The Role of Questions in Teaching, Thinking and Le One of the reasons that instructors tend to overemphasize "coverage" over "engaged thinking" is that they assume that answers can be taught separate from questions. Indeed, so buried are questions in established instruction that the fact that all assertions — all statements that this or that is so — are implicit answers to questions is virtually never recognized. For example, the statement that water boils at 100 degrees centigrade is an answer to the question "At what temperature centigrade does water boil?" Hence every declarative statement in the textbook is an answer to a question. Hence, every textbook could be rewritten in the interrogative mode by translating every statement into a question. To my knowledge this has never been done. Thinking is Driven by Questions Thinking is not driven by answers but by questions. Questions define tasks, express problems and delineate issues. This is why it is true that only students who have questions are really thinking and learning.
Template In order to provide consistency across Project Based Learning (PBL) professional development and the development of resources for Teach 21, the WVDE Office of Instruction adopted a project design template for use with PBL. It is important that all work classified as PBL adhere to specific guidelines, the most important of which is an alignment with the grade appropriate West Virginia 21st century content, learning skills and technology tools standards and objectives. Quality project based learning in the 21st century classroom engages students in thought-provoking, standards-focused, inquiry-based learning experiences that are open-ended and driven by an authentic and challenging problem, question or issue. Standards-focused instruction often contains projects that are authentic and engaging for students. The link that follows will provide you with the Project Based Learning Template currently being used with the Secondary PBL Project. Project Based Learning Template
What Makes Project-Based Learning a Success? At one high school in Texas, where every class in every grade is project based, the answer is devotion to a consistent process, belief in relationships, and commitment to relevance and rigor. Results? Hard to beat. Thanks to an effective PBL model and a school culture that values relationships and autonomy, Manor New Tech students, teachers, and its principal, Steven Zipkes (right), are achieving impressive results. Credit: Zachary Fink There is a small town, about 12 miles east of Austin, Texas, where a high school devoted to teaching every subject to every student through project-based learning (PBL) opened five years ago. See more Schools That Work Watch the video: PBL Success Start to Finish Duration: 08:01 min. Manor New Tech was started with a $4 million grant from the Texas High School Project as part of an initiative to develop schools dedicated to science, technology, engineering, and math in Texas. No less important, though, is the school culture that supports it.
The Socratic Method The Socratic Method:Teaching by Asking Instead of by Tellingby Rick Garlikov The following is a transcript of a teaching experiment, using the Socratic method, with a regular third grade class in a suburban elementary school. I present my perspective and views on the session, and on the Socratic method as a teaching tool, following the transcript. The experiment was to see whether I could teach these students binary arithmetic (arithmetic using only two numbers, 0 and 1) only by asking them questions. I had one prior relationship with this class. When I got to the classroom for the binary math experiment, students were giving reports on famous people and were dressed up like the people they were describing. "But what I am really here for today is to try an experiment with you. 1) "How many is this?" 2) "Who can write that on the board?" 3) Who can write ten another way? 4) Another way? 5) Another way? 2 x 5 [inspired by the last idea] 7) One more? X [Roman numeral] 14) Which, nine or ten?
A Step-by-Step Guide to the Best Projects Manor New Technology High School in Manor, Texas, is a 100 percent project-based learning school. They are part of the New Tech Network of schools and their approach has yielded remarkable results, including a 98 percent graduation rate, with all of their graduates accepted to college. The success of their PBL approach is largely attributable to the fact that their process is designed to stimulate student inquiry. Additionally, their process can be applied to any project in any subject, which means there is a consistent approach across grades and subjects at Manor. We followed a sophomore world studies class through a three-week project called Controlling Factors, created by teaching partners Mary Mobley (English) and Michael Chambers (world history). Here is a breakdown of key steps, with some examples from Mobley and Chambers's project: What do you think about this Schools That Work story?
7th Graders Publish Their Own Textbook Mac Life wrote an article titled Super 7th Graders Publish Their Own eBook to the iBookstore. It explains the project in more detail. "Each student has to choose an organisms they wanted to study and were required to submit their topic for approval. Afterward, students had to write informative – but entertaining! – articles about their organism." Andrea collected work from 69 students and entered it into iBooks Author. iBooks Author is free but only works on Macs running 10.7 Lion or higher. iBooks Author is a fantastically powerful tool. There are some disadvantages to using iBooks author for crafting your own learning materials. Check out what Andrea and her students say about writing their book. I think the comment by CNEBBY in the Customer Reviews of Creatures, Plants and More sums up the project well: "This is an awesome example of what kids can do when they are properly motivated by a skilled teacher."
PBLU.org | Making Projects Click www.inquiryhub.org Helping Students Make Better Movies on iPad (or any device) I’m gearing up for a film festival at the end of the month that celebrates the incredible talents and vision of the students in my community. The films are created by students in what is often an in-depth process. Starting with nothing more than an idea, students write story boards, scripts, choose film techniques, act, record, edit, process and polish until they have a video that depicts nothing less than the vision they started with. Of course, the basis for a great film is a great story. There is a nice video on filming techniques. Possible Activity: List 7 Camera Techniques that caught your attention. Now that students are becoming aware of camera techniques, have them apply that knowledge. What is the overall tone and mood of this clip? Here is a clip from The Avengers. Marvel’s The Avengers Beyond movie clips, movie trailers are fantastic for analysis. Smallville – Time After Time Related Posts:
The Digital Education Revolution, Cont'd: Meet TED-Ed's New Online Learning Platform - Megan Garber - Technology TED's new tool lets teachers create customized lessons that revolve around web video. The iconic image of high school education, forged for most of us through personal experience and viewings of Dead Poets Society, is this: a teacher, standing in front of his or her class, lecturing. There are exceptions, definitely: the class discussion, the interactive lab experiment, the game, the field trip. For the most part, though, despite years of education reform, we tend of think of education as a highly vertical experience, one of active teachers and passive students, one in which knowledge radiates out from a single speaker to a roomful of silent listeners. That model is changing, though, and quickly. Today, it's going a step further: TED-Ed is launching a suite of tools that allow teachers to design their own web-assisted curricula, complete with videos, comprehension-testing questions, and conversational tools. That's big. Video, unsurprisingly, is an important component of that toolbox.
Free Guide to Self-Publishing eBooks & iPad Apps Now Available Press release from the issuing company Quark announced today the availability of a new, free resource for self-publishers from graphic design expert and self-publisher Jay Nelson. Titled “Jay Nelson’s Guide to Self-Publishing,” the comprehensive guide outlines everything self-publishers need to know about getting digital projects, like ePubs and iPad apps, started and finished – without programming. The guide is free in ePub format or as a PDF and can be accessed here: www.quark.com/selfpublish. “I know from speaking with a broad community of designers, self-publishers, and authors that for many, understanding digital publishing seems like an awfully steep hill to climb, especially if they’ve been focused on print publishing,” said Nelson. With the guide to publishing eBooks and iPad apps, authors and designers working on digital magazines, books, journals, newsletters, and other publications will learn how to: Like this: Like Loading...
20 Must-See Facts About The 21st Century Classroom The Current State Of Technology In K-12 7.62K Views 0 Likes What is the next device most students will soon purchase? How many schools have a digital strategy? Find out in the current state of technology in K-12. Getting Started with Project-Based Learning (Hint: Don't Go Crazy) Before the start of the school year, many of us want to use the remaining weeks of summer to learn some new skills -- such as project-based learning (PBL). One of the things we stress for new PBL practitioners is, as I say, "don't go crazy." It's easy to go "too big" when you first start PBL. Start Small As I said, "Don't go crazy!" Plan Now One of the challenges of PBL, but also one of the joys, is the planning process. Limited Technology We love technology, but sometimes we get too "tech happy." Know the Difference Between PBL and Projects This is the big one! We are all learners, and when we start something new, we start small. Photo credit: wwworks via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
What should students learn in the 21st century? By Charles FadelFounder & chairman, Center for Curriculum Redesign Vice-chair of the Education committee of the Business and Industry Advisory Committee (BIAC) to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)Visiting scholar, Harvard GSE, MIT ESG/IAP and Wharton/Penn CLO It has become clear that teaching skills requires answering “What should students learn in the 21st century?” on a deep and broad basis. Teachers need to have the time and flexibility to develop knowledge, skills, and character, while also considering the meta-layer/fourth dimension that includes learning how to learn, interdisciplinarity, and personalisation. Adapting to 21st century needs means revisiting each dimension and how they interact: Knowledge - relevance required: Students’ lack of motivation, and often disengagement, reflects the inability of education systems to connect content to real-world experience.