Groups & Team-Based Learning Students who work in groups learn more than just the course content; they learn important skills about how to cooperate with others to get tasks done, and they learn how to understand and incorporate differing viewpoints into their thought processes. Group formation Allowing students to self-select groups or randomly assigning groups can work fine for short in-class activities, but for longer-term projects it’s preferable for the instructor to create the groups. Try to create groups that take into account student skills (usually by mixing high-skill and low-skill students), but fairly distribute work. Try to form groups with odd numbers of students (3 or 5). A general rule of thumb: shorter projects = smaller groups. If you use Sakai, you can set up a private online discussion for each of your groups or create a Resource folder to share information. Group roles In formal group work, it’s often valuable to specify group roles, especially when students are group-work novices.
Problem-based learning Problem-based learning (PBL) is an exciting alternative to traditional classroom learning. With PBL, your teacher presents you with a problem, not lectures or assignments or exercises. Since you are not handed "content", your learning becomes active in the sense that you discover and work with content that you determine to be necessary to solve the problem. In PBL, your teacher acts as facilitator and mentor, rather than a source of "solutions." Problem based learning will provide you with opportunities to examine and try out what you know discover what you need to learn develop your people skills for achieving higher performance in teams improve your communications skills state and defend positions with evidence and sound argument become more flexible in processing information and meeting obligations practice skills that you will need after your education A Summary of Problem-Based Learning: This is a simplified model--more detailed models are referenced below. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
Free Technology for Teachers Problem Based Learning Activities Constitution Day projects & Essays resources es/ms/hs Actively seek out alternative information ADA - assessment and action project Alternative Energy Sources and Conservation Attendance Improvement Campaign Benjamin Franklin Extraordinary Biodiversity Exploration Investigation ms/hs Birds - examine status of local species Bird Species List for FeederWatch - make one Biomes - learn about biomes as you select a new home Bloggez- vous? Bonus Army treatment and veterans today Bridges or earmarks what is the national priority? Cars - Event recording device - privacy, safety & justice Charity begins at Home Civil Rights - What are yours? Clean Coal Technology fact or fiction Club or School Presentation Project Collaboration Online and Social Networking - Web 2.0 Collaboration online and Social Networking - using it to do work Colonial American PowerPoint project ppt download Community's History through its names Community Green Infrastructure Project Competition of Birds on Wade Island - updated 3/2013
Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, Harvard University | ONLINE DOCUMENT A Note to Faculty and a Quick Guide for Students Ellen Sarkisian, Derek Bok Center Many students have had little experience working in groups in an academic setting. Contents Getting Started is an overview that can be used alone (or together material from the Note to Faculty below on the reasons and benefits of group work). A Note to Faculty Some reasons to ask students to work in groups Asking students to work in small groups allows students to learn interactively. Some benefits of working in groups (even for short periods of time in class) Students who have difficulty talking in class may speak in a small group.More students, overall, have a chance to participate in class.Talking in groups can help overcome the anonymity and passivity of a large class or a class meeting in a poorly designed room.Students who expect to participate actively prepare better for class. Large projects over a period of time References
ScienceSimulations Enzyme Kinetics A piece of experimental research requires at least three kinds of work: planning of experiments, performance of the experiments and interpretation of the results. Only the middle stage involves laboratory work, and it is on this that traditional biochemical practical teaching concentrates. This simulation permits the student to obtain realistic results ve ry rapidly simulating the enzyme-catalysed reactions, and so allows many cycles of plan, experiment and interpretation over a short time. How to Create Context-Rich Problems Creating a context-rich problem is more than just adding realistic elements to a traditional problem. The design of a context-rich problem helps students to develop an expert-like approach to problem solving. Careful selection of a learning goal, a context and appropriate complexity characteristics will facilitate this process. Decide on the goals of the problem Context-rich problems help students to apply discipline specific knowledge thus moving beyond novice skills of memorization. You may want to start with a traditional problem you have used before (or one from a textbook) and build that problem into a context-rich problem by adding context and varying the degree of difficulty. Provide a context for the problem The context gives the students a reason to want to solve the problem. You are . . . Determine the level of difficulty or complexity The desired level of difficulty of the context-rich problem depends on the setting for the students.
How to Turn Your Classroom into an Idea Factory Culture Design Thinking Teaching Strategies Brightworks School Students building a cafe at Brightworks School in San Francisco. By Suzie Boss The following suggestions for turning K-12 classrooms into innovation spaces come from Bringing Innovation to School: Empowering Students to Thrive in a Changing World, published in July by Solution Tree. How can we prepare today’s students to become tomorrow’s innovators? If we’re serious about preparing students to become innovators, educators have some hard work ahead. How do we fill the gap between saying we must encourage innovation and teaching students how to actually generate and execute original ideas? Across disparate fields, from engineering and technology to the social and environmental sectors, innovators use a common problem-solving process. In the classroom, this same process corresponds neatly with the stages of project-based learning. Good projects start with good questions. Innovators have a tendency to think big. Related
The digital age of teaching: You dont need to be a digital expert Oxford University Press English Language Teaching Global Blog @OUPELTGlobal Shaun Wilden, a freelance teacher trainer and materials writer for OUP, gives us an insight into the role of the teacher in the digital age, as well as a reminder that you don’t need to know everything! Twenty-first century teaching is no longer about the four walls of the classroom. There was a time when a learner of English had to rely almost solely on what went on within those walls. But that was before the coming of the digital age. Any technophobes out there might be tempted to stop reading, but before you do, consider this. Why do we do this? While we will always strive to give our students the best possible lessons, we have to accept that the amount of time they spend with us in the classroom is limited compared to the exposure to English they can now get in their daily lives. In the classroom, we bring material to life and make it animated in a way that appeals to different learning styles. Do their teachers need to know where all of this digital content is and how it works?
Guided Discovery Problems Developed by Ann Bykerk-Kauffman . Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, California State University, Chico What are Guided Discovery Problems? Deep down inside, why are you a scientist? Through intriguing puzzles to solve, structured hands-on activities, carefully worded leading questions, crucial hints, and just-in-time presentations of information, guided discovery problems escort students step-by-step through the discovery process, giving them a tantalizing taste of the most delicious part of science. See an in-depth explanation of Guided Discovery Problems. Why Use Guided Discovery Problems? Guided discovery problems can be fun, which, all by itself, may be a good enough reason to use them. As stated by the National Research Council (2000, Inquiry and the National Science Education Standards: A Guide for Teaching and Learning (more info) , p. 116-120): Understanding science is more than knowing facts. Learn more about the benefits of using Guided Discovery Problems.
Balanced Literacy Framework If you're using a Balanced Literacy approach in your classroom, you'll find these materials to be helpful. The top part of the page provides a lot of information about how to use the balanced literacy framework including a written descriptions of the components. You can find six featured freebies at the top of this page; if you are interested in jumping right to the full list of printables at the bottom of the page, click this Literacy Printables link. Featured Literacy Freebies 90 Minute Literacy Block Components 1. 2. 3. Note: Some weeks I don't use a menu, especially if I want students to do specific activities on certain days. For more ideas on how to implement and manage Literacy Stations, I recommend Debbie Diller's books Literacy Work Stations and Practice with Purpose shown at right. 60 Minute Literacy Block Suggestions Featured Literacy Mini Packs Management Strategies Reliable Timing Device - My timer is indispensable! Literacy Center Activities Balanced Literacy Printables