Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts

Friday, February 3, 2023

A different type of thinking

A different type of thinking ...

A different type of thinking

Schools are interconnected networks that can be either purposefully woven and crafted into a grand tapestry or carelessly neglected and snagged until only a knotted, tangled mess is left.

    Educators need to develop a whole new approach to teaching and learning.  The education students receive must prepare them for the dynamic, ambiguous future ahead of them. This means tailoring curriculum and instruction to meet the needs of the students, using technology as an effective tool, and creating a culture of inquiry and collaboration in the classroom focused on the future. It must also include a systematic approach to education to amplify learning and instruction.   Through continuous efforts to increase their capacity, schools can truly become places of learning where students can thrive and reach their goals.

                We cannot simply rely on the same types of thinking that have brought us to our current state. We must recognize that to affect the level of school improvement necessary to provide students with the level of education they will need in their future we must strive to implement better ideas designed to create better results. A strong and progressive education system is essential for developing the talent and skill base necessary to compete in the world market and defend the sovereignty of the US. It is up to us to ensure that our students have what they need to succeed.

    Part of this “new type of thinking” involves shifting our focus from what is wrong to looking for what is good and improving it. To be clear, this is not to say that we should ignore the problems in schools, nor am I stating that they are unimportant. What I am proposing is that rather than focus on learning about problems and focusing on what we already know is broken, we agree to focus on solutions and recognize that a good deal of what occurs in schools is the result of caring, skilled teachers interacting with students with a desire to learn and be successful.

If we spend all our efforts focusing on what is broken, how it got broken, or who to blame, when will we have time to make things better?

    The title of this article is, in part, it is a reference to a quote often attributed to Albert Einstein “We cannot solve the problems of today with the same type of thinking that we used to create them.” There is debate as to whether that is what Einstein said; however, Einstein did recognize that the development of atomic weapons changed how diplomacy would be carried out in the future.  I would argue that the same level of understanding must be adopted to create the change in the educational system necessary to prepare students to meet the challenges they will face.

    This different type of thinking will be guided by ten fundamental principles.  The first of these principles comes from positive psychology scholars who have developed the concept of appreciative inquiry (AI), a powerful change process based on the principle that organizations can decide to change. 

1.       Stop Trying

2.       Simple thinking won’t solve wicked problems.

3.       Schools must be places of learning.

4.       The right thing is not optional.

5.       Positive organizational leadership is not just being happy.

6.       If everyone is responsible, then no one is accountable.

7.       Schools require students and families.

8.       Great schools are great because they build staff capacity.

9.       Everyone must row in the same direction.

10.   Culture is king. 


 

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Gamifying






 Gamification

   Educators can learn a great deal from the science of games.  Children learn at an early age through playing different games.  In fact many of these games are games that they made up themselves.  The benefits of playing games extends beyond learning to the wellbeing of students.  Play relieves stress, improves brain function, stimulates the mind and boosts creativity, improves relationships, and energizes.  

Gamification
What is gamification?  Gamification does not mean reducing learning to simplistic tasks or creating a game.  It means making learning more fun and engaging while preserving the credibility of the lesson (Muntean, 2011).    



                         Gamification v. Classroom Instruction (typical)
Elements
Instruction
Gamification
Set achievable goals within participant’s zone of proximal development.
X
X
Sequential graduation of difficulty
X
X
Generalization of skills
X
X
Engage students to learn
X
X
Anticipatory Set
X
X
Frequent checks for progress and understanding
X
X
Provide models
X
X
Guided Practice
X
X
Independent Practice
X
X
Utilizes social learning and collaboration
X
X
Consequences for not getting the right answer the first time
X

Allows multiple attempts until the learner solves the problem

X
Provides immediate feedback (a condition of flow)

X
Requires mastery of topic before moving on

X
Students earn points to achieve different levels of mastery

X
Students provided with intrinsic and tangible rewards as the learn
sometimes
X

Related Topics:

Video Games
Video games has been shown to significantly improve a variety of metal abilities including reasoning, mental rotation, spatial attention, memory, reasoning, and reaction time (McLaughlin, Gandy, Allaire, & Whitlock, 2012).   However, there have also been numerous studies that indicate that videos games can have a detrimental effect as well.    Addictive behavior towards games, loss of educational time, increase in ADHD behaviors, tie away from other activities such as education or physical activity, and increased anti-social behaviors have all been associated with extensive video game playing Bavelier, Green, Han, Renshaw, Merzenich, & Gentile, 2011).

The Effect of Play on Health

Individuals from low SES environments tend to suffer from higher a higher allostatic load or the amounts of biological repercussions associated with stress resulting from the release of stress mediators such as cortisol (McEwen & Seeman, 2009).  Over time the release of stress mediators can accumulate and have negative effects of various organs leading to diseases (McEwen & Seeman, 2009).  A study of 1207 found that adults with a childhood history of low SES who engage in shift-and-persist strategies had lower allostatic loads (Chen, Miller, Lachman, Gruenewald, & Seeman, 2012).  Playing games involves the skills of reforming a problem and persisting until mastery is accomplished.  


By Rob Koch


References
Bavelier, D., Green, C. S., Han, D. H., Renshaw, P. F., Merzenich, M. M., & Gentile, D. A. (2011). Brains on 
      video games. Nature Reviews Neuroscience,12(12), 763-768.

Chen, E., Miller, G. E., Lachman, M. E., Gruenewald, T. L., & Seeman, T. E. (2012). Protective factors for adults
      from low-childhood socioeconomic circumstances: The benefits of shift-and-persist for allostatic 
      load.Psychosomatic Medicine74(2), 178-186.

Deterding, Sebastian (2011). Meaningful Play: Getting>>Gamification right [Slideshare Slides]. Retrieved 
      from http://www.slideshare.net/dings/meaningful-play-getting-gamification-right

Muntean, C. I. (2011, October). Raising engagement in e-learning through gamification. In Proc. 6th International
        Conference on Virtual Learning ICVL (pp. 323-329). Retreived from http://icvl.eu/2011/disc/icvl/
        documente/pdf/met/ICVL_ModelsAndMethodologies_paper42.pdf

McEwen, B., & Seeman, T. (2009). Allostatic load and allostasis. In Allostatic load notebook. Retrieved 
     from http://www.macses.ucsf.edu/research/allostatic/allostatic.php

Chen, E., Miller, G. E., Lachman, M. E., Gruenewald, T. L., & Seeman, T. E. (2012). Protective factors for adults from 
                  low-childhood socioeconomic circumstances: The benefits of shift-and-persist for allostatic 
                 load.Psychosomatic Medicine74(2), 178-186.


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Monday, April 21, 2014

Thinking in a blended world

When many teachers discuss teaching in a blended classroom, a flipped classroom, or just plain analog they are missing the point. Our world is already blended, but do students have the knowledge a skills to interact with it?   The internet is no longer a thing that people go to a computer to access.  Through wearable technology it has become become an intimate companion that walks with us throughout our life.  Students have access to the internet and the information that it provides 24-7, as long as their data plan is funded. (Which raises issues of equity for low income students).  Information has no longer become a thing that need to be memorized.  Information has become a thing that needs to be evaluated and manipulated into a meaningful context.  To prepare students for their future, they must receive instruction in different methods of thinking and solving problems.

While not the exact words of Einstein, the paraphrased version
of an New York Times Article: Atomic Education Urged
 by Einstein
1946.
Linear Thinking
Simple cause-effect thinking that ignores the relationships between systems provides an incomplete view of the world.  This type of thinking often results in negative unintended consequences.  The movement to promote bio-fuels is a prime example of this.  The linear thought behind this is that the US is capable of growing crops that can be easily transformed into fuel, reducing our dependency on foreign oil and pollution. Farmers will also benefit from increased demand on their crops as well.  I wonder if anywhere in this process anyone asked about the wisdom of burning food in our gas tanks?  Increase use of bio-fuels has resulted in more land being utilized for crops which has reduced the amount of land that is available for forests and grasslands that help to process carbon emissions.  A study determined that it will take over 167 years for corn ethanol to make a difference in the carbon content of our atmosphere (Sexton, Rajagopal, Hochman, Zilberman, & Roland-Holst, 2009).  Additionally, it will result in reduced biodiversity (Sexton et al., 2009).  The impact of bio-fuels production on the water supply also needs to be considered, not only is the damand for water increased, the chemicals that are used in farming can contaminate the water supply (Sexton et al., 2009). Anyone that purchases their own groceries has noticed the increased prices of food that has resulted from the competition between the table and the gas tank.  On a global scale food production per capita is decreasing (Sexton et al. 2009).

Systems Thinking
A systems thinking approach to bio-fuel might have resulted in a different decision.  A systems approach examine the internal functioning of a system as well as its relationship with other systems.  Systems thinking, developed in the 1940's has not gained popularity until recently.  Instead design thinking has dominated much of the decision making processes until recently.  The primary difference between the two problem solving methods is that design thinking does not include the external systems in the reasoning process.  Additionally, systems thinking recognizes the complexity of global relationships and recognizes the futility in trying to control all of the variables, whereas design thinking assumes that the variables can be controlled.  I would argue that either form of thinking is far superior to narrow cause-effect reasoning.

Importance of Learning Styles
Perhaps one of the reasons for the lack of emphasis on non-linear thinking is that it lends itself to a global learning style much more than a sequential learning style.  Studies have found that learning styles are influenced by cultures (Sywelem, Al-Harbi, & Fathema, 2012).  Global learners are in the minority and typically do not not perform as well in school,  this may be because most teachers are also sequential learners themselves.  Consequently, the information that is presented in classes is sequential without any accommodations for global learning styles.  Even the new Common Core standards which is meant to instill 21st Century Skills, does not address non-linear thinking.    Yet it is this type of thinking that is so important for developing sustainable development.
By Rob Koch

More information:

Systems Thinking in Schools: The Waters Foundation
  The Cloud Institute
The Creative Learning Exchange


Kurilovas, E., Kubilinskiene, S., & Dagiene, V. (2014). Web 3.0 – Based personalisation of learning objects in virtual learning environments. Computers In Human Behavior, 30654-662. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2013.07.039

Sexton, S., Rajagopal, D., Hochman, G., Zilberman, D., & Roland-Holst, D. (2009). Biofuel policy must evaluate environmental, food security and energy goals to maximize net benefits. California agriculture63(4).

Sywelem, M., Al-Harbi, Q., Fathema, N., & Witte, J. E. (2012). Learning Style Preferences of Student Teachers: A Cross-Cultural Perspective. Online Submission1, 10-24.


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Friday, April 11, 2014

Reforming Education

United Nations Development Program
     What does learning look like?  Somewhere along the way to improve education, it has been damaged. The awesomeness of "eureka" transformed into normative bubbles.  The wonderful experience of falling down repeatedly until finally a first glorious step is taken replaced with a paralyzing fear of failure.    Inspirational feats of high performance  have been standardized.

    In reading Andy Hargreaves' article, describing the ways that the educational system has changed, I found myself reflecting on the reason that I choose to be an educator.  It was a long time ago, but I know that it was not to subject students to endless barrages of tests that arbitrarily label them as "partially-proficient" or "advanced."  I do see the value of knowing where my students and my skills fall in relation to others.  The series of reforms that the educational system has undergone in the past thirty years has helped move education forward; however, the road to improving education is far from complete.

Hargreaves (2009) classified the ways in which school reform has been implemented.  The first way of reform involved teachers' independent efforts to increase pedagogical efficiency (Hargreaves, 2009).  According to Hargreaves, the independent nature of teacher initiated reform resulted in an effort to standardized the educational system.  The standardized system then resulted in Hargreaves' third way which involved top-down efforts to force reform on schools through a system of threats and intimidation.

Through an extensive study of educational reform and educational systems, Hargreaves (2009) derived a “Forth Way” to reform education, consisting of purposeful partnerships, principles of professionalism, and catalysts for coherence.

     Five pillars of purposeful partnerships:

1.    An inspiring inclusive vision:  We need to develop a shared vision for education that addresses essential needs of society that extends beyond reading, writing, and arithmetic.  The educational system needs to prepare students for their future.

2.    Public engagement: Re-energize the public's passion for education

3.    No achievement without investment:  Educating children requires investments beyond money; society has to put forth the effort and time to educate their children.  Replace technology time with time for tikes.

4.    Corporate educational responsibility:  Self-serving corporate support for educating children to learn skills that serve their industry needs to be changed to supporting the needs of society.

5.    Students as partners in change:  Empower students through establishing their responsibility for their training, and monitoring their success.


Three principles of professionalism

1.    High-quality teachers: If we want high-quality people to teach then we must provide a competitive salary.  Teachers also bear the responsibility of earning prestige and persevering the integrity of their profession.

2.    Powerful professionalism:  Teachers collaborate and challenge each other to increase the performance of the educational system.

3.    Lively learning communities:  Teachers involved in collaborative, data based, ongoing improvement to refine instruction.

Four catalysts of coherence:

1.    Sustainable Leadership: The job of leading and managing a school involves an extensive number of factors resulting in leaders burning out.  Utilize distributed leadership to increase stakeholder buy-in and share the responsibilities.

2.    Net with no nanny: Professional network driven by a shared vision but without a "nanny" to intervene allowing teachers to deepen their practices free from the whims of trendy innovation.

3.    Responsibility before accountability: Teachers are responsible for the performance of all children.  Multiple sources of data continuously collected to monitor the performance of teachers.

4.    Build from the bottom, steer from the top: Teachers set high standards objectives to improve learning through a system of collective responsibility.


The top-down reform measure of No Child Left Behind has resulted in increasing the number of schools classified as unacceptable and deemed “broken," by the US Secretary of Education.  The idea that teachers have a monopoly on education is not viable.  Educators and politicians must share the responsibility for education with parents, community members, corporations, and students.  Somewhere the vision for education became meeting standards and not preparing students for their future.

By Rob Koch
References
Hargreaves, A. (2009), The fourth way of change: Towards an Age of inspiration and sustainability. in Hargreaves, A., & Fullan, M. (Eds.). (2009). Change wars. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.


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Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Preparing Students for Their Future: Dual Enrollment

Preparing Students for Their Future: Dual Enrollment in High Schools


Increasingly high school students are taking advantage of the opportunity to attend college courses while enrolled in high school.  This practice of dual enrollment offers a means for some students to get a head start on their college career.  Many times the school district will pay for the students’ tuition, if they pass their classes.  This has the potential to increase college attendance for many low income or minority students who are underrepresented on college campuses.  The question that remains is how effective are dual enrollment programs?

A recent study indicated that dual enrollment programs are working.  They found that dual enrolled students out performed traditionally enrolled students even in their second year of college (Crouse & Allen, 2014).  Furthermore, dual enrollment increases student enrollment in four-year programs.  The same study found that 58 percent of Iowa’s dual enrolled students attended a four-year college compared to 42 percent of all Iowa high school graduates (Crouse & Allen, 2014).  However, another study found that students who participate in dual enrollment in a four-year college were 200% more likely to earn a four-year degree than those beginning in a community college (Pretlow, 2014).  Dual enrollment increases student attendance and performance in college; however, the direction that students take after graduating high school is important to consider.

While dual enrollment helps students to perform better in their college classes, high schools can improve their dual enrollment programs.  Dual enrolled students are more likely to take introductory humanities courses than math, sciences or career related courses (Crouse & Allen, 2014; Khazem & Khazem, 2012).  Khazem and Khazem noted the importance of dual enrolled students receiving college level counseling that focuses students on academic-career paths.  Furthermore, they also point out that exposure to career track courses provides students access to labs and facilities not available in traditional high schools (Khazem & Khazem, 20012).  Providing students with the opportunity to learn more about the career path that they have decided upon can work to increase students’ motivation to continue on to college once they graduate from high school. 

Scheduling and transportation poses a potential barrier for many high schools when considering dual enrollment.  Enrollment through online courses helps with scheduling and can help address the transportation barrier that is common with minority students (Khazem & Khazem, 20012).  However, this does not provide students with the experience of attending school on a college campus with other college students.  For many students, the college experience plays a key role in building student efficacy.  Another option that also has similar drawbacks is having the college instructor teach the class on the high school campus.

While dual enrollment can play an important role in preparing high school students for college, high schools can adopt practices that will increase student success in college.  High schools can teach writing practices that focus on substantiating one’s claims, and providing proper citations; use syllabi modeled after ones used in college courses, and develop critical thinking skills to prepare students for college (Khazem & Khazem, 20012). 

Further Information

To learn about dual enrollment for you child, contact your child's high school.

http://www.wiche.edu/info/cacg/meetings/boulder13/white.pdf Provides an overview of dual enrollment in Colorado.


References

Crouse, J. D., & Allen, J. (2014). College Course Grades for Dual Enrollment Students. Community College Journal Of Research & Practice38(6), 494-511. doi:10.1080/10668926.2011.567168

Khazem, J. H., & Khazem, H. A. (2012). Dual enrollment: The way forward. International Journal Of Education Research7(2), 135-150.

Pretlow, J. (2014). Dual enrollment, community colleges, and baccalaureate degree attainment. Community College Journal Of Research & Practice38(2/3), 264-269. doi:10.1080/10668926.2014.851981



Friday, June 29, 2012

What if School Was Invented Today?

What if school was invented today?  What would it look like? How would students learn and teachers teach?  The obvious answer is in school or online....Don't be obvious!

Think of the time that you learned the most.  How did you learn? How do they communicate? Was it in school?  I bet not... we need to change that...

Stage 1:
When answering this question don't think "outside the box," pretend the box does not even exist!  Part of this challenge is thinking of the right questions to ask. Questions like "If the body of knowledge that the world create is changing so fast how does one keep up?"  or "What are THE most important things to learn when in a matter of minutes you can learn almost anything?"

So the first stage in this process is creating the "right questions."  What are the right questions?

Please use your comment to post your "questions"  or if you are ambitious add to the presentation.