Cultures of Thinking Summit 2027

Since the very beginning of the Cultures of Thinking Project at Harvard, one question has energized our work: Who are our students becoming as thinkers and learners as a result of their time with us?  We’ve long believed that a high-quality education is about far more than short-term retention or success on low-level assessments. It’s about nurturing young people who are curious, capable, and ready to engage meaningfully with the world—successful not just in our seats, but beyond our doors.
 
Helping students become independent, empowered learners requires a shift for all of us—a rethinking of both the teacher’s role and the learner’s role. It also asks us to interrupt the familiar “grammar of school” that too often prizes compliance over agency. In our opening plenary session, we’ll come together to explore what we are noticing in our learners this year—early signs, small moments, and powerful indicators of their growth as independent thinkers. From there, we’ll get practical by examining the key practices, mental shifts, and instructional moves that strengthen students’ learning and thinking muscles and develop both their resilience and independence.  

Dinner at dusk will give everyone a chance to mix and mingle--delicious food and great company! 

"For classrooms to be cultures of thinking for students, schools must be cultures of thinking for teachers." -- R. Ritchhart, 2023
 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 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 a school’s culture of thinking.

Every school and classroom tells a story of learning--what it feels and looks like, and how it truly works to foster deep, lasting understanding. Too often, external pressures push us toward simply "getting through the work," which diminishes the rich potential of this story for both students and educators.
This deep dive workshop is for everyone—especially those new to Cultures of Thinking, as well as those seeking a regrounding in its core principles. We will explore the vital question posed by the Cultures of Thinking project: How can we design and nurture learning spaces to become vibrant cultures where thinking is valued, visible, and actively developed?
Building a thinking culture is dynamic, especially since thinking itself is largely invisible. This session will focus on the role we play in creating conditions where thinking can thrive visibly within our learners--offering essential orientation for newcomers and practical refreshers for those with some experience. We will explore how to make sophisticated intellectual processes--such as close looking, questioning, uncovering complexity, and considering perspectives—explicit and commonplace. Join us to connect with the fundamental ideas of the Worldwide Cultures of Thinking Project and leave ready to engage fully in the CoT Summit sessions and craft a more thoughtful, engaged, and meaningful story of learning in your own setting.

Questions are drivers of inquiry, catalysts for changing our perceptions, vehicles for developing understanding, promoters of action, and opportunities to clarify our thinking . . . and, a major way that teachers interact with their students. There is evidence showing that teacher questions consume between 10-20% of the time students spend in classrooms. However, research shows that more than 80% of all teacher questions only require students to recall facts. Is this true in our classrooms? How can we collect data to help us better understand our own questioning and the questions students experience across our schools? How can we better understand what effective questioning looks, feels, and sounds like in a cultures of thinking classroom? In addition, if we recognize that questions are important vehicles for learning, they shouldn’t totally be the purview of teachers. How can we engage students in asking better questions that increase engagement and deepen learning? Questions are one of the most powerful ways for learners to express their thinking, enhance problem-solving, monitor understanding, and improve as active and autonomous learners. How can we harness the potential of questioning to develop more independent learners?

Step into an interactive exploration of documentation--one of the four key Making Thinking Visible practices--as a tool for seeing, shaping, and deepening student thinking. Together, we’ll examine the environment as a powerful cultural force that can be intentionally designed to make learning visible and meaningful. Through hands-on practice and reflection, participants will uncover how thoughtful documentation and environmental design can spark curiosity, foster agency, and extend understanding in any learning space.

Join us to delve into what constitutes 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 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 to building a culture of thinking, you will come away with ideas and strategies for moving forward.