Students Embrace the Language of Integrative Thinking

One of the many things I love about the tools of Integrative Thinking is the language we now have to describe and analyze our thinking. Students learn to recognize that they select from the vast amount of information available in the data pool, and that what they consider salient shapes inferences, assumptions and conclusions. Students learn that the mental models they form in their heads of the world are only constructs based on the information they have paid attention to. They learn that their models are always incomplete and that new information will change their mental models. They learn that they are only ever working with their current understanding of the world and that it is important to seek new information to develop better mental models. These are powerful concepts for grade 6 and 7 students to embrace and causes them to become incredibly flexible thinkers.

Below is an example of a student building a better mental model of the world based on new information he received from Phil Frei who visited our classroom to share what life and education are like in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya. The student uses the language of Integrative Thinking to describe how his thinking has changed.