Making Thinking Visible with Animal Creations

Purpose:
Students make animal creations out of Play-Doh while thinking aloud about the process. This activity provides an introduction to Think-Aloud and the metacognitive conversation through a non-academic, non-threatening activity. Play-Doh is one of many vehicles. The important aspect of this activity in terms of scaffolding is that the cognitive task is not demanding, so students may slow down and think about what they are thinking as they solve the problem. Additionally, the task has elements of fun and silliness, so that students are likely to feel more comfortable thinking and sharing their thinking than they would with an academic task such as reading or solving a math problem.

Materials:
small cans of Play Doh or other materials of your choice

Process:

1. Model the process of making an animal out of Play Doh. Take 3 minutes to create an animal that will stand up independently while thinking aloud about the process.
2. Students get into pairs.
3. One person in the pair has three minutes to make an animal while thinking aloud. The second person keeps track of the time and takes notes on the first person’s process. No discussion is allowed.
4. The second person in the pair has three minutes to create an animal while thinking aloud. The first person keeps track of time and takes notes on the process. Again, there should be no discussion.
5. The class shares observations about the process of thinking aloud: what they noticed, what was hard, what they learned from each other, etc. It is important to validate the many different kinds of thinking that lead to the successful completion of the task.
   
   

This may even be a good time to create a Good Problem Solvers Strategies list. (See "Good Readers’ Strategies" list in this packet.) To connect this activity to reading, reference this poster when you introduce the bookmarks and checklists in "Modeling and Practicing Think-aloud."