This chapter discusses the importance of putting thinking at the center of education rather than simply delivering content to passive learners. It argues that teachers should focus on identifying key concepts for students to actively engage with, question, and build understanding of, rather than just absorbing materials. Learning occurs through thinking and sense-making, so teachers' goals should be creating opportunities for thinking and making students' thinking visible. Making thinking visible allows teachers to see students' understanding and misconceptions, and gives students insights into their own and others' learning processes. It is an ongoing part of effective teaching.

1. Chapter 2: Putting Thinking at the
Center of the Educational Enterprise
Key Points

2. REALITY
● we are delivering the prescribe curriculum to the students
focusing on the methods of delivering content
● Puts the focus on the teacher and not the learner
● Learner is cast in a passive role and assumes that learning is
taking in what has been delivered creating distorted view that
teaching is self-reinforcing and divorced from what we know
about supporting effective learning
● Effectiveness is judged via absorption of materials and teaching
as the delivery thus producing effective test takers than
successful learners

3. WHAT MUST WE DO?
● If it is learner centered, then teachers shifts to fostering students’
engagement with ideas
● Teachers must identify key ideas and concepts that we want our
learners to engage, struggle, question, explore and build
understanding
● Learning has a lasting impact and powerful influence not only in
short term but long term haul
● THEY WILL NOT ONLY LEARN, THEY LEARN HOW TO LEARN

4. LEARNING and THINKING
Learning occurs as a result of our thinking and active sense making
TWO CHIEF GOALS OF A TEACHER
1. Create opportunities for thinking - we establish both the context and
making thinking visible
2. Making students thinking visible
They are synergistic and interdependent
● Learning is a consequence of thinking
Learning experiences = Retention, understanding, and active use of
knowledge
● Teacher reduces the amount of thinking we ask our students = less

5. How visibility serve both learning and teaching?
Making thinking visible =
● See how they are understanding it
● Give students insights and misconceptions
● On going component of effective teaching
Teachers inattention to students thinking = ingrained misconceptions
and superficial learning
● On going mental work of understanding new ideas and
information

6. How visibility serve both learning and teaching?
● Modelling
● Students need to see how others plan, monitor, and challenge
their own thinking
● Students need to see that all learners make mistakes
● Learning often occurs from reflecting on those mistakes
● Develop the habits of mind and thinking dispositions

7. How do we make it visible?
1. Questioning
2. Modeling an interest in ideas - ask authentic questions
3. Constructing understanding- connect ideas to make
interpretations, focus on big ideas and extend it
4. Facilitating and clarifying thinking - what makes you say that?, try
to understand students’ thinking
5. Listening - basis of the learning relationship that teachers seek to
form with students
6. Documenting - recording = sense of ownership