Practical PBL: The Ongoing Challenges of Assessment

In recent years, most students in my project-based AP Government classes have indicated, in both class discussions and anonymously on surveys, that they prefer project-based learning to a more traditional classroom experience. They find PBL more fun and believe that it leads to deeper learning. However, two types of students often resist this model. Both types of students benefit from the option of choosing their role in project cycles to increase motivation. Fair Assessment of Teamwork To increase buy-in for both types of students, the most important thing a teacher needs to do is help build individual accountability -- and, by extension, trust -- in student teams. 1) Individual Skill Areas I have developed an individual semester portfolio as the most important measure of a student's skills assessment. Oral communicationWritten communicationAssuming a roleUse of primary textsLeadershipBeing a team player 2) Role-Based Assessment 3) "Weighted" Scoring

Dealing With Students Who Bully: Part II Once I've reminded myself of my role and goal, I'm ready to deal with Jon, the student introduced in my last post, "Dealing With Students Who Bully: Part I (The Essential First Step)." The next few sentences are a challenge. I'd like to write something that my audience will like. Sorry to disappoint, but there is no magic bullet. If you have conquered your disappointment and continued reading, I can share two things that I always do when dealing with kids like Jon. Creating and maintaining a positive relationship with Jon is not a one-shot deal. The other thing I do with a student like Jon in this situation is to try to create (or explore if we have) a shared quality world picture. I don't begin by asking Jon, "What do you want?" This may sound strange, but it doesn't especially matter to me what Jon says. I have had countless interactions like this, and I have never had a student tell me that my goal is unreasonable. "OK, so we agree that it's reasonable to want a safe environment.

Renaming Fruits And Vegetables With Catchy Names Convinces Kids To Eat Them, Study Says Renaming fruits and vegetables with catchy, attractive monikers could more easily convince children to eat them, according to a new study. Researchers at Cornell University's Food and Brand Lab tested the likelihood that students at five ethnically and economically diverse schools schools would eat items dubbed "X-Ray Vision Carrots," "Power Punch Broccoli," "Tiny Tasty Tree Tops" and "Silly Dilly Green Beans" over the same foods labeled "Food of the Day." The results were overwhelming -- for instance, in one school 66 percent of the carrots labeled "X-Ray Vision Carrots" were eaten up versus the 32 percent when they were labeled "Food of the Day." In a release, the study's lead author Brian Wansink explained that the finding could provide a cheap solution to improving kids' diets: Of the 1,552 students involved 47.8% attended the treatment school. The Cornell findings aren't the first to suggest simple tweaks could add up to big changes in kids' diets. Also on HuffPost:

Girls Launch Their Own High-Interest STEM Project -- into Space Hope Hardison, Emma Brittenham, Mini Ganesh, Anna Scifres, Lexi Stewart, and Maia Madison -- the project team from Cumberland Trace Elementary School in Bowling Green, KY. Photo credit: David Scifres When six middle-school girls from Bowling Green, Kentucky, got the wild idea to launch a camera into space, they knew there would be big challenges ahead. Three months later, they had breathtaking photographic evidence -- taken from 22 miles above Earth -- to prove that they had accomplished their mission. I recently caught up with the team by phone, eager to hear more about why they spent their summer on a STEM project of their own design. #1: Aim High The project idea started with a casual conversation last spring. Before long, four more girls from Cumberland Trace Elementary School joined the team: Hope Hardison, Emma Brittenham, Lexi Stewart, and Maia Madison. The girls came up with a plan that they described as "seemingly impossible but absolutely achievable." #2: Share Your Enthusiasm

Flipped classroom technology: More teachers flipping their classrooms with technology 7:30 p.m. EST, September 16, 2012|By Erica Rodriguez, Orlando Sentinel On the first day of school in Kevin Franklin's world-history class, students whipped out their cellphones, scanned a bar code taped near the classroom door and jumped to their first assignments. During the first few weeks of school, 24-year-old Franklin had no plans to stand up and lecture about the history of the world with PowerPoint. These days, class time is reserved for projects such as making podcasts about the Byzantine Empire or designing a digital collage about Japanese feudalism on Glogster, a visual social network. "Rather than being exposed to content, they're engaged with the content," Franklin said. Franklin's approach is what's known as the "flipped classroom," a teaching style that more Central Florida instructors are using to turn the school day on its head. In Franklin's class, students said they were surprised to learn their class would be conducted through a Google site.