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Fantastic Case Study of using an interesting tool to deliver design thinking and the bases for game design for kids.

Thanks Rodrigo. I am passionate about Design Thinking & Visual Thinking.

Teaching is changing. It is no longer simply about passing on knowledge to the next generation. Teachers in the 21st century, in all educational sectors, have to cope with an ever-changing cultural and technological environment. Teaching is now a design science. Like other design professionals - architects, engineers, town planners, programmers - teachers have to work out creative and evidence-based ways of improving what they do. But teaching is not treated as a design profession. Every day, teachers design and test new ways of teaching, using learning technology to help their learners. But their discoveries remain local. By representing and communicating their best ideas as structured pedagogical patterns, teachers could develop this vital professional knowledge collectively. Teacher professional development has not embedded in the teacher's everyday role the idea that they could discover something worth communicating to other teachers, or build on each others' ideas. Could the culture change? From this unique perspective on the nature of teaching, Diana Laurillard argues that a 21st century education system needs teachers who work collaboratively to design effective and innovative teaching.

In my opinion the most important thing is -given teaching will be treated as a collective design science- learning about how to apply new ways of teaching on our individual children. The newest would probably not always be the best and what worked in other schools elsewhere might not work in your own school. So let´s also stress how to individualize collective knowledge again and break it down to everyday usable teaching aid that we can evaluate.

I totally agree with your opinion about education, specially when you talk about collaborative work among teachers to help our students build knowledge .THank you

I want to eliminate completely the Bloom's taxonomy. Flipping it could be interesting, however it drives teachers and policy makers to continue CLINGING to a very old paradigm and old categorization. Moreover, hierarchies belong to LINEAR THINKING, it is still a traditional way of thinking.

Great article. Thank you!

Thank you for the article. Completely agree with the author (about the flipping thing). Crativity-avaluation-analysis etc leads to learning - that's for sure.

I would like to share this wonderful article about blogging in pedagogy. Enjoy ^)

I think this is worth reading...sometimes we are blinded by the spark of ICT and forget about its rationale. This might help us make informed decisions about what to choose, how and when to use it and what for,

wonderful sharing about web 2.0 tools that can be used in classroom.

Thank you! A great list of tools! It's really helpful to have lists like this to find what best suits your needs.

I've been going to start learning about the wed 2.0 tools. your reference gave me a start. THANK YOU. wonderful site and very USEFUL

Fabulous online robotics challenge - I use it in my school with grades 3-6 (Australia) as we do not have robotics.

This is fantastic! Thanks for sharing.

A very good resource indeed! Completes greatly the first lesson of K-5 Course 1 of code.org, I think.

Level Up Village curriculum teaches STEAM and design thinking through collaborative, real-life problem solving on an international scale.

Where will our children get the creative thinking skills they will need to become effective innovators in the future? The Missing Alphabet is a comprehensive guide for parents.

Bring comics to the classroom with educational software that helps students create, share and collaborate on comics - without drawing a line. Use Bitstrips for Schools to teach reading comprehension, writing and digital literacy.

I have read good reviews about bitstrips earlier too, seems a good tool for primary students, a nice way to introduce them to writing stories. Will try it!!!!!

super heros and super powers as well as evil characters are a good way to teach values to chilren and develop storytelling, focuss ideas, etc. I find visual thinking very good for early learning and being able to make comics is great. Thanks for sharing.

Our story last week about the connection between ADHD, movement and thinking struck a nerve with readers. We reported on a small study in which students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder performed better on memory tasks when they were allowed to spin and move around in a swiveling chair.

I have seen a few of these ideas work with preschoolers. Love the swivel chair idea. Great was to allow movement while attention to table work is needed.

I have used this game a lot in secondary/middle schools to check the pupils understanding of a certain topic. The pupils have to set up their own questions, and also provide the correct answer and several false ones. The pupils enjoy it because 'They think they are just making up a game', when in fact you can look at what they are setting up and in they indeed have the knowledge to do this. I have only used this in Year 5/6 in terms of primary school and I would probably recommended for that age group upwards.

Explore the fun side of math with thinking games, number puzzles, and more.

If you are thinking about moving to a 1:1 computing strategy or are considering Bring Your Own Technology (BYOT) or Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) strategies then you need to know what technology your pupils have access to. The Your Own Technology Survey (YOTS) is a free tool to help schools and researchers better understand the digital technology available to their students at home, whether they are willing, able and allowed to bring it to school on a regular basis, and how that technology might be utilized to enhance educational outcomes.

LearnEnglish Kids has lots of free online games, songs, stories and activities for children to have fun and learn English too.

As a teacher of 5-6 year old ESL learners in a bilingual school, I find this website really useful for activities, songs, games etc for teaching English in a fun way. It is very interractive and child friendsly. Children can explore activities alone or it can be used as part of a teaching session. They can also leave their own comments about activities they liked. I think someone has already mentioned it below but I love it so much I had to post again so everyone can see. Highly recommended for any teachers of young learners, whether these kids are second language learners or not.

good site