5 EXPECTATIONS THAT HELP SHAPE A CULTURE OF THINKING

1 FOCUSING THE STUDENTS ON THE LEARNING VS. THE WORK

The metaphor of work — learning as work, students as workers, and classrooms as workplaces — is well entrenched
in our notions of schooling and education. Metaphors organize our experience and create realities. Thus, how one
frames a task often determines what one is likely to get out of it. When teachers and students focus their attention on
learning as the priority, letting the work exist in context and serve the learning, then work becomes a means to an end,
not an end in itself.

2 TEACHING FOR UNDERSTANDING VS. KNOWLEDGE

Understanding goes beyond merely possessing a set of skills or a collection of facts in isolation and requires that our
knowledge be woven together in a web of connections and relations. This web allows us to put ideas to use and see
the applicability of our skills in novel circumstances. Teaching for understanding is not school as usual. It requires
exploring a topic from many angles, building connections, challenging long-held assumptions, looking for applica-
tions, and producing what is for the learner a novel outcome.

3 ENCOURAGING DEEP VS. SURFACE LEARNING STRATEGIES

Surface strategies focus on memory and knowledge gathering, whereas deep strategies are those that help students
develop understanding. In designing any episode of learning, effective instructors tend to prompt their students to
employ certain modes of processing. this prompting can be done either explicitly as part of the assignment itself, as
with the use of thinking routines, or implicitly by signaling the use of what have become commonly expected modes
of processing within that learning group for completing such tasks.

4 ENCOURAGING INDEPENDENCE VS. DEPENDENCE

We want to develop independent learners who are internally motivated to be reflective, resourceful, and effective in
their learning efforts even when challenges arise. We want students who are self starters, can persevere, and who work
equally well within a group or alone. However, in our efforts to help students, we inadvertently foster dependence by
rescuing and depriving them of the opportunity to develop initiative and resilience. To tell if we are rescuing or encour-
aging independence, ask yourself: Who is doing the thinking in this encounter?

5 DEVELOPING A GROWTH VS. A FIXED MINDSET

How we view intelligence, ability, and talent often determines how we approach new learning situations. Do we view
intelligence as a fixed entity one is born with or as something that grows and develops over a lifetime through our
efforts? Students with a growth-mindset are more likely to frame challenges as opportunities to learn, whereas
students with a fixed mindset tend to give up and be defeated by challenge. Mindsets develop through the feedback
one receives in learning situations from teachers, mentors, and parents. Praise for effort helps to develop a growth
mindset, whereas praise of ability fosters a fixed mindset.

| Cultures of Thinking | pz.harvard.edu/projects/cultures-of-thinking