Build It: Thinking with Our Hands
Discover how Build It & Writer’s Block help students structure ideas, enhance thinking skills & make learning hands-on. A key part of the Structural Learning Toolkit.
In the classroom, we often focus on reading and writing as primary ways to develop understanding. But what if we could physically build our thoughts to structure knowledge more effectively? This is the principle behind Build It, a hands-on learning approach that helps students organize, connect, and refine ideas through structured manipulation.
By using Writer’s Block, students actively engage in the physical construction of knowledge, allowing them to visually and tactically experiment with concepts. This method is deeply rooted in cognitive science and educational theory, emphasizing the power of learning through doing.
Key Benefits of Structuring Ideas Physically
- Enhances Metacognition – Encourages students to reflect on their thought processes and refine their understanding.
- Supports Cognitive Load Reduction – By externalizing thinking, students can break down complex ideas into manageable chunks.
- Fosters Active Engagement – Provides a dynamic way for students to explore ideas, making learning more immersive and memorable.
By physically manipulating information, students externalize their thoughts, making abstract ideas tangible. This process aligns with research showing that active engagement with materials leads to stronger memory retention and deeper conceptual understanding.
Why Constructing Ideas Socially Enhances Learning
A fundamental principle of learning is that knowledge is built through interaction, not just through solitary effort. Socially constructing ideas encourages students to articulate, challenge, and refine their thinking, leading to deeper comprehension. This principle is supported by well-established educational theories:
- Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory – Learning is most effective within a Zone of Proximal Development, where a student interacts with a more knowledgeable peer or teacher. Writer’s Block enables this process, allowing learners to collaboratively build and discuss ideas.
- Piaget’s Constructivist Theory – Cognitive development occurs when students are actively involved in reorganizing knowledge. Through physical manipulation of blocks, they engage in experiential learning, testing and refining their ideas.
- Embodied Cognition – The mind and body work together in thinking. By physically engaging with information, students form stronger neural connections, improving understanding and recall.
- The Extended Mind Theory – External objects, such as Writer’s Block, act as extensions of cognitive processes, helping students to structure and manipulate their thoughts more effectively.
- Metacognition in Learning – Teaching students to be aware of their own thinking processes fosters independent learning. Physically structuring ideas allows students to visualize their thought patterns and identify areas that need adjustment.
How Build It Fits into the Thinking Framework
At the heart of Structural Learning is the Thinking Framework, a structured approach that provides students and teachers with a shared language for learning. This framework categorizes different cognitive processes, helping learners understand how they think, organize, and communicate ideas.
Build It is one of the practical ways teachers can embed these thinking skills into the classroom. It is particularly useful for blue-thinking skills, which focus on organizing, structuring, and categorizing information. By physically constructing ideas with Writer’s Block, students are given a tangible, interactive method to engage in deep thinking, making abstract ideas more accessible.
Alongside Build It, the toolkit also includes:
- Say It – A verbal approach that encourages students to articulate their thinking through structured discussions and dialogue-based activities.
- Map It – A visual approach that supports concept mapping, sequencing, and structuring information using diagrams and graphic organizers.
Each of these tools allows teachers to embed thinking skills into their lessons in different ways. Writer’s Block is a flexible option for teachers who want to integrate the Thinking Framework into their classrooms using a collaborative, hands-on exercise. By allowing students to physically move, manipulate, and structure their ideas, Build It turns cognitive processing into an engaging, interactive learning experience.
How This Works in the Classroom
- Encourages discussion – Students explain and justify their reasoning while working with Writer’s Block.
- Supports problem-solving – Enables learners to experiment with different ways of structuring their ideas before committing them to writing.
- Enhances group collaboration – Develops critical thinking and reasoning skills through shared exploration.
By embracing Build It, educators create a collaborative, interactive environment where students don’t just consume information—they construct it.
Practical Ways to Use Writer’s Block in the Classroom
Schools that have embraced Build It as a learning tool typically use Writer’s Block in three key ways: at the word level, sentence level, and conceptual level. These structured approaches help students break down language, build meaning, and think critically across both primary and secondary education.
1. Word-Level Learning: Breaking Down and Building Words
At the foundational level, students use Writer’s Block to physically manipulate and explore the structure of words. This is particularly useful in phonics, spelling, and vocabulary development, as students learn how words are built.
Primary Applications:
- Breaking words into phonemes, digraphs, and trigraphs (e.g., identifying that sh-i-p and th-r-ee contain different sound patterns).
- Sorting prefixes, roots, and suffixes to explore word formation (un-happy-ness).
- Physically ranking synonyms based on intensity (good → pleased → ecstatic).
Secondary Applications:
- Exploring morphology by breaking words down into meaningful components (auto-bio-graphy).
- Examining etymology by tracing word origins and patterns across different subjects.
- Reinforcing subject-specific vocabulary by categorizing key terms in science, history, or literature.
2. Sentence-Level Learning: Constructing and Expanding Sentences
Beyond individual words, Writer’s Block enables students to build grammatically sound and well-structured sentences. It provides a tangible way to experiment with different sentence constructions, connectors, and clauses.
Primary Applications:
- Arranging jumbled sentences into the correct grammatical structure.
- Expanding sentences by adding adjectives, conjunctions, or subordinate clauses (The cat slept → The tired cat slept under the warm sun).
- Using color-coded blocks to represent different parts of speech, making sentence structure visible.
Secondary Applications:
- Experimenting with sentence variety, such as combining simple, compound, and complex sentences.
- Analyzing sentence manipulation in different writing styles (e.g., how authors build suspense by using shorter or longer sentence structures).
- Refining argumentative writing by structuring cause-and-effect relationships (Since industrial pollution increased, air quality worsened).
3. Concept-Level Learning: Structuring Ideas and Thinking Big Picture
At the highest level, Writer’s Block is used to construct conceptual frameworks, helping students organize and connect big ideas. This allows them to see the hierarchy, relationships, and structure of knowledge.
Primary Applications:
- Creating timelines in history by sequencing key events.
- Sorting story elements into beginning, middle, and end to support narrative comprehension.
- Ranking ideas by importance in decision-making activities (e.g., what are the most important qualities of a leader?).
Secondary Applications:
- Structuring essay arguments by organizing thesis, supporting points, and counterarguments.
- Analyzing scientific processes by visually mapping out cause-and-effect relationships (e.g., the steps in photosynthesis).
- Using blocks to deconstruct and reconstruct philosophical, political, or ethical arguments in debate and discussion.
Impact Across Education Levels
In primary classrooms, Writer’s Block builds foundational skills, supporting early literacy, sentence fluency, and conceptual categorization. In secondary education, it evolves into a higher-order thinking tool, enabling essay structuring, argumentation, and content analysis across all subjects.
By integrating Writer’s Block into daily learning, teachers provide students with a hands-on, visual way to physically construct understanding, reinforcing both cognitive and metacognitive processes.
Supporting Neurodivergent Learners with Build It
Many students face barriers when it comes to processing, organizing, and expressing their ideas. For neurodivergent learners, including those with dyslexia, dysgraphia, ADHD, and other learning differences, these challenges can impact writing, sequencing, and verbal expression. Build It provides a structured, visual, and hands-on approach that helps reduce cognitive overload, improve executive functioning, and make learning more accessible and engaging.
How Writer’s Block Supports Dyslexic Learners
Dyslexia affects a student’s ability to decode and process language, making tasks like reading, writing, and spelling more difficult. Writer’s Block provides a tangible way to physically manipulate words, sentences, and ideas, making abstract concepts easier to grasp.
Key benefits for dyslexic learners include:
- Breaking words into phonemes and morphemes – Helps students identify word structures by separating prefixes, roots, and suffixes into moveable blocks.
- Color-coded categorization – Similar to Colourful Semantics, using color or shape distinctions to group words by function (e.g., subject, verb, object) aids comprehension.
- Reducing working memory load – Instead of trying to hold multiple ideas in their head, students can physically arrange and rearrange their thoughts in real time.
Improving Executive Functioning Skills
Executive functioning refers to the cognitive processes that help students plan, organize, and regulate their learning. These skills are particularly challenging for students with ADHD, dysgraphia, and other neurodivergent profiles. Writer’s Block provides a structured method to help them organize their ideas before committing them to paper.
How Build It supports executive functioning:
- Encourages sequencing and prioritization – Helps students plan out ideas step by step rather than feeling overwhelmed by a blank page.
- Reduces cognitive overload – Breaking large tasks into smaller, manageable chunks supports sustained focus and working memory.
- Supports self-regulation – Allows students to visually track their thinking, making revision and self-editing more structured.
Making Learning More Accessible
By giving students a physical, visual, and interactive way to structure their thoughts, Build It makes learning more inclusive. Whether a student struggles with processing language, organizing sentences, or structuring arguments, Writer’s Block acts as an external cognitive tool, bridging the gap between thinking and writing.
With structured support, neurodivergent learners can gain confidence, independence, and ownership over their learning, making writing and idea-building a more accessible and successful experience.
What about the Evidence?
Here is a list of five key studies examining the efficacy of embodied cognition and the extended mind in hands-on learning, particularly in primary and secondary classrooms. These studies explore the use of manipulatives, physical objects, and kinesthetic learning strategies to enhance educational outcomes.
- Embodied and Extended Numerical Cognition
Johnson and Everett (2021) explore how embodied cognition and the extended mind theory apply to numerical reasoning. The study emphasizes how using tactile learning tools and manipulatives improves mathematical comprehension, particularly in early education. Findings suggest that physical engagement with numbers enhances cognitive processing, supporting kinesthetic learning as an effective educational approach. - Chicago Pragmatism and the Extended Mind Theory
Madzia (2013) investigates John Dewey and George Mead’s early insights into embodied cognition and active inquiry. The study discusses how cognition extends beyond the brain and into the social environment through teacher-structured environments and exploratory talk. This research supports the idea that interactive learning with physical materials enhances conceptual understanding. - Animations and Lego Manipulative Tasks
Castro-Alonso et al. (2015) examine how visual learning strategies and tactile learning activities, such as using Lego manipulatives, impact problem-solving skills. The study finds that animated demonstrations of manipulative tasks improve students’ ability to engage in Socratic methods of reasoning, reinforcing the value of hands-on learning for cognitive development. - Embodied Cognition and Virtual Reality in Learning
Jang et al. (2010) study how virtual reality can enhance anatomical learning through embodied cognition. Findings suggest that actively manipulating digital models, rather than passively observing them, leads to better learning outcomes. This research highlights the role of kinesthetic learning in helping students internalize complex spatial relationships. - Explaining the Mind: The Embodied Cognition Challenge
Zhitnik (2008) explores how embodied cognition challenges traditional views of learning and knowledge acquisition. The study argues that students learn more effectively through direct interaction with physical materials rather than abstract representation alone. It supports the integration of tactile learning tools in classrooms to improve knowledge retention and problem-solving skills.
These studies demonstrate that embodied cognition, manipulative-based learning, and kinesthetic strategies significantly enhance student engagement and comprehension in primary and secondary education.