This document discusses how making student thinking visible through various tools and strategies can benefit teaching and learning. It provides examples of visual thinking tools like Venn diagrams, fishbone diagrams, and concentric circles that can show student thinking. Making thinking visible allows teachers to gain feedback from students, address complexity in instruction, and assess student learning. It also engages students and helps cement their understanding. The document discusses how visible thinking strategies can be incorporated into various subject areas like English, social studies, science, and arts.

1. Making Thinking
VISIBLE
Aloha Lavina
EDD 8113 CRN 50777
July 29, 2012

2. How do these artifacts SHOW
thinking?

3. Fishbone Diagram

4. Venn Diagram

5. Concentric Circles

6. Layers of Thought

7. Making Student Thinking
Visible
 Embedded in lessons as a way to know what students
are thinking.
 Address complexity in instruction.
 Can be used in individual or group settings.
 Inherently reflective.
 A form of assessment of student learning.

8. Why learn this skill?
 Feedback is one of the most important influences on
student learning (Hattie, 2009).
 The most powerful feedback is from student to
teacher (Hattie, 2009).
 Feedback from student to teacher is addressed when
teachers facilitate ways to make student thinking visible
to both the student and the teacher (Hattie, 2009).

9. Documenting Learning
 Visible thinking approaches learning by documenting or
SHOWING the thinking processes that students employ
as they learn.
 Documentation provides powerful, visible feedback to
students on their own progress.
 SEEING their learning invigorates student engagement
and active participation (Given, et al., 2010).

10. How can it impact classroom
practice?
 Nonthreatening way to prepare thinking for sharing to
the group (Nicolini, 2007).
 Nudges students to pay closer attention to class
materials while forming relationships between ideas
learned (Nicolini, 2007).
 Finding connections through visible thinking strategies
cements the learning in tangible ways.
 Makes visible decisions that students make as they
traverse complexities in the content.

11. How does it fit in various
subject areas?
 English example 1:
I used to think…but now I think…

12. How does it fit in various
subject areas?
 English example 2:

13. How does it fit in various
subject areas?
 Social Studies example:

14. How does it fit in various
subject areas?
 Science example:
Hormone use
according to
athletic
Hormone use benefits
coaches
according to doctors

15. How does it fit in various
subject areas?
 Arts example:
 Portfolio Reflection
What decisions did I make when I created this piece?
What were my reasons for each decision?
What was the result?
What would I do differently next time? Why?

16. One more visible thinking
diagram: reflect
North: Need to know…
West: Worried about… East: Excited
Compass Points about…
South: My stance is…

17. References
Given, H., &Kuh, L., &LeeKeenan, D., &Mardell, B., &Redditt, S., &Twombly, S. (2010). Changing school culture: Using
documentation to support collaborative inquiry. Theory Into Practice, 49, 36-46. doi 10.1080/00405840903435733
Greitz Miller, R. &Calfee, R.C. (2004). Making thinking visible. Science and Children, 20-25.
Hattie, J. (2009). Visible Learning; A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. London: Routledge.
Hattie, J. (2012). Visible Learning for Teachers; Maximing student impact on learning. London: Routledge.
Mardell, B., &Rivardi, M., &Krechevsky, M. (Jan 2012). The power of the group in a kindergarten classroom. Young Children,
12-19.
McLeelan, S. (2010). Pedagogical documentation as research in early mathematics. The Alberta Journal of Educational
Research, 56(1), 99-101.
Nicolini, M. B., (2007). Making thinking visible: Writing in the center. The Clearing House, 80(2), 66-69.
Olson, C. B. & Land, R. (2007). A cognitive strategies approach to reading and writing instruction for English language learners.
Research in the Teaching of English, 41(3), 269-303.
Stickney, J. A. (2009). Wittgenstein’s contextualist approach to judging ‘sound’ teaching: Escaping enthrallment in criteria-
based assessments. Educational Theory, 59(2), 197-215.
Tabatabaei, O. &Assefi, F. (2012). The effect of portfolio assessment technique on writing performance of EFL learners.
English Language Teaching, 5(5), 138-147. doi 10.5539/elt.v5n5p138
Whitebread, D., &Coltman, P., & Pasternak, D. P., & Sangster, C., &Grau, V., & Bingham, S., &Almeqdad, Q., &Demetriou, D.
(2009). The development of two observational tools for assessing metacognition and self-regulated learning in young
children. Metacognitive Learning, 4, 63-85.
Young, L. P. (2009). Rubrics that develop creativity. English Journal, 99(2), 74-79.