Level 1: Learning Individual Ways of Thinking.
The educational objective at this level is to learn each way of thinking and how it is applied to specific subjects in particular situations. The student works with one way of thinking until they understand it and can use it effectively. The learning experience for each way of thinking should be different from the other ways and include the reasons for learning and using that particular way of thinking. Simple icon references should be used to indicate information that is provided or needed by other ways of thinking.
There are several reasons for focusing first on separately learning each way of thinking: Students need to learn only one mode of thinking rather than several at a time and educational content, development, delivery and packaging can be clear, simple, easy to use and specific to their purpose. Students can more easily understand each way of thinking, identify what it teaches and learn the material associated with it.
Level 2: Learning How All Modes of Thinking Work Together.
The educational objective at this level is to show how the different ways of thinking support one another during problem solving, collaborative projects and learning. After becoming familiar with the seven ways of thinking in Level 1, projects at this level should provide activities that help the student learn how the different ways of thinking contribute to successful projects and intelligent behavior. Projects should have clear educational objectives regarding some situatiom and demonstrate the roles played by different ways of thinking in achieving some shared goal or practical knowledge they should know about, Role playing is a particularly effective technique for teaching at this level.
Level 3: Learning To Apply All Modes of Thinking The educational objective at this level is to engage the student in well structured learning experiences in which their own knowledge of the ways of thinking matter.
Having attained an understanding of the different modes of thinking and how they work together in successful thinking and problem solving, a more advanced experience is provided in which the child chooses a well structured project and applies the different ways of thinking and the tools associated with them to achieve project goals. Projects in science, basic engineering, product design, art, writing, social studies, etc. may be chosen by children, parents or teachers according to their interests, curriculum goals and needs.
Level 4: Learning Through Personal Application of the Modes of Thinking.
The educational objective at this level is to support self directed activities that allows children to apply what they have learned and to explore the different ways of thinking and acting both by themselves and in groups. Learning experiences at this level might include open-ended multi-player projects and games in which different students assume responsibility for a particular way of thinking and pursue a project together in person, on-line or via e-mail. This level also accommodates classroom projects initiated by sdtudents or teachers and home school projects initiated by parents.