Thinking by Design: Framing Thought With Cognitive Tools and Strategies

Framework

The Course Goals and Expected Student Learning Outcomes (below) frame the study:
**Apply theories of learning and embodied learning to authentic contexts
**Examine and critique how learning works, the impact of socio-cultural context and learner variability using frameworks
**Use visual and digital tools to articulate and model thinking processes or routines
**Deconstruct different kinds of thinking such as creative thinking or problem-solving to assess learners’ next steps to grow
**Apply ideas to develop metacognition and ways of thinking
**Design thinking routines for scaffolding thinking and cognition
**Understand the link between diversity and efficacy of thinking skills for equity and social justice

The foundational perspective of the course/study is that by fostering skills in representing thinking processes and metacognition through reflection and use of digital, visual tools the participants can enhance their own metacognition and capacities by constructing meaning within a collaborative context. Access to educators with the knowledge and skillset to help learners develop cognitive capacities -- and understand common misconceptions -- is an equity issue for at K-20 learners.

Methods

The course participants were doctoral students enrolled in either a Post-Secondary Teaching or Teaching and Learning program. The data sources for the study are learning products and course artifacts including visual representations, concept maps and other graphics, a weekly metacognitive journal in which learners reflected on their experiences, products of learning activities, surveys, and discussion posts. The next phase of the research is to interview students who opted for a follow-up discussion. The qualitative data, including artifacts and open-ended survey questions, were analyzed for emergent themes about the instruction and learners' experiences. Surveys provided descriptive statistical data.
The following research questions informed the study:
1. How do higher education educators prepare to teach thinking skills?
2. How does the use of cognitive tools promote thinking skills?
2. a. What kinds of digital tools are effective for communicating mental models?
3. What is the experience of learners in developing metacognition when explicitly taught strategies to cultivate habits of mind and thinking?

Results

The preliminary results of the study indicate findings in several areas.

*the majority of participants had no prior training
*misconceptions about how people learn persist for practicing educators
* gains in increased fluidity in thinking
*use of new skills and strategies
*course strategies led to personalized, culturally responsive teaching and learning
* participants increased confidence in their own mastery
* participants experienced growth in metacognition
* participants learned new digital tools to support their own practice
* participants discovered new habits of mind and ways of thinking (eg. the "not creative" participants were able to identify ways in which they demonstrate creativity.

Importance

Educators are tasked with the difficult tasks of teaching learners how to think, reason, analyze, make judgments and decisions daily. This study adds to professional knowledge of how to promote, explicitly teach, and model ways of thinking to develop cognitive capacities in educators. In addition, this study contributes to our understanding of educators' misconceptions about how people learn and cognition and strategies for conceptual change.

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