Theoretical Foundation
[ PROJECT ZERO ]
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The research carried out by Project Zero [PZ] highlighted one major objective, which was labeled Maker Empowerment: to encourage people to have heightened sensitivity to understand how objects, ideas and systems work and to have a growing wish to enhance their ability to create, remix and imagine.
According to this research, to achieve Maker Empowerment we need to exercise these three main capacities: look closely; explore complexity; and find opportunities to use what we learn to create something, manually or digitally, in the real world.
How can the development of these capacities be observed?
How can the process of investigation along the whole learning path be documented and made visible?
PZ recommends using a set of pedagogical tools that organize and support thinking, the famous Thinking Routines5.
[5] HARVARD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION. Project Zero. Project Zero’s thinking routine toolbox [website]. 2022. Available at: http://www.pz.harvard.edu/thinking-routines
They function as tools for the educator and the learner, and they can lead us to develop healthy mental habits, such as having a growing inclination towards:
investigating the interactions among the various parts and people linked to issues, texts, works of art, among others;
developing the capacity of understanding nuances;
questioning the values, motivations and priorities of the individuals involved; and
planning and seeking new knowledge to execute projects.
Not only in Maker Education have Thinking Routines been organized, but also in other ways:
into areas (in art education, to develop egality, etc.);
into pedagogical objectives (to synthesize, to summarize, to enquire, to question, to assess, to define, etc.);
and into types of triggers, so as to promote engagement - with ideas, people or actions.
But what do Thinking Routines have in common?
They are all PRACTICAL ways to make thinking visible in that they capture what students are discussing, observing and creating together. This documentation not only shows the final project, but it also values the investigation process that the students have gone through along their learning journey. That is to say, it makes the learning process visible. If you want to know how to start using these tools in Early Childhood Education, read this article [in portuguese] for some tips.
Now you will also be able to find out more about the Reggio Emilia approach, which we are going to discuss next.
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