Primary Research and Design Influences 

Albert Bandura, Ph.D., Stanford University: Modeling Reasoning During Inquiry.

The PMT Model explicitly scaffolds generative thinking during socially situated Inquiry-Based Instruction (IBI).

Albert Banudra's research focused on learning in social contexts.  He wrote that  "Modeling is not only confined to behavioral competencies, nor is it merely a process of behavioral mimicry.  Modeling influences can convey rules for generative and innovative behavior.  In abstract modeling, people learn thinking skills and how to apply them by inferring the rules and strategies that models use as they arrive at solutions.  Once observers learn the rules, they can use them to generate new instances of thinking that go beyond what they have seen or heard more expert others model."  In addition, Bandura's social cognitive theory combines the development of self-regulation and self-efficacy as priority goals for instruction.

Sue Carey, Ph.D., Harvard University: The Cognitive Path of Conceptual Change.

The PMT Model bootstraps conceptual change by combining five core conceptual models into a map of the Inquiry process and providing scripts used for each model to promote conceptual change during Inquiry.

Sue Carey studies children's development of linguistics, concepts, and conceptual change over time. She focuses on the importance of executive functioning and Quinian bootstrapping (a theory that humans build complex concepts out of primitive ones). Her influential books include Conceptual Change in Childhood (1985) and The Origin of Concepts (2009).  Her work is considered "the starting point for any serious modern theory of conceptual development.  Carey received the 2020 Atkinson Prize in Psychological and Cognitive Sciences for her theory of conceptual change.

Robbie Case, Ph.D., Stanford: Thinking Strategies and Cognitive Stage Theory. 

The sequence of thinking strategies cued by the PMT model is consistent with cognitive development research.

Robbie Case’s research was motivated by his fascination with the many and varied aspects of the developing mind and his life-long commitment to supporting and enhancing its development in educational contexts. Robbie's research shows how children’s knowledge, in a variety of domains, develops through a sequence of cognitive stages with increasing complexity, by the means of differentiating operations (isolating tasks) and hierarchically embedding (sequencing) those operations (tasks) into higher-order structures (thinking strategies).  Case received many awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Van Leer Jerusalem Fellowship, and a fellowship at the Stanford Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. 

Delpit, Lisa, Ph.D. Harvard: Cultivating Student Voice to Counter Discrimination.

PMT promotes individual voice and systematically provides access to the thinking and vocabulary of power.

List Delpit is a seminal voice in the movement to develop educational methods that promote equity for students of color by targeting culture-based and socio-economically driven areas of weakness. She has won the Mac Arthur Award and numerous other honors for her impact on instruction practices that support students of color. She advocates explicit instruction that integrates both Process and Skills related to the discourse practices of the dominant culture.

Driver, Newton & Osborne, Stanford: Norms for Scientific Discourse and Writing.

The PMT tools establish clear norms for promoting and guiding scientific argumentation across disciplines.

The authors have collaborated on widely cited research and published recommendations on how to establish classroom norms that engage students in scientific argumentation, from elementary school through high school. They recommend oral argumentation pedagogy 1) to cultivate a deeper understanding of new content, and 2) to help them refine the complexity and clarity of their arguments before essay writing. 

Carol Dweck, Ph.D., Stanford: Self-Efficacy, Mindset, Identity, and Motivation.

Using the Model to self-regulate through the Inquiry to writing process improves students' self-efficacy.

Carol Dweck's "mindset" theory holds that many students believe their success is limited by their innate ability. These students have a "fixed mindset" theory of intelligence. Others believe their success is based on hard work, learning, training, tools, and perseverance.  These are said to have a "growth mindset" theory of intelligence. Dweck has shown that a growth mindset leads to self-efficacy and motivation.  Teachers can build a growth mindset by scaffolding the experience of achieving increasingly challenging goals.

Alison Gopnick, Ph.D., U.C. Berkeley: Building and Refining Intuitive Theories.

The PMT Model facilitates intuitive theory building and drives Inquiry toward formal academic concepts.

Alison Gopnick's research explores how young children come to know about the world around them. The work is informed by the "theory theory" -- the idea that children develop and change intuitive theories of the world in much the way that scientists do. Current research concentrates on young children's causal knowledge and causal learning across domains, including physical, biological, and psychological knowledge.  Alison is coauthor of the book "The Child as Scientist," which identifies innate and universal strategies children use to investigate causal relationships and form predictive models of how the world works.

Harris Ph.D. & Graham, Ph.D., Arizona S.U.: Self-Regulation Models for Writing.

The PMT Model both expands on and simplifies the self-regulation (SR) strategies in this body of research. 

PMT is the only self-regulation model to combine graphic and verbal cues and to integrate Inquiry into writing.

Harris and Graham are leading collaborators on research and innovations in the field of Self-Regulation Strategy Development (SRSD) in connection with writing instruction for students with high-incidence disabilities, students who struggle academically, and mid-to-high-achieving students.  Their instruction tools and recommendations include the most extensively researched and broadly validated strategies in the area of persuasive writing.  Harris and Graham are the senior editors of "What Works for Special Needs Learners'" a series published by Guilford Press.  Steve Graham (along with Charles Mac Arthur et al.) is the senior editor of the Handbook of Writing Research.

Frank Keil, Ph.D., Yale:  The Role of Primary Conceptual Models in Learning. 

The PMT Model includes the REESE figure; a set of graphic models for conceptualizing new academic ideas.

Frank Keil focuses on the nature of scientific Inquiry as process versus product, and emphasizes the role of wonder in learning across domains.  He researches how early conceptualizations form a foundation for later, more sophisticated, causal models of how the world works.  Studies of the interplay between domain-specific and domain-general concepts shows that the core models people know influence (and bootstrap) the new models they build as they grapple with new domain-based concepts.

Jabari Mahiri, Ph.D., U.C. Berkeley: Literacy in Multicultural Urban Schools.

The PMT structure makes it easy to engage students by using multimedia resources for Inquiry content.

Jabari Mahiri is a Professor of Education and the William and Mary Jane Brinton Family Chair in Urban Teaching at U.C. Berkeley.  He is the Faculty Advisor for the Bay Area Writing Project, a board member of the National Writing Project, and a former board member of the American Educational Research Association (2014 to 2017).  Before coming to Berkeley, he helped found and chaired the inaugural board of directors of the New Concept Development Center, an independent Chicago school. Mahiri is a leading voice on how to engage Urban students in learning by bringing multi-media content into the classroom.