Game On: Physics Teacher Creates World of Classcraft

April 30, 2013 | 8:00 AM | By
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World of Classcraft

In creating World of Classcraft, a not-so-subtle nod to the world’s most popular online role-playing game, Quebec-based physics teacher Shawn Young has turned the everyday interactions of his classroom into a quest to gain special powers and avoid death.

In a manner similar to other role-playing games, students assume a class—in this case a Mage, a Warrior, or a Healer—that each boasts specific abilities. Working in teams of roughly six to eight students, Young said each student aspires to gain experience points related to positive classroom interactions, and avoid losing hit points for negative activities.

For example, students get 50 experience points for finding a mistake in class notes; 60 points for answering a classroom question correctly; and 100 experience points for good attitude and participation throughout class.

Alternately, students get -10 hit points for arriving late to class and arguing with the game master (teacher) and -30 points for not fishing homework.

Gain 1000 hit points, and a student wins a power point that can be traded for certain powers. The more power points a student gains, the better power he or she can purchase. For example, a Mage can purchase the right to be two minutes late to class for just 10 power points. For 40 power points, he or she can get a hint for the entire team on an exam question. The powers available, and Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Teaching With Tech, World of Classcraft

Report: Federal Rules Impede Competency-Based Learning

April 29, 2013 | 10:31 AM | By
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Competency-based learning, which allows students to progress at their own pace after they’ve shown mastery of a subject, rather than by their age, is quickly gaining momentum. Already, a few states like New Hampshire, Maine, and Oregon are moving towards implementing competency-based learning models throughout the entire state. What’s more, 40 states have at least district experimenting with the model. But despite this growth, its proponents say federal policies for accountability and assessment are holding the movement back.

KnowledgeWorks, an organization that supports three education-focused initiatives — New Tech Network, EDWorks and Strive — recently released a report highlighting the pain points between federal policy and a competency-based system. The report, Competency Education Series: Policy Brief One [PDF], points out that, although the federal government has supported some aspects of competency-based learning, implementing the new model can be difficult because of federal restrictions.

“The greatest conflict stems from disconnect with the work on the ground and federal accountability and assessment systems,” the report states. “Implementers faced with this disconnect have no choice but to juggle two systems: one required by federal law and one developed by the educators, students, parents, and community leaders committed to successful implementation of competency education.”

CLASHES OVER TIME

Time is the biggest point of contention between the two systems. The federal government measures school accountability as well as student achievement through time-based modules. Seat time and annual test results are the primary ways that the government keeps schools accountable, Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Culture, Learning Methods, Research, assessment, competency-based education, KnowledgeWorks, SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium

Kids and Adults: How To Avert Communication Breakdown

April 26, 2013 | 8:00 AM | By
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Flickr: Raneko

By Matt Levinson

Kids operate in a blizzard of communication — texts, social media, music, photography, games, and videos. They’re eager to share any and all new media they discover. In fact, their default action is to share and distribute as they’re living the moment.

For the most part, adults take on a more contained, traditional approach to communication, and are more accustomed to face-to-face interaction or talking on the phone than kids.

Schools, meanwhile, serve as the point of intersection for kids and adults, who are often trapped in the cross hairs of different modes and patterns of communication. Frustration invariably surfaces as kids and adults struggle to figure out how to co-exist in schools where technology is being introduced and integrated, especially through the very devices they use for social interaction.

Kids think of mobile devices holistically, in that the device encompasses everything – email, video, photos, games, music, social media – all existing as one system. Their online world is one world.

For teachers, mobile devices in schools are used specifically as tools to enhance learning. In the Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Culture

Good Read: iPads – A Tool, Not Alchemy, for Education

April 25, 2013 | 2:07 PM | By

In this thoughtful piece about how to frame the conversation around education and tablets, a discussion of what technology can’t do and what it can.

“I am not saying that the iPad is the solution to everything—not at all—I am suggesting that we should not be thinking about iPads that way from the beginning. Think about what your kids need to learn and grow. Play with them, talk to them, observe them. What do they need to develop? Start there. Then—once you know that—you can start thinking about ways to do this.”


The topic of kids and technology is a hot topic again. This would normally be a good thing, if the questions that are being discussed weren’t fundamentally the wrong ones. It is, however, a familiar situation.

Read more at: www.joanganzcooneycenter.org

A Design Challenge to Students: Solve a Real-World Problem!

April 25, 2013 | 10:22 AM | By
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Design Learning Challenge

Creating a safe recreation space for teens; protoyping a recyclable lunch tray; setting up a water delivery system to guard against urban fires; building a public awareness campaign to combat hunger. These are just a few of examples of the types of tasks students are taking on when they participate in the Design Learning Challenge, an effort to get students to figure out how to solve real-world problems in their communities.

Combining project-based learning, with an emphasis on the arts and design thinking, this academic competition now in its third year — a partnership between the Industrial Designers Society of America, or IDSA, and the National Art Education Association, or NAEA — has more than 750 students participating this year.

Educators who enter the competition work with their students to identify a significant problem or challenge in their lives for which they can design a solution. Like most other project-based learning, the idea is that the process for designing an effective solution will get students to use Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Learning Methods, Design Learning Challenge, project-based-learning

Giving Good Praise to Girls: What Messages Stick

April 24, 2013 | 8:00 AM | By
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Flickr: Woodleywonderworks

How to praise kids: It’s a hot topic for many parents and educators. A lot of the conversation around it has stemmed from studies by Carol Dweck, professor of psychology at Stanford who has been researching this specific topic for many years.

“My research shows that praise for intelligence or ability backfires,” said Dweck, who co-authored a seminal research paper on the effects of praise on motivation and performance. “What we’ve shown is that when you praise someone, say, ‘You’re smart at this,’ the next time they struggle, they think they’re not. It’s really about praising the process they engage in, not how smart they are or how good they are at it, but taking on difficulty, trying many different strategies, sticking to it and achieving over time.”

But what some might not know is that this paradox is strongest for girls.

Dweck’s research, which focuses on what makes people seek challenging tasks, persist through difficulty and do well over time, has shown that many girls believe their abilities are fixed, that individuals are born with gifts and can’t change. Her research finds that when girls think this way, they often give up, rather than persisting through difficulties. They don’t think they possess the ability to improve, and nowhere is the phenomenon stronger than in math. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Culture, Learning Methods, Research, Carol Dweck, Failure, grit