Get to Know Nature | Science | Lesson Plan | PBS LearningMedia In this lesson, students learn about habitats and biodiversity by collecting data about the plants and animals that live in their community and by working together to create a nature guide for their neighborhood. First, they watch an animated video that models science process skills such as making observations and recording data, and then they practice these skills in a related outdoor activity. Students then explore the biodiversity near their school by participating in a biodiversity scavenger hunt. Finally, students work together to identify some of the plants and animals they found during the scavenger hunt, and collate their data in a nature guide. Time Allotment Three 60-minute class periods Learning Objectives Understand that biodiversity is the variety of living things in a given place.Show that there are many different kinds of living things in any area, and they exist in different places on land and in water. Prep for Teachers Supplies Media Resources Learning Activities 1. 2. 3. 4.
Project Based Learning I’ve been teaching using a project-based learning pedagogy since mid-2010 when I was introduced to PBL by my friend, Dean Groom. Since then I have had some wonderful learning experiences with PBL and I enjoy sharing both my successes and failures and experiments in learning on my blog. I thought it’d be helpful for other people if I put all of my PBL-related posts on one page, just in case you’re starting out and you want to see how another teacher is doing it too. If you have any questions, just post a comment below or send me a tweet on twitter My VERY first experience with PBL – and it was hard work and had serious issues! My post might help some of your PBL newbies feel less anxious, maybe! This is a reflection on my very first PBL experience with Year 10 – it looks at why it may not have been 100% successful.
Climbing the Project-based Learning Mountain 1. Start at a trail marker. The best way to plan a PBL is to start with one single standard in one subject. I usually plan around Math for my project-based learning activities. Sketch out a basic outline, then come up with a guiding question. 2. Do you know someone that’s done project-based learning before? 3. Before you begin project-based learning with your students, ask yourself what materials will make the project stand out. Continue to add materials and activities during a PBL as well. 4. Get your team members and other teachers on board before you start. Don’t get discouraged if the other teachers are reluctant to try project-based learning. 5. As a teacher you already know that not everything is going to go as you plan it. Enjoy the excitement and the chaos, because your students are enjoying learning! Try one of these Math PBLs! Hi there!
Free Lego NXT MindStorms NXT-G Robotics Challenges Tutorials At the request of Tasmanian teachers Miss Clare Neilson and recently retired Mrs. Juanita Airey, activities using Lego's NXT 1 MindStorms Robots have been developed for use in School-based 2-hour sessions. Some, but not all, will work with the new NXT 2 kit (click here for more information). The tutorials are presented as a series of Challenges, which are gradually being converted for Web use. Challenges with an "M" after the challenge number include mentor notes. First Challenge (NXT 1) - Building Robot 1.1 "TuftsBot" - click here. First Challenge (NXT 2) - Building Robot 1.2 "MiniBot" - click here. First Challenge (Apple videos) - Building Robot 1.2 "MiniBot" - click here. Challenge 2M - Teaching your Robot (NXT 1 & NXT 2) - click here. Challenge 2M (Apple videos) - Teaching your Robot (NXT 1 & NXT 2) - click here. Challenge 4M - Teaching your Robot to move, smile and speak (NXT1 & NXT 2) - click here. Challenge 10 - Building Robot 2 "DomaBot" (NXT 1 & NXT 2) - click here.
edutopia PBL Defined and Clarified What the Heck is PBL? by Heather Wolpert-Gawron (2015) In project-based learning, students show what they learn as they journey through the unit, interact with its lessons, collaborate with each other, and assess themselves and each other. Five Keys to Rigorous Project-Based Learning (2014) Well-designed project-based learning (PBL) has been shown to result in deeper learning and engaged, self-directed learners. Back to Top Stories and Examples My PBL Failure: 4 Tips for Planning Successful PBL, by Katie Spear (2015) Here are four lessons learned from a failed PBL unit: align with the school calendar, allow planning time, carefully create the topic and guiding question, and collaborate with peers. Other Tips From Teachers and Experts Bookmark this page to reference it for updates.
Is Google Making Us Stupid? Illustration by Guy Billout "Dave, stop. Stop, will you? Stop, Dave. I can feel it, too. I think I know what’s going on. For me, as for others, the Net is becoming a universal medium, the conduit for most of the information that flows through my eyes and ears and into my mind. I’m not the only one. Bruce Friedman, who blogs regularly about the use of computers in medicine, also has described how the Internet has altered his mental habits. Anecdotes alone don’t prove much. It is clear that users are not reading online in the traditional sense; indeed there are signs that new forms of “reading” are emerging as users “power browse” horizontally through titles, contents pages and abstracts going for quick wins. Thanks to the ubiquity of text on the Internet, not to mention the popularity of text-messaging on cell phones, we may well be reading more today than we did in the 1970s or 1980s, when television was our medium of choice. But the machine had a subtler effect on his work. Also see:
The Challenges and Realities of Inquiry-Based Learning Inquiry Learning Teaching Strategies Getty By Thom Markham Teachers in a rural southeast Michigan high school were recently discussing the odd behavior of the senior class. The teachers’ explanation: Project-based learning. Here’s the back story. Stories like this are about to become more important to educators. This is a steep challenge because it forces education to cross a philosophic divide. Standardizing Valuable Skills To put a new system in place, a first key step is to disseminate and train every teacher on a clear set of performance standards to assess skills required for effective inquiry, such as communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity. The challenge: Right now, a standards-based environment forces teachers to straddle the inquiry process. Assessing Collaborative Learning The iconic model of the individual scholar has been replaced by team-based inquiry. Making Depth of Thinking Evident The challenge: In inquiry, process is as critical as the product.
JIBLM.org - Journal of Inquiry-Based Learning in Mathematics - IBL Course Notes in Mathematics 4 Phases of Inquiry-Based Learning: A Guide For Teachers According to Indiana University Bloomington, Inquiry-based learning is an “instructional model that centers learning on a solving a particular problem or answering a central question. There are several different inquiry-based learning models, but most have several general elements in common: Learning focuses around a meaningful, ill-structured problem that demands consideration of diverse perspectivesAcademic content-learning occurs as a natural part of the process as students work towards finding solutionsLearners, working collaboratively, assume an active role in the learning processTeachers provide learners with learning supports and rich multiple media sources of information to assist students in successfully finding solutionsLearners share and defend solutions publicly in some manner” The process itself can be broken down into stages, or phases, that help teachers frame instruction. 4 Phases of Inquiry-Based Learning: A Guide For Teachers 1. Student-to-material. 2. 3. 4.
9 Characteristics Of 21st Century Learning The label of “21st Century learning” is vague, and is an idea that we here at TeachThought like to take a swing at as often as possible, including: –weighing the magic of technology with its incredible cost and complexity –underscoring the potential for well thought-out instructional design –considering the considerable potential of social media platforms against its apparent divergence from academic learning Some educators seek out the ideal of a 21st century learning environment constantly, while others prefer that we lose the phrase altogether, insisting that learning hasn’t changed, and good learning looks the same whether it’s the 12th or 21st century. At TeachThought, we tend towards the tech-infused model, but do spend time exploring the limits and challenges of technology, the impact of rapid technology change, and carefully considering important questions before diving in head-first. The size of the circles on the map are intended to convey priority. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
The Inside-Out School: A 21st Century Learning Model The Inside-Out School: A 21st Century Learning Model by Terry Heick As a follow-up to our 9 Characteristics of 21st Century Learning we developed in 2009, we have developed an updated framework, The Inside-Out Learning Model. The goal of the model is simple enough–not pure academic proficiency, but instead authentic self-knowledge, diverse local and global interdependence, adaptive critical thinking, and adaptive media literacy. By design this model emphasizes the role of play, diverse digital and physical media, and a designed interdependence between communities and schools. The attempted personalization of learning occurs through new actuators and new notions of local and global citizenship. Here, families, business leaders, humanities-based organizations, neighbors, mentors, higher-education institutions, all converging to witness, revere, respond to, and support the learning of its own community members. The 9 Domains Of the Inside-Out Learning Model 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
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