Project Zero — Project Zero at Harvard Graduate School of Education

Using Thinking Routines Purposefully

Have you ever used a thinking routine in your teaching or facilitating? It may have been developed as part of the Visible Thinking research as a tool to deepen content learning and cultivate students' thinking skills and dispositions. While thinking routines can be used in all subjects, grade levels, and in a range of educational settings, they are often used as activities rather than as powerful resources that support rich patterns of thinking.

Details

Dates
Mon, Oct 19, 2026 – Sun, Nov 15, 2026
Format
Location
Virtual
Duration
Multi-week / Ongoing
Cost
From $355
Event type

This event is from Project Zero — confirm details there before registering.

Who it's for

Topics

Learn to use thinking routines as more than activities, but as powerful resources that support rich patterns of thinking.

Have you ever used a thinking routine in your teaching or facilitating? It may have been developed as part of the Visible Thinking research as a tool to deepen content learning and cultivate students' thinking skills and dispositions. While thinking routines can be used in all subjects, grade levels, and in a range of educational settings, they are often used as activities rather than as powerful resources that support rich patterns of thinking.

Overview

  • Examine how thinking is typically framed in educational settings, identifying some of the practical challenges that arise and considering how we can reframe these conversations to foster greater learning and growth—both for our students and for ourselves
  • Engage with thinking routines as tools and structures that support rich patterns of thinking
  • Try out practices of facilitating thinking routines with peers and with your own learners
  • Bring your learning to life by looking closely at artifacts of student thinking and reflecting on your journey of making thinking visible and valued in your own work with learners

Who Should Participate

  • Teachers, teacher leaders, and school administrators and leaders
  • Museum educators and educators working in informal learning environments
  • Facilitators of pre-K to adult learning

Time Commitment

  • Team Meeting: This 1- to 1.5-hour live, synchronous team meeting happens every other week, scheduled and facilitated by the team members with a PZ-designed agenda.
  • Reading, Practice, and Assignments: Plan remaining time for reading and individual reflections/assignments. If you are not currently working in a school or educational organization, you will need a classroom context or a consistent group of students with whom you can try out/practice the ideas you are learning throughout the course.

Tuition, Discounts, and Financial Aid

  • $355 for educators joining as part of a team (three to six members from the same organization)
  • $385 for educators joining as part of a team of two (from the same organization) who will be placed on a virtual team with other teams of two (as attendance allows)
  • $399 for educators joining as individuals to be placed on a virtual team

Questions?

Visit the FAQs page for more information on PZ online courses, or email pzlearn@gse.harvard.edu.

Schedule

  • Session 1 — Mon, Oct 19, 2026
  • Session 2 — Mon, Oct 26, 2026
  • Session 3 — Mon, Nov 2, 2026
  • Session 4 — Mon, Nov 9, 2026

Descriptions on this page were excerpted from Project Zero's own published materials.