Since the very beginning of the Cultures of Thinking Project at Harvard, one question has energized our work: Who are our students becoming as thinkers and learners as a result of their time with us? We’ve long believed that a high-quality education is about far more than short-term retention or success on low-level assessments. It’s about nurturing young people who are curious, capable, and ready to engage meaningfully with the world—successful not just in our seats, but beyond our doors. Helping students become independent, empowered learners requires a shift for all of us—a rethinking of both the teacher’s role and the learner’s role. It also asks us to interrupt the familiar “grammar of school” that too often prizes compliance over agency. In our opening plenary session, we’ll come together to explore what we are noticing in our learners this year—early signs, small moments, and powerful indicators of their growth as independent thinkers. From there, we’ll get practical by examining the key practices, mental shifts, and instructional moves that strengthen students’ learning and thinking muscles and develop both their resilience and independence.
