WHAT IS A THINKING CLASSROOM?

Thinking Classrooms are a teaching philosophy and approach that encourages active participation, critical thinking, and problem-solving. In a Thinking Classroom, students work in groups, can stand to work instead of sit, and the furniture is arranged to open up the room and offers flexible seating options.

GROUP WORK

Students work in groups of two or three.

NON-PERMANENT SURFACES

Students use erasable surfaces like glass boards or whiteboard desks to make their thinking visible.

FLEXIBLE SEATING

Encourages movement, allows students to reconfigure desks and makes for a more comfortable classroom experience

KEEP THINKING QUESTIONS

Teachers answer questions to help students keep working and thinking. 

SMALL WINS

Teachers focus on regular small wins to keep students engaged. 

GOAL

Help students develop skills like perseverance, academic courage, collaboration, and curiosity. 

HEF's Comittment to thinking classrooms

HEF’s goal for the 2024-2025 school year is to raise funds to support the three priorities that align with Building Thinking Classrooms. Two Hingham High School mathematics classrooms will pilot this framework providing multiple means of Engagement, Representation and Action & Expression. Through the Building Thinking Classrooms framework, students and teachers are able to offer a more collaborative and modern way of learning.

HEF is dedicated to supporting this effort to bring Hingham classrooms to a modern design standard to foster our students’ learning. HEF’s focus grant this year is building Thinking Classrooms at HHS.

“The whiteboards convinced me that math can be fun! Working together at the whiteboards made class genuinely enjoyable. The collaboration truly brought my class closer together.”

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Before After

Hingham High School math classroom

HHS Student Testimonials

“The new classroom setup allows me to express my work more clearly and has significantly improved not only my assessment scores, but my understanding of math.”

HHS Student

I like the amount of space I have to write and it is easier to see other people’s work when we are sharing for my not so great eyesight.

HHS Student

I like the new classroom setup because it is unique to all the other classes and it is the most collaborative space I’ve done math in.

HHS Student

I really like the new desks and tables as it allows for more room to write out problems, I can erase and restart without the hassle of either erasing an entire page or getting a new piece of paper.

HHS Student

I love the new setup! It makes it really easy to do practice problems and just makes the class more interesting as a whole.

HHS Student

I love the new furniture. It makes the space feel less intense and brings an air of warmth and excitement into the classroom.

HHS Student

The new whiteboard desks are great because they allow for a unique and overall enjoyable writing experience that I believe is more clear than writing in a notebook.

HHS Student