6 Steps to Help Students Find Order in Their Thinking

Like magic, the fish turn into birds and then back into fish. M.C. Escher's tessellations have a way of grabbing your attention and forcing your mind to make sense of the impossible figures on the paper. The Merriam dictionary describes tessellations as, "a covering of an infinite geometric plane without gaps or overlaps by congruent plane figures of one type or a few types." To tessellate a single shape it must be able to exactly surround a point, or in other words, the sum of the angles around each point in a tessellation must be 360. Using the six steps listed below, tessellated thinking might be a way to help students make order out of the mental chaos our young learners often experience: Step 1: Routines and Predictable Patterns Just like Escher's tessellations repeat common forms in interesting ways, good educators also help students to tessellate what they do in the classroom by repeating interesting thoughts and behaviors. Step 2: Create Habits of Mind Step 3: Rotate Perspectives

Resources for Getting Started with Project-Based Learning Just getting started with project-based learning (PBL)? Our curated list of resources for educators new to PBL should help you. Before you get started, be sure to check out Edutopia's PBL page, including information about the research behind effective PBL practices. You can also connect with Edutopia's community to learn and share PBL tips. PBL Defined and Clarified What the Heck is PBL? video What Should "Gold Standard" PBL Include? 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.