Category Archives: Active Learning

by | November 7, 2023 · 10:38 am

Species ID: whose names are these?

Engaging in species identification and classification is a common and, many would argue, necessary aspect of science education. There are many tools, digital and analogue to assist us as we explore and learn about the world around us. In a recent collaboration with the Education Library, we showcased a few resources and approaches to support engaging students in plant and animal identification. As we shared with attendees at the 2023 TEC Expo in Neville Scarfe at UBC, we engaged folks in conversation about some considerations with ‘naming’… Applying a name has long been a colonial and, in the main, patriarchal activity when the local Indigenous  language is ignored. Further, appropriation through naming and through not acknowledging cultural knowledge and Indigenous science is problematic, to say the least.

two grad students stop by the TEC Expo table to try card sorting

Sorting using Northwest ID cards.

Our goal was to not only share some resources and strategies that might support learning in the classroom, but to spark conversation about more decolonized practices. As a settler, born on the coast, with a strong interest in and appreciation for native flora, fauna and other ‘things’/inanimate beings, one small way I am attempting to respond to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action is to begin to learn and share their names in hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ (where I currently work) and Halq’eméylem (the dialect of the lands on which I was born and lived as a child). By learning the names these plants and animals have long been known, I am also seeking to learn more about local ecosystems and connections between all of the beings (including those we may not, in western ways, recognize as living).

The following resources are helpful to teachers looking to incorporate Indigenous Science/Traditional Knowledge:

One further note about identification and naming is that, as a naturalist educator for many years, I have found that applying a name to something too soon can cause the learning to stop. My preference is to have students observe, describe, discuss and question BEFORE we engage in naming or ID.

Some tools/resources to support your learning

Books

The Education library has consolidated a few resources to support this exploration of place and language that can be found of the ‘TecExpo post’ on their website. It includes a wonderful field guide “Luschims Plants” (I have it in my collection and donated one I purchased from Strong Nations to the library), the lyrical and informative “Braiding Sweetgrass” and more! The post links to the library catalogue and also to some well-curated and current collections via the Education Library Booklists (Integrating First Peoples’ Perspectives and Principles of Learning, Connections to Land, Biodiversity and Biomes, Seeds and Gardening).Several of these lists were compiled in collaboration with the Xwi7xwa  Library. A valuable place on campus to visit as we learn and unlearn.

Cards

Card sorting is a cooperative learning technique that allows learners to make connections between ideas in a kinesthetic way. This embodied learning activity (learning with and through movement) can also provide a model for an excellent study strategy.

The Education library has several sets of sorting cards including Salmon Life Cycle, Seasons, Pacific Northwest plant knowledge cards (featuring Indigenous languages, including Lekwungen, SENĆOTEN, Hul’qumi’num, and Diitiid) and two sets by my friend Gloria Snively who created “Ocean Snimal Clue” cards about the Pacific Coast Ecosystem and Pacific Coast Information Cards (geared to intermediate/high school/adults).

What can we do with Cards?

  • Card sorting in partners or groups adds a ‘socio-constructivist’ element where your students are making sense of concepts and content with one another. It allows them to engage with one another AND with the curriculum. Ask students to narrate/talk out loud while sorting. In a class of more senior students, one student in a group might be taking notes on the reasoning and discussion behind the sort. This could help students self-evaluate core competencies including communication and critical thinking.

There are two general types of sorts

  • Open Card Sort: organize topics into groups that make sense to them and then name each group they created in a way that they feel accurately describes the content. Use an open card sort to learn how your students group content and the terms or labels they give each category. We might also call this ‘open sorting and classifying’
  • Closed Card Sort: sort topics into pre-defined categories. A closed card sort works best when you are working with a pre-defined set of categories, and you want to learn how your students sort content items into each category.

Some approaches to sorting

  • Think of different ways card sorting might be introduced in your context.
  • A simple set of instructions, include a printable and a video showing students engaged in sorting can be found on the blog ‘Teacher Toolkit’ 
  • Graphic organizers (links to external site) such as Venn diagrams can be used to help students organize their sorts. Once introduced to concept mapping, students might sort and connect ideas as a concept map! Cards might even be organized in a linear way (think: timelines or sequencing)

Tools for sorting:

  • Flippity.net: allows the user to make their own manipulatives using various browser based applets.example venn diagram plant sort using english and hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ names. plants are sorted by 'fruit' 'no fruit'For our session, I utilized the information from the Museum of Vancouver’s website to create a digital card sort using an open applet “Flippity.net” by making cards that showed both the English name and the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ name. Flippity.net is accessible as an applet (where you can customize cards) and/or as a google form you can copy and modify to a greater extent. In my example, while participants weren’t able to read/decode the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ name, the cards did highlight that there ARE names in traditional languages that need to be recognized, seen and, hopefully at some point, learned. In speaking with one of our language and literacy professors, I’ll be doing some research into API learning tools

Web-based Resources

  • First Voices is an online space where Indigenous communities share and promote language, oral culture and linguistic history. A unique thing about this space is that communities can decide if they prefer to share with the wider public or only within their communities. Additional resources including a language and culture map of BC, are linked on this blog post (in the Scarfe Sandbox) titled: Resources for Indigenizing and Decolonizing Education
  • A website dedicated to support  Hul’q’umi’num’ language speakers and learners includes information about native plants including their names and some traditional uses: https://plants.hwulmuhwqun.ca/
  • LiveIt Earth is a set of online high quality/high interest multimedia resources that includes some local Indigenous content created in partnership with communities. UBC Teacher Candidates and Education students are offered free one year access to this resource.
  • Using the Museum of Vancouver’s Indigenous Plant Guide, you can hear and learn the Squamish and hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ words for a variety of plants that are native to BC.
  • Woolaroo is an interesting example of a multilingual cloud-based application meant for handheld devices that allows the user to scan an object, plant, animal and then read or hear the name or description – in cases where no specific name or word exists for something – in the language selected.

Mobile Apps

The use of digital technologies in outdoor or place-based learning requires careful consideration. Benefits may include the opportunity to for authentic, real-world opportunities for developing digital literacies, to engage in citizen science and to enable students increased agency or choice of learning mode and medium for gathering information, data or for expression Considerations include (but aren’t limited to), issues of ‘over-mediating’ the natural world, potential distraction, equity and access, privacy and permissions. Teachers should always ask themselves about their purposes: when and how might we use these tools? who might need them? who might benefit? when to not use them?

A few Apps to try

  • iNaturalist: a citizen science app to support crowd sourcing ID in the field. An amazing bi-product of this application is the development of a large database of images available for research. Engage in citizen science as you explore the environment and ‘log’ your observations.
  • Seek by iNaturalist with your students to support ID – fairly simple interface: the Seek camera will draw from observations posted by members of the iNaturalist community to try to ID the photo. You can even scan the environment for common species of plant, birds, amphibians, insects!
  • LeafSnap is a free app created by the Canadian Wildlife Federation that allows you to learn to ID trees by their leaves, flowers and seeds.
  • Plantsnap was developed as a collaboration with several non-profits along with SnapChat that helps you ID plants by taking a photo and getting instant feedback. Their goal is to map out the world’s plants.
  • iPhone and iPad users can use the Visual Look Up feature to use Siri’s AI to identify plants, insects, landmarks, and more in pictures they have taken. You’ll need to update your device to the latest iOS. To start, open a picture on your camera, press the Visual Look Up button (‘i’ in a circle with stars on the left), then press Look Up and it will offer ideas based on a web comparison of images.

 

Post Author: Yvonne Dawydiak, Learning Design Manager, Teacher Education (Oct. 2023)

I would like to acknowledge that my attempts may not be perfect and there may be questions about my approach or about resources. Please be in touch if you have suggestions or questions.

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by | September 27, 2023 · 9:03 pm

Place-Based Learning: using your senses and digital tools as you experience nature

Hybrid Approaches to Facilitating High-Impact Experiences

Many teachers are being challenged to teach online, face-to-face or both. Shifting practices in education over the past decade or more, causes us to wonder:

How can we virtually facilitate high-impact, place-based learning experiences with our students? What practices might be most effective and which tools can support these approaches?

In an online and outdoor workshop session facilitated by: Dr. Patrick Robertson, Teresa Rowley & Yvonne Dawydiak as part of the Classroom to Communities (C2C) conference on October 23, 2020, we connected with nearby places and people around us in search of a balance of practices. We hoped you enjoyed the session and thank you for your participation in our activities and for sharing your ideas.

Below are resources from our session*.

  • PBL-in-a-Pandemic-Field-Experience-Resource-Package.docx-1
    Activities adapted from: Get Outdoors, An Educator’s Guide to Outdoor Classrooms, written & compiled by Sue Staniforth. (purchase: https://www.hctfeducation.ca/product/get-outdoors/ or View the Sample Resource: http://www.metrovancouver.org/events/school-programs/K12publications/GetOutdoors.pdf )
  • Jamboard (pdf and link posted following the session)
  • Learn about some alternative ‘digital whiteboard style‘ applications (Jamboard discontinued)
  • Our Collaborative Map: https://c2c2020.opened.ca/ was set up using a template developed as part of an open source apps community. IF you’re at all familiar with WordPress, you’ll find setting one up fairly intuitive. If not, I’m working on some instructions as a more ‘step by step’ set up and will post here when ready.
  • OpenETC Free Range Ed Tech: The FIPPA compliant interactive map we used is just one of the amazing open source technologies created by this dedicated community of volunteers made up of learning technologists, designers and educators from all levels. To access and make a copy of your own map, you will need to set up an OpenETC account and then access the ‘Clone Zone’ area of the site where you’ll find a variety of templates you can clone (including the Map – Toolset Mapping Master Template). Once there, you’ll be prompted to sign in or register for an account before cloning and setting up your own map. *Watch for some step by step instructions coming soon! A note: this is part of an open, volunteer run and under-funded project so having a plan B is valuable but also please ensure you’re respectful when asking for help or improvements.
    A few favourite apps to support outdoor experiences

  • iNaturalist: a citizen science app to support crowd sourcing ID in the field. An amazing bi-product of this application is the development of a large database of images available for research. Or try Seek by iNaturalist with your students to support ID – fairly simple interface: the Seek camera will draw from observations posted by members of the iNaturalist community to try to ID the photo. You can even scan the environment for common species of plant, birds, amphibians, insects!
  • LeafSnap is a free app created by the Canadian Wildlife Federation that allows you to learn to ID trees by their leaves, flowers and seeds.
  • Plantsnap was developed as a collaboration with several non-profits along with SnapChat that helps you ID plants by taking a photo and getting instant feedback. Their goal is to map out the world’s plants.
  • iPhone and iPad users can use the Visual Look Up feature to use Siri’s AI to identify plants, insects, landmarks, and more in pictures they have taken. You’ll need to update your device to the latest iOS. To start, open a picture on your camera, press the Visual Look Up button (‘i’ in a circle with stars on the left), then press Look Up and it will offer ideas based on a web comparison of images.
  • Using the Museum of Vancouver’s Indigenous Plant Guide, you can hear and learn the Squamish and hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ words for a variety of plants that are native to BC.

About the presenters:
Teresa Rowley
Teresa is an outdoor learning teacher with North Vancouver School District, and an adjunct teaching professor and faculty advisor working with teacher candidates in the Education for Sustainability cohort at UBC. Definitely not a techie, Teresa has been ruminating on simple ways educators can utilize technology to enhance place-based learning experiences.
Patrick Robertson
Patrick is a teacher educator and educational consultant working collaboratively with a wide range of partners in B.C. and Canada. He teaches in the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia and is a director of various community organizations focused on place, sustainability, social justice, climate and the environment. Patrick is the current Chair of the Classrooms to Communities Education Network.
Yvonne Dawydiak
Originator and Editor of this blog, Yvonne is a long time teacher passionate about taking learning outside the confines of the classroom – both ‘in place’ and ‘virtually’. As a Teacher Educator and Masters of Educational Technology graduate, Yvonne is currently the Learning Design Manager in Teacher Education at UBC helping to support faculty and teacher candidates in effectively integrating 21st Century approaches including digital technology integration for face-to-face, online and remote learning contexts.

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by | September 11, 2023 · 1:52 pm

Design Challenges: Creating Class Community

Providing students with opportunities to work together, to set and achieve goals and problem solve through the process can help foster community building. Having students participate in a design challenge (developed by the teacher) is one way to facilitate purposeful, interdisciplinary engagement, in your classroom. As students become more familiar with the design thinking process, they can progress to designing their own challenges.

While obviously not a new concept to educators, the principle of learning-by-doing has been applied in one particular framework, credited to UCLA professor Doreen Nelson, called Design-Based Learning (DBL). Also sometimes called Project- or Problem-Based Learning (PBL), DBL / PBL encourages students to think about how to address a problem in its context, specifically by thinking with the end in mind. As a formal methodology in contemporary education, DBL / PBL gained wider recognition during the 1990s, particularly as the oncoming millennium posed the perceived need for students to learn what popularly became known as 21st century skills.

Design-based learning (and project-based learning) methods encourage experiential learning as a way to overcome student disengagement (Kim, Suh, & Song, 2015; Washor & Mojkowski, 2014), such as increasing the enrolment of women in the field of Information Technology (Jessup & Sumner, 2005). DBL / PBL enables students and their teachers to make use of prior learning to address authentic experiences and so-called real-world problem-solving (Wang, Derry, & Ge, 2017) as compared to the more sheltered lessons and linear hypotheticals of the traditional classroom.

You will find a variety of design challenges freely available online. It is important to consider your own teaching context and learning objectives in selecting or crafting a challenge to meet your/your students and your curricular needs. Design challenges typically offer a well-crafted ‘challenge statement’, design constraints and may include accommodations or may be varied based on the needs/differences in the class.

An Example:

One of my favourite design challenges for upper intermediate, secondary and post-secondary groups is the ‘Newspaper Structures Challenge’:newspaper structures cube shaped example

Materials: large pile of newspaper (broadsheet works better than tabloid style), masking tape, 1-2 m length of dowling or a straw (optional to assist with rolling the newspaper into tubes – starting at a corner of a flattened sheet of newspaper, use the dowel to role a tube, then remove the dowel and tape up the tube)

  • The Challenge: Design and build a free standing structure that your whole team can fit inside.
  • Design constraints: Use only the available materials,  (the dowel is to be used as a tool not a part of the structure); use only a ‘set amount’ of tape; time limit…
  • Process: You might provide students with a  live demo or video example of how they can create rolled newspaper ‘rods/dowels’ (rolled sheets of paper using a straw or wood dowel) to utilize as building material and have the prep multiple dowels before providing the challenge. Alternatively, you might provide the challenge and have students work together to ‘discover’ the best way for them to use the newspaper to create a structure… (time available and your students resilience, experience problem solving and working as a group are among considerations)
  • Variations: the structure may be fastened at certain points to a chair, wall, floor; only X number of people need to fit within the structure; the structure is built to house a stuffy or other object instead of people…

DiscoverE  has a PDF resource entitled “Strong Paper Structures” that is an example of an adaptation of the above activity (to make smaller structures and including a bit more leading instructions on designing ‘strong’ structures than I typically provide to older or adult learners if my purpose is community building. If my purpose is more curricular (engineering, science and structures), this project could either be a summative activity or it could be incorporated at the outset of a unit of study as an open-ended way to assess prior knowledge (with little prior instruction provided) and then used as a ‘performance task’ to assess learning at a later point in a unit of study.

This link will take you to a

A key consideration will be the ability of your learners to work together within a group. Regardless of age of learning, the teacher is an important facilitator of learning during this activity (and not simply a by-stander!). Activities like this will provide opportunities to introduce or reinforce and allow students to self-assess their progression in the personal, social and communication ‘Core Competencies’.

A few supportive Resources:

Design a Design Challenge Google Slide Deck:

The slide deck resource below was co-developed with UBC Engineering’s Geering Up program for teacher candidates in the UBC BEd science methodology course. This presentation deck includes the ‘cat in a tree’ design challenge using found objects (lesson plan on their website). It is accompanied by a ‘design your own challenge template’ that teachers/students can use as they plan their own activities. The Geering Up team share many different challenges on their teacher resource site (filter by ‘Challenges’) . They also offer professional development workshops, classroom workshops and will even schedule Zoom consults with teachers wishing to incorporate STEM learning in the classroom.

Another favourite activity:

Cross the river (move from Point A to Point B given different materials or constraints):

  • The ‘small’ table top version:
    • use a table and paper as a model of land bisected by a water body and provide the challenge: How can you move your lego figure/pom pom/etc from the mainland to the island without touching the water. Provide craft sticks, string, elastic bands, wooden spoons, other materials from around the house/recycling box etc. Consider how you might address environmental impact in your constraints (i.e. amount of material used or that all built structures need to be able to be dismantled and recycled – aka – no glue and limit use of tape)
  • The ‘large body’ PHE version:
    • Students, in small groups, each have two matts and are challenged to move from one end of the gym to another. Get from point A to point B without anyone in your group ever touching the floor (the floor is lava!). If any member of the team falls out or touches the ground, the group restarts… they need to replan/strategize/discuss…
    • A variation: River Crossing – a popular group activity in PHE classes.
  • Exploratorium offers educational resources including design challenges.
  • Science World has a repository of free resources including design challenges for teachers.
  • A few of my favourite challenges:

References

Jessup, E. & Sumner, T. (2005). Design-based learning and the participation of women in IT. Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, 26(1), 141-147.

Kim, P., Suh, E., & Song, D. (2015). Development of a design-based learning curriculum through design-based research for a technology-enabled science classroom. Educational Technology Research and Development, 63(4), 575–602.

Wang, M., Derry, S., & Ge, X. (2017). Fostering deep learning in problem-solving contexts with the support of technology. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 20(4), 162–165.

Washor, E. & Mojkowski, C. (2014). Student disengagement: It’s deeper than you think. The Phi Delta Kappan, 95(8), 8–10.

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by | November 2, 2022 · 10:24 am

Makerspace:

What is it?

Known also as fab labs, tinkering areas, or hackerspaces, makerspaces are generally areas where people can gather to make, create, and experiment with a variety of materials and tools.

As the name suggests, makerspaces are spaces where people can make stuff. While these creations are often physical things, digital productions can also be included. Varying in size, equipment, budget, location, and audience, makerspaces generally have one thing in common; they are places for people to gather to collaborate in the act of creating.

The term makerspace can be used to describe a whole range of spaces that vary from entire buildings and rooms to dedicated room corners, carts, and tubs. Makerspaces can be found in schools, libraries, classrooms, museums, community spaces, and even trucks and buses. The materials within a makerspace also vary quite drastically from inexpensive or free materials like recycled cardboard, to more costly tools such as 3-d printers.

Why is it Relevant?

In schools, Makerspaces can be located in libraries, dedicated rooms or spaces, and in individual classrooms. If there is not enough space for a permanent Makerspace, flexible alternatives such as carts or tubs can help alleviate challenges such as these. While Makerspaces aren’t necessarily new in schools, their popularity is growing greatly as 21st century skills becoming increasingly important in education.

Makerspaces are significant for education because when they are used to their full potential, they can help students develop critical 21 century skills such as collaboration, problem-solving skills, perseverance, and creating thinking. Makerspaces are environments that can foster meaningful and authentic learning through the implementation of STEAM pedagogical approaches.

Drawing on constructivist and constructionist theories of learning, makerspaces allow for hands-on active learning through the creation of things. Both Jean Piaget’s Constructivism and Seymour Papert’s Constuctionism emphasize learning through active construction and interaction with objects. By allowing students to experiment and play with materials in the Makerspaces, teachers can leverage these theories to encourage deep and meaningful learning.

Makerspaces offer a wide array of opportunities for creating so they can easily support valuable pedagogical approaches such as student centered and project-based learning. Additionally, a well-designed makerspace is likely to have low floors, high ceilings, and wide walls. The concept of low floors and high ceilings was originated by Papert. “For a technology to be effective, he said, it should provide easy ways for novices to get started (low floor) but also ways for them to work on increasingly sophisticated projects over time (high ceiling)” (Resnick, 2020). Resnick (2020) has suggested the addition of a third dimension to the metaphor, wide walls which enable a large variety of work to be explored and created. In terms of makerspaces, it is important that they include a variety of low or no tech materials as well as high tech materials. This will ensure the makerspace is accessible for a variety of users while also allowing for a breadth of projects.

Getting Started

  • Visit a local makerspace to get inspired. Reach out to other schools that have makerspaces to learn from them or visit a makerspace in your city. While these community spaces often charge a membership, you may be able to schedule a brief visit for free. Locate a makerspace near you
  • Start small – dedicate a table or corner in the classroom to a makerspace, if this is too much, consider a cart or tub that can be easily moved around.
  • John Spencer recommends starting with a temporary makerspace like creating a mobile makerspace with a cart or starting with a single maker project. Listen to him here https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/makerspace/
  • Your makerspace doesn’t need to be finished for you and your students to start using it. You can continue to add to your makerspace as you learn more about the needs and interests of your students. Additionally, having students involved in the design of the makerspace can help them take ownership of the space and be responsible for its maintenance.
  • Create rules and routines for using the makerspace and be sure your students know them. Some important elements to include are safely using the tools and responsibility for tidying the materials.
  • Allow your students time to play with the materials especially when you first introduce the makerspace. This is also a good chance to reinforce rules and routines.
  • You don’t need a lot of money, collect donations of materials, use recycled materials, use what is already in your school
  • If you are asking for donations from families, be sure to specify that items should be empty and clean. You don’t want old yogurt stink in your classroom!
  • Below are lists of various supplies that are commonly used in makerspaces. The following do not represent exhaustive lists, nor do they reflect the need to acquire all of these materials to run a successful makerspace. Use these lists as inspiration but do not feel limited to the materials here.

No Tech Makerspace materials

  • Cardboard (recycled from food boxes, shipping boxes, or other packaging)
  • Cardboard tubes
  • Paper, cardstock
  • Newspapers
  • Styrofoam packaging
  • String
  • Yarn
  • Thread
  • Ribbon
  • Tape (packaging tape, masking tape, duct tape)
  • Glue (white glue, hot glue, glue sticks)
  • Fabric scraps
  • Felt
  • Buttons
  • Balloons
  • Magazines
  • Bottle caps
  • Cans, bottles, and/or food storage containers
  • Milk/juice cartons
  • Egg cartons
  • Popsicle/craft sticks
  • Old cds
  • Paper bags
  • Old toys
  • Scrap wood
  • Nature items (pinecones, sticks, leaves, stones)
  • Drawing supplies
  • Paint
  • Scissors
  • Rulers & measuring tapes
  • Needles (sewing, knitting, crochet hooks)
  • Looms

Low & High Tech Makerspace Materials

  • Makey Makey
  • Micro:bit
  • Green Screen
  • Microphone
  • 3-d printer
  • Printer
  • Paper circuit materials (LEDs, copper tape, coin cell batteries)
  • Squishy circuits
  • iPads, tablets,
  • Laptops or computers
  • Cricut
  • Ozobot
  • Sphero
  • Dash & Dot
  • Lego
  • K’Nex
  • Bloxels

References

Resnick, M. (2020). Designing for wide walls. Medium. https://mres.medium.com/designing-for-wide-walls-323bdb4e7277

Credit:
Guest post by UBC MET student, Lexie Tucker. Peer Mentor 2021-23
Video by Janis Sawatzky, UBC BEd 2014, Tech Integration Facilitator, 2019

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by | October 15, 2022 · 8:26 am

Student-centered classrooms

What are student-centered classrooms?

The following video discussed that student-centered classrooms are focused on students’ interests and curiosities. In this sense, students choose not only what but also how they will learn. Consequently, student-centered classrooms have many specific characteristics different from traditional ones. However, these features can bring many advantages to students learning.

Source: Edutopia (2022, May 3).

Characteristics and advantages of student-centered classrooms

  • Focus on both content and competency skills: student-centered classrooms aspire to develop both academic and non-academic students’ skills. Hence, teachers design lessons focused on content and competencies which is aligned with BC Curriculum.
  • Student voice & choice: listening to student voices and designing lessons based on students’ choices and interests can improve engagement (links to external resource) in the classroom, and consequently learning. In this sense, teachers align curriculum goals with student voice and choice to produce a more engaged and even personalized teaching and learning environment. One example of this approach would be a choice board of activities or a choice in how students represent their learning.
  • Differentiation: teachers should design lessons that support students with different backgrounds and needs. To achieve all types of diversity, teachers should vary what knowledge is taught, how they present curriculum content and competencies through activities, and how they assess students learning.  Offering several teaching and learning process help to engage and reduce inequalities among students.

How do teachers design student-centered classrooms?

Stanford University explains that the process of designing student-centered classrooms may be different from more teacher-centric course design. While teacher-centered lessons prioritize content, student-centered classrooms start by selecting the learning goals that students will achieve at the end of a lesson. Student-centered design, also known as Backward Design, inverts the order of more traditional classrooms.

5 aspects of student-centered learning design: content, learning activity, assessment, learning objective, learning goal.

Stanford University (2022, May 3). Teacher-centered vs. Student-centered course design.

Source: Stanford University (2022, May 3).

References:

Edutopia (2022, May 3). Student-Centered Learning: Building Agency and Engagement. George Lucas Education Foundation. https://www.edutopia.org/video/student-centered-learning-building-agency-and-engagement.

 https://teachingcommons.stanford.edu/explore-teaching-guides/online-teaching-guide/theory-practice/teacher-centered-vs-student-centered

Guest post by Peer Tutor Ariane Faria dos Santos (Ph.D. EDCP), May. 2022.

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by | · 8:21 am

Classroom Discussions

What are classroom discussions?

group of multi-ethnic students engaging in a discussion outdoors at school.

Remember: Discussions can occur outdoors!

Classroom discussion can be defined as an oral activity where teachers and students develop together a specific curriculum content or competency through each other ideas. “The purposes of a discussion are to build collective knowledge and capability in relation to specific instructional goals and to allow students to practice listening, speaking, and interpreting, agreeing and disagreeing” (Teaching Works, 2022, May 2). In this sense, students use the ideas, words, explanations, and interaction with their teacher and peers as a resource for their own learning.

Classroom discussions are not merely to help students answer a question but to establish a conversation. This conversation may begin with a provocation, have a beginning, a sequence of processes, and an end or closure. What happens during the process is essential to developing the content and competencies of the curriculum and achieving teaching goals. Differing opinions, moderating interaction, taking turns, etc, are essential to developing student competencies and helping students to deeply explore content. Therefore, classroom discussions are a teaching and learning process that believes that students will accomplish curriculum goals together, through the process of sharing ideas (Teaching Works, 2022, May 2). Well-designed and orchestrated class discussions can help build classroom community.classroom community (links to post in this blog).

Classroom discussions can occur in both synchronous and asynchronous contexts. When planning an asynchronous discussion, teachers should consider the ability of students to self-regulate and manage the discussion. When discussing critical issues, the teacher may need to monitor and help guide the discussion. The Bell Foundation provides some suggestions for how to improve classroom talk that can improve students’ ability to participate in synch and asynch discussions.

Why are classroom discussions important?

Classroom discussions are important because they develop both academic and non-academic skills in students. Communicating is essential to living in the current society and developing a healthy democracy. Being able to share, justify, defend, listen, and understand diverse perspectives and ideas is one of the most important competencies that human beings use in our current world. Hence, students need to learn these skills to be successful in their adult life.

Moreover, classroom discussions support student development during their school years. Through classroom discussions, students can learn to make sense of complex ideas and organize their thoughts. Students can also develop the confidence to present their views and use evidence to justify them. Finally, classroom discussions can support teachers to reveal students’ conceptions and misunderstandings about a topic, helping them to identify contents and concepts that need to be better explained in a lesson.

However, developing rich classroom discussions is a complex task that may generate several problems if teachers do not conduct the process well. Teachers should know how to value different views and pay attention to each child’s needs. Therefore, the challenge (and secret) is to be conscious of all micro details involved in classroom discussions, as we will show next.

What are elements of a rich classroom discussion?

The Teaching Works Team (2022, May 2) from the teacher education program of the University of Michigan defends that teaching practices should be unpacked in chunks or elements to support novice teachers to develop these skills. In this sense, they divide the task of developing classroom discussion into several parts and elements, detailing what teachers should pay attention to in each part. In the next sections, we will details these steps and elements as well as complement them with additional resources and orientations.

Source: (Teaching Works Team, 2022, May 2)

Preparing for a discussion

1. Selecting a task:

Teachers should choose tasks, texts, and materials that allow multiple views, discussions, and solutions for a topic/question, encouraging students to explore different possibilities and arguments. Teachers may need to adapt a task to support multiple views and disrupt inequalities.

2. Anticipating student thinking:

Teachers should think about possible questions, mistakes, or understanding that students may have about the topic. This means both activating previous knowledge but also anticipating problems that may deviate students’ attention from the curriculum goals in that classroom discussion.

3. Setting up the task:

Teachers should select the purpose of the activity and prepare the orientations to support students’ work. In this sense, teachers also should plan the moments for students to work independently, in small groups, or with the whole class as well as the resources needed to develop the discussion.

Conducting the Discussion in class

1. Launching the discussion:

2. Orchestrating the discussion:

Teachers should pay attention to a couple of elements and tasks that will create thinking routines to explore and deepen their understanding of a topic. The following elements may happen in a different order but, according to Harvard’s Project Zero, they should be part of any Thinking Routine (links to Harvard’s Project Zero) chosen by teachers:

    • Eliciting the discussion: teachers should state the multiple ideas that their students are bringing, helping them to see several points and arguments during the discussion.
    • Orienting students’ attention: teachers should ask to students pay attention to specific ideas and contributions of their peers, encouraging them to learn with each other.
    • Encouraging student participation: teachers should encourage all students to expose their ideas and control who ideas have been highlighted or ignored. It helps that classroom discussion not only become richer since diverse ideas will be developed but also supports decreasing inequity among students.
    • Probing new questions: teachers should put new questions that support students to explore and deepen the topic, move to the next learning step process, or summarize what they have discussed.
    • Making contributions: teachers should make contributions or introduce ideas/ concepts that were not brought by students but are essential to achieve the purposes of the discussion. If possible, teachers should connect these new ideas/concepts with what has already been discussed validating students’ contributions and establishing connections with previous knowledge.

3. Concluding the class discussion:

    • Supporting summary: teachers should support students to summarize and remember what has been discussed, helping to establish the most relevant points worked during the class and issues that they will develop in the next classes.
    • Acknowledge student contribution: teachers should highlight, with examples, how students’ ideas were essential to developing both content and competencies during the class.

4. Evaluating (after the discussion)

The final step is to reflect on what has happened in the classroom discussion to evaluate what works (or not) and how to improve future discussions.

Elements to consider as you plan, conduct and reflect

1. Maintaining a focus on the instructional objectives: teachers should always direct each student’s intervention to build some knowledge or example that will help to achieve content and competencies goals.

2. Monitoring students’ work: teachers should pay attention to what students are discussing in their groups and which ideas/ people are been highlighted. In this sense, teachers will be able to use students’ work to develop the content and prevent inequalities or bias in the discussion.

3. Seeing and disrupting patterns that reproduce inequalities: teachers should make interventions to stop patterns that may generate inequalities. These interventions do not need to be explicit. For example, teachers can use the work of a student who may not always be recognized as one of the more advanced or capable students in the class to exemplify a topic, helping to improve student status among his/her peers.

4. Recording the representation of content: teachers might record (on the board to the whole class or just to themself) what students are saying during the whole process because it can support the teaching and learning process. Students might also take notes as the discussion ensues. The notes can be used for formative assessment to help teachers understand students’ struggles and misconceptions, or to help with review to demonstrate student thinking or rationality and understanding of an issue. Teachers might find strategies to make student learning visible (Project Zero). Recording could take the form of a digital whiteboard (link to post in this blog) for all to see or for future reference, sorting & classifying ideas, etc.

Strategies to increase classroom engagement

There are many ways to design and lead a discussion to support more active classroom engagement. Teachers should also consider context including the age, background, needs and preferences of their students.

  • In her blog, teacher Jennifer Gonzales also provides some suggestions. You might also listen to the Cult of Pedagogy #28 Class Discussion Strategies podcast (see embed below).
  • Liberating Structures provides a menu of varied activities for discussion and group work.
  • Harvard’s Project Zero offers Thinking Routines that teachers can implement across grade levels and across the curriculum.
  • The Teaching Works Team from UMichigan, offers an open library of Curriculum Resources that include strategies to support teaching in specific aspects of the curriculum and for more interdisciplinary approaches.
  • The Bell Foundation is a charity that seeks to . The Bell Foundation website contains frameworks for discussion including video demonstrations and lesson plans for structures including ‘Information Gap’ activities such as JigSaws.

How might challenging or high-stakes topics be addressed?

Classroom discussions about challenging or complex topics need extra teachers’ attention because unexpected reactions may appear and some rules should be established to guarantee respect. The University of Michigan has prepared a specific orientation on how to conduct classroom discussions about challenging or high-stakes topics (UMich). Moreover, Edutopia discusses how classroom norms can support teachers during challenging discussions.

What can classroom discussions look like in each content area?

Teaching Works Team (2022, May 2) from the teacher education program of the University of Michigan has many specific tips and classroom resources for different subjects:

Additional Resources:

 

 

The courses below bring many classroom videos as examples of how to conduct good classroom discussions. They break down real situations and show how teachers dealt with these, conducting rich classroom discussions:

University of Pennsylvania (Coursera):

University of Michigan:

References:

Project Zero (2022, April 30). Project Zero’s Thinking Routine Toolbox. Harvard Graduation School of Education. http://www.pz.harvard.edu/

Liberating Structures (2022, April 30). Liberating Structures Menu. https://www.liberatingstructures.com/ls-menu/

Rochester Community Schools (2022, April 30). Think from the middle. Discourses Strategies. http://www.rcsthinkfromthemiddle.com/discourse-strategies.html 

Teaching Works (2022, May 2). High-Leverage Practices. Teaching Works. https://www.teachingworks.org/work-of-teaching/high-leverage-practices.

Guest post by Peer Tutor Ariane Faria dos Santos (Ph.D. EDCP), May. 2022; edited Y.Dawydiak April 2024

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by | August 5, 2022 · 7:21 am

Asking questions that promote students’ deep learning

Why does crafting good questions matter?

Creating/designing effective questions for students is one of the most common and powerful pedagogical strategies used by teachers during the process of teaching and learning. Good questions can benefit both teachers and students.

Reinhart (2000) states that questions can…

  • For teachers:
    • support teacher decisions.
    • encourage students’ participation.
    • communicate to students that their thinking is valued.
    • show students initial knowledge.
    • reveal students’ misconceptions.
    • make them learn a new thing about their students.
    • review previous topics.
    • access understanding and curriculum goals.
    • maintain the flow of the learning within the lesson.
    • foster speculation, hypothesis, and idea/opinion forming.
    • create a sense of shared learning and avoid the feel of a ‘lecture’.
    • model higher-order thinking using examples and building on the responses of students.
  • For students:
    • help students articulate their thinking.
    • generate critical thinking and inquiring behaviors.
    • teach students to develop metacognition about a topic.
    • develop students’ ability and repertory to formulate their own questions.
    • improve high-level thinking and deep learning.
    • promote insights and connections between areas.

What makes a question a “good” one?

According to Bloom’s Taxonomy, the process of teaching and learning can develop different levels of thinking in students. In this sense, teachers can incentivize students to use lower or higher cognitive levels of thinking based on the teacher’s pedagogical goals. Therefore, it does not mean that teachers can never use the low levels since a lot of times teachers need to scaffold students’ skills. However, it is essential teachers analyze when, how, and why to use each level.

Source: Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching.

In terms of making questions, while lower levels of questioning access only students’ memory, high-level questions demand that students make connections, bring evidence, and even infer new knowledge.

If you are looking for more examples of questions in different levels or how to use them in your classroom using Bloom’s Taxonomy, there are many resources that you can use:

You can also see in the following video how teacher Melanie Agnew develops higher-level understanding through effective questioning in her High School English classes:

A Sample Guide for planning classroom questioning

Teachers know how many things can happen during a lesson and that is the reason that planning each moment or intervention is essential to promoting students’ engagement and learning. Thinking about the challenges that are to using questions in the classroom, the Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning of the University of Illinois discusses some steps to successfully make questions in the classroom.

Cotton (1988) also gives some guidelines for classroom questioning:

  • “Incorporate questioning into classroom teaching/learning practices.
  • Ask questions that focus on the salient elements in the lesson; avoid questioning students about extraneous matters.
  • When teaching students factual material, keep up a brisk instructional pace, frequently posing lower cognitive questions.
  • With older and higher ability students, ask questions before (as well as after) material is read and studied.
  • Question younger and lower ability students only after the material have been read and studied.
  • Ask a majority of lower cognitive questions when instructing younger and lower ability students. Structure these questions so that most of them will elicit correct responses.
  • Ask a majority of higher cognitive questions when instructing older and higher ability students.
  • In settings where higher cognitive questions are appropriate, teach students strategies for drawing inferences.
  • Keep wait time to about three seconds when conducting recitations involving a majority of lower cognitive questions.
  • Increase wait time beyond three seconds when asking higher cognitive questions.
  • Be particularly careful to allow generous amounts of wait-time to students perceived as having lower ability.
  • Use redirection and probing as part of classroom questioning and keep these focused on salient elements of students’ responses.
  • Avoid vague or critical responses to student answers during recitations.
  • During recitations, use praise sparingly and make certain it is sincere, credible, and directly connected to the students’ responses” (p.8-9).

What might questioning look like in content areas?

References:

Armstrong, P. (2010). Bloom’s Taxonomy. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. Retrieved May 5, 2022, from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/.

Cotton, K. (1988). Classroom questioning. School improvement research series, 5, 1-22.

Reinhart, S. C. (2000). Never say anything a kid can say!. Mathematics teaching in the middle school, 5(8), 478-483.

Guest post by Peer Tutor Ariane Faria dos Santos (Ph.D. EDCP), May. 2022.

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