Group items tagged

"Science is one of those subjects that really excite students because they get to see cause and effect, they get to create, record and then document results and they get to manipulate the variables that produce the data. Students then get to make connections between what they do and the real world. Add an iPad, a series of carefully chosen apps and a couple of probes and you can make all of these observations happen in a mobile environment - outside, at home or even on an excursion. I would love to be a student in a classroom with these tools!"

"I often talk with educators (and parents and administrators) who are convinced that their students are working within Project Based Learning environments. They tell me about the wonderful projects the kids have created and how much fun the kids have. I'm always delighted to hear the kids are having fun in school! However, I find that when asked a few probing questions, it becomes clear whether or not PBL is actually happening or if the teachers are merely creating projects for students to complete."

"Learning is all about asking questions and finding answers to them. An inquisitive mind is one that goes beyond the status quo and probes deep below surface meanings. To foster such kind of thinking inside our classroom requires some hard work and a serious investment in time and efforts. We, as teachers and educators, need to prepare the right environment where inquisitive minds can nourish and grow. We need to water this environment with a culture of asking questions."

"Arguably one of the more difficult aspects in teaching for understanding is to decide when to teach the desired understanding! In other words, to put it as an essential pedagogical question: When should you state the Understanding and when should you engineer students to come up with it "by design"? Whether we consider the famous example of Socrates in his Dialogues or some of the best teachers we have ever had as students, many of them had the ability to help us "discover" the understanding on the basis of their clever design groundwork, their probing, and their facilitation of discussion."

A summary of Marshall McLuhan's main ideas