Group items tagged

"When Jennifer Lanier began working as a media specialist at Summit Parkway Middle School in South Carolina's Richland School District Two, the school library looked like one most of us remember from our own school days. "There were large heavy tables and chairs with shelves lining all walls," she says.  "It was a very fixed space."  After a period of intensive research, she was ready to make some major changes. "My library is now split into two main sections," Lanier explains, "with the circulation desk as the dividing point.  I focused on renovating the back half first.  This would become the Creative Commons area.  I removed the shelves from the corner, purchased six tall mobile tables, a few stools, six white boards, and twenty beanbag cubes." The idea, Lanier explains, was not to set up the tables, stools and cubes ahead of time but, rather, to leave the furniture out of the way and let users (both students and staff members) grab it and reconfigure the space to meet their needs.  "The arrangement of the space does not dictate the way collaboration is carried out; instead the collaboration can freely flow in the direction it takes.  Users can gather around on the cubes to discuss an idea.  They can break out to a project table and visualize it on a white board.  The simple act of moving allows the brain to be more creative." "

Great backwards flow chart - student focused

"A few weeks ago, I did a workshop on Creating Authentic iPad Learning Stations for Primary Students.  I thought I would share some of the things that I spoke about and some of the key points that I tried to get across in my workshop. First, an iPad Station does not consist of handing a child an iPad, putting them on an app and letting them click away.  Come on people, aren't we past this by now?  In the past, I have had colleagues come ask me if they can use the iPads in my room the following period.  When I replied yes, their next question was, "What apps do you have on them?"  WHAT!? Integrating technology doesn't mean that you hand a child an iPad for a period because you have nothing planned.  Using technology needs to be purposeful.  It needs to be thought out, and there needs to a reason to use it. "

Author Daniel Pink discusses what it will take for students to succeed in an outsourced and automated world--and how schools should change their approach to education accordingly.

"As we've now broken away from the holiday break, schools are back in session, which leads me to think about the schools our kids are returning to. Is much of the learning still centered on the computer lab, or have devices like the iPad brought a different kind of learning to students? To explore the question I speak with one of education's leading lights in regard to incorporating Apple technology into the classroom, Fraser Speirs. "

"CS Unplugged is a collection of free learning activities that teach Computer Science through engaging games and puzzles that use cards, string, crayons and lots of running around. The activities introduce students to Computational Thinking through concepts such as binary numbers, algorithms and data compression, separated from the distractions and technical details of having to use computers. Importantly, no programming is required to engage with these ideas! CS Unplugged is suitable for people of all ages, from elementary school to seniors, and from many countries and backgrounds. Unplugged has been used around the world for over twenty years, in classrooms, science centers, homes, and even for holiday events in a park!"

"Design is an artistic endeavor that values the creative and human centered application of math, science and technology. Using design to help others learn science is not intuitive, however, once practiced you will see how humanistic and authentic it is to incorporate design in any subject. Below is a list of the most promising benefits that I have noticed in the past six years for using design as a framework and making as the engine to empower students as they gain and apply their scientific literacy."

"But who will teach those students-and how they'll be taught-has emerged as a concern among some education experts.  "If Congress passes this funding opportunity, we really need to focus on how to prepare existing teachers who have no computer programming experience on how to integrate computing into math and science education," Harry Cheng, the director of the Center for Integrated Computing and STEM Education at the University of California, Davis, told TakePart. "

"This afternoon, our Parker senior administration and IT teams gathered to approve a 1:1 iPad program that will start next year in grades 3-5. Our number one priority is to deliver adequate training to the teachers about how addition of these devices into the classroom environment can dramatically change our learning experience to become more student-centered, collaborative, project-based, exploratory, fluid, and open to the world knowledge base."

"Your textbook is just another tool in your teacher's instructional kit. The problem is that for many of us it becomes a crutch when we first begin lesson planning. The textbook can be very useful for planning curriculums and lessons. It is a framework and guide that provides us a general overview of what should be covered within our classes. However, for our learners the textbook is often boring and tedious. No learner wants to spend hours sitting down reading or answering questions from a textbook for an entire year. I hope the following tips show you how to bring this tool to life for more hands-on, student-centered learning in the forthcoming year."

"The interest in inquiry-based learning seems to ebb and flow based on-well, it's not clear why it ever ebbs. In short, it is a student-centered, Constructivist approach to learning that requires critical thinking, and benefits from technology, collaboration, resourcefulness, and other modern learning skills that never seem to fall out of favor themselves. Regardless, St Oliver Plunkett Primary School has put together two very useful images that can help you populate your iPad-or classroom of iPads-with apps that support both inquiry-based learning (the second image below), and a more general approach to pedagogy based on Apple's uber-popular tablet (the top image)."

"Closing the achievement gap and giving all students access to a world of learning online remains one of the strongest allures of education technology. In the U.S., that conversation is often centered on the newest shiny device, slickest software or free app, but internationally mobile technology is revolutionizing learning too, often without fancy gadgets. Recognizing the creative learning strategies being implemented in developing countries could help expand thinking in the U.S and inform the ongoing discussion about how to use technology to deepen learning."

"What we've tried to do in the following list is provide an evidentiary-based counterpoint to the lingering persistence of the textbook in education. We've collected ten apps from across the content areas, from Shakespeare to the Elements, that each serve as compelling argument against textbooks. Only one of these apps is a game; the rest are examples of how-when properly designed-content can be refracted digitally, with a user-centered touch interface, full multimedia capabilities, while still maintaining a focus on delivering content to students. Or rather, providing access in a way that's more compelling than any textbook could ever imagine."

"Wherever we are, we'd all like to think our classrooms are "intellectually active" places. Progressive learning (like our 21st Century Model, for example) environments. Highly effective and conducive to student-centered learning. But what does that mean? The reality is, there is no single answer because teaching and learning are awkward to consider as single events or individual "things." This is all a bunch of rhetoric until we put on our white coats and study it under a microscope, at which point abstractions like curiosity, authenticity, self-knowledge, and affection will be hard to pin down. So we put together one take on the characteristics of a highly effective classroom. They can act as a kind of criteria to measure your own against-see if you notice a pattern."