Shari Tishman

Shari Tishman is a Senior Research Associate and Principal Investigator at Harvard Project Zero, where she formerly served as Director. Her research focuses on the development and teaching of thinking, the role of close observation in learning, and learning in and through the arts. Along with Project Zero colleague Liz Dawes Duraisingh, Shari co-directs The Open Canopy project (formerly called Out of Eden Learn). Past notable projects include Arts as Civic Commons, a project that explores how learners can investigate civic themes and develop civic agency through experiences with contemporary art; Agency by Design, which explores the promises, practices, and pedagogies of maker-centered learning; Visible Thinking, a dispositional approach to teaching thinking that foregrounds the use of thinking routines, and Artful Thinking, a related approach that emphasizes the development of thinking dispositions through looking at art. The author of numerous books and articles, Shari’s most recent books are: The Open Canopy Handbook: Slowing Down, Sharing Stories, Making Connections (with co-author Liz Dawes Duraisingh), and Slow Looking: The Art and Practice of Learning Through Observation. Along with Project Zero colleague David Perkins, Shari is also the co-host of the Thinkability podcast.