Building the Future Together: Why Collaboration Matters for Lifelong Success

Collaboration isn’t just a classroom skill, it’s a future-ready mindset. In today’s world, success depends on creativity, communication, and connection. This article explores why collaboration matters for your child’s future and offers practical ways to nurture these skills at home.

At BIS Abu Dhabi, collaboration isn’t just about teamwork, it’s about learning how to think with others. Our Learner Ambition this half term is Collaborative, focusing on helping children build the skills they’ll need not just in school, but for life in the 21st century.

In a world where success depends on creativity, communication, and connection, collaboration gives children the tools to listen actively, build on others’ ideas, and explain their thinking clearly. These are skills that employers, universities, and communities value deeply, and they begin right here in our classrooms.

Why Collaboration Matters

Collaboration develops more than group work; it shapes children into empathetic communicators and flexible problem solvers. Research shows that students who collaborate effectively:

• Retain information more deeply through discussion and dialogue.
• Build confidence by articulating their thinking aloud.
• Strengthen metacognition, understanding how they learn from others.

Our goal is to nurture these habits early, so students grow into adults who can lead, listen, and learn in any environment.

Thinking Routines that Build Collaboration

To make collaboration purposeful, our teachers use Harvard Project Zero Thinking Routines, simple yet powerful structures that make thinking visible and collective. This half term, we’re focusing on three key routines:

1. Think – Each student reflects independently.
2. Pair – They discuss their ideas with a partner.
3. Share – They contribute to a wider group or class discussion.

Why it works:
It ensures every voice is heard and valued. Students learn that collaboration starts with thinking for themselves before building on others’ ideas.

1. Share your idea.
2. Listen to a partner’s idea.
3. Add one new thought, connection, or question, your “+1.”

Why it works:
It teaches children to extend ideas rather than just agree or disagree. This fosters deeper understanding and true co-construction of knowledge.

3. The Explanation Game

Steps:

1. Name it – What do you see or notice?
2. Explain it – Why might it be that way?
3. Give reasons – What makes you think that?
4. Generate alternatives – What else could it be?

Why it works:
It transforms observation into dialogue. Students listen, justify, and respectfully challenge each other’s reasoning, a hallmark of mature collaboration.

Using Thinking Routines at Home

Using these routines at home helps children think together, listen carefully, and understand how ideas grow through dialogue.

Think–Pair–Share in Daily Life

When to use: Mealtimes, car journeys, or bedtime chats.
Example:

• Think: “What was something interesting that happened at school today?” (pause for reflection)
• Pair: “Tell me your idea, and I’ll share mine.”
• Share: “Let’s see if we had similar thoughts or completely different ones!”

Why it helps: It slows conversation down, giving children time to think before speaking, a skill that builds confidence and clarity in communication.

The +1 Routine: Building on Ideas

When to use: During discussions, creative play, or planning family activities.
Example:

• Child: “We should go to the park this weekend.”
• Parent: “That’s a great idea, I’ll add my +1: maybe we can take a picnic too.”
• Child: “My +1, we could invite our neighbours!”

Why it helps: It teaches children that collaboration means adding value to others’ ideas, not just agreeing. It promotes flexible, constructive thinking.

The Explanation Game: Thinking Deeply Together

When to use: Exploring a museum, reading a book, or noticing something unusual outside.
Example:

• Name it: “I see that the sky looks red this evening.”
• Explain it: “Maybe it’s because the sun is setting.”
• Give reasons: “Because sunsets happen when the sun is low.”
• Generate alternatives: “Or maybe there’s dust in the air after a sandstorm.”

Why it helps: It models curiosity through reasoning and respectful challenge, “I see what you mean, but could it also be…?”, showing children how shared thinking builds understanding.

Reflecting on Collaboration

After family activities, try these quick prompts:

• “What did we do well together?”
• “When did someone’s +1 make the idea better?”
• “How did we listen to each other?”

These reflections help children notice that teamwork isn’t just a classroom skill, it’s a mindset for life.

Collaboration Beyond the Classroom

Collaboration extends far beyond school walls. It’s a vital skill for global citizens, from engineers working on sustainable technologies to doctors collaborating across continents.

In the UAE, collaboration is central to innovation: teams of scientists, architects, and educators work together to turn ambitious visions into reality. When children learn to collaborate, they’re learning to participate in that same spirit of teamwork and shared purpose.

Building the Future, Together

By focusing on collaboration this term, we’re empowering our learners to grow as confident communicators and considerate teammates, children who don’t just share ideas but build on them. When collaboration becomes a habit of mind, it sets the foundation for lifelong learning, leadership, and success.

Aaron Regan

Year 5 Teacher, Curriculum Leader and Metacognition Lead