From students learn to think like the teacher by following and accepting teacher thinking...
To the teacher learns what students are thinking and helps students build their own understanding
Similar to Shift 1, the idea here is to open the classroom to alternative ideas and ways of thinking that can be examined and refined over time. When students are given opportunities to examine and build their ideas through structured interaction, there is potential for lasting and meaningful learning to occur. The teacher’s job becomes less about imparting knowledge and more about facilitating learning.
Sometimes we imagine that school is about the teacher (the source of knowledge) pouring concepts into the heads of the students (receivers of knowledge), like pouring water into a cup or downloading software into a new computer. Some reasons why we might want to have a broader view of learning:
1. Students might be able to repeat what the teacher says without necessarily understanding how and why these ideas are true. What makes sense to one person may not make sense to another, at least not in the same way.
2. Students forget most of what you say and do; they will remember what they say and do much better. All students are capable of valuable insight, even the ones that think they are “not good at this stuff.” Therefore, we need to provide opportunities for students to figure things out and make sense of concepts on their own. To do so, teachers need to see learning through their students’ eyes and guide them on a journey of discovery, self-correction, and concept building.
3. Students might have ideas that are “not correct”. However, there is often a reason why those ideas made sense to students. The teacher’s job is to find ways to help students consider how those ideas could be used productively in the target situation.
This view is important to creating a classroom where students engage in the practices because the practices, at their very core, are about thinking and reasoning for oneself. They imply an active stance toward learning, not a passive/transmissionist one.
Using open-ended problems or prompts allows students the opportunity to make sense of the problem and devise their own solutions. Using prescribed procedures tends to limit student thinking and encourages mimicry rather than encouraging students to consider their own methods for explaining phenomena or solving problems.
Value students’ thinking: The cognitive capacity and practices of students are a useful resource in furthering learning.
Here are some questions that you can ask yourself to guide your decision-making.
1. "How can I figure out what is in my students’ heads?"
2. "How can we build on what is in my students’ heads?"
3. "What experiences can I give students to generate new ideas or prompt revision of existing ideas?"
Remind students that we are interested in their ideas and how they make sense of the world – independent of whether they can use “academic vocabulary” or have the “right” answer. Make ideas the focus in your classroom.
Consider the potential source and value of student ideas. Pose the question: Why might it make sense for someone to think that?” In what context might that idea be productive for explaining X? Thus, students might learn that the idea is productive, perhaps in a different context, but all knowledge is valuable and made sense to the individual who thought it.
Share your enthusiasm about students' ideas. When a student shares an idea that makes you wonder something, share that curiosity with students.