perhaps less well known. There is also a whole section devoted to Harvard Project Zero Thinking Routines.
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Thinking Canvas
Google Slides are so much more than presentation software. In this deck, each slide is a Thinking Canvas with a specific purpose. I suggest that you utilise the power of Slides combined with Google Classroom to make a whole group’s learning visible and collaborative.
When you find a Thinking Canvas you like,
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Add notes here
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Scenario
I taste...
I smell...
I touch...
I see...
I hear...
Scene senses :
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A trench on the front in WWI
I taste...
I smell...
I touch...
I see...
I hear...
5 sense scenes :
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5 whys
Problem
Root Cause
why?
why?
why?
why?
why?
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Use this organiser to help learners generate questions on sticky notes at the start of a topic
Googleable questions are those which have factual answers
un-Googleable questions tend to be higher order and require learners to synthesise information and form their own understanding
Add your topic here
Add your topic here
If we only ask learners to research questions that are Googleable, then the only skill they are really learning is Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V. By making sure we ask a mix of Googleable and unGoogleable questions, i.e. questions which require us to synthesise and process information, we are ensuring our learners dive more deeply into any given topic. The next slide can be copied and distributed through Classroom so learners can generate their own questions at the start of a new topic (or at any time!)
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Plastics in the ocean
Plastics in the ocean
What would happen if all of the mangroves disappeared?
How many mangroves are there in Indonesia?
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Critique Hats
What do you really like?
What are the potential weaknesses?
How does it make you feel?
Do you have all the facts?
Do you have any creative suggestions?
What needs to happen next?
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Or even annotated arrows
Or we might create clusters of related...
We can look for connection flows
We can use colour to show clusters
We can add arrows
Hexagons are the best shape in the world
Some information may be discarded as being superfluous
They encourage learners to make links as they invite us to tessellate!
And even gradient to show colour links
To explain the links we have created at a conceptual level
..information
To read some more use cases, click here
This links to this
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Area of a circle
a=πxr2
Frank’s 12 inch margherita pizza costs $13
Frank’s 24 inch margherita pizza costs $26
Chris loves margherita pizza
Chris loves a bargain
Frank’s pizza dough is delicious
Circumference of a circle
c=2πxr
Chris has $26 to spend on pizza for his pizza party
The margherita pizza was invented on the 11th June 1889
Matt wants to buy two 12 inch pizzas
Chris and Matt are going to have 2 friends over for a pizza party
π= 3.14159265359…….
Pizza is the Italian word for Pie
“Should Chris buy 2 x 12 inch pizzas or 1 x 24 inch pizza?”
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Bilal a 17 ans. Il est né en Iraq et il est d’origine kurde.
Bilal est amoureux de Mina qui habite à Londres. Mina est irakienne.
Le port de Calais se trouve dans le nord de la France. C’est à 33 kilomètres de Douvres en Angleterre.
Il y a 2,1 millions de camions qui traversent la Manche pour aller en Angleterre chaque année.
Les douaniers protègent les frontières contre l'immigration illégale.
Un réfugié est une personne «craignant, avec raison, d'être persécutée …(qui) se trouve hors du pays dont elle a la nationalité...»
Le camp illégal où restent les sans papiers s'appelle <<La Jungle>>.
A cause des conflits en Irak et aux alentours, il y a énormément de réfugiés kurdes.
Bilal se trouve à Calais en tant qu’ <<étranger en situation irrégulière>>
La distance entre Baghdad et Calais à vol d’oiseau est d’environ 4000 kilomètres.
Bilal a traversé plusieurs pays à pied jusqu’à Calais.
Simon, ancien champion de natation, est maître-nageur à la piscine municipale de Calais.
La femme de Simon, Marion, est bénévole militante et vient de le quitter.
Pour impressionner Marion et essayer de la reconquérir, Simon prend le risque d'aider en secret Bilal.
Simon va, peu à peu, prendre conscience du sort réservé aux « migrants » comme on les appelle à Calais.
Bilal s’entraîne à nager avec Simon. Il veut pouvoir nager plus de 33 kilomètres.
Marion aide et défend la cause des réfugiés. Elle travaille pour une organisation caritative.
Les douaniers inspectent les camions avec un appareil qui détecte le C02 émis par les réfugiés cachés.
Bilal a peur d’avoir la tête couverte.
Il panique parce que l’Armée Turque l’a capturé et torturé en lui mettant un sac sur la tête pendant 8 jours.
Bilal veut jouer au foot pour Manchester United.
Pour éviter les détecteurs de C02 quand ils sont cachés dans les camions, les réfugiés se mettent un sac en plastique sur la tête.
Pourquoi Bilal, veut-il traverser la Manche à la nage?
Mina est obligée de se marier avec le cousin de son père à Londres.
On peut payer 500 euros aux <<passeurs>> pour traverser la Manche en cachette.
Après avoir essayé de traverser la Manche en camion, les autres <<sans papiers>> sont fâchés avec Bilal.
Les réfugiés qui ont moins de 18 ans ne sont pas renvoyés chez eux.
Pourquoi Bilal veut-il traverser la manche à la nage?
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Graphic Organisers
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The humble Venn diagram is a great way to help learners process the differences and similarities between two things.
We can prepare text boxes of characteristics which can be dragged and drop into the appropriate segment of the diagram
As an extension of learning, students can add additional characteristic text boxes and perhaps think about colour coding the boxes to reflect groups
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Lays eggs
Lives in water
Gives birth
Breathes air
Has gills to breathe
Fish vs Whale
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Use this organiser to analyse three different ideas/ concepts/ subjects. The analysis goes beyond a classic odd-one-out and looks at similarities and differences across multiple subjects.
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Use this organiser to analyse three different ideas/ concepts/ subjects. The analysis goes beyond a classic odd-one-out and looks at similarities and differences across multiple subjects.
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Name
Name
Name
Name
Participation Pie Chart
Use the lines below (or add your own) to divide up the pie to represent the level of participation of each member of your team. Add a name plate in each segment. Add a sticky note to describe what each person did.
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Solid
Liquid
Gas
Add energy
Add energy
Remove energy
Remove energy
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Cause
Effect
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This is a Diamond 9 Sort Template.
You can add 9 different cards with ideas, concepts, quotes etc
Learners then have to sort the cards into a hierarchy of importance; most important at the top
The least important card goes at the bottom. This is a great activity to force justifiable ordering.
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Task Chunk 3
Task Chunk 1
Task Chunk 2
Task Chunk 5
Task Chunk 4
To do | Doing | Needs Feedback | Acting on Feedback | Ready to Submit |
| | | | |
Project - Kanban Board
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To do | Doing | Needs Feedback | Acting on Feedback | Ready to Submit |
| | | | |
Project - Kanban Board
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Drag and Drop
Examples of using interactive drag and drop
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I can explain the socio-economic context of New York in the 1920s
I can think like an historian, using sources to understand others’ perspectives
I can use Google Slides to reflect on my learning
I can use a tool of my choice to demonstrate my learning (WeVideo/Slides/ Screencastify etc)
I can evaluate multiple sources to deepen my understanding of New York in the 1920s
I can create a powerful narrative of life in New York in the 1920s from one perspective
Are there any outcomes you personally want to work on? Add them in blue boxes
knowledge
set
mindset
skillset
toolset
self assessment
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knowledge
set
mindset
skillset
toolset
self assessment
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s
s
s
s
s
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s
s
s
s
s
u
a
e
a
e
a
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I
breathe
run
virus
You
We
He
She
They
shout
run
jump
jump
apple
school
home
sky
ground
friend
purple
lit
alive
quick
s
s
s
at
on
up
under
over
.
,
!
;
:
(
)
ground
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(from Hamlet, spoken by Hamlet)
To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end them. To die—to sleep,
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to: 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep, perchance to dream—ay, there's the rub:
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause—there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.
Thinking about life and death; to live or to die
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a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
o
p
q
r
s
t
u
v
w
x
y
z
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Thinking Canvas
Acknowledgements.
This work builds upon the shoulders of giants. Some of these thinking structures seem to belong to the intellectual ether and their origins are indefinable while others have built directly upon the work of others. I would like to especially acknowledge Harvard Project Zero who have so many freely available Thinking Routines upon which I have based Thinking Canvases.
Please use this resource freely and with impudence if it can help your learners make their thinking more visible.
If you have suggestions or want help using a Thinking Canvas I am but an email away; chris@unstucklearning.com @charte
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