Do your students see learning as a journey of discovery—or just a checklist of outcomes?
In Vivedus, we shift that mindset using Possibility Thinking - a phased learning approach that transforms how students experience and apply learning. It moves them from “What is this?” to “What can I do with this?”
Why Possibility Thinking?
Possibility Thinking provides:
- A developmental arc for cognition and creativity
- A way to scaffold student thinking from basic understanding to generative action
- A meaningful structure for both curriculum alignment and creative agency
Five Phases for Taking Learning Beyond
- What is this? – Surface content knowledge, techniques, skills, and prior knowledge
- What can it do? – Application and connections across contexts
- What if? – Problem-finding, evaluating, synthesising, experimenting
- As if... – Imagining real-world scenarios, role-play, multiple perspectives
- What can I do with this? – Authentic creation, action-taking, and assessment
These phases can be sequential or intentionally cycled based on your unit design.
From Theory to Practice
A Year 6 Science unit on ecosystems might start in “What is this?” by identifying species roles, then move into “What if?” by hypothesising the impact of human intervention, and land in “What can I do with this?” through student-created biodiversity campaigns.
Design Made Simple
When creating your Unit Outline, each Possibility Thinking card helps you guide cognitive and creative progression. The planner will prompt you to align objectives, pedagogies, dispositions and to decide where diagnostic, formative or summative assessment should occur.
Vivedus’ custom-built AI assistant helps ensure your phases are rich, linked, and purposeful.
Read the next resource: Teaching for Creativity: High Impact Pedagogical Strategies to Improve Learning Outcomes
