Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics, Grades K-12: 14 Teaching Practices for Enhancing Learning

A thinking student is an engaged student

Teachers often find it difficult to implement lessons that help students go beyond rote memorization and repetitive calculations. In fact, institutional norms and habits that permeate all classrooms can actually be enabling "non-thinking" student behavior. Sparked by observing teachers struggle to implement rich mathematics tasks to engage students in deep thinking, Peter Liljedahl has translated his 15 years of research into this practical guide on how to move toward a thinking classroom. Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics, Grades K-12 helps teachers implement 14 optimal practices for thinking that create an ideal setting for deep mathematics learning to occur.

This guide
Provides the what, why, and how of each practice and answers teachers’ most frequently asked questions
Includes firsthand accounts of how these practices foster thinking through teacher and student interviews and student work samples
Offers a plethora of macro moves, micro moves, and rich tasks to get started