More About Thinking

Thinking about thinking has been a mild passion of mine for the past couple of years. It began when I had the opportunity to learn about Derek Cabrera's work with the Patterns of Thinking. I've written about it before and continue to think about it in planning and teaching.

One of the things Derek often talks about is the need to focus on the content we are teaching AND the way students are thinking about that content. It seems he is not alone in this sentiment:

Helping my students learn about their own thinking and reflect on it is one of my greatest goals as a teacher. Helping them think better, whether that means becoming a more critical consumer of information, asking questions as they observe the world, defending their own ideas, or trying different perspectives, is the greatest gift I can give them.


I came across this through Dot Physics, a blog written by physics professor Rhett Alain. I read (or at least skim) every post because of his fascination with the world around him, his willingness to ask any question and try to figure out the answer, and his fabulous writing. The physics goes way over my head.