Marcela Villan shares her thoughts on the Sustainable Development Goals and cultivating connections in the classroom.
If you are a teacher or you’ve ever stood in front of a classroom, planned a project, or simply watched the news with a mix of concern and hope, you’ve probably felt the weight of the big challenges our planet faces. Climate change, inequality, decent work, mental health, waste, peace are some examples. The list feels endless. That’s exactly why the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) matter: they give us a shared roadmap towards a fairer, healthier, more sustainable world.
But here’s a question we don’t ask ourselves often enough: What if the real power to achieve the SDGs doesn’t start with technology, money, or policy but with thinking? It’s here that Project Zero, a research project from Harvard Graduate School of Education, comes into the conversation. Started in 1967 with decades of work on visible thinking and understanding, Project Zero offers thinking routines and frameworks that help learners of all ages interpret the world more thoughtfully. Thinking Routines loosely guide learners’ thought processes and encourage active processing. And all this put into practice, people make wiser decisions, which is exactly what sustainable development demands.
Sustainable development, defined by the United Nations Brundtland Report in 1987 as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs,” is what the world calls for. Sustainable development leads to sustainability, which is based on three pillars: the environmental, the economic and the social one. The United Nations 2030 agenda with its 17 SDGs is the answer the world needs. These goals, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, are an urgent call for action by all countries – developed and developing – in a global partnership. For us, teachers, they are a perfect framework to take global issues to our lessons. We must provide our students with the knowledge about the goals, the values needed for these issues and the actions we need to take to achieve them.
So let’s explore how thinking skills inspired by Project Zero can help us move from knowing the SDGs to achieving the SDGs. Before diving into specific routines, it’s worth asking: why do thinking skills matter so much in global problem-solving?
The reason being that the SDGs are not content to be memorised. They are complex, interconnected issues with overwhelming content and always changing. World problems keep evolving.
If we want students to be genuinely involved in the goals, then mere facts are not enough. Students need to develop habits of mind, including curiosity, perspective-taking, critical analysis, creativity, ethical reasoning, and reflection.
Project Zero thinking routines help develop exactly those habits and turn learners into people who can notice, question, connect, take action, and reflect.
- “See-Think-Wonder”: Cultivating curiosity about the world.
This is the classic thinking routine. Learners observe a photo, an artwork, a video or real-world situation and respond to three prompts:
- What do you see?
- What do you think is going on?
- What does it make you wonder?
It is used to stimulate curiosity and set the stage for inquiry. Curiosity is the gateway to global awareness. For example:
- Looking at an image of a glacier shrinking helps students connect with SDG 13: Climate Action.
- Examining photos of overcrowded schools opens up conversations about SDG 4: Quality Education.
- Observing a map of water scarcity raises questions about SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation.
“See-Think-Wonder” moves learners from past quick judgments into inquiry mode. And as it is well known, from inquiry is where understanding and eventually action begins.
2. “Circle of Viewpoints”: Understanding multiple perspectives
Sustainability is full of opposite sides, people that view the same problem from different perspectives: consumers and producers. governments and communities for example. To build solutions, we need to see issues from several angles.
With this thinking routine, learners identify stakeholders in a situation and think from each perspective.
This routine nurtures empathy, systems thinking, and ethical reasoning, all crucial for goals like: SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities, SDG 16: Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions, SDG 11: Sustainable Cities & Communities
Imagine applying it to fast fashion:
- the factory worker
- the fashion brand
- the consumer
- the environment
- the local community
- the activist
Students begin to understand that sustainability isn’t about villains and heroes, it’s about complex relationships that require thoughtful, collaborative solutions.
3. “Think–Puzzle–Explore”: Building a culture of lifelong learning
Sustainable development is, at its heart, about learning. Knowledge is one of its domains, as was mentioned above. With this routine, learners define:
- what they think they know
- what puzzles them
- how they would like to explore the topic further
This routine nurtures a mindset aligned with Education for Sustainable Development, explicit in SDG4, target 7, what is generally known as Mission 4.7.
It teaches learners to own their learning, promoting agency in their study and letting curiosity guide the way. And when students own their own learning pathways, they develop better agency, essential for tackling long-term challenges like climate adaptation or responsible consumption.
4. “Connect–Extend–Challenge”: Making learning meaningful
Real sustainability learning is not an isolated chapter in a textbook; it’s part of our daily life. This routine helps students connect new ideas to those they know and encourages them to reflect upon how they have extended their thinking as a result of what they are learning about or experiencing.
How it works:
After reading or watching something, students identify:
- how it connects to what they already know
- how it extends their thinking
- what challenges or questions it raises
This routine helps learners internalize sustainability concepts instead of treating them as abstract ideas.
Example: After studying ocean pollution (SDG 14), students might say:
- Connect: “This reminds me of the beach cleanup we did last summer.”
- Extend: “I didn’t know microplastics could enter the food chain.”
- Challenge: “Why isn’t more being done to stop plastic at its source?”
This reflection turns into a personal call to action.
5. “I Used to Think… Now I Think…”: Developing reflective citizens
Sustainability requires people to change mindsets after they learn something new.
With this routine, learners reflect on how their thinking has shifted after an experience or discussion.
This routine develops humility, self-awareness, and openness, essential to real life.
It helps learners undo preconceived ideas and internal biases, something essential when navigating global issues that are frequently misunderstood.
6. “Parts–Purposes–Complexities”: Understanding Systems (Instead of Blaming Individuals)
If the SDGs have taught us anything, it’s that global problems aren’t simple; they are callenging. Through this routine, learners analyse an object, system, or issue by breaking it down into:
- parts
- their purposes
- the complexities or interactions among them
This is pure systems thinking, essential for nearly all the goals.
Take food waste (SDG 12). Students can explore:
- Parts: farmers, transport, supermarkets, storage, packaging, consumers
- Purposes: feed people, make profit, preserve food, reduce loss
- Complexities: pricing, cultural habits, access, inequality, climate impacts
Suddenly, food waste isn’t about “people throwing food away” . It’s a whole system with opportunities for intervention.
This is the kind of thinking the future desperately needs.
7. “The Ladder of Feedback”: Collaboration for a better world
No SDG can be achieved alone. Collaboration is essential part of sustainable development.
Feedback follows four rungs: clarify → value → concern → suggest.
Students learn to build ideas together respectfully , much like countries and communities must collaborate on climate action, gender equality, economic justice, or innovation.
This routine helps develop partnership skills tied to SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals
So… Can Thinking Skills really change the world?
Yes, but not overnight. Visible thinking routines won’t magically stop global warming or eliminate poverty. But they do something equally important: They shape the mindsets that make sustainable action possible.
They help learners:
- notice problems and opportunities
- consider multiple viewpoints
- understand complex systems
- ask better questions
- connect learning with real life
- change their minds
- collaborate thoughtfully
- take informed action
In other words, they help create the kind of humans we need if we are serious about achieving the SDGs.
Sustainable development is not just about the world we want. It’s about the thinkers we grow. “The World Becomes What We Teach,” as Zoe Weil, founder of the Institute for Humane Education, suggests through her book.
Yet, there is a very important point we must bear in mind. As their names suggest, these are routines. If, as a teacher, you take these thinking activities to your classes once a month, once a term, that won’t create a culture of thinking in your students. What is more, remember that thinking takes time: It’s not automatic. Therefore, allow time for thinking while putting all this into practice. So just remember: these thinking routines will help you build better citizens and empower them to take proper action for our world. Start small but start. The world will be grateful.
About Marcela:
Marcela Villan is an experienced teacher of English from Buenos Aires, Argentina. She specializes in Education for Sustainable Development. She has presented widely on this topic at national and international conferences and events. With over 30 years of experience, she has also served as coordinator, head of studies, examiner and teacher educator at schools in Buenos Aires.