Group items tagged

reflection/assessment: Finding ways to help students answer their own questions

reflection/assessment: Finding ways to help students answer their own questions

John Seely Brown: "Even when children are high achievers and facile with new technology, many seem gradually to lose their sense of wonder and curiosity, notes John Seely Brown. Traditional educational methods may be smothering their innate drive to explore the world. Brown and like-minded colleagues are developing the underpinnings for a new 21st century pedagogy that broadens rather than narrows horizons. John Seely Brown, former chief scientist at Xerox, has morphed in recent years into the "Chief of Confusion," seeking "the right questions" in a range of fields, including education. He finds unusual sources for his questions: basketball and opera coaches, surfing and video game champions. He's gathered insights from unorthodox venues, and from more traditional classrooms, to paint quite a different picture of what learning might look like. The typical college lecture class frequently gathers many students together in a large room to be 'fed' knowledge, believes Brown. But studies show that "learning itself is socially constructed," and is most effective when students interact with and teach each other in manageable groups. Brown wants to open up "niche learning experiences" that draw on classic course material, but deepen it to be maximally enriching. In basketball and opera master classes, and in architecture labs, he has seen how individuals become acculturated in a "community of practice," learning to "be" rather than simply to "do." Whether performing, creating, or experimenting, students are critiqued, respond, offer their own criticism, and glean rich wisdom from a cyclical group experience. Brown says something "mysterious" may be taking place: "In deeply collective engagement in processes...you start to marinate in a problem space." Through communities of practice, students' minds "begin to gel up," even in the face of abstraction and unfamiliarity, and "all of a sudden, (the subject) starts to make se

from The Center for comprehensive school reform and improvement

Feltron: every year this guy asks a question and collects data from everyone he meets -- and collects the data that they volunteer -- publishing the Feltron Report each year. VERY INTERESTING

great place to troubleshoot tech issues (or anything else - LOTS of people use this)

With the WildLab iPhone application and associated inquiry-based curriculum, students learn the basics of scientific fieldwork, while using other STEM-related skills. Through observations, questions, and analysis, students come to know the important role they can play in gathering data about birds and their habitat, using mobile technology as a scientific tool. Most importantly, they experience the thrill of scientific discovery!

Aardvark: a CrowdSourcing Tool - ask a question directly to your network and get answers fast

let your audience decide on questions in REAL time (while you are presenting); get EVERYONE's voice w/voting boxes - organize lectures or presentations around what people want to hear about.