Thinking is the precursor to making connections, being creative and problem-solving. The better you are able to use your thinking skills to explore new topics and develop a deep understanding of related concepts, the more likely you are to be able to shape new ideas.
Grimwade House has introduced The Understanding Map – a ‘thinking toolkit’ – to assist students to advance their reasoning and understanding capabilities, and to provide them with a framework for solving increasingly complex problems.
Developed in collaboration with Dr Ron Ritchhart, a researcher at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, The Understanding Map is a visual depiction of the range of strategies or ‘routines’ which a person could call upon depending on the type of thinking that is needed.
“Human beings often have preconceived ideas about where we expect our thinking will lead us,” explains Mr Andrew Baylis, Director of Learning and Research. “Sometimes that traps us. The Understanding Map provides students with tools which can help them move out of that space.”
“If our students can think more widely and more creatively, we hope they’ll have the capacity to solve the multifaceted problems they’ll come across in the future,” he says. “The earlier we embed this ability, the better.”
The introduction of The Understanding Map is another step in Melbourne Grammar School’s development of a ‘culture of thinking’, a term coined by Dr Ritchhart’s team which relates to ‘places where a group’s collective as well as individual thinking is valued, visible, and actively promoted as part of the regular, day-to-day experience of all group members.’
The map outlines eight broad questions or ‘understandings’ students could address when thinking creatively, each with various tools which might be useful in that instance. Some routines were developed by Dr Ritchhart, others by Grimwade House staff. A few examples are provided below.
A poster of The Understanding Map is in each Grimwade House classroom. It is also included in the Upper Primary Student Diary.
“We have used colours and symbols to make the map accessible to even our youngest students,” explains Mrs Edwina Lanham, Head of Upper Primary. “Supported by a shift to flexible seating in a classroom, we are seeing students collaborate more using The Understanding Map as their common basis for discussion.”
“It is fabulous watching children challenge their own thought processes and question each other in meaningful ways,” says Mrs Lanham. “It is clear how far we have come in encouraging students to think more deeply.”
