Our 2027 Deep Dives
Tina Blythe: Creating a Culture of Thinking for Adults
For classrooms to be cultures of thinking for students, schools must be cultures of thinking for educators. But how—in the midst of days crowded with urgent matters that require our attention—do we find the time for our own learning as educators? And once we’ve found the time, how do we use it in a way that helps us learn more, and more deeply, about teaching and learning? In this Deep Dive session, we will practice protocols and processes that support collaborative professional learning, talk through the misconceptions that often get in the way of effective collaborative learning, and share ideas about how to address the practical challenges that often emerge when we take steps to make the learning of teachers and administrators a vital part of the school’s culture of thinking.
Jim Reese: “When Change Has Legs”: Building & Sustaining a Culture of Thinking
How do we create and sustain a culture of thinking? Explore what research and experience can tell us about shifting a school culture to focus on deep thinking and understanding. Learn about a framework developed at Project Zero for initiating and sustaining such change. In this Deep Dive session, participants will identify common elements of a culture of thinking across classrooms and schools, tailor a vision for creating a culture of thinking in their own context, and consider actions that can support and sustain it. No matter where you are on this journey toward building a culture of thinking, you will come away with practical ideas and strategies for moving forward.
Erika Lusky: Wait…What’s a Culture of Thinking?
Maybe you’re curious. Maybe you’re new to these ideas. Maybe you’ve heard people talking about Cultures of Thinking and you smiled, nodded, and thought, I should probably know what that means. Welcome. This one’s for you. Consider this your beginner’s dive into creating a culture of thinking. No prior experience required. No secret handshake necessary. After all, haven’t classrooms always been places where thinking happens? Well…yes. And not necessarily. In this lively, interactive Deep Dive, we’ll get curious about what separates a classroom where thinking happens from one where thinking is truly valued, visible, and actively promoted. We’ll explore the forces that quietly shape learning and thinking every day: the language we use, the questions we ask, the expectations we communicate, the interactions we cultivate and the opportunities we create for learners to think. Come curious. Leave with a new lens for seeing, shaping, and supporting thinking.
Stephen Taylor: Protecting Thinking, Preserving the Environment… and Promoting Agency?
As more research emerges about the impacts of AI on thinking, agency and the planet, students are becoming attuned to the risks, rewards and costs associated with it. At the same time, they see a changing world accelerated by technology and are looking for sustainable solutions to preparing for their futures. In this Deep Dive session, we’ll explore some of the ethical and environmental issues associated with AI, use a Footprint Estimator to evaluate our own choices, and make the connection with quality thinking. We’ll use thinking routines to make connections between human, learner and machine agency, and consider what we can do to promote a culture of thinking in an AI-infused world. We’ll also look at some prompting techniques that promote thinking and use AI more efficiently, and examine a student workshop that you can use in your school, towards a Proposal for Sustainable AI.
Jessica Vance: The Micro Moves Behind a Learning Wall
Learning walls are shared spaces where teachers and students make thinking and learning visible over time. They bring together questions, ideas, reflections, and evidence of learning, creating opportunities to revisit thinking and consider where to go next. But creating the space is only part of the work. It's the small, intentional moves woven into everyday learning that bring it to life. Building a learning wall is one thing, but learning to leverage it as a tool to notice, revisit, and respond to learning is another. In this Deep Dive session, we’ll look beyond the wall itself and explore the small, intentional moves that help make thinking and learning visible as it unfolds. Using classroom examples, we’ll unpack the questions, routines, opportunities for reflection, and documentation habits that help us notice and capture evidence of learning alongside students and, importantly, consider what we do with that evidence next. Together, we’ll explore ways to weave these moves into learning experiences and routines that already exist, rather than treating documentation as one more thing to fit into the day. Participants will leave with practical ideas to try, adapt, and make their own as they continue building a culture where thinking is visible, revisited, and used to move learning forward.
Ron Ritchhart: Learning Occurs at the Point of Challenge
This mindset can at times be a stumbling block for us as educators, and yet it is crucial for our students’ development as thinkers and for their deeper learning. What makes it hard for us to embrace the idea of challenge in our teaching and students’ learning? Why do we sometimes inhibit those moments of productive struggle by intervening? How do societal expectations of schools as efficient deliverers of information sometimes make the goal of embracing challenge more difficult? Which pedagogical strategies might be useful as we lean into the idea of challenge? Join us for this Deep Dive session to explore these questions with Ron Ritchhart.
