About Us
How ThinkPlus is transforming children, classrooms and learning.
ThinkPlus is a meta curriculum designed to complement a schools’ existing curricula. It is designed to sit alongside the existing lessons a child has, growing their capacity to learn their confidence and, as a result, their emotional resilience.
ThinkPlus learning tools are developed through Education Design Research. We collaborate with schools and universities to co-design resources using feedback and the latest psychology, education and neuroscience research.
ThinkPlus is currently being used by thousands of students and hundreds of teachers in schools around Australia.
The program has been proven to create a genuine culture of learning, helping students to thrive in a rapidly changing world. It does this by giving students the ability to understand how they learn. This, in turn, helps them meet new experiences and new challenges – in the classroom and in life – with the tools to successfully navigate those challenges.
ThinkPlus works
Merging design and research methodologies, ThinkPlus has drawn on the latest research from education, psychology, and neuroscience. Our meta curriculum includes theories on self-regulation and mindsets, cognitive science, digital learning, pedagogy and neuroscience.
Classroom tested and developed
The ThinkPlus program was and is constantly being tested in classrooms, with new knowledge about the way children learn being applied to the program.
This ensures all students who take part in the program benefit from the latest scientific and experiential advancements.
The core elements
The unique strength of ThinkPlus is its combination of four core elements:
Neuroplasticity – the fact that intelligence is not fixed.
Mindsets and Emotions – understanding how emotional resilience helps children develop a learning mindset.
The Science of Learning – The highly successful PEN Principles for learning based on the latest Psychology, Neuroscience and Educational research.
Metacognition -Thinking about one’s own thinking.
ThinkPlus includes the recognized and ground-breaking work of:
- Carol Dweck, Lewis & Virginia Eaton Professor at Stanford University.
- Dr Edward de Bono
- David Perkins, Carl H. Pforzheimer, Jr. Research Professor of Teaching
and Learning, Harvard Graduate School of Education - Dr. Michael Merzenich, Professor Emeritus Neuroscientist at
University of California, San Franscico - Robert J. Sternberg, Professor of Human Development in the College of Human Ecology at Cornell University.
- Dr. Daniel J. Siegel, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the UCLA
School of Medicine - Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath, Educational Neuroscientist
- Dr. James Marshall, Senior Lecturer, School of Design, Swinburne University
- Dr. Jo Boaler, Professor of Mathematics, Stanford Graduate School of Education
- Dr. Dawn Huebner, Clinical Psychologist
- Dr. Catlin Tucker, Author, Trainer and Speaker
- Dr. Andrew Lane, Lecturer, School of Design, Swinburne University
Our history of pioneering education design research
“Making a difference to the lives of young Australians.”
ThinkPlus is an initiative of the Elevo Institute, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to helping young Australians equip themselves to face the challenges of the 21st Century.
The organisation started life as the de Bono Institute in 1996. Our first 16 years was dedicated to conducting Educational Design Research, the findings of which could be used to develop educational innovations.
In 2013, we broadened our focus to include areas such as developmental psychology and neuroscience and changed our name to Elevo Institute.
The Institute aims to improve teaching and learning through the development of well-researched and tested innovative methodologies.
Applying the science. Evolving the program.
The ThinkPlus program has been evolved to provide highly engaging, workable methods and systems for teachers, schools and students to promote collaboration and co-creation.
For more information on the ThinkPlus Program, please see our website or contact ThinkPlus at info@thinkplus.info
