Professional development, cognitive tools, and thinking skills

This poster shares findings from an on-going, formative evaluation of a professional development workshop for K-12 teachers that is designed to engage teachers in creating classroom projects that use cognitive tools to foster higher-order thinking and 21st century skills across the disciplines. Findings show teachers used the tools to "make students' thinking visible," help students compare ideas, and to stimulate group discussions; the remaining challenge is to explicitly target students' higher order thinking skills.