Teaching and Learning in a Community of Thinking: The Third Model

The article develops a theory and practice for teaching and learning in a Community of Thinking. According to the theory, the practice of traditional schooling is based on four "atomic pictures": learning is listening; teaching is telling; knowledge is an object; and to be educated is to know valuable content. To change this practice of schooling, educators must replace these pictures in their consciousness. One possible alternative is the Community of Thinking, a framework based on three stages: fertile question, research, and a concluding performance. These stages are supported by a continual process of initiation by which students form the common knowledge base necessary for creating questions and conducting research. Developed in Jerusalem by educators at the Branco Weiss Institute for the Development of Thinking, this framework is currently being implemented in 18 schools in Israel.