Can we avoid thinking?

This is a response for the Week 2 discussion forum for 6411 Cognition and Learning. This prompt comes from Daniel Willingham (2009) Why Don’t Students Like School?, chapter 1 and 2.

Willingham (2009) defines thinking as combining and rearranging ideas and information in new ways. The Oxford Dictionary of Psychology extends my understanding by defining thinking as the “act or process of having ideas or thoughts, including reasoning, problem solving, decision making, the formation of mental models, and the contemplation of knowledge, beliefs, and opinions” Do I honestly think humans avoid thinking? No.

Thinking, if I use the fuller definition, contains processes and actions that are as natural as breathing or walking. It is in humans to do this mental work, even when we are trying not to think. Just try meditating without any thought processes occurring. Just tell millions of Sudoku and crossword puzzlers to stop thinking. It can’t be done. Our brains continue thinking even while we sleep, or unconsciously attend to mundane tasks.

Yet, thinking at high levels of creative production, where inspiration and perspiration meet, is hard work and does not come easily. That’s the type of thinking that I know I tend to avoid, especially when, as Willingham (2009) posits, it is effortful, slow, and unreliable. It’s just hard work. It takes concentration, attention, time, and energy. This kind of thinking, while commendable and ideal, should be avoided in the day to day work of thinking that is found in the ‘regular’ classroom. Teachers and students should have learning environments that allow for ‘just right thinking’ (Willingham, 2009). Structuring thinking activities that are not too easy or too hard, but match the student, or teacher’s, zone of proximal development (Ponticell, 2006, p 606), since that’s where optimal and effective learning can occur.

By structuring the learning environment to support the cognitive conditions that engage curious thinkers (Willingham, 2009), we can support brain development and student learning, to build the skills and aptitudes for good thinking. Then, when those tough, effortful, slow, thinking processes are required, the ones that potentially lead to ‘aha’ moments, as defined by Willingham (2009) as thinking, the student or teacher is prepared to put in the hard work to reap the rewards and the satisfaction of accomplishment, when the task is completed. Cognitive conditions in the classroom, as suggested by Willingham (2009), can include building on student experiences (cooking in class); scaffolding learning (using text sets (Lupo, Strong, Lewis, Walpole, & McKenna, 2017); excite and motivate using curiosity (nature walks, experiments with surprising results); ensure relevancy and puzzles (#TeachSDGs, BrainPop); use novelty and variable pacing (Mad Minute math, meditation in the classroom), apply universal design for learning principles (multiple means of engagement, representation, action and expression), or have students keep a learning log to engage metacognitive, deeper thinking.

Thinking can’t be avoided, even when we try. Thinking happens all the time, like the beat of the heart, with the momentary flash of the mind or the unconscious wanderings when trying not to think. It’s not always what we want to think about or where we want our thinking to go. That’s where my thinking about thinking has brought me. It couldn’t be avoided.

References

Cast. (2018) UDL Guidelines. Retrieved from http://udlguidelines.cast.org

Lupo, S., Strong, J., Lewis, W., Walpole, S., & McKenna, M. (2017). Building background knowledge through reading: Rethinking text sets. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 61(4), 433-444.

Oxford Dictionary of Psychology. (2015). Quick Reference – thinking. Retrieved from http://www.oxfordreference.com.ezproxy.lakeheadu.ca/search?q=thinking&searchBtn=Search&isQuickSearch=true

Ponticell, J. (2006). Theories of learning. In W. Fenwick (Ed.), Encyclopedia of educational leadership and administration, Volume 2. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Reference, 604-607.

Willingham, D. (2009). Why don’t students like school? San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass.