At Home with PZ

Welcome to "At Home with PZ!"

At this time when so many of us suddenly find ourselves teaching in unfamiliar contexts (we used to teach in classrooms—now we guide learners from a distance; we used to send our children off to school—now they’re home all day), the question “How can I support learning?” looms large.

The “At Home with PZ” toolbox was developed to help you answer that question. The activities you’ll find here provide ways to adapt Project Zero strategies and frameworks for use in different settings: for virtual classrooms and for home learning; guided by a teacher working remotely or by a parent or caregiver in person. Some can be done outdoors, some indoors, and some are appropriate for either. The activities are sorted into two types: tools for learning (the toolbox) and Thinking Routines (thinking bubbles). Each activity offers variations for different age groups as well as for the adult facilitation needed so students could work alone, or, as part of a pair, group, or virtual classroom. We hope that these activities, specially curated by PZ researchers, spark creative solutions for your context.

The "At Home with PZ" toolbox features an easy-to-use search function to help you find the activities that fit your and your learners’ needs. Simply use the filters (as many or as few as you’d like) to indicate the learner age range and the time commitment that match your context. Alternatively, you can skim the list below to get a quick overview the activities and learner age ranges. Clicking on the activity link takes you to a downloadable PDF that describes the activity in more detail, including suggestions for use and tips for getting started.

We look forward to seeing how you use these activities in your homes, online classes, schools, and anywhere else that learning happens. Tweet with #AtHomeWithPZ, tag us on Facebook, or email PZLearn@gse.harvard.edu. Soon, we will launch another toolbox focused just on PZ's Thinking Routines (more than 60 of them!). We'll provide the link for the toolbox when it's open here.

Thinking Routine

Parts, Perspectives, Me

A resource from Agency by Design PZ Connect

A routine for exploring the complexity of objects and systems.

Elementary School Middle School High School
Thinking Routine

Circle of Viewpoints

A resource from APPLE Visible Thinking

A routine for exploring diverse perspectives

Elementary School Middle School High School
Tool

10 Suggestions for Getting Started with Thinking Routines in Early Childhood Classrooms

A resource from Making Learning Visible
Preschool Elementary School Middle School High School
Tool

Uncovering the Everyday

A resource from The Open Canopy (formerly known as Out of Eden Learn)
Preschool 1 hour - 1.5 hours
Facilitation: heavily facilitated by peer/teacher/caregiver
Elementary School 1 hour - 1.5 hours
Facilitation: lightly facilitated by peer/teacher/caregiver
Middle School 1 hour - 1.5 hours
Facilitation: self-facilitated
High School 1 hour - 1.5 hours
Facilitation: self-facilitated
Tool

Documenting the Everyday

A resource from The Open Canopy (formerly known as Out of Eden Learn)

An activity for exploring what you can learn by carefully observing a place you know or something that people in your community do as a part of their everyday lives.

Preschool 1 hour - 1.5 hours
Facilitation: lightly facilitated by peer/teacher/caregiver
Elementary School 1 hour - 1.5 hours
Facilitation: lightly facilitated by peer/teacher/caregiver
Middle School 1 hour - 1.5 hours
Facilitation: lightly facilitated by peer/teacher/caregiver
High School 1 hour - 1.5 hours
Facilitation: self-facilitated
Tool

Connecting Everyday Objects to Bigger Systems

A resource from The Open Canopy (formerly known as Out of Eden Learn)

An activity exploring what you can learn by looking closely at objects and thinking about how things that surround us connect to bigger systems.

Preschool 1 hour - 1.5 hours
Facilitation: lightly facilitated by peer/teacher/caregiver
Elementary School 1 hour - 1.5 hours
Facilitation: lightly facilitated by peer/teacher/caregiver
Middle School 1 hour - 1.5 hours
Facilitation: lightly facilitated by peer/teacher/caregiver
High School 1 hour - 1.5 hours
Facilitation: self-facilitated
Thinking Routine

Facts or Fiction

Elementary School Middle School High School
Tool

Connecting Our Own Lives to the Past

A resource from The Open Canopy (formerly known as Out of Eden Learn)

An activity for exploring how your own life connects to the past or history.

Preschool 1 hour - 1.5 hours
Facilitation: lightly facilitated by peer/teacher/caregiver
Elementary School 1 hour - 1.5 hours
Facilitation: lightly facilitated by peer/teacher/caregiver
Middle School 1 hour - 1.5 hours
Facilitation: lightly facilitated by peer/teacher/caregiver
High School 1 hour - 1.5 hours
Facilitation: self-facilitated
Thinking Routine

Stop, Look, Listen

A resource from Visible Thinking
Elementary School Middle School High School
Tool

Learning from Other Generations

A resource from The Open Canopy (formerly known as Out of Eden Learn)

An activity for exploring what you can learn by talking to people who belong to a different generation.

Preschool Elementary School Middle School High School
Thinking Routine

Parts, People, Interactions

A resource from Agency by Design Early Childhood in the Making

A routine for identifying how people connect to systems.

Preschool Elementary School Middle School High School
Thinking Routine

Parts, Purposes, Complexities

A resource from Agency by Design Early Childhood in the Making

A routine for looking closely at systems.

Preschool Elementary School Middle School High School
Tool

Take-Apart

A resource from Agency by Design

An activity for exploring complexity through un-making.

Elementary School 30 minutes - 1 hour
Facilitation: heavily facilitated by peer/teacher/caregiver
Middle School 1 hour - 1.5 hours
Facilitation: lightly facilitated by peer/teacher/caregiver
High School 1 hour - 1.5 hours
Facilitation: self-facilitated
Tool

Digital Civics Toolkit

A resource from
Preschool Elementary School Middle School High School
Thinking Routine

Imagine if...

A resource from Agency by Design Early Childhood in the Making

A routine for encouraging divergent thinking about an object or system.

Preschool Elementary School Middle School High School
Tool

Observational Drawing

A resource from Agency by Design

An activity for learning to look closely.

Elementary School Middle School High School
Thinking Routine

Think, Feel, Care

A resource from Agency by Design Early Childhood in the Making

A routine for fostering perspective-taking within a system.

Preschool Elementary School Middle School High School
Tool

Creating Neighborhood Maps

A resource from The Open Canopy (formerly known as Out of Eden Learn)

An activity for exploring your relationship to a place and mapping your local area.

Preschool Elementary School Middle School High School
Tool

Thinking Routine Matrix

A resource from Cultures of Thinking Visible Thinking
Preschool Elementary School Middle School High School