Reflections of a Techie

Choice and student ownership: Takeaways from gaming & passion-based learning

Why are students so busy learning things at home?  They are huge into video games, basketball, clothing and so many other things.  They are what Sheryl Nuessbam-Beach calls passion based learning.  I've always wondered how a student can remember the millionth level of ___________ name the most recent video game.  They can map every twist and turn of how to get to the "nth" level and they will know everything they need to have in order to magically open the door.

So why can't students remember their math facts?

There's a huge gap between what I want them to learn and what they want to learn.  Duh. 

One of my biggest ah-ha's of thinking about gaming is that it keeps kids constantly challenged with rewards they've picked that are just out of reach.  They need to learn something in order to gain that reward.  I know part of it is choice...they picked the reward not me.

So that's a big question with which I need to wrestle.  How to use this idea of passion-based learning and what I think I sort of know about gaming....and merge them into designing units and lessons which gives students ownership and choice...and pushes them to more rigorous places of learning.  So they'll know the "nth level" of earthquakes and density and convection currents.

Check out how Constance Steinkuher talks about the pedagogy of gaming.  It's amazing.  I loved the way she thinks that "teaching should be more like community organizing".  Right on.

 

 

Online Games and Interest-Driven Learning are Transformative for Today's Young Learners from DML Research Hub on Vimeo.

Roadkill? Or jump into learning? My choice.

Several topics have been the focus of my own summer learning...online learning, PBL, photography and infographics to name them.  Here's something that confirmed what I've already been thinking...online learning is quietly (to some ears) becoming HUGE.

 

Via: OnlineEducation.net

So am I going to be a casualty of not seeing this coming and become roadkill.  Or am I willing to engage in the idea, make it my own and become the change that I want?  My choice.

How much is that tree, please?

I've been on the lookout for ways to engage my students in science that's outside the walls of our classroom.  And for the past couple of years, I've driven past price tags on trees which have piqued my interest because who has ever heard of price tag on a tree?

Turns out I found out where those price tags come from...The Heartland Tree Alliance.  This seems like a fantastic project to raise awareness in the community about the value of trees.  And it makes me wonder fi this wouldn't be a perfect way for my students to become interested in things within our neighborhoods, parks, backyard and playgrounds.

One of the outreach projects I read about was a Twitter feed from Penny Oak. 

Everyday this tree tweets about what is happening to it and in the park where it lives.  Wouldn't this be another great seed of idea for the kids to use?  I know they'd turn it into something even more than this...don't know what, but I know it's be terrific.

 "How much is that tree, please?" could be the start of our very own citizen science project.  I've been inspired by Science for Citizens @Sci4Cits and think this might be our entree into that kind of learning.

Update: Accumulating a digital footprint...what students should know

via teachingtechie.typepad.com

I was writing about this important topic about a month ago because it's been on my radar of things to do. Since then I found out every student will have a gmail account now, so it's become even more important.

Digital citizenship can and should mean more than staying safe. It should also be about letting students know they can make a difference by invoking the power of communication. UNICEF must feel the same way.

Here's their video on how the web can make a positive impact by leveraging digital footprints of issues.

Keeping up with new developments without loosing more time

Do you have all the topics and things you're interested in and just never seem have time to monitor/surf/find what's happening?

I do.

It's frustrating because I'm very interested in so much and have too little time to persue it.  I've always used Google Alerts....but now that my time becomes more and more precious....Alerts are becoming essential.

Here's a good example.  I know that one of our community colleges is going to open a fabrication lab that will be accessible by the public.  I've been collecting tons of junk machines for my students to reverse engineer and I'm wanting them to use Google Sketch-Up to document/draw what they discover along the way.  So I've created an alert to summarize the news once a day.

The drawback is that takes a while for info to hit the search engines, I know.  But I feel like this will be a better way for me to manage my info than I'm doing now.  Oh yeah....I don't get around to it.

I will also say that I'm having more luck with the Google Search engine....what do you love?  When I typed in Fab Lab and the initials of the community college, it returned lots of possibilities plus news from other FabLab sites around the country.

 

All of these tools are just ways of watching info out there on the web....and we all know that it's exponentially mutliplying.  You have to have a way to fight back, find the stuff that's relevant....time efficiently.

These are some of my tools to make more time out of nothing.

 

Get to know the 6th graders with InfoGraphics--Is this picture worth a 1,000 words?

I'm working thru the design of the "Get to Know You" activities for this fall. Instead of the t-shirts we've always colored in and hung up on a clothesline...this year I'm going to introduce them to the Google apps account, start working with them on their digital passport and share information about themselves using an Infographic.

Designing Infographics by Eric K. Meyer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Very clear help on how to dissecting an infographic. I have to request this book thru inter=library loan since our library doesn't have one.

Computer info is out of date, but the thinking is right on.

I'm keeping tabs of this book on my Goodreads account because it's not one I can find easily.  I had to interlibrary loan it thru the county public library....Amazon and B&N don't have any current editions and even the used editions are tough to come by.

Kathy Schrock has a fantastic website that gives more than enough web resources to help students learn about infographics.

Looking for Green Dirt Farm

We took a trip up where the Missouri River cuts thru Weston.  There are beautiful rolling hills as far as you can see and because of all the rain and snow melt, as far as you can see the Missouri has lowlying land under water.  Only the bright silver galvanized metal of barns and tall power polls can be seen out of the water.   High up on one of the bluffs we found this gorgeous old barn.  It's not one of the tobacco barns that are so famous.  Just a farm barn.  I thought it was beautiful and just perfect for trying out one of my new apps...Silent Film Director.  I don't think you'll be able to hear the old ragtime music but the style of video is great fun.  Thanks Rick for the inspiration & the heads-up on this cool app.  Check out his 365 Photo Blog.

IMG_0623.MOV Watch on Posterous

 

Be the painting

Visting my son  in Chicago gave us a chance to go to Art Institute where we saw this amazing painting.  Unfortunately it seemed to be missing a few elements....so we added three things we thought it was missing.

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Plastic headboard transformation

Using newly acquired painting techniques, I blended metallic paint and glaze to apply/rub off of the platstic I primed with white. We have heat advisories today so, of course, I'm out there painting like a nut in 107 humid weather. But I'm pleased with my first project and think I have pretty darn nice $15 headboard. This photo was taken using Pro HDR for the iPhone.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone

The shining mud ball---Hikaru Dorodango of course

Everyone enjoyed playing in the mud as a child, right? Well, that’s what you get to do with hikaru dorodango (“shining mud ball” in Japanese). Except this time, you don’t just wash the mud off and forget about it. Instead, you create something beautiful and unique. You also form a surprisingly strong attachment to a piece of artwork that you create from something so mundane.

via makeprojects.com

I'm always on the prowl looking for ways to incorporate art into my science class, so imagine my delight when I came across this shining mud ball possibility.

http://makeprojects.com/Project/Hikaru-Dorodango/1058/1#

Every year students collect soil samples as they go on Thanksgiving break since many travel to visit relatives and friends....they go everywhere.  When they return they bring back a one cup soil sample that we then examine to find what exactly what are the properties of soil.

You never know what they'll find as they look at the samples using their hands, magnifying glasses and the stereomicroscopes.  Honestly they revert back to the days when they were little kids and have a blast playing in the mud.  Do you remember playing in the mud?

Real science is accomplished because they can immediately detect differences in the color and texture of soil.  I think it's at this point they realize that soil is way more than "just dirt".   What a big ah-ha moment?  I know it seems trival, but this is where kids begin to appreciate the soil as something so common that they ignore it.  Suddenly they begin to actually notice that potting soil is not soil....it has wierd things in it that isn't in natural dirt (their words).  Do you love it when our students discover something so simple as this but that will forever alter their understanding of the world? 

Which is where Hikaru Dorodango comes in.  Once we are finished with all our examinations, we usually pick one or two of the really visually interesting samples to go in our class collection.  And sadly we dispose of the rest of the samples.  When I read this article about the shining mud ball art piece, suddenly I could see many possibilities that I had never had before. 

What if we could take all these samples and turn them into an art exhibit?  Do you have something where you morph stuff into an art exhibit?  I see this as a powerful way to connect science learning via another way of knowing....fusing those connections.

Somehow (and they can figure out how we'll do it) they can mix what they've learned about soil and its properties with their Hikaru Dorodango spheres.  I think it would be great fun.  My school is getting another art teacher and maybe they'll want to partner with me on this idea and we can build something cool for our kids.

What do you think?  Will Hikaru Dorodango work?

 

Many thanks to the Make Projects website for posting this idea.