Innovating with Intelligence

Funded by Carpe Vitam International, the mission of Project Zero's Innovating with Intelligence project was exploring high-leverage ways to develop students' thinking dispositions. This entails developing students' abilities to think well, their inclination to use those abilities, and their awareness of situations where those abilities are needed. To a large extent, the theoretical and empirical foundation for this program is derived from the research of the completed Patterns of Thinking project.

The project was based partly at Lemshaga Akademi in Sweden and partly at pilot schools in Europe. The instructional approach is referred to broadly as Visible Thinking. It takes an integrated stance toward the teaching of thinking, weaving thinking into the culture of the school and classroom, rather than as a program designed to be implemented. A key premise of the approach is to seek ways to uncover and document students thinking so it can be discussed, reflected upon, and pushed further. Consequently, teachers employ various strategies for documenting the thinking students do.

Our approach takes into account students' conceptual and attitudinal development in key "thinking ideals," such as: truth, fairness, creativity, and understanding. Each of these ideals serves as a leverage point for integration and conceptual development. We introduce developmentally appropriate concepts, attitudes, and practices that teachers expand upon and extend to fit the needs and context of their classes. This work is done primarily through the use of "thinking routines," strategies for thinking that become part of the fabric of the classroom culture