This article highlights the shift from traditional teaching, termed transmission, to 21st century inquiry-based teaching, termed transformation. The digital age has changed the learner and if formal education is to remain relevant, the approach must also change. If students are to be equipped to solve the complex problems of society, the foundation of their learning must be critical inquiry which encourages critical thought. The article outlines the tools needed for inquiry-based learning, valid assessment and how it is more than having the students 'think outside the box'. It is a thorough overview of inquiry-based learning and what it can look like in a modern classroom.
"Participatory learning" is one term used to describe how we can learn together from one another's skills. "Cognitive surplus" is another used in the digital world for that "more than the sum of the parts" form of collaborative thinking that happens when groups think together online.
We spent a good deal of time thinking about how accident, disruption, distraction, and difference increase the motivation to learn and to solve problems, both individually and collectively. To find examples, we spent time with a dance ensemble rehearsin
"Computers have had a transformative impact on many fields, it is thus natural to expect that they are having an effect on educational practice leading to a dramatically fresher, more engaging and more powerful process of learning -educational wonderland."
Two observations:
1. Computers do very little to aid learning. Their presence in the classroom along with relevant software does not automatically inspire teachers to rethink their teaching or students to adopt new modes of learning. Teachers do not radically transform what they would do without computers, although it may make things more efficient and fun.
Computer technology may provide interesting and powerful learning opportunities, but these are not taken automatically, teachers and learners need to learn how to take advantage of them.
2. It is the whole culture of a learning environment, with or without computers, that can affect learning in important ways
"It's not what technology can do, but what learning demands, best points up to the potential contributions of technology."
Technology is helping things along, sometimes in crucial ways, rather than in itself doing the real work of teaching.
Computers can become partners in cognition with learners, rightly used computers can enable what needs to happen in knowledge networking. Computers can make easier and more efficient what might need to be done in more cumbersome and convoluted ways.
Challenges:
-assessment
-how do you design a project that will meet all of the expectations of a strand in the curriculum
-teacher comfort level with tools
-authentic? what does it mean to each person?
-collaboration: skills need to be taught
Benefits:
-authentic makes it meaningful and relevant to the students
-collaboration key to learning -- sharing ideas with others important parts
Check out Waterloo's helpful guide on how to plan with technology. I wonder if this fits with our home page? Or might fit with someone's project topic?
This article tries to answer the questions "What kinds of products should we consider having our students construct as a result of PBL and what factors should we consider as we design project tasks. "
Some examples of artifacts would be: physical model, theory, multimedia project, Web site, video or radio program, lesson for younger learners, computer program, robot, or hypermedia.
Whatever the end product, it is in the process of construction that their knowledge is forming and it is in the design phase that "learners construct their initial understandings."
The product should come about through these 4 things:
* an extended time frame (a few weeks to an entire year), the goal is deeper understanding and this takes time
* collaboration, this will enhance the learning process
* inquiry/investigation/research, this an active search for explanations
* and a consequential task. The end task is considered by the article as just a ploy to trap students into thinking deeply.
The article also gives examples of successful artefacts. One was a geometry project where students had to design a case to carry 18 cans. They needed to use their school mascot in the design (cowboys) and consider marketing, geometric factors, as well as write a persuasive letter to sell the product. They also talked about a web page where women were interviewed about their experiences during the second world war. They learned not only about that time in history, but about interviewing and listening skills.