the greatest contribution the young programmers bring isn't the software they write. It's the way they think. It's a principle called "computational thinking,"
Primary Preoccupation - 5 views
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Interesting to hear about using a DS to encourage sharing and taking turns (excellent 21st century skills). I may need to check other resources, but I've never met a DS game that I would call "educational." I feel more led to teach and explore sharing and taking turns and rule building through sharing math supplies - like one set of coveted attribute blocks, or only 3 Lego people at the Lego table....
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I agree using a DS would never come to my mind as a tool for learning problem solve Ing skills and sharing but we all have many other materials in the classroom which could serve the same goal. In preschool we would really have to stretch the definition of PBL as they are still acquiring the most basic skills especially language. Preschool teachers still need to be center stage with our little ones under most circumstances.
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This sounds like a great learning opportunity for young students. Would it really be considered PBL? (not sure what the DQ would be, or how rich the content is...or what authentic audience or final product there is) Certainly teaching social skills like these is highly valued! I'm just wondering if it's a nice example of cooperation and student leadership, or if we would call it PBL.
Main Course Not Dessert | FreeBIEs | Tools | Project Based Learning | BIE - 12 views
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This is the article Lisa put in everyone's mailbox. Please comment here.
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I value a lot of the ideas (choice, authentic audience, 21st Century skills) presented in PBL. I just don't know how to incorporate it or totally revise my classroom to make it work. I'm interested in hearing how to make this work with elementary classrooms.
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I have similar feelings as Kathleen, in that often the excitement is there, but the means to culminate a final project is difficult with younger students. I find PBL quite interesting, but I do feel that starting smaller and working up to larger, more in-depth projects may be 'safer' as it is new for our students as well as many of us. We can find how it would work with our age groups, content, and specific classrooms then scaffold from there.
they're not too young.pages - 0 views
Question / Project Cards - Unprofessional Development - 0 views
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"The contemporary questions that interest us as adults - like those about power, extinction and health - can be asked in ways that resonate with young people, too. And, their answers can be manifest in real world answers: games, books, stories, art, and more. " Here is a collection of questions and project cards you can use with your students.
Jennifer Moses on Young Kids' Sleep Troubles - WSJ.com - 1 views
Is Coding the New Literacy? | Mother Jones - 1 views
Spotting a Fake: Teaching Website Evaluation Skills | Education.com - 1 views
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Test the wading pool. Younger students under grade six may not be ready to surf the vast “open Web,” warns Schrock. “They do not have the knowledge base to know if what they are finding is reliable, authoritative, and may not understand what bias is all about.” There is little authority on Wikipedia, she says, while a site such as BrainPOP, while colorful and interactive, doesn’t include citations. “I would rather see students use a juried directory such as www.homeworknyc.org for homework,” she says, which includes citations to information. Use kid-friendly search sites. An older student with training may be able to search the Web for a hobby – like skateboarding or a favorite young adult author – on search engines such as www.kidsclick.org, monitored by librarians though San Jose State University. Visit a fake site. Take a peek at www.allaboutexplorers.com, an intentionally fake research site in which the biographies of explorers are riddled with factual errors. Sir Francis Drake’s bio mentions artifacts like computer disks, while another page claims that Ferdinand Magellan’s expedition to the Spice Islands was financed by Bill Gates. Search for as many questionable facts as you can. Or, browse the stories at the mock site www.theonion.com and figure out which pieces of an article aren’t true. Detect bias. “One way to approach bias is to teach about advertisements and persuasion,” says Schrock. “Bias and persuasion seem to be closely linked.” Create a Web page about a topic you know well, and then use it to persuade others. For instance, your child may build a biased site that talks about why a Nintendo DS is better than a PSP. (He probably needs some media literacy training evaluating persuasive materials like commercials and magazine ads, says Schrock.) Be inquisitive. Always ask the question: “Who wrote this?” Click on the “About Us” page for more information. Find a “byline,” or the line attributing an article to an author. Scan the bottom of a website for a person or organization’s name, and then Google it. Look to experts. Brainstorm proven leaders in the subject you are researching and take note of their organization and affiliations they have. If you’re writing a report on gorillas, for instance, find out what organizations Jane Goodall has worked with. Check out their websites for further information and links to even more resources. Befriend your librarian. Use this free and friendly resource. “I suggest to parents that they talk to their local public librarian – students often can have home access to great subscription databases of information by using their library card number,” says Schrock. Beware of phony URLs. Check the URL and pay attention to fishy addresses. It’s not always effective to look at the domain – .com, .net, .org, .mil, .gov – as a way to determine bias or authenticity, warns Schrock. “Except for .mil and .gov and k12.us, anyone can have any domain.” Also, a site that asks for personal information to access a free, public site may not be legit. Check the copyright date. Most websites, especially frequently updated ones, display a “last updated” date or a year the site was created. If you see a date that’s a decade old (or more), it's wise to find a site with more recently written content (posted within the last several years). Create a shortlist. Over time, build a list of tried-and-true websites. Take note of the best websites on animals, history, sports, the environment, or current events, and return to this list when necessary. You will build your knowledge of the Internet, and learn which sites are reliable.