Title: Seeing Thinking with AI: Making Cognition Visible
Format: Interactive Session
0–10 min – Framing the Challenge: Why Seeing Thinking Matters
Welcome and session overview.
Key benefits of making cognition visible:
Guides instruction and supports formative assessment
Surfaces misconceptions before they take root
Builds metacognitive awareness and learner ownership
Creates shared understanding for collaboration and feedback
Transition: Introduce AI as a design partner for visualizing, organizing, and guiding thinking
10–15 min – Mini-Demonstration: AI as a Thinking Partner
Short demo using ChatGPT or Napkin.ai to create a visual outline or concept map from a prompt
Group discussion: “What did the AI capture? What still requires human interpretation?”
Emphasize the “human in the loop” principle—AI can generate structure, but educators bring context and meaning
15–25 min – Activity 1: Making Thinking Visible
Participants choose a familiar concept or process
Use ChatGPT or Napkin.ai to co-create a visual representation (concept map, cause–effect chain, or comparison diagram)
Encourage revision: add missing links, label relationships, or annotate with reflective questions
Focus: seeing, refining, and communicating thinking through collaboration
25–30 min – Share-Out 1
Volunteers share visuals or insights
Group reflection: How does making thinking visible guide formative feedback and deepen understanding?
30–40 min – Activity 2: Authentic Mini-Challenge – Guiding Thinking with a Template
Small groups identify a real classroom challenge (e.g., supporting analysis, comparison, reasoning, or reflection)
Use ChatGPT to prompt AI for a thinking routine or visual template that helps students explore that kind of thinking
Example:
Goal: Help students explain a scientific process
AI Template Suggestion: “Observe → Explain → Connect” three-column guide
Application: Students fill in each column to make reasoning visible
Groups adapt the AI-generated template for their own learners—adding prompts, scaffolds, or guiding questions
40–45 min – Share-Out 2
Groups briefly share their AI-supported templates
Peers respond with quick feedback: “How might this guide or reveal student thinking?”
45–57 min – Synthesis and Reflection
Facilitated group discussion:
How can AI help teachers and students see and shape learning?
How does visualization promote curiosity and inclusion?
Individual reflection: “Where could visible thinking transform learning in your own work?”
57–60 min – Resources and Closing
Share resources:
AI prompt examples for designing thinking routines
Editable templates for visible thinking activities
Apply AI-supported strategies (using tools like ChatGPT, and Napkin.ai) to make cognitive processes visible through concept maps, diagrams, and visual thinking routines.
Design learning activities that use visual representations to enhance reasoning, metacognition, and feedback for diverse learners.
Analyze how visualizing thinking supports equitable participation and deeper understanding across linguistic and cognitive differences.
Evaluate the role of visible thinking in their own teaching practice and identify opportunities to integrate AI responsibly for curiosity-driven, learner-centered inquiry
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