News

Teachers have greatest impact on learning, research finds

June 16th, 2009

The most recent, most cutting-edge research in education, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, had the object of determining the importance of class size. More specifically, they sought to discover whether smaller classes translated to better student graduation outcomes. What they found had nothing to do with class size: better, more effective teachers are the key to better outcomes. (Further details are available on eSchool News.)

The relevance of this research to us is that it confirms what we preach and teach at ThinkWorks: let's train our teachers to be able to give our students the balance of content knowledge and thinking skills that they need. With the Patterns of Thinking Method, we can teach student content in a way they'll retain it and simultaneously foster and develop their thinking skills. This makes for effective teaching.

A board-certified teacher of the highest caliber from Fairfax, Virginia, says that using the Patterns of Thinking Method and ThinkBlocks has sharpened her teaching. "It's honing it and making every step more powerful, efficient, and effective. . . ." Our trainings enable teachers to use the Patterns of Thinking Method effectively, in a way that makes their job easier instead of harder. Students learn content more deeply, with increased retention and transfer. Everyone benefits.

The ThinkWorks Vision is Thinking at every desk. We won't reach this vision by counting the number of desks per classroom. We'll get there by training teachers to be effective in teaching their students to think.

See our blog entry about this story.