Discovering and Exploring Habits of Mind

The habits are rooted in a modern view of intelligence that casts off traditional abilities-centered theories. Costa and Kallick maintain that a critical attribute of intelligence is not only having information but also knowing how to act on it. The habits of mind that contribute to this intelligence are:

- Persisting
- Managing impulsivity
- Listening with understanding and empathy
- Thinking flexibly
- Thinking about thinking (metacognition)
- Striving for accuracy
- Questioning and posing problems
- Applying past knowledge to new situations
- Thinking and communicating with clarity and precision
- Gathering data through all senses
- Creating, imagining, innovating
- Responding with wonderment and awe
- Taking responsible risks
- Finding humor
- Thinking interdependently
- Remaining open to continuous learning

"Discovering and Exploring Habits of Mind" is the first of a four-book series. Subsequent volumes will explore instructional strategies for teaching the habits at school and at home; assessment of the habits; and descriptions from schools, teachers, and administrators about how they have incorporated the habits of mind into their work.

Other contributors to Book 1 are Shari Tishman and Marian Leibowitz. David Perkins's Series Foreword introduces the four-book series, Habits of Mind: A Developmental Series.