One's thinking process can be refined in school or in practice. So I'm not teaching my students how to think but how to apply their thinking. Writing is part of it. The understanding of climatic, topographic, and human behavioral factors helps students address the intricate network and effects of good architectural design. The sequence of projects builds on student learning and challenges them to extensive application of their architectural design process.
Writing is used to foster thinking in developing and applying a design methodology.
If writing is recorded thought, then drawing, sketching, and doodling are also recorded thought. Students are encouraged to write about what they already know and what they learned from previous courses. The initial writing is a non-threatening, easy method of finding the scope of students' knowledge about the subject. Through this first assignment, the instructor communicates the importance of using writing to think and learn. Gordon has a strange way of teaching.