Conceptual Background for Making Learning and Thinking Visible in Italian Secondary School

In 2017, Project Zero began a collaboration with Indire (Istituto Nazionale Documentazione Innovazione Ricerca Educativa - www.indire.it) in Italy. The collaboration, Making Learning and Thinking Visible in Italian Secondary Schools (MLTV), explored how two of Project Zero’s pedagogical frameworks—Making Learning Visible (MLV) and Visible Thinking (VT)—could be adapted with integrity in Italian public secondary schools.

Indire is Italy’s national public research institute responsible for innovation in education, teacher training, and dissemination of best practices in Italian schools. Indire has a growing network (Avanguardie Educative) of over 700 schools serving students from 6 to 19 years old. These schools are trying to revolutionize the way teaching and learning occur in Italy—to move from a transmission model of schooling to a system that prepares students to thrive in the constantly changing knowledge society. The goals of Avanguardie Educative align with three questions at the center of many PZ initiatives: What’s worth understanding today and tomorrow? What do thinking and learning look like? How and where do thinking and learning thrive?