Documenting Childrens Thinking
Using different strategies to document children’s work makes their thinking visible. Documentation gives teachers a means of reflecting on children’s cognitive growth to inform ongoing decisions about curricular materials, activities, and instructional strategies. For example, taking pictures and writing down children’s words or ideas as they work on a problem or inquiry provides data that can later be used for assessment, gives children a visible record of their progress, and establishes concrete reference points for conversations about problem solving.
Table 10.2 represents children’s words and thoughts a teacher might record about the boat-building activity described above. The teacher could use the chart with children to help them remember what they did and talk through what to do next.