Group items tagged

Great ideas for early years teachers - including lots on play

Schools have been given the go-ahead to reduce the amount of homework they set for pupils after complaints from parents that studies are cutting in to family time.

The infants to 5-year-olds in my family child care program have taught me the value of rich and meaningful learning that happens in authentic, everyday experiences. Early educators often spend much time and effort planning such experiences. However, sometimes we support children's learning best by stepping out of the way. This lets us learn alongside the children.

This is a nice resource if you're considering setting up a Facebook Group to communicate with students or parents.

"Economically disadvantaged students, who often use the computer for remediation and basic skills, learn to do what the computer tells them, while more affluent students, who use it to learn programming and tool applications, learn to tell the computer what to do. Those who cannot claim computers as their own tool for exploring the world never grasp the power of technology...They are controlled by technology as adults--just as drill-and-practice routines controlled them as students."Source: Toward Digital Equity: Bridging the Divide in Education

Jen Smith found this one, good find Jen!

Discover the tools and techniques today's teachers and classrooms are using to prepare students for tomorrow -- and how you can get involved. What should collaboration, creativity, communication, and critical thinking look like in a modern classroom? How can parents help educators accomplish their goals? 

an interesting look at assessment

This is a rather big deal: "Google now admits that it does data mine student emails for ad-targeting purposes outside of school, even when ad serving in school is turned off"

"Sadly, however, the wider educational impact of wiring up schools and homes and giving computers to kids has been disappointing. "

"A diagnostic question (or task) is one which provides evidence of a learner's understanding of a specific idea. The pupil's response gives us reasonably clear evidence about whether he or she understands, or does not understand, this idea. Sometimes the question can also help us to diagnose what a pupil's difficulty is - why he or she is not giving the correct answer. If so, this may make it easier to respond effectively and help pupils move their understanding on."

This reading by @GrantWiggins is excellent: Seven Keys to Effective Feedback. http://t.co/znn7EUvSXF #MYPChat

This reading by @GrantWiggins is excellent: Seven Keys to Effective Feedback. http://t.co/znn7EUvSXF #MYPChat

"What does it mean to see the world like a designer? What is "maker thinking?" What kinds of thinking dispositions characterize a tinkerer? These are some of the questions at the heart of the Agency by Design project, a multi-year research and development initiative at Project Zero, a research organization at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. "

Create a unit (re)design template and/or classroom walkthrough template that will allow educators to think about technology integration within the context of student agency and higher-order thinking skills steeped in important disciplinary concepts

Research into barriers to tech integration indicate a lack of design thinking could be a 3rd order barrier.

Research from the USA Department of Education - a meta-analysis of many studies looking at Online and Blended Learning. Mostly higher-ed focused, but still relevant points. From 2009-2010.

"Sugar is a learning platform that reinvents how computers are used for education. Collaboration, reflection, and discovery are integrated directly into the user interface. Sugar promotes "studio thinking" and "reflective practice". Through Sugar's clarity of design, children and teachers have the opportunity to use computers on their own terms. Students can reshape, reinvent, and reapply both software and content into powerful learning activities. Sugar's focus on sharing, criticism, and exploration is grounded in the culture of free software (FLOSS)."

This looks like a great way to access metacognition around web browsing. I could see it very useful in the research process.