Making The World Safe For Smart

From Change.org on the TED Conference:

We cannot continue to teach young people that being smart sucks - whatever type of smart they are. We cannot keep perpetuating the lie that "not caring" and "being cool" are the same thing. The challenges we face are too great for us to condition a whole generation to suppress what they're good at and what they care about. More than that, the beauty of the world that comes from discovering passion and talent is the single best force we have to counter a pessimistic, bleary view of things.

You had me at hello.

Discussion on Assessment in Science Classrooms

Assessment:

Should marks be given for on-line participation? (Discussion Forums)
Is there anything in the front matter that ties into this? What can be assessed on line?
Blogs- how do you assign a grade? Is it authentic assessment?
Assessment for learning: blogs, discussions
Not all students have access to computers
Access to information makes us create assessments that ask for deeper understandings
Should we have open-book tests
Is google making us stupid? (article)
Are digital immigrants in a position to assess digital natives?
Use ipods, etc. to record student’s ideas and use this for assessment
Twitter: kids can answer each others questions. Provides immediate feedback, taking responsibility for own learning
What part are we assessing? What needs to be the focus: content/delivery
Whose work are we assessing? Cheating….whose ideas are they?
Everyone participates in blogs. Interesting ideas
Using conversations for broad-based assessments
Observations can be used to inform next steps
Damian Cooper: Over the course of the week, try to talk with each child
Blogs and discussions are very different
Using rubrics for everything, doing all project-based activities
Can/should you assess participation/behaviour
Self-Assessment
Peer-Assessment
Parental expectations
What value is self-assessment? It is so subjective…why do it?
Interviews are an important part of the assessment process
A big part of self-assessment is meta-cognition and problem solving
Use rubrics to self assess. Use of evidence is important
Assessment needs to be tied to an outcome
Transparency-kids need to know what the target is
Should we assess engagement?
Things are very different from school to school (emphasis on test scores/summative assessment?

Discussion on Resources in Science Classrooms

-Students not exposed to enough nonfiction and expository writing.
-No text in Elementary grades…a common text rich in nonfiction presented in an interesting way
- Why do we focus so much time on creative writing and nonfiction reading?
- In junior high, teachers are relying too much on the text and must need to use it sparingly…move from text driven program to a more balanced inquiry-based program
- Need more teachers who are science specialists …need teachers highly skilled in Pedagogical Science teaching and learning
- Need access to these teachers…D2L, on –line discussion opportunities
- Need access to a lesson bank (province wide, easy to navigate
- Hands-on resources: on line store; approved by Alberta Ed
- SMART board: ready to use resources
- Checklist of materials integrated into teacher manual
- Equity of technology
- Library to provide examples: videos, experts, lessons, assessment strategies; well organized by grade level and topic

Issues:
- spend too much time looking for resources;
- Need more time for collaboration
- Environments conducive to hands-on science learning/inquiry (i.e. sinks in elementary classrooms)
- Isoloation … sharing needed between teachers, grades, divisions, school boards
- Time to network on a variety of topics
- ESL population – i.e. resources written in mother tongue, various grade levels, (accessible science for all)
- Access to expensive material and equipment i.e. GPS, robotics, microscopes (on a lend out system)
- We don’t just need more “stuff”, we need people to provide support in implementing these strategies
- Access to professionals in science fields
- More funding for off-site exploration (i.e. fieldtrips)

Discussion on Engagement and Collaborative Learning in Science

Engagement and Collaborative Learning

§ it doesn’t matter how we engage them (technology or other wise)
§ passion- if kids are not engaged, teacher has to drag students into class
§ connecting science to their world – avoid disconnects
§ guide students to make connections
§ high school teachers are not good at making connections; elementary teachers are capable ( I teach bio, not math)
§ need to structure more connections between disciplines (esp. in high school)
§ homeroom or teacher advisor connected to a student for entire high school career – need to create relationships between students and teachers
§ teachers struggle with technology because they become “techies”
§ “passion projects” – collaborative learning
§ Virtual dissections – started by one student; spread to entire class
§ Collaboration is good for teachers, too – need to plan for it
§ Creativity – technology assists when safety or other concerns get in the way – engages students
§ The question why? Always comes up – need to make connections
§ Allow students to investigate their own questions – passion . Teacher’s role is curriculum connection
§ Kids lack creative play. Teachers need to demonstrate
§ Rigidity of school and home restricts creativity
§ Okay for teachers to admit they don’t know. “let’s figure it out together” Models problem solving
§ Technology can allow collaboration (eg. D2L, blog): kids respond to one another’s work
§ Good old fashioned group work
§ Teachers collaborating is modelled for students
§ Collaborate with home environment (eg. D2L homework blog) opens avenues of communication
§ Engagement also includes field experience, virtual museums, teleconferencing, etc
§ Digital archives
§ More equity across classes through collaboration and engagement (key experiences)
§ Teachers are moving from solo planning and delivery to collaboration
§ Some teachers may struggle with sharing their “craft” with others
§ Essential experiences
§ Intellectually engaged as opposed to just academically engaged
§ Confidence is essential
§ Literacy, numeracy and social literacy to be engaged and collaborative
§ Teach to the central themes of their lives
§ If it is real and connected to their lives, they will be engaged
§ General world news – students need to be connected to the global situation – easily done through the internet or paper - science new bulletin board
§ Use teachable moments

§ Build better citizens, not just learners
§ “test crunch” - how is collaboration, engagement affected?
§ Citizenship participation
§ Leaving the classroom – don’t always rely on technology
§ Learning is not just the curriculum – social
§ Comfort: students need to be comfortable with each other to share and collaborate
§ Engagement and relevancy is in early childhood and adult learning
§ How do we know what is engaging and relevant to our kids
§ How do we connect that passion to curriculum
§ Pressure of content in program of studies
§

Discussion on Problem-Solving and Inquiry in Science

Problem Solving / Inquiry Learning

1. Technology can provide an opportunity to teach problem solving strategies through games. Student can learn a concept and then apply it.
2. We need to teach students to be critical consumers of information. So much information is now available, but how do you determine how valid or reliable the information is?
3. Technology can provide an opportunity to make multiple resources available to students for them to develop foundational knowledge. This is necessary before true authentic problem based learning can take place.
4. Some technologies can provide both exposure to technology and social interaction. E.g. Students collaboratively using a Smart board.
5. Technology and bring a wealth of resources for students to investigate – students can do research outside of class and bring their search results back to class.
6. Technological resources need to be available in order to be used effectively.
7. Technology is becoming part of our everyday lives so teaching students how to use it effectively and appropriately is imperative.
8. With so much information available through technology, inquiry questions and problems need to be really good and well thought out.
9. Technology has made inquiry easier with more information instantly accessible.
10. Using technology helps inquiry become more stimulating for students – having their questions answered promotes further inquiry.
11. Technology in the classroom provides the opportunity for teachers to model how to use it effectively and critically.
12. With or without technology teaching science is still about teaching critical thinking.
13. Problem based and inquiry based learning needs to become more student driven – students driving their own inquiry, curriculum affects this process at times when having to teach to the test.
14. Does technology inhibit authentic inquiry? Students have a problem in front of then and turn to the Internet for an answer rather than making observations and thinking through how to solve a problem.
15. Purpose of inquiry is about process, not rote memorization. Facts can be looked up quickly using technology; process of inquiry still facilitated by face to face student-teacher and student-student interaction.

Discussion on Technology in Science Classroom

Technology Issues

Equity – homes, classrooms, schools, district, teachers, students do not have access to the same technologies at the same time.

Uses – can technology help create a wider range of choice for students, helping to increase their interest and ownership over their work?
- become more environmentally friendly by setting up a distribution list for homework, handouts, and notices, (use BCC function to safeguard email addresses)
- ipods, cameras, can be used to record group discussion and work during Science inquiry to aid with assessment
- e-portfolios allow for students to maintain record of work as they travel across grade levels
- video-conferencing, skype, podcasts, video-podcasts
o these can help students access an authentic audience for their work
 authentic audiences can help motivate students to take ownership
o also help to access outside experts
- virtual dissections
- calculators for graphing and statistics
- Read & Write Gold, Dragon Speak for help with reading and writing
- E-text books can allow for customization and increased interactivity
- Twitter can be a good tool to encourage classroom “talk” both inside and outside of the classroom, as students can ask questions of the teacher and their peers
o Still need to help students feel comfortable raising their hands and asking questions in a face to face context
- Having technology at our fingertips may be taking away from some of the inquiry (ie. Deductive reasoning, problem-solving, critical thinking) skills as answers are expected “immediately”.
o Requires an understanding of online digital literacy
- Bert Church School is experimenting with the use of iTouch

Some students, teachers, parents are overwhelmed by technology.

Just because students are connected doesn’t mean there are learning – we need to use technology to support them in learning.

Teacher tech-phobia is not a credible excuse for avoiding technology

It’s important to use technology where it makes sense to enhance learning

Not every student wants to be a Digital Native

What role can digital games be used to support learning and development of interpersonal skills?
- game-based learning meet children in a forum/learning situation they’re familiar with


To what extent does technology favour active or passive learning?

Needs:
- IT Departments need a better understanding of student needs, teachers need a better understanding of network security issues.
- Better understanding of effective uses of technology, technology not always necessary
- How do we move beyond the novelty of technology towards more effective uses?
- Establishment of provincial definitions of 21st Century Students and funding to insure it is matched across the province
- Establishment of an online science clearinghouse to help track new resources for the upcoming science curriculum

On Privacy

There's a lot of talk about the need for privacy, especially online privacy regarding personal information. I would agree that users, regardless of their age, need to be aware of the kind of information about themselves that they are spreading online and who might have access to it. It's not unheard of for companies to collect information as a form of market testing or consumer research without informing visitors to their websites.

Discussions regarding young people and privacy however, also tend to talk about the amount of self-disclosure that young people do on social networks. It's particularly common for older people to be shocked at the photos being shown, or to bring up rumours of applicants being turned down for jobs based on things that are mentioned or shown on their Facebook/Myspace page. This is the kind of notion of privacy that I find interesting because it seems to argue that the idea of "privacy" is a static one - that what constitutes a private moment for baby boomers would be the same as for the so-called net generation or the even more so-called "Greatest Generation" (that pre-dated the boomers). All one as to do is read newspapers from different periods and look at the kinds of activities that are mentioned for prominent citizens and what can see that definitions of privacy have changed over time.

Notions of scandalous behaviour have also changed between generations and so I think that a lot of these pictures on social networks of ill-advised behaviours might not be shocking one day, perhaps once all the baby boomers have retired.

Protein Synthesis vs. Interpretive Dance

In all honesty I've been looking for this video since my wife saw it on 16mm film back in university. The title says it all.

On Multi-Tasking

Recently I've been reading iBrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind, by Gary Smal MD, and Gigi Vorgan. It looks at the how thought patterns and brain development are affected by new technologies. I was intrigued by the idea that reading something from a book might involve a different cognitive process than reading the same thing online.

The most recent chapter dealt with multi-tasking and recycled some of the familiar studies arguing that multi-tasking is not necessarily more efficient that proceeding through tasks in a linear fashion. From there, it is suggested that students who "multi-task" are doing themselves a disservice and as teachers we might want to encourage them to return to a single task methodology. Without doubting that in some cases, multi-tasking might be less efficient, iBrain made me wonder about the experimental design of some of these studies and their fitness for comparison with the ways that students actually multi-task. The one study that Small briefly explains had participants attempt to solve math puzzles while being also being asked to identify shapes. The result of this switching back and forth between tasks required more time.

It made me wonder however, how many students actually attempt to solve their math homework and their art homework at the same time (or say work on science and English simultaneously)? My own (completely anecdotal) observations of students "multi-tasking" involve them working on homework from one particular curricular area, while listening to music, watching TV, chatting to friends, etc. Listening to music or watching TV are rather passive activities, and students talking while working is nothing new. I don't feel that the extent of the disturbances for these activities would be as great as having to switch cognitive domains.

I would like to see more studies that focus on this kind of "parallel-tasking".

Is K-12 Shifting Towards Tacit Knowledge?

A lot of conversations that I've been a part of recently have emphasised the need for "deep learning", "active learning", "authentic learning" or "learning in the real world", etc., and at heart it seems to me that all of these activities appear to place an emphasis on students doing something rather than memorizing something. The role of the teacher becomes one of coaching students how to do things better, how to become a critical thinker, or a keen observer and so on. To some degree these kinds of activities appear to fall under the category of "tacit knowledge", or a kind of knowledge by doing that is hard to capture and explain. Most physical activity falls under this category of knowledge. Tacit knowledge is often contrasted with explicit knowledge, defined as a knowledge of concrete things like facts or discrete concepts.

The odd thing about these conversations between educators is that there is never a reference to the distinction between these forms of knowledge. I know that my professional education was surprisingly mum on the difference, but it would stand to reason that particular teaching techniques would be more successful in dealing with particular types of knowledge. It is notoriously difficult trying to get eastablished teachers to change their practice and I can't help wondering whether being able to draw a link between teaching practices and the transfer of particular knowledge types might be helpful.

Transient Thoughts

I am coming to believe that what we call schooling has as much to do with learning as professional ballroom dancing does to actual dance.

A Conflict Between Two Paradigms

On Friday a colleague and I had a lazy afternoon conversations about what happens when two groups interact with each other around a common purpose. The only problem is that each group is operating under radically different assumptions but believes that these assumptions are shared by the other group. We were thinking of course about the differing viewpoints that students and teachers might have about school, communication, and technology.

This morning we stumbled upon a video posted by Angela Maiers, who we've been following on Twitter for a long time now. Angela's website is dedicated to 21st Century Learning and is a treasure trove of resources.

The Power of Twitter

Twitter turned three years old last week and has earned a lot of recent press regarding it's phenomenal growth last year (reported in some cases as reaching 1400%), but the more critical coverage has been based on Twitter's expanding search functionality. There's a good summary article at the end of our post.

In my recent joint ADETA presentation on mobile learning we talked about Twitter as part of an integrated new approach to schooling. What we liked about Twitter was that it allowed students to have conversations based not on geographical proximity, but on ideas and themes. Twitter's search function makes this possible, allowing students to find timely access to information they need, regardless of where in the world the informants happen to live. Similarly, the topic based nature of Twitter conversations enables students to ask questions and receive help from experts in their field.

Of course, one of the problems with information relaid via Twitter is it's accuracy, and so teachers would do well to encourage students to test the veracity of such information, a fitting skill in this day and age.


To read the article, click below.
http://www.winningtheweb.com/twitter-future-search-google.php

Another tidbit from SXSW'09

As more and more educational processes occur online and student collaboration gains grounds, teachers need to re-think the kinds of activities that students engage in. Derek Powazek has a few suggestions:

Gaming and Educating

This clip is from the SXSW 2009 Interactive Conference. If I wasn't presenting last week at the ADETA Conference, this is where I would have loved to have been. Maybe next year.

ADETA09

The adeta conference concluded on Friday and I was quite surpised by how many people stayed late in the afternoon on Thursday to see my presentation on mobile learning. It is a hot topic and I hope they weren't disappointed. Aside from the apparent gathering momentum of twitter in education, one of the things that pleased me most about the conference was the prevailing attitude among a significant number of educators. For a lot of these teachers, there appeared to be a realization that technology in the classroom needs to be about more than just a way to deliver remote content. Quite a few presenters seemed to echo our own mobile learning theme that if students can acess content from anywhere at anytime, then what are we doing with them when they are actually with us in class (do they even need to be in class?). The problem seems to be that the teachers who hold these beliefs do not know where the next step needs to be. The exhibitors and administrators at the conference still seemed to be hung up on the content delivery paradigm. The momentum for change appears to be there, we just need to figure out where to direct it.

Monday Mutterings

While we are still digesting the after effects of teacher convention and presentations by the likes of Alphie Kohn and Stephen Lewis, we've come across this little gem of a blog posting:

http://teacherleaders.typepad.com/the_tempered_radical/2009/02/creativity-is-dead-ken-.html

Stephen Lewis At Father Lacombe

I was lucky enough to hear Stephen Lewis at Father Lacombe High School in Calgary today. Mr. Lewis was invited by the student population to come and speak on the United Nations' Millenium Development Goals, as part of the schools on-going desire to further the work of former Sudanese student Simon Atem. Two years ago, Atem participated in the online student video organization Quantum Shift's student activist project. Other students at Father Lacombe filmed Simon talking about his desire to raise money to build a school in his Sudanese village after graduation. Released on www.quantumshift.tv, the "Simon's Project" quickly made an impression, where it was the fourth most viewed video, and helped Simon raise a significant amount of money, as well as earning the attention of several key individuals and aid agencies that are now helping Simon build his school and improve local conditions.

On his own, Mr. Lewis is a passionate and engaging speaker as he talks about the many challenges facing Africa, but his talk was most impressive when set against a backdrop of high school students looking for ways to help their fellow students around the world. Simon and several other former students at Father Lacombe are a part of Sudan's Lost Boys generation. As both the students and Mr. Lewis pointed out, the problems faces by Africa regarding the rights of women, the spread of AIDS, rapidly escalating food prices, barriers to education, war and corruption, are very real and dramatic, and will only be exacerbated by the financial crises.

Though the problems seem insurmountable, and are indeed large, as Mr. Lewis responded to one student who asked if he ever thought of giving up, the answer is in believing that we can make a difference. Father Lacombe High School, a school that is perhaps in the midst of its own renaissance, can attest to that.