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The website would be better if teachers had a place to share lesson plans that use ThinkBlocks. I would love to see how other teachers are using the blocks in their classrooms. I had a few ideas but want to see more.
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I need a set of ThinkBlock rubber stamps I can use on paper to keep track of my ideas generated when I use the 3D version. Everytime I change my focus I lose my old ideas. I am aware the stamps might be used in place of the real blocks, but the problem remains... sometimes I want to work on paper and sometimes I want to keep a record of my leap-frog thoughts. (My apartment would be full by now if I had to keep all the versions of my blocks! lol)
Cindy
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The ThinkBlocks are a fractal which is important but the small blocks do not have a reflective side, signifying that any idea can be made into a unique perspective.
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The Patterns of Thinking and ThinkBlocks are very powerful. I've been wanting more training and also to be able to give trainings to people in my area of expertise or geographically. I'd like to get certified in Patterns of Thinking Method. You should develop a certification program.
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I have a companion notebook to jot down my ideas that came about from each ThinkBlock session, as well as interesting things I learnt/new ways to use ThinkBlocks. You could sell or give one away with each Thinkblock set. Would be handy.
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The C&C guides are useful for a wide range of age groups. Instead of labeling them with a specific grade level, maybe use a range of topic complexity (like intermediate - advanced).
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We have been using ThinkBlocks in conversations, meetings, strategy sessions, learning experiences, etc. to construct what we're thinking as we discuss it. Usually, this involves a simple act that makes a big difference. We often don't even write on the blocks, but just use them as objects to differentiate one idea we're talking about from another; to specify which parts are included in one strategy versus those in another; to set a perspective from which to view the conversation in the moment; or to look more deeply at a relationship between two variables. I think that would benefit a lot from seeing a video that presents a "typical" conversation without ThinkBlocks and then to see the same conversation with them. It would demonstrate the dynamic use of ThinkBlocks...
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I think it would be great to make software that can give people access to the iterations of blocks... they can label one block and have it open into smaller blocks, and then have those open... like a concept mapper... but the blocks would open and close instead of the nodes.
There is something too linear about concept mapping... I like the nesting part of the blocks. This is hard for me to express... The nesting keeps concepts interconnected instead of the splay see with concept mappers which seems to disconnect them.
Cindy
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I would like the ability to buy 6-8 extra medium blocks...maybe a handful of small blocks...
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My 12th grade son and I are using thinkblocks to construction how to choose the right college. I have attached what we have so far, but are open to other suggestions.
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I would like to see a series of children's books written in a similar way to Powers of Ten... I used to call it "Zoom Thinking" when I taught school... (Yes, I based it on the books Zoom and Re-Zoom) There would have to be better titles.
My students would use the idea in science when unpacking what they knew about a physical or living system, and we used it in social studies where we looked at a time period and zoomed down through the groups of people into the lives of individuals.
Each book title would start with one thing... one of the big ThinkBlocks... and look at its parts, and then the parts of those parts, the relationships... the distinctions... The way I see them would be a pop-up or fold-out book... Or perhaps they would be organized like a pick-a-path or choose your own adventure.
I guess these could be websites, too. But I like the idea of a book that you can touch and hold.
Cindy
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I would like to see ThinkBlock lesson plans that challenge common misperceptions in science and math. There is a book called How Students (Mis-)Understand Science and Mathematics by Ruth Stavy and Dina Tirosh that identifies "intuitive rules" that students use and a set of books developed by Page Keeley which probe student science understandings based on the work of Rosalind Driver. The lessons would follow the conceptual change model... where students are challenged to rethink the way they explain discrepant events.
Cindy
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Instead of having the reflective sticker permanently stuck onto a block, why not free up that face as well? Put the reflective stickers onto the tiles instead?
This way, we can have an extra face to write on the block. We can also have the flexibility to put two or more reflective tiles onto one block - so we evaluate an idea from the one perspective, and/or a summation of two or more perspectives.
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You could use plastic sleaves to label TB instead of thinktiles. They're stick on plastic due to static electricity, and you can put pictures inside and relabel on the fly.
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I think classrooms need visual reminders about the four thinking patterns. I would like each pattern to be a different color and have a different graphic symbol.
This has worked very effectively for reading comprehension strategies from the books Strategies That Work: Teaching Comprehension, Understanding and Engagement and Reading With Meaning: Teaching Comprehension to Primary grades.
The six strategies are Making Connections, Questioning, Visualizing, Inferring, Determining Importance and Synthesizing. Each Strategy poster has a symbol like for Making Connections is puzzle pieces connected. The teachers and students developed a common vocabulary by having these posters on the walls in the classrooms. I think something should be made for ThinkBlocks like this. Do not make posters too large as wall space is at a premium in most classrooms. Also, put two small holes in the top so the posters can be tacked to bulletin boards without ruining the posters.
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It would be great to have a weekly or daily email about thinking skills in education. I subscribe to newsletters like ExchangeEveryDay and ASCD Briefs. I would love to get something along these lines from you, too!
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My 8yr old daughter and her friends are planning a cooking school activity. We created a thinkcooking tileset to work out the mathematics of measurements as well as the some terminology of chopping! See attached diagram and tile set.
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Algebra teaches problem solving, critical thinking and logic and having a basic understanding of higher math is vital in the new knowledgebased, high tech economy. But let's face it, algebra in middle school can be challenging.
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I would like to see the work of the International Symbiosis Society integrated into a series of children's books and lesson plans that challenge the traditional biology curriculum.
http://www.bu.edu/bridge/archive/2003/02-14/symbiol.htm
http://people.bu.edu/iss/
I am a member... I think one of the only elementary/middle school teachers who is... and have had the distinct honor of hosting a few Elysia chlorotica in my classroom. What are they? Photosynthetic animals! Yes! What a challenge to my students' thinking! We fed these enchanting sea slugs with light. These creatures will feed on algae and selectively digest it... the chloroplasts survive the process and move from the digestive tract INTO cells where they are actively maintained for up to 10 months! Photosynthesis became more than just a name for something plants did with light. What a challenge to my students! Were they animals? Were they plants? What are the kingdoms? What are domains? What are chloroplasts? The list goes on and on...
http://www.seaslugforum.net/display.cfm?id=1969
Another favorite of mine is the relationship between the bobtail squid and bacteria called Vibrio. http://www.seaslugforum.net/display.cfm?id=1969
Another:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/01/0117_050117_tubeworms.html
The list goes on and on and on... no genome can support life without being interconnected to another. We would bleed to death without the contribution of the bacterial symbionts in our guts which produce the Vitamin K necessary to form blood clots.
ThinkBlocks are just the thing to help kids think about the way living organisms work together. The International Symbiosis Society is just the group to give us some examples of unique relationships that would challenge the way we think about the way life works.
Cindy
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For some reason, the concept of two and three dimensions eludes students in elementary school despite being taught from kindergarten through sixth grade.
I experimented with using ThinkBlocks to help students solidify this concept.
By using Flat Stanley, a character in a well known series of children's books,
students could begin to grasp the concept through a series of questions. I labeled each of two larger ThinkBlocks with 2-D and 3-D. I began by asking, which block I would put Flat Stanley in and which block I would put the rest of Flat Stanley's family. Using students' own words we would label the dimensions of each of the larger ThinkBlock (ie, thick, fat, tall, wide). Then, I labeled each of three medium blocks with length, width and depth. Students were asked to put the correct dimensions in each large block. I tested for understanding by having tiles with pictures of two and three-dimensonal shapes and forms (or geometric solids, the term used in math) into the correct large ThinkBlock; tiles with images of 2-D and 3-D objects were used in the same way and then to push thinking to show there are always confusers in life, I dampened a piece of paper and then asked if it was 2-D
or 3-D as the edges of the paper curled. This idea was inspired by the work of artist Shinji Turner-Yamamoto who is having an exhibit at the Greater Reston Arts Center in Reston, Virginia. He created paper from natural fibers and let the paper dry naturally into beautiful forms. See www.restonarts.org.
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While teaching kindergartners how to analyze a person or an animal for basic shapes, it dawned on me that tiles could be made with geometric shapes and forms(for art)/geometric solids (for math). This would have multiple uses as one could use them to show the match of shapes to forms; how to flatten forms into shapes for drawing or painting; for knowing names of shapes and forms. We use "Mr.Shape Man" to teach children how to draw a person: Head-circle or oval; neck-rectangle; upper torso-square or trapezoid; lower torso-square or trapezoid; legs to knee-2 rectangles; legs from knee to ankle-2 rectangles; foot-right angle triangle; upper arms-2 rectangles; lower arms-2 rectangles;
hands-two squares;finger-10 small rectangles. You would need multiples of some shapes to use them in this way. A face could be analyzed with shapes in the same way. We will use this way to learn to analyze a squirrel so students will be able to draw one when starting the unit on squirrels. adapting to different seasons. You could arrange shapes by straight sides, curved sides or by number of sides, etc.
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In preparation for a training presentation, I wanted to be able to display the blocks on a portable vertical surface. This eliminates the need for people in the back to crane their necks to see blocks I may have set up on a horizontal surface in the front. I created a version using a 14x17 Calphalon cookie sheet and some Dycem to provide a little extra holding power. Maybe you can make an official looking thinkworks version...
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I would like to use a ThinkBlocks set that consisted of a hinged case (that comes apart and each half functions like a large block), maybe 12-16 medium blocks, probably should throw in some smalls as well. I could write ideas on my medium blocks and as I place them in my 'large block' I could form arrangements/relationships and I can see/read my ideas. I could walk away from my set for a few hours or days and when I returned, I wouldn't have to guess what I had been thinking about earlier. The set would be tidy and if you threw in a little steel, the medium/small blocks could stick and you could look at it in a vertical position. I am attaching a sketch of my idea -you may need to use your imagination a little bit...
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It would be nice to have a handle on the box or a box with an easier snap off lid to use to store and transport the ThinkBlocks, especially for teachers who travel between classrooms. The black box they come in is sturdy enough for long term shelf storage, but it's a little hard for kids to get the lid off and it's a little awkward to carry (along with a stack of books, papers, pens, etc). A wide-bottom, stand-up tote bag that you could put on your shoulder with a zipper pocket for pens, eraser, tiles, etc. would be great.
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I would like to have a copy of blank .jpegs of the thinkblocks that are used online... I would like to be able to label my own as I play with them. I also would like to have the kids use them to record their thinking... or to design handouts...
(Scroll down on the ThinkWork's home page to see what I mean...)
Could they be downloadable on the store site?
Cindy
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