Finding a resource that works for all grade levels and subjects to promote student learning is rare. Project Zero’s Thinking Routines Toolbox (reviewed here) is one of those unicorns. It offers strategies that enhance critical thinking skills in many ways that apply to real-world situations, using research-based strategies that scaffold and support student thinking.
Why Use Thinking Routines?
Thinking routines are powerful strategies designed to deepen thinking and make the thought process visible. Each routine focuses on a specific type of thinking, such as questioning, analyzing evidence, or exploring multiple perspectives. Regularly incorporating these routines into classroom activities supports students in building habits that lead to incorporating these processes as a natural part of examining the world through different viewpoints and as global thinkers.
Project Zero shares this understanding map, which is a helpful way to examine the specific pathways needed for students to make meaning and understand concepts. Each thinking routine supports one of the pathways, supporting the growth of all thinking skills. It is also important to note that using thinking routines as an ongoing teaching strategy helps students build “thinking muscles” to apply in any learning situation.
Thinking Routines Support Other Thinking and Teaching Frameworks:
- Visible thinking routines like those found in Project Zero help guide students’ thought processes by providing a structure that encourages active learning and participation. They also encourage communication with peers and multimodal opportunities to explore information.
- Slow looking is embedded into many of the thinking routines. This process encourages students to pause, reflect, and engage more deeply with lessons and materials by learning through ample time to observe and think about information without distractions such as worksheets and answering questions.
- The integration of thinking routines with graphic organizers and thinking maps offers students a structure to help organize and clarify thoughts visually and encourages students to consider new ideas along with additional ways to express their thoughts and share information with others.
Using Thinking Routines Across All Subjects
Thinking routines are not subject-specific and offer flexibility to help students engage with content more meaningfully. Use the Project Zero page filters to choose routines by subject and thinking competence, or begin with the core thinking routines that work well with all topics and age groups.
Social Studies and History
When teaching historical events, such as the Civil Rights Movement or World War II, routines like “See, Think, Wonder” or “Claim, Evidence, Question” help students to analyze primary sources or photographs. Smithsonian Learning Lab (reviewed here) provides examples of using thinking routines in discussions about museum artifacts. For example, use the “Colors, Shapes, Lines” routine to encourage students to look at artwork or objects and share their visual observations of the physical properties of the artifact.
Science
Routines like “Tug of War” help students examine ethical issues like climate change or genetic modification. As students work with this routine, they consider opposing viewpoints that challenge them to consider different perspectives before concluding. Thinking Pathways offers guidance for using this routine effectively in science lessons.
Language Arts
When teaching novels like To Kill a Mockingbird or Jane Eyre, include the “Circle of Viewpoints” routine with students to explore characters from multiple perspectives. Using these routines, students analyze the motivations and biases of different characters, which leads to a deeper understanding of the complex narratives of these novels.
Thinking routines help younger students build critical reading skills. One great routine for early learners is “Headlines,” which encourages students to summarize the main idea or theme of a story in a few words, just like a newspaper headline. This process helps young students learn how to focus on key concepts of any reading material.
Music
Routines like “Listen, Notice, Connect” encourage students to engage with a piece of music on a deeper level. As students listen to a composition, they identify key elements, such as tempo or instrumentation, and then reflect on how they connect to emotions or cultural significance.
Art
For art lessons, routines like “Colors, Shapes, Lines” mentioned earlier help students closely observe and reflect on the visual elements of an artwork. When viewing a painting, students describe the colors, shapes, and lines they see, then infer the emotions or ideas the artist conveys. Another routine, “Step Inside,” invites students to imagine themselves as figures or objects in the artwork, deepening their connection to the piece and exploring its emotional impact.
Integrating Technology with Thinking Routines
Using technology deliberately and thoughtfully offers additional opportunities to engage students and enhance learning by documenting, sharing, and reflecting on their thinking.
Padlet (reviewed here) – Create Padlets for students to post their thoughts using routines like “See, Think, Wonder.” Use the Padlet shelves layout to organize ideas when brainstorming or one of the discussion board templates to offer opportunities for students to participate in discussions through text or video. One of Padlet’s newest tools, the Sandbox, is an interactive whiteboard that lets students draw, create, and share ideas with others in real time.
Figjam (reviewed here) – Use this template for the “Compass Points” thinking routine. Personalize and ask students to collaborate on this digital canvas to explore different perspectives on ethical or controversial topics.
Curipod (reviewed here) – Easily create interactive slide presentations on any topic with Curipod by adding topics, grade levels, and teaching standards. After generating a presentation, add an interactive slide that prompts students to respond to open-ended questions. For example, add a slide using the “Tug of War” routine for students to add a comment, then weigh both sides of an issue and share their reasoning.
Ready-to-Use Templates and Resources
As you begin to use thinking routines, choose from several other free resources that offer templates and tools that integrate with your classroom activities and provide helpful overviews of the thinking routines and how to incorporate them into classroom lessons.
Google Slide Templates by Dr. Catlin Tucker: Dr. Tuckers shares templates for thinking routines like “See, Think, Wonder” and “Claim, Evidence, Question.” These templates provide a structured way for students to organize their thoughts and responses. Share slides with students to work on individually, or create a slide set that includes a copy of the slide for each student to complete. Use the completed slide set to facilitate further class discussions of your thinking.
The Thinking Routines Matrix is a tool that provides a quick look at the key thinking moves associated with each routine and includes notes about the routine. The colored icons describe which of the sixteen attributes of human habits of mind, such as persistence, thinking flexibly, and taking responsible risks, are built into each routine.
Free Thinking Routine Anchor Charts from KnowAtom: Download free anchor charts that display thinking routines in the classroom. These charts remind students of the types of thinking they are being encouraged to practice.
Peel the Fruit Slides Activity is a slide presentation on the Engage Their Minds blog. This article explains how to introduce and use this thinking routine with fourth graders and includes a video of the thinking routine in action.
Project Zero’s Thinking Routines Toolbox includes many approaches to teaching critical thinking skills while fostering deeper student engagement in any classroom. Incorporating technology tools like Padlet, Figjam, or Curipod makes these routines even more interactive and collaborative.
Are you using thinking routines with your students? We always enjoy hearing about our readers’ ideas and experiences while we learn together.