TOPIC 5:

ORGANIZING CURRICULA AROUND THINKING AND CONCEPTUAL

UNDERSTANDING

THINKING CURRICULUM
Thinking curricula is based on "new" ways of thinking about learning, treat both content
and processes differently. Content includes concepts, principles, generalizations,
problems, facts, definitions, etc. Process includes learning strategies and skills, creative
and critical thinking, thinking about thinking (metacognition), social skills, and so on.

The Thinking Curriculum works through teaching children to think in a variety of ways. It
is about thinking within an active learning environment that captures student
enthusiasm and draws them into being responsible for their own learning. It involves
looking at, investigating and using the traits, behaviors and habits exhibited by
successful individuals.

Given the importance of these characteristics for our conception of a "thinking

curriculum," we briefly review them here. Knowledgeable learners acquire a substantial
and organized body of knowledge which they can use fluently to make sense of the
world, solve problems, and make decisions. They can also evaluate the limitations of
their knowledge and their perspectives on the world. Self-determined learners feel
capable and continually strive to acquire and use the tools they need to learn. Strategic
learners have a repertoire of thinking and learning strategies that they use with skill and
purpose to think about and control their own learning and guide their learning of new
content. Finally, empathetic learners are able to view themselves and the world from
perspectives other than their own, including perspectives of people from different
cultural backgrounds. A major goal of restructuring in general and thinking curricula in
particular is to develop these qualities in all students.

Traditional curricula often do not promote these qualities. Current curricula in subject
areas such as science and social studies frequently attempt to cover as much content as
possible, regard all content as equal, and divide content into artificial categories that
bear little relationship to how individuals use content in the world beyond school.
Furthermore, students' attitudes about subject matter, and the skills and strategies they
need to learn it, are rarely addressed. Often, traditional curricula emphasize isolated,
low-level skills, to the neglect of meaningful content and higher-order thinking,
especially when dealing with lower-achieving students. In contrast, thinking curricula,
based on "new" ways of thinking about learning, treat both content and processes
differently. Content includes concepts, principles, generalizations, problems, facts,
definitions, etc. Process includes learning strategies and skills, creative and critical
thinking, thinking about thinking (metacognition), social skills, and so on. In the next
section, we describe some characteristics of a thinking curriculum.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE THINKING CURRICULUM

The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) publication,

Toward the Thinking Curriculum: Current Cognitive Research (1989), reviewed much of
the research underlying the thinking curriculum. Lauren Resnick, who edited the
volume, coined the term "the thinking curriculum." Thinking curricula described in this
Guidebook share much with Lauren Resnick's definition of a thinking curriculum (1989)
and also build on important characteristics of learners and the three research
perspectives.
Thinking curricula fulfill a dual agenda by integrating content and process. Within this
agenda, students develop habits of mind with respect to learning that serve them well
both in school and in the real world. While traditional curricula tend to teach content
and process separately, a thinking curriculum weds process and content, a union that
typifies real-world situations; that is, students are taught content through processes
encountered in the real world. Some thinking and learning processes apply across all
content areas and all areas of life and thus are generic: for example, decision making,
problem solving, evaluating, and comparing.
Processes may be realized differently in different content areas. They answer the
question, "What sort of thinking do historians (or mathematicians, scientists, etc.)
engage in as they practice their craft?" For example, scientists hypothesize about the
nature of the natural world in such a way that they can test their hypotheses. Historians
may also hypothesize, but cannot test their hypotheses as do scientists; rather, they
depend on primary and secondary source materials to "test" their ideas. Content is
inherent in these examples--the processes that scientists and historians use clearly
depend on the content with which they are dealing. Students, then, learn content and
construct meaning as they employ generic and content-specific strategies. They acquire
content as they plan, evaluate, solve problems, make decisions, construct or critique
arguments, compose essays, and so on. In short, students acquire knowledge in carrying
out tasks requiring higher-order thinking-- they practice a craft, so to speak, as they
acquire knowledge. This approach to curriculum stands in contrast to traditional
curricula. Traditional curricula from kindergarten through high school, expect students to
master "knowledge" in school; and knowledge is usually seen as lists of facts and
definitions. A traditional curriculum does not expect students to use the knowledge until
they leave school. On the other hand, students engaged in a thinking curriculum acquire
content as they plan, evaluate, solve problems, make decisions, construct or critique
arguments, compose essays, and so on. At the same time, the content students learn
has the power to promote these higher-level processes. In short, the essence of a
thinking curriculum is the dual agenda. Four characteristics emerge from this agenda.
These are elaborated below.

1. THE SCOPE OF A THINKING CURRICULUM PROMOTES IN-DEPTH LEARNING.

Important concepts and strategies need to be identified, organized, prioritized, and

taught in depth. This characteristic of a thinking curriculum helps clarify what it means
to be knowledgeable. A thinking curriculum does not strive to produce "walking-
encyclopedias," stuffed with facts, figures, definitions, and formulas. Truly
knowledgeable students may possess such information, but more importantly, they
possess key concepts and tools for making, using, and communicating knowledge in a
field. Knowledgeable students have learned how to learn, how to organize information,
and how to distinguish between important and less important pieces of information. In
sum, they have a working knowledge of a field---a tool chest for the ongoing discovery
and construction of meaning---rather than a junkyard of isolated facts. Thus, in a
thinking curriculum, students develop a deep understanding of essential concepts and
processes for dealing with those concepts, similar to the understanding that experts use
in tackling complex tasks in their disciplines. For example, students use original sources
to construct historical accounts; they design experiments to answer their questions
about natural phenomena; they use mathematics to model real--world events and
systems; and they write for real audiences. The thinking curriculum gives students the
tools---the perspectives and methodologies and concepts they need to carry out these
authentic tasks.
2. CONTENT AND PROCESS OBJECTIVES ARE SITUATED IN REAL-WORLD TASKS

Rather than focusing on simple and discrete skills, students should engage in complex
and holistic thinking. This type of thinking reflects what individuals performing tasks
outside of school do. As Lauren Resnick has observed, out of school thinking about
complex~ tasks is: (1) situated in meaningful processes of making decisions, solving
problems, evaluating situations, and so on, (2) shared among individuals also involved in
carrying out the task, (3) aided by the use of tools, such as reference books, calculators,
and other technology, and (4) connected to real-world objects, events, and situations. In
addition, out-of-school thinking is often interdisciplinary, cutting across many "school
subjects. Other desired attributes of real-world thinking as well as a thinking curriculum
are: orientations to problem solving and critical and creative thinking; dispositions
toward learning, including a sense of efficacy, a desire to ponder and learn, and
persistence; and understanding and valuing multiple perspectives, especially different
cultural perspectives. In a thinking curriculum, thinking processes with such attributes
are carried out in collaboration with students, teachers, parents, and community
members using tools and resources to perform real-world tasks. Thus, content and
process objectives can be achieved when learning tasks stimulate complex thinking and
involve true collaboration among students.
3. TASKS ARE SEQUENCED TO SITUATE HOLISTIC PERFORMANCES IN INCREASINGLY
CHALLENGING ENVIRONMENTS.

his aspect of a thinking curriculum is both difficult to understand and express. The
major point is that students should always be engaged with a whole task. We
should not ask them to learn and practice one element of a task at a time and
then to integrate these pieces into a whole performance. Such integration will
seldom happen as easily as we might hope. Some educators may mistakenly
believe that young children and low-achieving students especially must begin
with the parts and gradually orchestrate these parts into wholes. An example
should help clarify this characteristic of a thinking curriculum. Summarizing is a
common skill learned in school. In conventional curricula, young students
frequently are expected to learn how to summarize by first learning each "step"
in the summarizing process. They are taught these steps one at a time. Ample
time is given to practice the first step; for example, categorizing items or activities
described in a text under a more inclusive label. Indeed, they may complete
numerous worksheets on categorizing. Then, the teacher may teach them a
second "step;" for example, deleting redundant information. Again, the students
practice. This approach continues until students have been taught all the steps or
subprocesses thought to be involved in summarizing. In short, curriculum tends
to routinize the task. Finally, students are asked to put all these subskills together.
Unfortunately, many students cannot do this---they are stuck at the subskill level,
each of which they might perform beautifully, but which they cannot integrate
into a smooth process of summarizing. In contrast, in a thinking curriculum,
summarizing would be conceived and taught as a holistic process. Rather than
fragmenting the process, it would be taught in a context or environment in which
students can succeed. For young children, this might mean asking them first to
summarize relatively short paragraphs that deal with information with which they
are very familiar. The teacher may also ask students to work collaboratively to
summarize information at this initial learning stage. As students gain skill and
confidence in summarizing, the teacher would ask them to summarize longer
paragraphs, perhaps containing less familiar information. In summary, a thinking
curriculum always treats tasks as indivisible wholes; variations that acknowledge
the novice status of the learner are changes the teacher can make in the
environment. Abundant research (e.g., Palinscar, 1984) indicates that all
students---including young children and low-achieving students-- can succeed
with such a holistic approach. For instance, low-achievers typically perform at a
much higher level than when taught skills in a fragmented manner. In addition,
holistic learning is much more likely to be interesting to students and to promote
a sense of control over their own learning. Thus, a thinking curriculum is not
chopped up into isolated skills and facts; rather, it involves the holistic
performance of meaningful, complex tasks in increasingly challenging
environments. A thinking curriculum promotes a sense of efficacy and confidence
in students. Materials and content are structured so that students gradually
regulate their own learning and so that learning is always meaningful and makes
sense. These goals---self-regulation and meaningful learning---are promoted in a
variety of ways in thinking curricula For example, a thinking curriculum
encourages students to clarify their purposes in performing a task, to assess what
they already know, and to predict what is to be learned. It helps them highlight
what is most important and thereby fosters feelings of control over subject
matter. It explores students' attitudes about themselves as learners and about
learning in the content areas. It provides opportunities for students to assess
difficulties they have in learning and consider strategies they could use to
 overcome learning difficulties. It stresses continuing to work in the face of
ambiguity, solving problems despite unexpected difficulties, and looking at
problems as challenges to learn more and better. By being engaged in curriculum
in this manner, students come to see themselves as successful, capable learners.

4. A THINKING CURRICULUM ACTIVELY CONNECTS CONTENT AND PROCESSES TO

LEARNERS' BACKGROUNDS.
Educators can begin to create a thinking curriculum by first considering the experiences
and knowledge that students bring to school and then expanding upon and refining
these experiences and knowledge by connecting them to new learning. The content and
processes learned then build on students' family, community, and cultural experiences.
The knowledge students acquire is meaningful and applied. In addition, students are
motivated to learn when curriculum considers their experiences and the issues and
problems with which they are concerned as well as their patterns of processing
knowledge. The content in a thinking curriculum is relevant to important issues and
tasks in the lives of students. When students can relate school learning to important
real-life issues, they are more likely to seek and value the perspectives of others---peers,
teachers, parents, community members, and experts. In so doing, they develop
interpersonal competencies for creating and participating in dialogue with individuals
who have different perspectives and backgrounds. Thus, they not only connect content
to their own backgrounds, but they also learn how different people interpret and
organize content based on their different perspectives. As a result, a thinking curriculum
builds multicultural understanding while encouraging the philosophical understanding of
different kinds of knowledge and the limitations inherent in attending to only one
perspective on a subject. Students will thus be better prepared to participate in an
increasingly global society. Understanding and valuing multicultural perspectives
emerges from dialogue in a classroom that is a community of open and sustained
inquiry.

WHAT ARE SOME GUIDELINES ACROSS CONTENT AREAS THAT PROMOTE A THINKING CURRICULUM?

Reform Efforts Across the Content Areas

In response to changes in society and new research on learning, content-area

researchers and experts from professional organizations have written curriculum
guidelines that schools can use to develop a thinking curriculum. These guidelines may
be thought of as frameworks for performing authentic tasks in the disciplines. This last
decade has witnessed many calls for curricular reform. One of the first was in reading
(Becoming A Nation of Readers, Anderson, Hiebert, Scott, & Wilkinson, 1985). Others
followed in mathematics, science, social studies, and language arts in general. Many
strands of research support the basic assumption that learning is a meaningful activity;
indeed, that learning is thinking. Thus, all reform efforts advocated moving away from a
basic skills curriculum toward curriculum based on a new notion of learning in which
students engage in authentic, higher-order learning tasks. At the same time that
research indicates that educators can move away from a traditional basic skills
curriculum, changes in society itself require higher-order learning. Consider the
following shifts: * Our economy is shifting from a traditional industrial base to an
information and service base. * Individuals will have a number of jobs in the course of
their careers, and those jobs are continually redefined by rapidly advancing technology,
decentralization of authority in the workplace, and changes in the norms that define the
culture of the workplace. * Social arrangements are more fluid now---people move from
place to place, families are configured differently, and child-care responsibilities are
assumed by different individuals both within and outside the immediate family. * In the
political realm, citizens struggle with difficult issues related to technology, concerns for
social equity in a pluralistic society, and the nation's greater interdependence with other
countries. Successful inhabitants in such a world must make sense of large and shifting
bases of information be flexible in adapting to changing environments, work effectively
in teams, and truly understand and value groups with backgrounds different from their
own. In sum, societal changes compel educators to create a new curriculum. Advances in
learning research show them how.
The Thinking Curriculum consists of four areas:

 Literary Thinking: Literary thinking focuses on teaching students how to

recognize what a text says, what a text does, and what a text means by
analyzing choices of content, language, and structure.   Instruction focuses
on non-critical reading (understand the text ), critical reading (understand
the patterns and style of the text), and critical thinking (understand the
meaning) (Kurland, 2000).   The foundation of literary thinking is learning to
read and write, where the student learns how to hear and recognize
sounds, gains experience with and exposure to text, hear what good
reading sounds like, and have opportunities to read and write at their
 developmental level.  As students develop phonemic awareness and
fluency, they should also be taught to engage in critical reading and
thinking by restating in their own words what the text says (restatement);
describing what type of text they are reading or viewing, what it is
discussing, and what it is doing or its purpose (description); and also what
the text means or its underlying message (interpretation).  Students should
also be taught to learn how to analyze and evaluate the text for the ideas its
infers or suggests (inference), the elements the author includes within the
text to support its meaning or message (choices), and consider such
elements when developing and producing their own text.   Students should
also be taught how to read and write different text that present a specific
message or purpose (ways to read).  Teaching and learning grammar are
also a key component of literary thinking not only to know, understand, and
apply the conventions of grammar and usage but also build fluency, develop
a deeper understanding of how authors and their text use language to
convey a particular tone and create a desired or unintentional effect on the
reader, and use conventions of writing to develop a desired tone or effect
on the reader or viewer.
 Mathematical Thinking: Mathematical thinking address how mathematical
ideas interconnect and build on one another and can be connected to
contexts and phenomena outside mathematics (connections); making and
investigating mathematical theories and developing and evaluating
mathematical arguments and proofs (reasoning and proofing); expressing
mathematical thinking clearly and coherently and analyzing and evaluating
the mathematical thinking and strategies of others (communication); create
and use representations to organize, record, and communicate
mathematical ideas and  to model and interpret physical, social, and
mathematical phenomena (representation); and build new mathematical
knowledge by solving problems that arise in mathematics and in other
contexts (problem solving) (NCTM, 2000).  Mathematical thinking goes
beyond knowing, understanding, and doing math - or, more specifically,
reproducing and applying procedures to attain the correct answer.
Mathematical thinking challenges and engages students to think about the
mathematical concepts and practices they are learning, how answers are
 attained or how they attained their answers, explain their thinking process,
and develop and demonstrate analytical and creative problem-solving skills
that will not only help them in math but also in every aspect of their lives.
 Historical Thinking: Historical thinking goes beyond knowing historical
dates, events, facts, ideas, information, and names, which remain a key
component of teaching history and social studies.  Historical thinking
challenges and engages students to develop a deeper understanding of
what and when events occurred as well as recognize, analyze, and evaluate
patterns of historical duration (length of time) and succession (relationship
between and sequence of events) (chronological thinking); understand the
intentions and difficulties of various cultures, people, regimes, and societies
encountered and the complex world in which such historical figures actually
lived (historical comprehension); recognize and realize the differences in the
various opinions and perspectives of educators, experts, eyewitnesses, how
they convey ideas and information; distinguish between fact and opinion,
and determine the credibility of sources (historical analysis and
interpretation); conduct in-depth research and investigations to discover
the facts, reasoning, and truth behind historical events, facts, ideas,
information, and people and draw their own conclusions, opinions, or
perspectives supported by evidence (historical research capabilities);
examine and explore past and current controversial issues, problems, and
situations deeply, develop arguments, claims, conclusions and provide
solutions; and analyze and evaluate their impact on subsequent or current
actions and decisions (historical issues). (NCHS/UCLA, 1996). 
 Scientific Thinking: The core idea behind scientific thinking is evidentiary
thinking - thinking that requires proof to support arguments, choices,
claims, and conclusions.  In science, students demonstrate and
communicate evidentiary thinking in three ways: inquiry (asking
questions), investigations (conducting examinations and research), and
experimentation (testing and validating ideas).  There are two processes
students can be taught to demonstrate and communicate their thinking:
the scientific method in which students generate and test a hypothesis
about an observation or phenomena and engineering design, which
 involves inventing a new plan or product or innovating an existing
procedure or product to solve a problem (Kuhn, 2010).

For teachers, the Thinking Curriculum is our Bloom's Revised Taxonomy and
Webb's Depth of Knowledge - the framework that tells us what and how we need
to plan and provide our instruction, assessment, and evaluation.   In order to do
this, we need to go beyond the textbook, the classroom, and even beyond
ourselves to provide that deeper teaching and learning experience.

If you're going to teach a novel such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald
Dahl, don't only teach how to read the story but ask students to consider how
Dahl satirizes - or, if working with younger children, brings attention to - how
children behave and how parents do not attempt to adjust their improper
behavior.  Have students analyze and evaluate how Dahl describes each of the
characters and how their appearance, words, and actions define or reflect their
character.

Literary Thinking with Genre Study

(CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.9)

If you're going to teach a genre study such as science fiction, don't just have your
students read and view text from the genre, identify the main idea, describe the
characters, and analyze the themes.  Teach students the motifs of science fiction
and have students analyze and evaluate how these stories address and
incorporate these motifs.  Have students consider whether science fiction
influence scientific fact or vice versa. Challenge students to create their own
science fiction tales that have deep, resonating themes about the future, space,
time, machines, monsters, and society. 

If you're going to challenge students to interpret a multiplication equation as a

comparison, don't just have them work with numbers, algorithms, and formulas.
Have them explain the reasoning behind their conclusions, choices, and decisions.
Provide them a real-world situation in which they would have to use multiplicative
comparisons such as express in a number sentence the difference between the
average size and weight of a porpoise (5 ft., 121 lbs.) to a dolphin, which is double
or triple the size and approximately nine times heavier.

If you're going to have students learn about seminal historical documents such as
the Declaration of Independence, the articles of the U.S. Constitution, or The
Gettysburg Address, don't just talk about or even read these documents.  Have
students analyze and evaluate the style in which these documents were written;
why these documents were written; how they reflect the thinking of the
individual, period, or situation they address; and the impact these documents had
not only during the time in which it was written but also its impact on modern
society and culture.  Have students analyze how and evaluate why Thomas
Jefferson carefully worded The Declaration of Independence to convey the
colonies' conflict and concerns were with King George, not the people of England.
Have students analyze and evaluate the reasons behind the amendments of
the U.S. Constitution and whether those reasons remain practical or pertinent.
Have them analyze and evaluate why Abraham Lincoln said what he did in The
Gettysburg Address and the effect he hoped to have on his listeners.
Scientific Thinking with Natural Disasters
(NGSS 4-ESS2-2. MS-ESS2-2, HS-ESS2-1-3) 

If you're going to have students learn about natural disasters, don't just have them
identify what natural disasters are and what causes them.  Have them research
natural disasters throughout history, analyze and evaluate the impact of different
kinds of natural disasters, why people continue to live in areas prone to natural
disasters, how human interference and man-made disasters can cause natural
disasters, predict the possibility of a historical natural disaster occurring again, and
design a plan to protect people from or even prevent natural disasters.
Not only will lessons and units such as these encourage students to develop,
demonstrate, and communicate deeper knowledge, understanding, and
awareness of what they are being taught and learned but also make learning
interesting and relevant for them - and perhaps, even you as the teacher.

REPORTER:
JESSA MAE J. ASIS
MAED EM