Sustained shared thinking is an episode in which an adult and a child, or two children, work together in an intellectual way to solve a problem, clarify a concept, evaluate an activity or extend a story, with both contributing and the thinking developing over several exchanges. It was identified in English research on preschool quality as a feature of the most effective settings, and it is one of the clearest ways educators can strengthen the thinking dimension of whole-child development.
This article explains where the concept comes from, why it matters, what it looks like in practice and how teachers can create more of these moments in busy classrooms. It also connects the idea to Vygotsky's zone of proximal development and to the Global Nexus emphasis on curiosity, questions and children as active thinkers.
Where the concept comes from
The term sustained shared thinking is closely associated with the Effective Provision of Pre-school Education (EPPE) project, a large longitudinal study in England led by Kathy Sylva, Edward Melhuish, Pam Sammons, Iram Siraj-Blatchford and Brenda Taggart from 1997. The study followed around three thousand children from preschool into primary school and examined which features of preschool settings were associated with better outcomes.
A related study, Researching Effective Pedagogy in the Early Years (REPEY), published in 2002 and led by Iram Siraj-Blatchford, looked closely at what happened in the most effective settings. One finding was that these settings had more frequent episodes of sustained shared thinking, in which adults and children engaged together in extended, thoughtful conversation. Such episodes were not common even in good settings, but they were notably more frequent in the best ones.
The researchers also found that effective settings balanced child-initiated activity with adult-guided activity and that the quality of adult-child interaction mattered more than the type of setting. These findings have influenced early years policy and practice in England and beyond, including the description of effective teaching in the Early Years Foundation Stage.
The theory behind it
Sustained shared thinking builds on Lev Vygotsky's idea of the zone of proximal development: the gap between what a child can do alone and what they can do with help from a more knowledgeable person. Learning happens most effectively within this zone, where challenge is real but achievable with support. Adults who think together with children provide that support, not by giving answers but by asking questions, offering ideas and helping children connect their thoughts.
Jerome Bruner, with David Wood and Gail Ross, introduced the term scaffolding in 1976 to describe how adults support learners by managing parts of a task the learner cannot yet do, then gradually withdrawing support as competence grows. Sustained shared thinking is a form of scaffolding, though it emphasises genuine joint thinking rather than adult-led instruction.
Jean Piaget's work adds a further layer. He described young children as actively constructing their understanding through experience, and his description of the preoperational stage, roughly from two to seven years, highlights how young children's reasoning differs from adults'. Although many details of Piaget's stages have been revised by later research, his central insight that children build knowledge actively remains influential. Sustained shared thinking respects that process by engaging with children's own explanations, even when they are not yet correct.
Strategies teachers use to create sustained shared thinking
Research and practitioner guidance describe a range of strategies. None is a script; they work only when the adult is genuinely interested in the child's thinking.
- Tuning in: listening carefully, watching what the child is doing and noticing what interests them before speaking.
- Showing genuine interest: giving full attention, making eye contact, smiling and nodding.
- Respecting the child's own decisions and choices: inviting them to explain rather than redirecting.
- Inviting elaboration: "I really want to know more about this" or "Tell me how you did that."
- Recapping: "So you think the boat sank because it was too full?"
- Offering your own experience: "When I was cooking last night, I noticed the rice got bigger too."
- Clarifying ideas: helping the child put an idea into words more precisely.
- Suggesting: "You might like to try a different container."
- Reminding: "Remember what happened when we put the ice outside?"
- Using encouragement to extend thinking: "You have thought really hard about this. What could we do next?"
- Asking open questions: "What do you think would happen if…?" or "How could we find out?"
- Modelling thinking: "I wonder why the water is going that way. Let me think about it."
Many of these strategies are described in guidance published by Iram Siraj-Blatchford and colleagues. The key is that they are used in response to the child, not imposed on them. An adult who asks a stream of questions to test knowledge is not engaging in shared thinking, even if the questions are open.
Shared thinking versus testing questions
Teachers often ask many questions, but not all questions support thinking. The difference lies in whether the adult already knows the answer and whether the child's ideas genuinely shape the conversation.
| Type of exchange | Example | Effect on thinking |
|---|---|---|
| Testing question | "What colour is this?" "How many apples are there?" | Checks knowledge; usually ends after one answer |
| Instruction disguised as a question | "Shall we tidy up now?" | Gives an instruction indirectly; can confuse children |
| Open question with genuine curiosity | "Why do you think the leaves are floating?" | Invites explanation; can lead to a longer exchange |
| Wondering aloud | "I wonder what would happen if we added more water" | Models curiosity without pressure to answer |
| Building on the child's idea | "You said it floats because it is light. What else is light? Shall we test it?" | Extends the child's own thinking; most likely to become sustained |
Research on classroom interaction, including work in early years settings, has repeatedly found that adults ask far more closed questions than open ones. Shifting the balance does not require eliminating closed questions, which have a place, but making room for more open, curious exchanges.
An illustrative example, step by step
The following is a composite example, written to show the shape of a sustained shared thinking episode rather than to report a real conversation. A four-year-old is pouring water into a tray of floating and sinking objects. She drops in a metal spoon and says, "It went down because it is big." The teacher, crouching beside her, does not correct her. Instead she says, "It went down. You think big things go down. I wonder about this big wooden block." The child tries the block, which floats, and looks surprised.
The teacher waits. After a moment the child says, "Maybe wood is different." The teacher recaps: "So the spoon sank and the block floated, even though the block is bigger. You think wood might be different. What else could we try?" The child collects a wooden peg, a metal key and a plastic lid and makes predictions before testing each one. A friend joins and suggests trying a leaf from the garden.
Over several minutes the conversation moves from size to material, then to the idea that some things are "heavy for their size". The teacher never gives the answer, but she keeps the thinking going with genuine curiosity, short recaps, invitations to predict and an openness to the friend's contribution. Afterwards she writes a brief observation note recording the child's explanations, which becomes the starting point for a small floating-and-sinking project the following week.
Where sustained shared thinking happens
These episodes can occur in any part of the day, but some contexts make them more likely. Small groups and one-to-one moments are more productive than whole-class sessions, where many children compete for attention and conversations rarely last more than a few turns. Activities in which children are deeply engaged, such as building, sand and water play, gardening, cooking, pretend play and looking at books together, provide natural subjects for shared thinking.
Outdoor environments are particularly rich. Children notice insects, rain, shadows, plants and changes in the weather, and these observations lead naturally to questions. A teacher who crouches beside a child watching ants carrying food, and wonders aloud where they are going, can start a conversation that lasts several minutes and leads to further investigation.
Mealtimes and routines also offer opportunities. A conversation at lunch about why the soup is hot, where vegetables come from or how rice changes when it is cooked can develop into genuine shared thinking. The key is for adults to be present and interested rather than focused only on managing behaviour.
Stories read aloud are another reliable starting point. When a teacher pauses to ask what a character might do next, or why a character feels sad, children often offer surprising explanations that can be explored together. Reading the same book several times helps, because familiar stories free children's attention for thinking rather than following the plot.
Sustained shared thinking in a bilingual classroom
In a Vietnamese–English bilingual preschool, sustained shared thinking raises particular questions. Deep thinking requires language, and children usually think most fluently in the language they know best. If shared thinking happens only in English, children whose English is still developing may be left out of the most intellectually rich conversations.
A practical approach is to allow shared thinking to happen in whichever language supports it best for the child, while weaving in vocabulary from the other language. A Vietnamese teacher might have an extended conversation in Vietnamese with a child about why the plants are drooping, then introduce key English words. An international teacher might engage in shared thinking in English with children who are comfortable in it, while using gestures, objects and simpler language with others.
Co-teaching pairs can plan for this, noticing which children are getting fewer opportunities for extended conversation and making sure each child has regular access to an adult who can think with them in a language they understand. In the Global Nexus framework, bilingualism is meant to serve thinking, not to replace it with simple vocabulary drills.
Making room for it in a busy day
The main barrier to sustained shared thinking is time. Teachers responsible for many children, managing routines, safety and paperwork, may find few chances for extended conversation. School leaders can help by protecting staffing ratios, reducing unnecessary administrative tasks and building small-group times into the schedule.
Professional development is also important. Teachers can learn strategies, practise them and reflect together. Recording short conversations, with appropriate permission, and discussing them in team meetings can help teachers notice how often they ask closed questions and how they could extend children's thinking.
Finally, observation records can include examples of shared thinking. When teachers write down a child's explanation of why the boat sank or how they solved a building problem, they capture evidence of thinking that would be invisible in a checklist. These records help families see that their child is learning to think, not just to recall facts.
Leaders can also set realistic expectations. Not every interaction will be sustained shared thinking, and it would be exhausting to try. A reasonable aim is for each child to experience a few genuinely extended conversations with an adult every week, and for teachers to notice which children are missing out. Quiet children, children still learning the language of instruction and children who are often occupied with conflict are the most likely to be overlooked, and a simple weekly check can make sure they are not.
Câu hỏi thường gặp
How long does sustained shared thinking need to last?
There is no fixed length. What matters is that the thinking develops over several exchanges, with both adult and child contributing ideas. Some episodes last a minute, others continue across days as a project. The key feature is genuine joint engagement, not duration.
Can sustained shared thinking happen between children?
Yes. Children can think together when solving a building problem, planning a game or investigating something they found. Adults can encourage this by grouping children thoughtfully, giving them shared challenges and modelling respectful discussion of different ideas.
Is sustained shared thinking suitable for toddlers?
Yes, though it looks different. With toddlers, shared thinking may involve following their gaze, naming what they notice, responding to their gestures and sounds and wondering aloud together. These exchanges lay the foundations for longer conversations later.
How is this different from teaching through questions?
Teaching through questions often involves an adult guiding children towards a known answer. Sustained shared thinking involves genuine curiosity about the child's ideas, building on them rather than steering towards a fixed conclusion. The adult may not know where the conversation will lead.
What is the most important thing teachers can do to encourage it?
Listen more and talk less. Tuning in to what children are doing and thinking, waiting for their ideas and responding with genuine interest creates the conditions for shared thinking. Strategies help, but they depend on that basic attentiveness.