Power of the Post-it

Making thinking visible is one of the best strategies for science classrooms.

Whether it’s checking for comprehension after reading an academic journal or having a discussion revolving around if viruses are alive, this strategy does it all.

Making thinking visible has many advantages

• Engages students by having them physically doing something (moving to corners of the room, writing on a white board or placing post-it notes in different parts of the room)
• Facilitates discussions by the inclusion of everyone (quiet students have no problem writing on a post-it note)
• Encourages abstract thinking
• Activates Collaboration skills
• Students must justify their responses
• Students critically think about what other students responses are

Overall, making thinking visible ensures that all of the students in the classroom have their voices heard, it makes cognitive processes tangible and motivates students to use higher order thinking, which are all GREAT things!

Here are three strategies that I feel are excellent methods to use in the classroom

#1 – Explanation Game

1. Get an object (like the one below) or a phenomena and have students try to individually write down observations and a name for that object or phenomena
2. (If this is a phenomena, like a demonstration, perform it now)
3. Have the students, in their groups, try to explain what happened. They can come up with as many possible explanations as possible
4. Have students justify their explanations with reasons
5. Press the students for other possible explanations for the object or phenomena

I think that this would be an especially rich method because the students are making observations and coming up with hypotheses about what is taking place (in the case of a demo) or what the object is (if you are presenting an object to the class.

#2 – Concept Maps

This would be done close to the end of a unit

1. Ask the students to generate a list of words or key ideas from the unit
2. Have the students get together in groups and sort these words (could work really well on chart paper or flashcards)
3. Students will then connect these terms with lines
4. Students will then justify their connections with connecting phrases such as “leads to”, “inhibits” or “increases the production of”
5. Have students present their list of words with their connections and their justifications

I believe that this is a powerful making thinking visible activity because it challenges students to engage with the vocabulary in a deeper way. By doing this activity, they are demonstrating that they can manipulate, connect and explain vocabulary and their relatedness to other key concepts in the unit.

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#3 – Microlab

1. Split students up into groups of three and tell them what key idea or topic you would like them to discuss during this discussion (ex. if viruses are living)
2. Each student in the group will share their thoughts one at a time (for an assigned time) about the topic with their other two group members
3. In-between each student, allow for 20-30 seconds of reflection/digestion time
4. Open the discussion with the groups of three students (all the students can talk freely with one another). Encourage students to make connections with what their peers stated.

This is an outstanding making thinking visible strategy because it really pushes students to take a stand about the topic and put themselves out there. The students must make a claim and back it up with reasoning and evidence. The students are also practicing active listening and reflection time. They are also working on their collaboration skills and how to properly disagree with someone who believes differently than you. Very Mr. Rodgers.

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I believe that Making Thinking Visible is an excellent tool to have in your teaching toolbox and I would encourage all teachers to learn about different strategies to implement. I remember doing some of these in high school and I really enjoyed those days. Those were the days where I felt the most engaged and active with the content as well as my peers.

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Citation: Ritchhart, R., Morrison, K., & Church, M. 2011. Making Thinking Visible: How to Promote Engagement, Understanding, andIndependence for All Learners.