Problem of Practice: Are we developing a culture of thinking in our classrooms?
      - How is questioning activating critical thinking, curiosity and/or metacognition?
      - How are students communicating their thinking?
Background:
​John Purchase PS has been working with the Cultures of Thinking for some time. They have recently revisited some professional learning as a refresher and to support new staff members.
In their current research, the Worldwide Cultures of Thinking project has focused on identifying 10 Guiding Mindsets that propel the development of a culture of thinking.  They call this current research, cultures of thinking in action, and have outlined it in the book, "Cultures of Thinking in Action 10 Mindsets to Transform our Teaching and Students Learning", Ron Ritchhart (2023). For this round  each school was asked to examine one of the 10 mindsets and develop a resource that will help grow the network's understanding of the "cultures of thinking" as well as be a resource to share with the teachers of JPPS and other schools in the network. Three elements were selected as the focus to  best represent the concepts in JP’s PoP.  The pre-round task is attached here: jpps_ir_task_t3_2024.docx

The PRESENTATION

Enculturation: PResentation by the John Purchase PS Team

10 MInDSETS TO TRANSFORM OUR THINKING AND STUDENTS' LEARNING
The John Purchase PS presentation asked what enculturalisation might look like in classrooms.  They detail core components leveraging the 8 cultural forces.
The poster below shows all 10 of the mindsets identified  by Ritchhart and the Worldwide Cultures of Thinking research. They argue that a culture lives in values and beliefs and sends messages to communicate these values.

QUESTIONING:
​PRESENTATION BY THE OAKHILL DRIVE PS TEAM

COLLECTIVE LEARNING
​PRESENTATION BY THE BEROWRA PS TEAM
The presentation by the Oakhill Drive PS team provided key messages about question.  They planned an activity for network members to take a DoE developed unit of work and to modify the unit by adding questions that would enable teachers to deepen students' understanding and promote curiosity.
In Mindset 6, Collaborative Learning, learning and thinking are seen as much a collaborative enterprise as they are an individual endeavour.  This presentation, from the Berowra PS team, gives many practical examples of techniques for collaboration that teachers could use to enhance the collaborative nature of learning and make students' thinking visible.