Creating Cultures of Thinking: Exploring the Purpose and Promise of Schools

The constantly changing world we live in requires us to rethink what a quality education means. 

It is no longer enough to develop compliant (and too often complacent) learners merely making their way through school. Today we seek to develop engaged and empowered learners ready to act thoughtfully and effectively in the world. To accomplish this, we need to change more than the curriculum and our instruction—we need to change the culture of our schools. 
 

Overview

Why does classroom culture matter so much to our students' learning? And how can we begin to change the culture of our classrooms and schools to more effectively support student learning and thinking? It's time to demystify the creation of classroom and school culture and how to build it. In this course, you will:

• Look carefully at the various "stories of learning" that schools perpetuate
• Consider the "new story of learning" we want to make for our students and how the eight cultural forces can help us to enact that story
• Learn about the eight cultural forces that represent eight key levers educators use to transform classrooms and build strong "cultures of thinking" where learning is active and deeply valued
• Examine one of those eight cultural forces—"language"—and how our use of language shapes in deep and subtle ways the culture of the learning environment that surrounds our learners
   

Who Should Participate

• Teachers, teacher leaders, and school administrators and leaders
• Museum educators and educators working in informal learning environments
• Facilitators of pre-K to adult learning
   

Time Commitment

Anticipate a workload of 2.5-3 hours per week for four weeks. The course provides 12 total hours of professional learning. During each session:

• Team Meeting: This 1-hour live, synchronous team meeting happens every week, scheduled and facilitated by the team members with PZ-designed agenda.
• Reading, Practice, and Assignments: Plan remaining time for reading and individual reflections/assignments. If you are not currently working in a school or educational organization, you will need a classroom context or a consistent group of students with whom you can try out/practice the ideas you are learning throughout the course.
   

Schedule

Each weekly session opens on a Monday and ends on a Sunday. Participants decide when to work on the course material and when to schedule their team meetings within each session.

• Session 1: October 26-November 1, 2026
• Session 2: November 2-November 8, 2026
• Session 3: November 9-November 15, 2026
• Session 4: November 16-November 22, 2026
   

Tuition, Discounts, and Financial Aid

For mini courses (four sessions, four weeks), the tuition is:

• $355 for educators joining as part of a team (three to six members from the same organization)
• $385 for educators joining as part of a team of two (from the same organization) who will be placed on a virtual team with other teams of two (as attendance allows)
• $399 for educators joining as individuals to be placed on a virtual team

Financial aid is limited and awarded on a first-come, first-served basis, and typically covers 50-70% of a course's tuition for eligible educators. Applications must be submitted and accepted prior to registration. Review our financial aid criteria.
 

Questions?

Visit the FAQs page for more information on PZ online courses, or email pzlearn@gse.harvard.edu.