What Influenced my thinking as an Educator?
- Creating a Culture of Thinking: The classroom environment should be uplifting, valued, visible, and actively promoted by the teacher. Consistent routines are essential in building this culture. The teacher should model thoughtful behavior, fostering a reflective, inquisitive, and independent mindset in learners over time (Ritchhart & Church, 2020, pp. 25-28). This can be achieved by demonstrating curiosity and facilitating discussions.
- Engagement and Empowerment: Encouraging students to demonstrate their thinking and learning process increases their active engagement. This recognition fosters their ability to think independently and engage in deeper cognitive processes. As students share their thoughts, ideas, and questions, they enhance classroom dialogue, making learning more interactive and collaborative (Ritchhart & Church, 2020, pp. 10-12). This can be achieved through reflection, assessment, and mutual sharing.
- Routines for thinking: Routines are designed to help students develop a strong foundation for thinking and make their thought processes more visible. These routines encourage reflection and establish a connection to their thinking. The 3 WHYs are particularly important to remember, as they can provide a helpful outline for students. Consequently, students develop a more robust conceptual framework and are better equipped to apply their knowledge in various contexts (Ritchhart & Church, 2020, pp. 15-18). This can be achieved through activities like think-pair-share.
Making Thinking Visible Strategy in the Classroom
In our STEM room, where students frequently encounter new material with no prior knowledge, this thinking strategy proved to be an excellent complement to experimental design. See-Think-Wonder enhances their observation skills. Our learning objectives for this lesson were: Students will enhance critical thinking and reflection skills regarding the nervous system .Students will create doodle notes to visually express their understanding of motor neurons.
For example, we began the Smart Signals unit that covers the Nervous System. We began our study of motor neurons using the See-Think-Wonder strategy. To implement this, I set up a flow chart with the following questions: What do you see? What do you think about that? What does it make you wonder? This approach worked well in guiding students through their observations and reflections. I had them create doodle notes using the See-Think-Wonder and had them glue it in their notebooks – this helped further advance what they saw and work on observation skills.
- Introduction: Begin with a brief introduction to the nervous system and its components. Discuss the importance of motor neurons in transmitting signals.
- See-Think-Wonder Activity: I presentrf students with an image of a motor neuron. Distribute flowchart templates and explain the See-Think-Wonder framework. I guided students through the three phases: See: Ask students to observe the picture and write down what they saw (e.g., structure, labels). Instruct students to create doodle notes based on their See-Think-Wonder responses. I encouraged creativity by giving color pencils and showed them other doodle notes. Think: Have students reflect on their observations and write down their thoughts about what they see (e.g., functions of parts). Wonder: Encourage students to jot down questions or curiosities they have about motor neurons.
- Group Discussion: I facilitated a class discussion where students share their observations, thoughts, and wonders. Write key points on the board.
Making Thinking Visible alignment with TCE Threshold
Creating a culture of thinking aligns with teachers and students engage in critical consciousness. When thinking is made visible, students become more aware of their thought processes. By engaging in activities that require them to articulate their thoughts and reasoning, students develop a critical lens. This critical lens shows how they view their education and the world around them. This is crucial for the type of classroom I run. With it being a science subject and hands on, I have to make sure the students I teach understand not only real-world solutions, but teaches them to become critical thinkers outside of my classroom. The students at my school do not get to travel or understand the power they can create in or out of their community.
Engagement and Empowerment align with both teachers and students have empowerment/agency. When students are encouraged to share their thoughts, ask questions, and participate in discussions, they take on an active role in the classroom/discussions. This active participation fosters a sense of ownership and agency, as students feel their contributions are valued and impactful. This inclusivity helps to create an equitable classroom environment where all voices are heard and respected. This is important in my class, especially after following the years of COVID. Students have learned to not speak and hide behind computers, teaching them skills such as speech can be very impactful while also giving them confidence in the room.
I love your explanation and implementation of “see-think-wonder.” I understand that your students are younger than mine, and you’re working in science, but this gave me a great idea for working to understand political cartoons. Students of mine, similar to yours, struggle with observation, they tend to miss important details, and, jump straight to making inferences. I think this strategy would be useful in helping them slow down, and genuinely THINK about what they’re looking at. I have not used doodle notes with my high schoolers, but I often ask them to present their learning in different ways to deepen their knowledge, so I think this would be interesting to try as well. Students tend to be reluctant to change, but I hope that since they’re all involved in this thinking strategy, it encourages participation. Thank you for your detailed description of your activity, as it has given me plenty of ideas.
Amanda, one thing that I really liked is how you encouraged your students to be createtive and use colored pencils. So many teachers would not take the extra step of getting that material out, even though it only takes a few seconds. I also like how you integrated the See-Think-Wonder strategy into your lesson on the nervous system and motor neurons. It seems like it was an effective strategy for guiding your students through their observations and then their reflections. One thing I am curious about is how your students responded to creating a doodle. Did you notice any improvements or changes in their understanding?
I loved how you used the See-Think-Wonder strategy with doodle notes! That is such a fun way for students to record their notes and make observations, this is definitely something I’d like to try when teaching science units in particular. Having students use doodle notes makes it more accessible for ELs to record their thoughts if they are struggling to record their writing in English, which is wonderful. Have you considered doing it in a digital format, such as through Padlet or something similar?
Thanks for sharing, Amanda! I love how you incorporated the See-Think-Wonder strategy with your motor neuron lesson. It’s such a great way to encourage students to think critically and reflect deeply, especially in a subject like STEM where they’re often working with new material. The flow chart and doodle notes idea is brilliant. It seems like a really effective way to reinforce learning and make their thinking visible in a creative way. How did the students respond to the doodle notes? Do you think they gained a better understanding of the nervous system by using this method?
Thanks for the reply.
They had been introduced to doodle notes before, so they were comfortable with them, and it encouraged them to add more during note-taking. I truly loved it for the strategy because not only could they write words, but they could express their thinking with coloring. Some students went into detail with their drawings and successfully replicated the motor neuron. It was a great introduction.