Thinking for Change
A resource center for critical and creative thinking and reflective practice (Home page)

"working to develop people's capacity to make a difference in schools, workplaces, communities, and organizations for social change"

TfC 's projects for the first year include the following:
Notes on 2000-01 Projects
The goals and process will be elaborated as each project develops.

Facilitated planning and problem-solving to establish TfC 's mode of operation
Allyn Bradford, Nina Greenwald, Arthur Millman, and Peter Taylor began planning an outreach unit in February 2000 and continued through May, with parts of some face-to-face and on-line meetings facilitated by Allyn and Peter. A draft of this prospectus was generated and the founding associates decided which of the projects described in this appendix they would focus on. At the present time (9/00) Peter Taylor is seeking an outside facilitator for future meetings, in order to free all the associates to be participants only, that is, not to have to mix facilitating, leading, and participating roles.
Helping Each Other to Foster Critical Thinking about Biology and Society
Co-hosted by the Program in Critical & Creative Thinking and Thinking for Change
with support from STEMTEC (http://k12s.phast.umass.edu/~stemtec/)
Organizer and Workshop Facilitator: Peter J. Taylor (peter.taylor@umb.edu)
Assistant: Bob Lee
Held in the Geological Museum, 24 Oxford St., Cambridge, Mass., evening of July 29 to noon on July 31, 2000
With a focus on the life and environmental sciences, this small workshop (8 participants) met to explore ways that placing developments in science and technology in their social context could enliven and enrich science education, science popularization, and citizen activism. Participants led each other in activities that could be adapted to college classrooms and other contexts, or in other ways shared insights, experience, experiments, struggles, and plans. The guiding principle was that participants benefit more when professional development opportunities allow them to connect theoretical, pedagogical, practical, political, and personal aspects of the issue at hand. The workshop catalyzed collaborations and networks among the participants--after all, we need not only tools, but continuing support and inspiration as we weave new approaches into our work.
Indeed, directly after the workshop, Steve Fifield initiated a project with Carol Burger and Muriel Lederman to monitor the curriculum development each is undertaking with a view to increasing representation of women and their perspectives in biology. To assess the workshop's longer-term impact, a follow-up survey is planned for summer 2001, which will include questions related to STEMTEC's goal of increasing the quality, diversity, and numbers of K-12 science and math. teachers. Unfortunately, due to the sudden illness of the assistant to the workshop leader, an immediate evaluation, in the form of a "focused conversation" at the end of the workshop, was not recorded. Time constraints eliminated the activity in which we were to write 5 statements/ themes/questions that we were taking away with us.
Due to the same illness just mentioned, extensive notes on the sessions were not kept, but a report of the workshop was written, which conveys a picture of the process of the workshop. See http://omega.cc.umb.edu/~ptaylor/agency00.html
Think-tank of community-college critical thinking teachers
Convened by Nina Greenwald and Arthur Millman
Assistant, Peter Taylor

Provisional Mission 9/00 -- to be developed by the participants
* To explore issues of interest to each of us in our quest to promote effective thinking and problem solving in our professional lives and communities.
* To consider ways to share the results of our explorations with wider audiences.
A kick-off meeting is scheduled for October 4. The four founding associates and eleven other CCT graduates, students, and affiliates who teach critical thinking at college level plan to participate in a series of 4-5 meetings for 2000-1. Nina Greenwald has received valuable advice from Cathy Burack of NERCHE.
A consultation process to identify and articulate opportunities to promote critical and creative thinking in the corporate world and government agencies
To be led by Greenwald. Assistant; TBA

Critical and Creative Thinking can enhance organizational strategies in the corporate world and government agencies in many ways, such as: increasing the success in making decisions; generating ideas for innovation; Resolving differences among individuals and groups; identifying and clarifying hidden problems; and shortening meetings and making them more effective. The challenge is to convince potential clients of these benefits. This TfC project, therefore, involves establishing a consultation process to identify and articulate opportunities for attracting corporate and government agency clients.

Without preempting this consultation, the kinds of programs and services that TfC could offer include:
1. Consultant services: e.g., individual courses, workshops, workshop series, think tanks, seminars, retreats, advisement, facilitation, mediation, training, focused on ways of addressing a wide range of organizational and workplace issues and problems: e.g.,
* team building
* building a learning organization
* problem finding/problem solving
* creative problem solving
* leadership
* on-the-job survival skills
* succeeding with management
* capitalizing on diversity in the work force
* getting ahead, even in a dead end job
* coping with job career hazards (e.g., cutting through red tape,
getting along with the boss, how to succeed by breaking the rules)
* advertising, marketing, public relations
* stress reduction, burn-out
2. Resources/Communication
* provide information about worldwide, effective business practices
* sponsor an "expert series" in which people who have developed successful strategies for business present their ideas
* post material on the TfC website
* produce a periodic newsletter (e.g., showcasing effective problem solving strategies within a particular business; guest columns by business leaders; TfC's activities and commentary, Q and A, etc.)
* communicate with the public to establish Center identity/function (e.g., newspapers, business journals, UMB radio, TV, have the director visit different businesses to better understand their issues, concerns)
* develop regional forums
Working group to develop Graduate certificate in "Dialogue and Collaboration in Organizational Change"
Bradford and Taylor

This Certificate matches the goals of TfC in many ways. The initial work has been:
to get formal approval for changes in the requirements for the 15 credit CCT graduate certificate so more electives can be taken;
to run a pilot version in June 2000 of the two-day workshop that will be the basis of the proposed "Critical and Creative Thinking in the Workplace" summer course; and
to arrange instructors for the courses to be offered through Continuing Education.
The next step is to compose the description of the Certificate so the formal arrangement with the Division of Continuing Education can be completed and publicity commenced.
The planned roster of courses for the Certificate:
Winter CCT697 Constructivist Listening (Schaefer)
Spring CCT616 The Dialogue Process (Bradford)
CCT601 Critical Thinking (Millman & Greenwald)
Summer I CCT697 Critical and Creative Thinking in the Workplace* (Bradford, Taylor, TBA)
Summer II CCT601 Critical Thinking (Smith & Philpot**)
Fall CCT602 Creative Thinking (Gallo and TBA**)
CCT 698 Practicum: Processes of Research and Engagement (Taylor)
* subject to formal approval, ** subject to confirmation
Soliciting entries for a web-based "Thinking for Change Fieldbook"
Arthur Millman and Peter Taylor, assisted by Brooke Sponseller
This will be modeled on The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook, which includes many activities and practices directed at organizational learning. The Thinking for Change Fieldbook will include techniques and illustrative cases that CCT faculty members have developed in courses and other forums. At first these will be posted on the TfC's website, but the plan is to prepare a prospectus for publication by summer of 2002.
Website for documentation of activities and fieldbook entries
Supervised by Peter Taylor, with assistance from Brooke Sponseller.
The initial website will be an information source, not a place to interact. An emphasis on text not graphics will make the site simple enough to maintain without a web-expert. (This follows the model of the CCT Program's website, to which it will be linked.)
A Dialogue process
Initiated and led by Allyn Bradford. Assistant: TBA

In the spring of 2001, in conjunction with CCT616, which he will teach, Allyn Bradford plans to initiate and lead a dialogue group around (provisionally) ongoing and changing demands on special education. The choice of topic coincides with changes in State law and the interests of some CCT graduates. Lee Teitel, as director of the Dorchester High partnership, is being consulted with a view to bringing BPS teachers into this project.

Background: Dialogue is a special kind of conversation in which a group seeks to evolve a collective meaning through a mutual understanding of diverse points of view. Each person,s contribution to the Dialogue is like a piece added to a jig-saw puzzle which produces a whole beyond the parts. Among other things, the process helps people understand more clearly their thinking and, consequently, their basic beliefs.

Skills: The Dialogue process uses communication skills that are quite different from those ordinarily found in conversation. These skills include a tolerance for paradox (or opposing views), the suspension of judgment, balancing inquiry and advocacy and empathic listening. Participants in the process are asked to make their thought process visible, including their tacit (hidden) assumptions.

Purpose: The purpose of Dialogue is to discover the richness of diverse perceptions that create a shared meaning through inquiry and reflection. In Dialogue people learn to listen to their listening and think about their thinking. Consequently, these functions of the mind become more consistent and coherent. The process also enlarges perception through encounters withthe many shifting perspectives coming from the group.

History: The origin of Dialogue goes back to the ancient Greeks, primarily Socrates. It is also found among preliterate Europeans and Native Americans. David Bohm, the renowned physicist, introduced the Dialogue process into the scientific quest for knowledge and also used it to address social issues. Bohm said that "when the roots of thought are observed, thought itself seems to change for the better." He also said that Dialogue, "is a stream of meaning flowing among and through and among us." Following Bohm, Dialogue was used by William Isaacs of MIT in South Africa during the dark days of apartheid. Dialogue is now used in schools, churches and corporations to share and honor diverse views and build a sense of trust and respect within these institutions.

Reading
Dialogue, Rediscovering the Transforming Power of Conversation, by Linda Ellinor and Glenna Gerard, published by Wiley, 1998
Dialogue and the art of thinking together, by William Isaacs, published by Doubleday, 1999
The Magic of Dialogue by Daniel Yankelovich, published by Simon and Shuster, 1999