Ideas And Inspiration For The K-12 Community - K-12 Instructional Resource Center K-12 Internet Resource Center Welcome entrsekt reader. Thank you for visiting K12IRC.org. We hope you find the K-12 Internet Resource Center to be a valuable resource that you will come back to often. Ideas And Inspiration For The K-12 Community K12IRC.org is an entirely free & independent resource, cataloging over 2,300 web and video resources for the K-12 community. No registration is needed – just dive in. Resources Find a lesson idea, video or activity for your classroom. Development Check out the wide variety of professional development opportunities and resources. Tools Everything from classroom automation and making a class web site to creating videos and 3D printing. Support Find an affinity group or a good laugh. Partners Develop partnerships and engage your students, their parents, and the community. YouTube Copyright School Where Russell learns some valuable lessons about copyright. A video from: Copyrights and Intellectual Property Rights more videos... Today's Featured Web Site... Take Five
23 Ways To Use The iPad In The 21st Century PBL Classroom By Workflow 23 Ways To Use The iPad In The 21st Century PBL Classroom by TeachThought Staff The iPad is not magic, and as many educators have found integrating them meaningfully is by no means a just-add-water proposition. The same applies to Project-Based Learning. Project-Based Learning is a method of giving learners access to curriculum in authentic ways that promote collaboration, design, imagination, and innovation while also allowing for more natural integration of digital and social media. Below we’ve offered 23 ways that the iPad can be used in your classroom. Note that the visual is also arranged in a kind of visual spectrum, as our past visuals have been.
See Sally Research: An Environmental Scan No, it's not deja vu - you may have read this post over on Joyce Valenza's NeverEnding Search blog already. She and I were asked to write a book chapter for administrators (note to self: no cracks about reading level) on today's information literacy practices. Here is the result. The good stuff is all Joyce's work. (She is THE smartest person in libraryland - bar none.) See Sally Research: An Environmental Scan Digital and ubiquitous sources of information, expanded definitions of literacy and audience, and greater emphasis on creative problem-solving have dramatically changed how – and why – students “do” research. The following scenarios scan the evolution of the information and communication landscapes, sharing the new possibilities for student research. 1989 (pre-Web) Sally Madonna is a high school junior very interested in environmental issues. Finding resources: With her social studies teacher, Sally visits the high school library. 2010 (Web 2.0/Social web) Final Grade: Johnson, Doug.
Using Project-Based Learning To Flip Bloom’s Taxonomy For Deeper Learning - Using Project-Based Learning To Flip Bloom’s Taxonomy For Deeper Learning by Drew Perkins, Director of TeachThought PD One of the central features of high quality project-based learning is the pedagogical relationship between the Driving Question and the “Need to Knows” that stem from it. In the video below I use the Explain Everything app to show how teachers and schools, using a process of rich inquiry, can leverage great thinking and learning by flipping how you approach the concepts behind Bloom’s Taxonomy. Instead of starting at the bottom and focusing on the teaching and learning of content prior to moving up, consider flipping that approach by starting at the top and asking students to create an authentic product with a strong Driving Question. Interested in growing deeper learning with PBL at your school?
11 Essential Tools For Better Project-Based Learning by Katre Laan from myhistro.com The rise of technology used in classrooms has made learning much more interactive. The emergence of iPads to browser-based tools in project-based learning, take teaching to a new level in the 21st century. Even the current trends in education include the use of new technology, from collaborative projects to blending traditional textbook teaching with innovative tools. For students, the core aim of project-based learning is to put theory into practice and gain new skills throughout the process. A major advantage of digital tools used is better engagement in the classroom. Browser-based tools and several apps used in education are especially useful for researching, storytelling and collaborative video making. Handy mobile devices allow students to be inspired when outside classroom by creating and sharing ideas and creations instantly. Here is a mini guide to some of the project based learning tools. 1) Mindmeister 2) Glogster 3) Myhistro 4) Pixton 5) Animoto
(Rethinking) Makerspaces Kids have always made in my library. We encouraged digital and visual and dramatic and rhetorical creativity before, during, and after school. But for a while, I’ve questioned the value of using already heavily used real estate to randomly carve out space for a 3D printer, electronics stations and sewing machines. A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to chat with Amos Blanton, project manager of the Scratch online community, and a member of the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at MIT Media Lab. Amos makes the case for makerspaces as powerful, authentic, relevant learning experiences, and for when and why library may be the very right space to create a makerspace. Here’s the video of our chat and a few of key points to consider before adopting a maker culture for libraries Amos’ key points: School pressures make it challenging to make space for interest-driven learning. A Makerspace is not a one-size-fits-all kind of space. Freedom to choose changes the way students invest in a project.
Project-Based Learning Through a Maker's Lens The rise of the Maker has been one of the most exciting educational trends of the past few years. A Maker is an individual who communicates, collaborates, tinkers, fixes, breaks, rebuilds, and constructs projects for the world around him or her. A Maker, re-cast into a classroom, has a name that we all love: a learner. Making holds a number of opportunities and challenges for a teacher. What Do You Want to Do? The first step in designing a PBL unit for a Maker educator is connecting specific content standards to the project. Choosing, thinking, reflecting, and sorting possible projects should be a career-long process. Essential Questions With an appropriate project chosen, an educator can begin framing the learner's journey. Making requires partners. Finally, an educator can start thinking about individual lessons. Failure Is a Preferable Option Good projects require failure. Teachers new to PBL and Making often make similar mistakes:
11 Steps Of Effective Project-Based Learning In A Blended Classroom - In part 1 of this 6-part series, Thomas Stanley looked at an overview of blended learning, specifically the critical interactions of a blended learning model. In part 2, he looked specifically at student-to-student interaction, and the reality of synchronous and asynchronous access. In part 3, he looked at student-to-teacher interactions, and moving from instruction to becoming the “guide on the side,” and in part 4 he explored the idea of student-to-community interactions. Below in part 5, Stanley examines Student-to-material interactions as part of the blended learning model, specifically the process of project-based learning in a blended classroom. Student-to-Material Interaction: Effective PBL Learning in the Online or Blended Classroom What is the most effective way to get students to grapple with the subject matter? The projects should be designed to meet state and local standards. Implementing The Project-Based Learning Approach Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Step 5 Step 6 Step 7 Step 8
What is PBL? To help teachers do PBL well, we created a comprehensive, research-based model for PBL — a "gold standard" to help teachers, schools, and organizations to measure, calibrate, and improve their practice. In Gold Standard PBL, projects are focused on student learning goals and include Essential Project Design Elements: What the Heck Is Project-Based Learning? You know the hardest thing about teaching with project-based learning? Explaining it to someone. It seems to me that whenever I asked someone the definition of PBL, the description was always so complicated that my eyes would begin to glaze over immediately. PBL: The Elevator Speech An elevator speech is a brief, one- or two-sentence response you could give someone in the amount of time it takes to go from the first floor to the second floor in an apartment building. So the elevator opens up, a guy walks in and out of the blue asks you, "What the heck is project-based learning anyway?" You respond accordingly: "PBL is the act of learning through identifying a real-world problem and developing its solution. "That's it?" "Well, no," you reply. After all, if we just look at that definition, it doesn't state certain trends in PBL. A More Elaborate Response PBL is the ongoing act of learning about different subjects simultaneously. PBL Creates a Learning Story (Brief note here: Don't panic.
How 21st Century Thinking Is Different How 21st Century Thinking Is Just Different by Terry Heick This content is proudly sponsored by The Institute for the Habits of Mind, promoting the development of personal thinking habits in 21st century learners. In an era dominated by constant information and the desire to be social, should the tone of thinking for students be different? After all, this is the world of Google. As a result, the tone of thinking can end up uncertain or whimsical, timid or arrogant, sycophant or idolizing–and so, devoid of connections and interdependence. The nature of social media rests on identity as much as anything else—forcing subjectivity on everything through likes, retweets, shares, and pins. But this takes new habits. Information Abundance There is more information available to any student with a smartphone than an entire empire would have had access to three thousand years ago. New contexts—digital environments that function as humanity-in-your-pocket—demand new approaches and new habits. Persisting.