The theme of the 2010 Physics Education Research (PER) Conference was Uncovering the hidden curriculum: Research on scientific, critical, and reflective thinking in the physics classroom. An outsider surveying the physics education research literature might understandably conclude that PER studies and PER-based instructional materials are dominated by concerns about conceptual understanding.  However, a close look at research-based curricula reveals that helping students develop the ability to "think like a physicist" is in many cases at least as important as helping them develop an understanding of specific concepts and principles.  Physics education researchers are examining a broad spectrum of abilities that can be categorized as scientific thinking (i.e., reasoning skills and argumentation practices that feature significantly in physics); critical thinking (i.e., general logical reasoning as applied to, or necessary for, doing physics); and reflective thinking (i.e., thinking about one's own thinking and learning processes).  By focusing on research related to instructional goals that transcend specific subject matter, the 2010 PERC provided the field an opportunity to highlight progress in this area and to identify important avenues for continued work.