project-based-learning

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Why Learning Should Be Messy

October 18, 2012 | 9:49 AM | By

Flickr:mrsdkrebs

The following is an excerpt of One Size Does Not Fit All: A Student’s Assessment of School, by 17-year-old Nikhil Goyal, a senior at Syosset High School in Woodbury, New York.

Can creativity be taught? Absolutely. The real question is: “How do we teach it?” In school, instead of crossing subjects and classes, we teach them in a very rigid manner. Very rarely do you witness math and science teachers or English and history teachers collaborating with each other. Sticking in your silo, shell, and expertise is comfortable. Well, it’s time to crack that shell. It’s time to abolish silos and subjects. Joichi Ito, director of the M.I.T. Media Lab, told me that rather than interdisciplinary education, which merges two or more disciplines, we need anti-disciplinary education, a term coined by Sandy Pentland, head of the lab’s Human Dynamics group.

“Today’s problems — from global poverty to climate change to the obesity epidemic — are more interconnected and intertwined than ever before and they can’t possibly be solved in the academic or research ‘silos’ of the twentieth century,” writes Frank Moss, the former head of the M.I.T. Media Lab.

Schools cannot just simply add a “creativity hour” and call it a day.

Principal at High Tech High, an innovative, project-based learning school in San Diego, California, Larry Rosenstock, points out, “If you were to hike the Appalachian trail, which would take you months and months, and you reflect upon it, you do not divide the experience into the historic, scientific, mathematic, and English aspects of it. You would look at it holistically.”

After indicating the problem at hand, scoop out the tools, research, networks, and people required to get it solved. Get out of your comfort zone.

“You can have students do laboratories and hands-on activities and learn nothing, because they are following the cookbook and going through the motions without having their brains on.”

In practice, this means the elimination of English, mathematics, history, and science class. Instead, we need to arrange the curriculum around big ideas, questions, and conundrums. What does learning look like in this model? Letting kids learn by doing — the essence of the philosophy of educator John Dewey. He wrote: “The school must represent present life — life as real and vital to the child as that which he carries on in the home, in the neighborhood, or on the playground.” Let kids travel to places, work with mentors, and inquire about the world around them.

Diana Laufenberg, former teacher at the Science Leadership Academy, described to me, “The role of inquiry is the starting point of learning. School-based education has always been about telling and getting of information, rather than exploring or investigating.” Let kids create for themselves. We can start by employing project-based learning, where students probe real world problems collaboratively. Back in 1918, William Heard Kilpatrick wrote a famous article laying out what he called the “project method”: a curriculum based on “wholehearted purposeful activity proceeding in a social environment…the essential factor [being] the presence of a dominating purpose.” In Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Culture, Learning Methods, Brightworks, creativity, project-based-learning, Science Leadership Academy

Why Kids Need Schools to Change

September 21, 2012 | 11:51 AM | By

Flickr: Elizabeth Albert

The current structure of the school day is obsolete, most would agree. Created during the Industrial Age, the assembly line system we have in place now has little relevance to what we know kids actually need to thrive.

Most of us know this, and yet making room for the huge shift in the system that’s necessary has been difficult, if not impossible because of fear of the unknown, says educator Madeline Levine, author of Teach Your Children Well.

“People don’t like change, especially in times of great uncertainty,” she said. “People naturally go conservative and buckle down and don’t want to try something new. There are schools that are trying to do things differently, and although on the one hand they’re heralded as having terrific vision, they’re still seen as experimental.”

“I’m astounded at the glacial pace of change in education.”

During this time of economic uncertainty, especially, Levine said parents want to make sure their kids won’t fall into the ranks of the unemployed and disenfranchised young people who return home because they’re unable to find jobs. “There’s so much anxiety around the economy, they’re thinking, What can I do to make sure that my kid isn’t one of the unemployed”? she said.

Yet therein lies the paradox. It’s exactly during these uncertain times when people must be willing to try new things, to be more open, curious and experimental, she said. In education, although there are great new models of learning and schooling, they are the exceptions, and the progressive movement has not gained much momentum.

“I’m astounded at the glacial pace of change in education,” she said. “Like many academic areas, there’s a huge disconnect between what’s known and what’s in practice. It’s very slow moving.” Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Culture, Learning Methods, Research, assessment, creativity, Madeline Levine, project-based-learning

Lessons Learned: How a Progressive New School Adapts to Realities

August 17, 2012 | 10:17 AM | By

Brightworks

When we envision a well-rounded, progressive education for our kids, we think of a vibrant environment that nurtures students’ passions, provides structure for rich and deep learning, a place where kids can get their hands on projects that are meaningful to them.

That’s the goal at Brightworks, a small, K-12 private school just starting its second year in San Francisco: to re-imagine traditional modes of education so that curiosity and creativity hold sway over standardized tests and worksheets. But in the course of creating this space for students’ interests, the school has also had to refine some of its original ideas to make room for realities like assessments and how to group students.

Brightworks first opened last fall, billed as a progressive school that allows kids to follow their own passions. It’s organized very differently from traditional schools. Teachers are known as “collaborators” and the curriculum is centered on “the Brightworks arc,” which divides learning into three phases – exploration, expression, and exposition – based on a central theme. The students explore a theme, design projects around that theme, then present their work to the community. The idea is that these projects – such as building a wooden stage for a play they’ve written or using aerial silks to demonstrate kinetic energy – provide the context for learning core academic skills.

As with every experiment, the first year has provided plenty of opportunities for refining, according to founder and co-director Gever Tulley.

“It’s been a great year. We’ve had great moments and we’ve had hiccup-y moments,” Tulley said. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Culture, Learning Methods, Brightworks, creativity, experiential learning, Gever Tulley, passion-based learning, project-based-learning

Seven Fun (and Cheap) Class Projects to Try with Video

July 26, 2012 | 8:00 AM | By

Flickr: Category 5 TV

By Hall Davidson

For educators interested in incorporating video into classroom lessons, here are seven projects to dive into.

1.   TURN AN iPAD OR (OTHER MOBILE DEVICE) INTO A VIDEO MICROSCOPE. For less than $8, an iPad can be used as a 45x microscope to capture still images or videos from leaves, household objects, insects, or anything that warrants closer inspection. With an $0.80 grommet from a hardware store, super glue, and a 45x power microscope (usually found for less than $5), the camera in the iPad or mobile phone can become a microscope. This is how it works: the grommet (think of it as a ½-inch rubber washer) is glued around the camera opening, and the microscope plugs into it. You can see how it’s done on this YouTube video, step-by-step.

2.   MAKE VIDEOS FROM VIDEO GAMES. Any technology that produces a ‘video out’ signal can create content for media projects. Students have done this with MineCraft and Halo. Teachers can use the video characters to teach math concepts or build curriculum-based stories with students.  Essentially, the computer becomes a camera with video screen capture or for media files generated by the game. You can do this with devices like EZcap and Dazzle. Screen capture can be done in QuickTime 10 (Mac) or CamStudio (PC), or many other screen capture alternatives.  Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Teaching With Tech, digital media, project-based-learning, video projects

What’s the Best Way to Practice Project Based Learning?

July 19, 2012 | 10:26 AM | By

TB

By Peter Skillen

Project Based Learning can mean different things to different people, and can be practiced in a variety of ways. For educators who want to dive in, the good news is that a rich trove of resources are available.

In order to create your own definition and practice, here are some parameters to consider. This diagram, enhanced by the critical eye of Brenda Sherry, can help you figure out what’s important to you and your students.

We like to think with the frame of continua rather than dichotomies simply because things are rarely on or off, black or white, ones or zeroes. Flipping from one end to the other may not be the best solution, though. You may choose to slide more in one direction, the student’s experience, the Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Learning Methods, project-based-learning

Building a Bridge to Summer with Projects

May 23, 2012 | 8:17 AM | By

Marin Country Day

As part of the school's Maker Lab, Marin Country Day students spend the last few weeks of school building projects.

By Matt Levinson

The month of May can be a tough time for schools. The end of the year brings mixed emotions for students, teachers and parents, as they prepare for transition into the summer months. Keeping the same routines can be reassuring for some, but recasting school in terms of time and space can galvanize students and teachers and launch them into the summer full of energy and inspiration.

One school in the Bay Area is rethinking how to finish the year. Instead of proceeding with classes as usual, Marin Country Day School organizes a variety of projects for 7th and 8th grade students that provide opportunities to dig deep, build, learn and perform together.

“It feels like the first day of school all over again, with the same excitement and energy of a new schedule and new beginnings,” says Ted Saltveit, Upper School English Teacher and 8th Grade Class Dean.”Projects come at just the right time, when motivation is waning and students need a kick start and re-ignition.”

That’s not a bad feeling this time of year, as the school builds a bridge to the summer months in order to continue to cultivate a love of learning.

The projects inspire risk-taking and hands-on learning by breaking down the traditional classroom walls and build trust between teachers and students.

“It feels like the first day of school all over again.”

The experiences are different for each grade. Eighth-grade students work in their area of choice — anything from producing a play, to marine science projects, to making food. Some examples:

  • Students produce an entire play, and do everything that entails: write, perform, build sets/costumes, sing, dance and be a part of an original production of their own design.
  • Students explore water dynamics in boats on the ocean, understand steering, traction and locomotion in cars on land, and explore aerodynamics in the air.  To do this, they go kayaking, ride in boats, get into racecars and wind tunnels, then apply what they know. They work as part of a team of designers pitted against other designers to travel quickly and efficiently.
  • Marine science students learn how oysters are farmed, why elephant seals are so loud and how El Nino is affecting mole crab populations at nearby Rodeo Beach. Students spend two Continue reading →
FILED UNDER: Culture, Learning Methods, project-based-learning, summer