EDIM 502 - Week 1 Assignment - Why Use Project Based Learning

March of the Monarchs was an example of a project based learning activity by elementary students in Maryland.  In all three articles about examples of project based learning, our week one readings in EDIM 502, the role of the teacher is to design the project based lesson with curriculum standards in mind.  “Careful planning ensures that the students meet state academic standards” (Curtis, 2001.) 

The teachers start by asking an everyday, real question.  “Math, writing, reading, and other subjects are interwoven into classroom projects and applied just as they would be in the real world” (Curtis, 2001.)  Where are the monarch butterflies right now?  Engaging curiosity is what starts this process.  This is the hook to the lesson, drawing the students into wanting to find out where the butterflies physically are or are travelling through. 

Students take an active role in their learning.  They research information, collaborate, and create a project based on the question.  In the “March of the Monarch” activity, students recorded when they observed the butterflies in their geographic area and sent this data to the Journey North website.  They were participating as observers and scientists.  This ensures that they are engaged in the learning process.  Because they also create something as a result of their project, they will remember the information.  It is transferred into long term memory instead of just disappearing in short term memory. 

The last part of a project based lesson is the presentation of information.  Students wrap up their learning and share it with the class or the public.  Students are the experts.  The teacher or the public also assesses (according to a rubric) the project.  Self-reflection and self-evaluation are also important components of assessing a project.  "It demystifies grades, and most importantly, helps students see that the whole object of schoolwork is attainment and refinement of problem-solving and life skills" (Armstrong, 2002.)

I have had a personal experience with a project based learning lesson.  I went to a math conference session with Dan Meyer.  He showed us a picture of a room in the Guggenheim Museum that was completely covered with 1 dollar bills.  He asked us to generate a list of questions that we could ask.  Of course the most common question was how much money was on the walls?  I have never been sucked into a math problem like I was that day.  He gave us the blueprints of the room and a sample of the size of a dollar bill and away we went.  I didn’t want to stop until I figured it out.  I see that as the main goal of project based learning - to completely engage students in learning. 

Investigating how to carry out project based learning should be the goal of any teacher.  However it is easy as a teacher to fall back onto the old methods of teaching – what is comfortable and familiar.  I imagine the work involved to set up a PBL learning activity is quite intense.  I am looking forward to working with my science group in EDIM 502 to learn the intricacies of creating a project based learning activity.  “But resistance to projects doesn't last long once teachers see the enthusiasm, excitement, and quality of work. "The children actually sell it," he says. "It's harder to teach this way -- but one hundred times more rewarding" (Curtis, 2001.)

References

Armstrong, Sarah. (2002). “Geometry students angle into architecture through project learning. Edutopia. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/geometry-real-world-students-architects

Curtis, Diane. (2001). “March of the monarchs: students follow the butterflies’ migration.  Edutopia. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/march-monarchs

Curtis, Diane. (2001). “More fun than a barrel of …worms. Edutopia.  Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/more-fun-barrel-worms

Contemporary art exhibition displaying 100,000 $1 bills at Guggenheim museum. Retrieved from http://freshome.com/2011/05/31/contemporary-art-exhibition-displaying-100000-1-bills-at-guggenheim-museum

Google Earth Fieldtrip - Project 3 EDIM 508

My last project for my digital media course was to create a “virtual fieldtrip” using “Google Earth.”  The purpose of this project was to help students develop, “according to Gardner” their respectful and ethical minds.  I was trying to look for an idea in science to make a trip on, but couldn’t think of one.  I then talked with a colleague at my school that teaches grade eleven social studies.  I chose to create a Google Earth fieldtrip on the following outcomes for the Alberta Social Studies 20-1 curriculum:

Related Issue 2

To what extent should national interest be pursued? 

Concept 2.8 - analyze ultra nationalism as a cause of genocide (the Holocaust, 1932–1933 famine in Ukraine, contemporary examples)

This topic is not a very happy one, but students are required to learn about and reflect upon different genocides in the world.  This Google Earth fieldtrip will have students experience genocides in a way that they have not been able to before.  This trip requires students to complete a pre-assessment survey, collect information and complete a post reflection writing prompt.  At each location, they are to look at photographs, watch a short video clip, and click on a hyperlink.  They have to identify background information and possible historical, social, economic, and political causes of each genocide on an “Ultra nationalism” worksheet.

The uploaded photos to Google Earth allow students to see pictures of the place that they are studying.  I especially like the panoramic “red” photos.  You click on the red photo and are transported into a bubble that lets you take a 360 degree walk through an area.  It feels like you are actually at the site.  The images and panoramic pictures of Auschwitz, for example, create an eerie, virtual “you are there” feeling.  The short video segments and hyperlinks bring visual and written information to the students.  Throughout the trip, students will be reflecting on the information they are gathering.  The writing prompt at the end of the trip allows students to summarize their learning. 

Throughout this whole trip, students will be working on developing their respectful and ethical minds.  They are learning about history and what happens when the theme of respecting individuals goes awry.  As Gardner (2007) states “A respectful mind is responding sympathetically and constructively to differences among individuals and among groups; seeking to understand and work with those who are different; extending beyond mere tolerance and political correctness.”  These students must learn how to work together in the world, be good citizens, and prevent genocide from occurring in the future.

I am looking forward to carrying out this field trip with students in my school in the next few weeks.

Here is the attached KMZ file:

Genocide Google Earth Fieldtrip

Citations:

Gardner, H. (2007). Five minds for the future. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press.

(u7a01) - Video blog on Developing Gardner's Five Minds

This was an interesting and difficult task - so much to say in so short a time frame!  I hope you enjoy my first ever face / video blog!

(u06a1) Developing Respectful and Ethical Minds

My task in this blog assignment is to present an idea for using digital media as part of a lesson in which I aim to develop students’ respectful and ethical minds.

One resource that students take for granted where I live is the access to fresh clean drinking water.  Canada has a large percentage of the fresh drinking water available to the world.  I would first use digital media as an introduction to the concept of fresh water.  I have uploaded the video from discovery education.

I would then have my students complete the following activities that can be used to develop a respectful and ethical mind according to water usage.  According to Gardner, (2006) “I prefer the concept of respect.  Rather than ignoring differences, being inflamed by them, or seeking to annihilate them through love or hate, I call on human beings to accept the differences, learn to live with them, and value those who belong to other cohorts.  I would summarize that Gardner’s view of developing a respectful mind means that a student can work cooperatively with and understand individuals that are different or have different viewpoints. Developing an ethical mind requires a student to strive to achieve good work and to be a good citizen

I would first use a water scarcity activity called “Water, Water, Anywhere.” 

Water water anywhere

Students visit three stations, trying to fill their water bottles.  There are three stations involved, where students spend at least five minutes.  There is a physical abundance of water station, a physical scarcity station, and an economic scarcity station.  Students must spend some time reflecting on how they felt as they visited each station. 

I also found a simulation activity called “The Village Voices.”  This is a small group role playing activity where four people in each group take on different roles and discuss water issues in each different village.  The students would have to view different perspectives and have discussions about water usage and water scarcity.

Village Voices

Both activities would cause a student to develop a respectful and ethical mind.  After completing the activities, students could fundraise to donate money to thewaterproject.org website.  This website has information, pictures, and stories from Africa and descriptions of successful water projects.   According to Julene Reed, (2007) "engaging projects promote creativity, address all learners, provide success for all students, make content meaningful, provide an authentic audience, motivate students and empower students to make a difference."

These activities would also fulfill the attitude outcomes from the Science 9 – Alberta Program of Study

- Mutual Respect: Students will be encouraged to:  Appreciate that scientific understanding evolves from the interaction of ideas involving people with different views and backgrounds 

  - Collaboration: Students will be encouraged to:Work collaboratively in carrying out investigations and in generating and evaluating ideas 

Citations
Gardner, H. (2007). Five minds for the future. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press.

Reed, J. (n.d.). Global Collaboration and Learning | EdTech Magazine. Welcome To EDTECH™. Retrieved April 19, 2012, from http://www.edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2007/09/global-collaboration-and-learning

Lesson Plan - Water, Water Anywhere. (n.d.). Bring Clean Water to Africa - The Water Project. Retrieved April 19, 2012, from http://thewaterproject.org/resources/lesson-plans/water-water-anywhere.php

Glog - Project 2 EDIM 508

For this project, I used the free web 2.0 tool glogster edu to make a "creation" that can be used in a science classroom.  I would use the glogster I created on “Investigating Wind” as an introduction to Alberta, Science 10 Unit D “Energy Flow in Global Systems.”  The outcome that this glog is designed for is:

-       describe, in general terms, how thermal energy is transferred through the atmosphere (i.e., global wind patterns, jet stream, Coriolis effect, weather systems)

I would start a class by asking three probing questions: 1. Why does the wind blow?  2.  What does the sun have to do with the wind?  3.  What factors affect the wind?  I would have my students fill out the first two columns of a KWL chart.  What do you know and what do you want to know relating wind to the sun.  As a class, we would fill out a large KWL chart on the smart board.  This is a pre-assessment activity.

I would then have my students work through the glog in pairs, making notes.  By working in pairs, they can synthesize and discuss information as they are visiting the links and video. 

Once they finished going through the glog, I would have them complete the Discovery Education “writing prompt” I created.  I would use this as a “post formative assessment” to check my students’ understanding of what makes the wind blow, how it’s related to the sun, and what factors affect the wind.  I would end the project by having students fill in the "learned" column of the KWL chart and having a class discussion of their "learned" results.

I am very excited about using this tool as a means of activating a student’s creative mind.  It is a very easy tool to work with.  I wanted to put a whole bunch of information in the glog, but soon realized that I had to narrow my scope.  This tool, unlike a prezi, has a finite canvas size.  It forces a person to be succinct in order to best utilize the space.  I liked the features (graphics, wall, links) that are included in the program.  I could see this being easily used by students to display their understanding of a concept.  Students would be very engaged creating a glog as well.

Investigating Wind Glog

(u05a1) Blog on Content Creation

For this week's assignment, I was to:

Have a discussion with one or more of your students about the role of creativity in the classroom. What do they really value currently and/or what would they change about their learning environment when it comes to digital media and technology supporting creativity?  Post a blog entry that presents the findings from your discussion.

I am currently not teaching, so for this blog entry, I interviewed my kids.  My daughter is in grade eight and my son is in grade four.  I asked them the following questions.

What does the word “creative” mean to you?


You express yourself in a way that makes you feel good.  It means to be passionate

Can you give an example of when you are allowed to be creative in school?  Describe it?


I am allowed to be creative in art (sometimes – it depends on the teacher)
We aren’t allowed to be creative.  The teachers tell us what to do, how to do it, and say "do not mess it up."  Science is one area where we are going to make “edible” cells. 

Was digital media and technology involved?


Powerpoint is the first word that they both identified involving digital media/technology.

What would you change in your learning environment that would help you be creative?  When asked about changing their learning environment involving digital media, I prompted them with the idea of making movies as a way to be creative.


The teachers have to be creative too, not just the students.  Everyone has to participate equally to be a success.  School needs to be more creative.
School needs to be less boring.  They could give you more choices

In the two schools that my kids attend, I have seen an increase in the use of digital media and technology.  I think how they answer is dependent on whether or not they have had the ground breaking teachers who feel comfortable with using technology.  It is definitely not in the “mainstream” of all teachers practice and pedagogy.  As I reflect on their answers, I think they have not had enough exposure to digital media and technology in the classroom that would allow them to understand and see the possibilities of being creative using digital media.  I showed my daughter an example of a "glog."  She thought it was a cool idea and thought it would be better than just using powerpoint and google docs as a way to present information.  I think that teachers need to engage students in "creative" projects whether they use digital media or not.  Web 2.0 tools such as glogster provide an easy platform for students to be creative, if the technology is available.

(u04a1) EDIM 508 - Creativity in the Classroom

Do school’s kill creativity?  Not intentionally.  One example of the way this happens is due to high stakes testing.   The freedom for a teacher to be creative is reduced.  I have felt the pressure of students writing a diploma exam.  In grade twelve in Alberta, students write up to a three hour exam in the core courses that is worth fifty percent of their course mark.  I definitely felt I had a finite amount of time to spend on each concept and that I had to spend time preparing students for “the test.”  The precious commodity of time and a packed curriculum also kill creativity.

I enjoyed watching Sir Ken Robinson’s talk about “Do schools kill creativity?”  There are two major themes that I pulled out of Sir Ken Robinson’s TED talk on what is needed to “build creativity” and how I think digital media can help.

The first theme to build creativity is that students need to take chances.   According to Sir Ken Robinson, “What we do know is, if you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original.  And by the time they get to be adults, most kids have lost that capacity. They have become frightened of being wrong.”

A teacher can use digital media in their classroom to provide students the opportunity to make trials of a project, receive feedback, and change or fix the project, learning through making mistakes.  A good example of this is the voice thread on mitosis I created in one of my earlier blogs.  I made about six versions of the explanation of the stages of mitosis before I got to the one version I was okay with.  Also, collaboration using tools like “Prezi” and “Google Docs”allow more than one individual to work on a project at a time.  Through trials and feedback among group members, a project, and creativity can grow.

The second theme that struck a chord with me to build creativity is Sir Ken Robinson’s statement on the description of intelligence: “One, it's diverse, we think about the world in all the ways we experience it. We think visually, we think in sound, we think kinesthetically.  We think in abstract terms, we think in movement.”

Digital media can definitely hit all modalities of learning as described above.  According to “Halani Stefans,” sixty-five percent of individuals are visual learners.  Thirty percent of individuals are auditory, and five percent of learners are kinesthetic.  Discovery Education is an example of an internet site that hits on all modalities of learning.  A student can watch a video, listen to a song, or complete an exploration which requires them to move the mouse around to click on buttons, or pick up and move objects.  The ability of a student to take all three types of files and put them into a presentation such as Prezi or Google Presentation describing what they know or have learned builds creativity in the classroom.

I agree with Sir Ken Robinson’s video.  We need to prepare students for a future that is not going to be recognizable.  Building the capacity of creativity in students , by using digital media, will help them prepare for this “unknown” future.

Citations: 

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity | Video on TED.com. (n.d.). TED: Ideas worth spreading. Retrieved April 5, 2012, from http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

Stefans, H. (n.d.). Organizing Tips for Different Learning Styles - Network for Productivity Excellence. Resources - Network for Productivity Excellence. Retrieved April 5, 2012, from http://resources.npex.org/organizing-tips-for-different-learning-styles.html