The application of research outcomes aligned to a single paradigm can result in the design of polarized classroom pedagogies. In contrast, the application of multi-paradigmatic perspectives can result in the design of effective literacy and thinking tools. The research outcomes from cognitive and neuro-psychologists adopting normative perspectives, and from linguists and sociologists adopting interpretative perspectives is applied to design two research-based literacy and thinking tools. The fiction meaning grid tool, linked to the reading and writing of narrative and recount texts, engages students in what neurologists describe as a theory of mind mechanism, and what sociologists adopting a cultural critique approach refer to as the social construction of identity through texts. The concept frame tool, linked to the reading and writing of report text, reflects the outcomes of normative research by cognitive psychologists who have described conceptual representation, and by sociologists who have described how knowledge is constructed. Both these tools illustrate the advantages of adopting multi-paradigmatic perspectives.