Thinking and learning are inextricably linked, so much so that the promotion of thinking ought to play a central role in all our classrooms. Such claims rest on the assumption that we are clear not only what we mean by ‘thinking’; but also that something integral to the moral purpose of education is at stake in our endeavours to teach young people to think.

Educational research can be readily cited in support of the view that learning is a ‘consequence’ of thinking or, indeed, that learning is the ‘residue’ of thinking. However, to emphasise thinking in our classrooms is to do more than to assent to the above, it is to plan deliberatively and systematically for students to encounter problems in and through their learning; that is to say, to encounter content that is problematic and that encourages enquiry. Teachers are indispensable in this regard. For to learn how to think in a disciplined way our students must be taught how to apply methods and modes of enquiry that enable them to make sense of problems as these arise in a variety of curricular contexts.

In addition to the thinking strategies, routines and protocols that form the mainstay of our practice, to emphasise thinking in our classrooms is to model thinking dispositions for students that develop their capacity to bear with problems and dilemmas, tolerate uncertainty and accept ambiguity as part of what it means to think well.