Making Your Maths Thinking Visible
Think boards are great tools to make student thinking visible during Maths.
They are highly versatile and can be created easily. When designing your think boards, try to incorporate opportunities for student choice, peer-talk and the use of visual representations.
- Student Choice might be allowing students to solve the problem using any strategy, or choosing how they would like to visually represent the problem. You could also include their suggestions in the creation of the initial problem. In this case, you might ask: “What fractions would challenge you today as mathematicians?”
- Peer-talk should be an integral component of every Maths lesson. Giving students an opportunity to share their thinking, and/or asking them to explain or record a friend’s strategy are great ways to encourage mathematical discourse. You might say, “Explain how your friend solved this problem.”
- Visual Representations may look different depending on the central problem and context of the lesson. You might have students illustrate the problem using manipulatives, drawings or by creating word problems for their friend’s to solve.
There are a wide range of effective think boards online. Explore the web to find the ones that best suit your needs, or even better – make your own! Some examples to get you started might be:
Share a comment about how think boards work for you.
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