Effective teaching takes more than good planning and instructional design; it also requires attention to the culture of the classroom. But how do educators create culture? How do we shape and mold it so that it supports students’ development as thinkers and learners capable of deep understanding?

In this online course, learn how to create “cultures of thinking,” communities where a group’s collective as well as individual thinking is valued, visible, and actively promoted every day. Explore the eight cultural forces present in every group learning situation—language, time, environment, opportunities, routines, modeling, interactions, and expectations—and how they influence the group’s cultural dynamic. Using these eight forces as levers of transformation, educators will begin learning practical ways to create a culture of thinking in their learning environment, face-to-face or virtual.