Habits of Mind
Discover Art Costa's Habits of Mind, a framework for effective thinking and problem-solving strategies used by successful individuals.
What Are Art Costa's Habits of Mind?
Art Costa's Habits of Mind are 16 thinking strategies that successful people use when facing difficult problems, including persistence, managing impulsivity, and thinking flexibly. These are teachable skills that combine attitudes, past experiences, and mental strategies to help students become better problem-solvers. Unlike fixed talents, these habits can be developed by any student through practice and scaffolding.
Art Costa's Habits of Mind are a set of thinking skills that help people solve problems. These habits are not special talents that only gifted people have. They can be taught and developed over time.
Key Takeaways
- Beyond 'Try Harder': Discover how Costa's Habits of Mind transform struggling students into strategic problem-solvers who persist intelligently, not just stubbornly.
- The Failure Revolution: Why your response to student mistakes determines their future success: practical strategies that turn classroom setbacks into breakthrough moments.
- Thinking Made Visible: Simple questioning techniques and visual tools that reveal how your students think, not just what they know.
- Growth Mindset's Missing Piece: How Habits of Mind fill the gap between believing 'I can improve' and actually knowing how to do it.
The Habits of Mind are strategies that successful people use when facing tricky problems. They involve skills, attitudes, and past experience. They need mental energy and the ability to draw on different resources and strategies, often requiring scaffolding support to develop effectively.
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These habits are about building resilience and flexibility in thinking, whilst developing metacognition. They help us find different solutions and learn from past experiences. Costa outlined key traits of people who show these habits:
- Persistence when facing challenges
- Thinking before acting
- Listening with empathy
- Using past experiences to inform decisions
- Thinking critically and being creative
- Discover: Choose a topic to focus on and research it. Ask what you need to understand.
- Empathise: Put yourself in someone else's shoes. Support students when they fail.
- Frame and reframe: Ask the right questions. Look for patterns in the information collected.
- Ideate: Explore 'What if..' questions. Use drawing, storytelling, and brainstorming to spark ideas.
- Acknowledging effort over outcome
- Providing time for students to reflect on their approaches
- Sharing stories of famous figures who overcame challenges
- Using observation checklists
- Creating performance tasks that require flexible thinking
- Promoting self and peer reflection
- Costa, A. L., & Kallick, B. (2009). *Habits of Mind: Activating and engaging intelligence*. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
- Claxton, G. (2002). *Building learning power: Helping young people become better learners*. TLO Limited.
- Dweck, C. S. (2006). *Mindset: The new psychology of success*. Random House.
- Ritchhart, R., Church, M., & Morrison, K. (2011). *Making thinking visible: How to promote engagement, understanding, and independence for all learners*. Jossey-Bass.
- Willingham, D. T. (2009). *Why don't students like school?: A cognitive scientist answers questions about how the mind works and what it means for the classroom*. Jossey-Bass.
Teachers can support these habits by creating a learning environment that encourages exploration and reflection. For example, a student facing a hard maths problem would not give up easily. They would try different approaches until they find a solution.
How Do Habits of Mind Connect to Other Thinking Frameworks?
Habits of Mind complement other thinking tools like de Bono's Six Thinking Hatsby providing the underlying dispositions needed to use such frameworks effectively. While Thinking Hats offer structured perspectives for problem-solving, Habits of Mind develop the persistence, flexibility, and metacognition needed to apply these tools successfully. Together, they create a comprehensive approach to developing students' thinking skills.
Habits of mind link to effective thinking. They help students approach tasks in a more positive way.
support flexible thinking. By using different hats, students can look at a problem from many angles. This matches the idea of habits of mind linked to higher-order thinking.
Albert Einstein said we should encourage students to think outside the box. Using different thinking hats helps students approach problems from new perspectives.
What Does Research Tell Us About the Impact of Habits of Mind?
Research consistently demonstrates that students taught using Habits of Mind frameworks show significant improvements in academic achievement across multiple subject areas. Studies by Costa and Kallick reveal that pupils develop enhanced metacognitive awareness, leading to more strategic approaches to learning. When students explicitly practise thinking behaviours such as persistence and thinking flexibly, their test scores improve by an average of 15-20% compared to control groups. More importantly, these gains are sustained over time, suggesting that the habits become internalised rather than simply performed for assessment purposes.
The impact extends far beyond test scores to fundamental changes in student engagement and motivation. Research indicates that pupils taught through Habits of Mind demonstrate increased willingness to tackle challenging problems and show greater resilience when facing academic difficulties. Teachers report observing students who previously gave up quickly now persevering through complex mathematical problems or returning to revise written work multiple times. This shift in behaviour reflects the development of what Dweck terms a 'growth mindset', where students view intelligence as malleable rather than fixed.
Comparative studies reveal particularly striking differences in long-term retention and transfer of learning. Students taught using traditional direct instruction methods often struggle to apply knowledge in novel contexts, whilst those familiar with Habits of Mind naturally seek connections and patterns across disciplines. For instance, pupils who have developed the habit of 'thinking about thinking' spontaneously use planning strategies learned in science lessons when approaching history essays, demonstrating the powerful cross-curricular benefits of this approach.
How Can Teachers creates Creative Thinking Through Habits of Mind?
Teachers creates creativity by encouraging students to think flexibly, take responsible risks, and find humor in situations, which are specific Habits of Mind. Create classroom environments where mistakes are learning opportunities and multiple solutions are celebrated rather than seeking one right answer. Use open-ended questions and provide time for exploration and reflection to develop creative thinking habits.
Habits of mind often relate to being creative. Linda Niama offers useful ideas to boost creativity in the classroom.
She talks about 'whole-brain thinking' based on Hermann's research. This suggests that each of us has a preferred way of thinking that shapes how we process information.
Niama suggests four modes of creative thinking:
A 'Habit of Mind' means acting wisely when faced with problems that have no obvious answer. When we face confusion or uncertainty, our best actions come from using patterns of thinking we have built over time.
Why Is Persistence Important in Developing Habits of Mind?
Persistence is foundational because it keeps students engaged when faced with challenging problems, preventing them from giving up at the first sign of difficulty. This habit involves trying multiple strategies, seeking help when needed, and viewing setbacks as part of the learning process rather than failure. By developing persistence, students learn that intelligence grows through effort, which aligns with a growth mindset.
Persistence means valuing the journey of problem-solving, not just the end result. Teachers can promote this by:
By celebrating effort and showing setbacks as learning curves, educators creates persistence and helps students to face future challenges with confidence. Persistence is not just about trying harder; it's about learning how to try differently and strategically.
How Can Habits of Mind Be Assessed?
Assessing Habits of Mind requires observing and documenting student behaviour over time rather than using traditional tests. Teachers can use rubrics, checklists, and anecdotal records to capture how students demonstrate these habits in various contexts. Focus on assessing the process students use to solve problems, not just the final answer. Encourage self-reflection and peer feedback to promote awareness and continuous improvement.
Assessing habits of mind is best achieved through qualitative means. Teachers can integrate assessment opportunities by:
For example, a teacher may notice a student persevering through a challenging project, asking thoughtful questions, and adjusting their approach based on feedback. Documenting these observations provides valuable insights into the student's development of Habits of Mind.
Encourage students to reflect on their thinking processes. This helps them become more aware of their strengths and areas for improvement. Tools like learning journals and reflection prompts can be used.
assessing Habits of Mind focuses on capturing and valuing the thinking processes students employ during learning experiences, developing a culture of continuous improvement.
Conclusion
Art Costa's Habits of Mind are more than just a list of desirable traits; they are a roadmap for cultivating thoughtful, resourceful, and resilient learners. By integrating these habits into our teaching practices, we helps students to tackle complex challenges with confidence and creativity.
By promoting persistence, flexible thinking, and metacognition, we equip students with the skills they need to succeed not only in school but also in life. As educators, our role is to model these habits ourselves and create learning environments where students feel safe to explore, experiment, and learn from their mistakes. Together, we can nurture a generation of lifelong learners who are prepared to meet the challenges of an ever-changing world.
Further Reading
What Challenges Do Teachers Face When Implementing Habits of Mind?
The most persistent challenge teachers face is curriculum integration without sacrificing academic content. Many educators worry that developing thinking dispositions will consume precious lesson time, yet research by Arthur Costa demonstrates that Habits of Mind actually enhance subject mastery. The solution lies in embedding these practices within existing activities rather than treating them as add-ons. For instance, when teaching photosynthesis, explicitly model "thinking flexibly" by exploring multiple ways plants adapt to different environments, simultaneously covering curriculum objectives whilst developing cognitive dispositions.
Student resistance often stems from learners' discomfort with uncertainty and deeper thinking. Carl Rogers emphasised that resistance diminishes when students feel psychologically safe to take intellectual risks. Begin with low-stakes activities where mistakes become learning opportunities, and celebrate thinking processes rather than just correct answers. Gradually build complexity as students develop confidence in their reasoning abilities.
Successful implementation requires whole-school commitment and ongoing professional development. Isolated classroom efforts rarely sustain long-term change. Schools need systematic approaches where all staff understand and model these thinking dispositions consistently. Regular collaborative planning sessions help teachers share strategies for balancing assessment pressures with thinking skills development. When leadership supports this vision through policy and practice, teachers feel helped to prioritise intellectual character alongside academic achievement, creating environments where deep learning flourishes.
How Can Teachers Implement Habits of Mind in Daily Classroom Practice?
Successful implementation of Habits of Mind begins with deliberate daily routines that embed thinking dispositions naturally into classroom practice. Start each lesson with focused warm-up activities such as "Wonder Walls" where students post curious questions, or "Problem of the Day" challenges that require persistence and careful observation. Create thinking routines like "See-Think-Wonder" for analysing images or data, which simultaneously develops questioning skills and careful observation habits. These brief, consistent practices signal to students that thinking about thinking is valued and expected.
Integration across subject areas requires strategic planning but yields powerful results. In mathematics, encourage students to "think flexibly" by solving problems using multiple methods, whilst in science, emphasise "gathering data through all senses" during investigations. During literature discussions, promote "listening with understanding and empathy" by having students paraphrase peers' interpretations before sharing their own. As Costa and Kallick observed, these habits become most powerful when students recognise their transferability across disciplines and real-world situations.
Transform your classroom environment into a thinking-rich space through purposeful displays and scaffolding. Create visual anchors featuring habit-specific prompts: "What patterns do you notice?" for mathematical thinking, or "How might others feel?" for developing empathy. For younger learners, use concrete language and picture cues, whilst older students benefit from self-reflection journals and peer coaching partnerships. Establish thinking protocols such as "pause and reflect" moments before transitioning between activities, allowing students to metacognitively assess which habits they've employed. This environmental scaffolding, combined with age-appropriate language and expectations, ensures that Habits of Mind become integral to classroom culture rather than additional content to cover.
