Project Based Learning

Teachers For Global Classrooms A Capstone Project

"If we teach today's students how we taught yesterday's, then we rob them of tomorrow"

                                                                                       

                                                                                                             -John Dewey 

Hello again, and welcome to another addition of Alex's education blog, where we continue to look into the world of education through a critical 21st century lens. In this entry, we will be exploring the idea of Project Based Learning, a 21st century concept that looks to revolutionize both teachers' and students' perspectives of educational possibilities and goals. Project Based Learning, as explained by the Buck Institution of Education is a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an engaging and complex question, problem, or challenge. It can also be described as a more comprehensive learning approach that is grounded in constructivist learning, content mastery and critical thinking (Drake et. al). This concept is also very beneficial for looking at 21st century current events and social issues, and having students work collaboratively to investigate and possibly solve these issues. The quote above, proclaimed by none other than John Dewey, one of the fathers of education himself, would be a strong advocate of Project Based Learning, as he promoted the idea of "learning by doing", which is highly evident throughout Project Based Learning.

Picture Acquired from ExamTime

In my classroom experience in elementary and high school, I personally never dealt with this type of learning mechanism, but believe it is very beneficial to our up and coming students. Many of the concepts in the picture above are important educational tools beyond our contemporary understanding of classroom functions and curriculums. Three in particular that I think work very well together would be "21st Century Skills", "Student Voice & Choice" and "Driving Question or Challenge". With out modern world constantly progressing and adapting, social issues such as LGBT rights and acceptance, issues of gun violence and many ethical dilemmas are prominent in our society. Project Based Learning can have students use these three concepts, as well as the remaining ones to investigate these types of progressive topics, and use real problem solving knowledge to learn how to approach the social and educational world of the 21st Century. As a future teacher, I would certainly look to implement Project Based Learning in my classroom by having students work in groups on different social topics and using problem solving mechanisms collaboratively to explore their topics, and convey them to the rest of the class and myself after in-depth inquiries.

Pinterest: Project Based Learning, from EduTopia

A great online resource for learning about Project Based Learning, is EduTopia, a site committed to a modern educational approach with information on innovative and useful educational tools. The website not only explains what Project Based Learning is, but offers experts opinions and insights on the benefits that PBL has to offer. In Engaging Children's Minds: The Project Approach, a novel specifically aimed at promoting Project Based Learning, and the positive attributes associated with it, it is said that "One of the major advantages of project work is that it makes school more like real life" (Chard & Katz). By incorporating real life concepts through a constructivist approach, students can see the relevance in their schooling to their own lives, and feel meaning in what they are learning. Research has demonstrated that students in project-based learning classrooms get higher scores than students in traditional classrooms (Marx et al., 2004; Rivet & Krajcik, 2004; William & Linn, 2003). If the mechanisms coincide with research, is it not time to reconsider our teaching mechanisms and impose a new and efficient way to empower our students?

We as educators need to maximize the potential of our students, and not only teach them valuable life lessons, but create a productive learning environment in which the students want to learn and succeed. Project Based Learning fulfills all of these criteria, and promotes a healthy and effective educational experience for our youth. The research shows it, the experts agree, and if it's my opinion is worth anything, I certainly agree too! Project Based Learning brings meaning to the classroom, and allows students to focus on issues that are not only relevant, but important to them as 21st Century citizens of this world. I will once again leave you with this creative video on Project Based Learning, further explaining how it can be implemented, understood and most all, effective in our classrooms!

Project Based Learning: Explained

Cheers For Now,

Alex Graham

STUDENT LEARNER PROFILES

Hello again, and welcome to Alex's Education Blog, where we continue to look at new innovations and ideas for 21st century education! This post will look into the world of "Student Profiles" and their significance in the classroom. As a future educator, I believe it is crucial to connect with your students, because education should not be a top-down style of distributing knowledge, but rather a shared process of information and growth from both students and educators. Through a look into the world of student profiles, we will be able to build towards better educational experiences that allows for a greater connection between students and their teachers!

This idea of a student profile may seem very new and unusual to many who have not experienced it before. Throughout my educational experience, until attending Brock University, I had not ever created, or even heard of the idea of a student profile. My Brock University profile however is very different from the one I am going to describe so I will not use it as a comparative basis. The idea of the student profile however, is not overly complex, but is a very powerful tool to help build a stronger relationship and understanding between students and teachers in the classroom. Most people in the education system, including myself, have experienced being in a classroom with over 30 students, and in schools with sometimes over 1000 students, so it easy to see how it can at times be tough for teachers to build connections with their students, and furthermore, truly understand the individual needs of each student. Using Spearman rho correlation coefficient, Yetunde Ijaiya discovers, a weak positive correlation was found between the opinion of teachers and students on the most serious effects of over-crowded classroom (Ijaiya). A student learner profile can help this process, as teachers can refer to the profile of a specific student to help further understand their needs, and connect with them.

A Funny Cartoon of an Over Crowded Classroom

Now you may be wondering, what is the criteria for a student profile. As each student is unique, their profiles can outline what makes them unique, and important things for the teacher to know. Some of the criteria can include: their interests/hobbies, their favourite subjects, the type of learner they are, favourite movies or books, personal information about them like their birthday, and anything else they would like to include about their personal self, or educational information. The profile however, can also include educational information about what subjects they have difficulties in, goals they would like to set and achieve, and what skills they would like to improve and develop. These pieces of information are all important as they not only help teachers learn about their students more in depth, but helps provide them with areas that they specifically need more help in and would like to develop. For more information on building a successful Learner Profile you may want to check out Developing Learner Profiles, created by the Alberta Government.

Here is a Process Map for Building a Student Learner Profile

In the Interweaving Curriculum and Classroom Assessment textbook, a student profile is described as a "living document that travels with a student through his or her school career and is updated frequently" (Drake, Reid, Kolohon). This concept is crucial for the profile to be a successful educational component. The profile should be developed for and by a student at the beginning of their educational journey, and be constantly accessible for revision and updates. By doing this, students can track their process and build upon skills that at one point was a challenge, but through constant progress may no longer be an issue. It also allows teachers to know their changing hobbies or interest as they grow as students and ultimately as people.

The Student Learner Profile is an excellent 21st century education tool that can be used to help build a stronger connection amongst teachers and students, and allow students, parents and teachers to track progress of their students and understand their educational and personal interests, strengths and weaknesses. Educational consultant John McCarthy states that, we can start using learning profiles when we know the various ways that each of our students makes sense of content. The more we understand our students, the more efficient we can ensure their learning successes (McCarthy). For more information on John McCarthy you can click here to check out his education blog! I will once again leave you with this example video from Epiphany Learning, and how they help many students and teachers build profiles to help better their educational experiences!

Student: Getting Started with the Learner Profile

Cheers for now,

Alex Graham

The Hidden Curriculum

     The year is 2015. Most of us were born during the first 5 years of the 1990s, and thus, have been in school for around two decades. 20 years of education, 20 years of different teachers, professors, and ultimately, 20 years of different curriculums. Our textbook titled, Interweaving Curriculum and Classroom Management describes a 21st century teacher as someone who always plans with curriculum outcomes and classroom assessment before choosing instructional outcomes (Drake, Reid, Kolohon).

     

     Despite our inability to realize it, even in our earliest days of education in junior kindergarten, we have all been a part of curriculum in order to keep our educational goals and expectations in focus. While the curriculums are established to guide us along our educational journey, hidden curriculums that are not formally established are just as evident in our classrooms. I myself have learned about hidden curriculums since my second year at Brock in EDUC 1F95, and in every class thereafter including EDUC 4P19. A hidden curriculum as defined by edglossary.org is the unwritten, unofficial, and often unintended lessons, values, and perspectives learned in schools; for a more detailed look at the hidden curriculum visit, http://edglossary.org/hidden-curriculum/. The hidden curriculum is inevitable, and can be dissected in all aspects of our education from our curriculums, to our teachers and even our own peers.

     Throughout all of our educational lives, we can pin point to certain events that exemplify a hidden curriculum, but the more astounding reality is that there are many hidden curriculums we have been taught that still to this day we have not realized. Hidden curriculums can at times be harmless, for example, I had a teacher who loved the Toronto Maple Leafs, so he always emphasized that the class should enjoy them just as he did and incorporate them into the classroom. A lot of hidden curriculum however can be very harmful to students, and impose ideologies incorporating inequality, stereotypes and biases. For example, a school textbook may use pictures or examples of students to explain lessons, but may only incorporate names that reflect a white or non-minority community. While the text is not explicitly proposing biased or racial undertones, it is reinforcing their projected image of society through class norms. "Scholars in political economy and the sociology of knowledge have recently argued that public schools in complex industrial societies like our own make available different types of educational experience and curriculum knowledge to students in different social classes." (Anyon). This reinforces the importance of recognizing hidden curriculums when dealing with different social classes amongst students. It is our job as teachers to recognize when a hidden curriculum creates an issue of equality in our classroom, and remove it so it does not become imbedded in our students education. The following image depicts an example of how something like racism is not always intentional, but is still evident through our language. Just as in this case, a teacher may not directly state negative opinions towards a social class, it may be imbedded in their hidden curriculum.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/michaelblackmon/17-harrowing-examples-of-white-privilege-9hu9#.edz0Ygz5b

     We as educators must further educate ourselves on issues of hidden curriculum in classrooms. One important way we can do this is by not ignoring the issue. If we do not confront the issue head on than we are no better than educators imposing the hidden curriculum on their students. E. rubecula's education blog: http://education.blogs.erithacus.org/MIS_EdBlog/hidden-curriculum-do-as-we.html discusses issues of hidden curriculum and the ways they are still apparent in our schooling systems. We need to celebrate diversity! We need to acknowledge that everyone is unique and different. Everyone learns differently. We must work to abolish social classes in schools. A student is a student, that is the bottom line! Hidden curriculums do not end however with just social classes. I have been a part of and observed classrooms where intelligence is the only valued trait of a classroom. Some teachers favour students who excel in school, and often times those who struggle are left behind or deemed as troublemakers. Many teachers throughout my educational experience preferred the students who received good grades, and never caused issues. Now it seems like this makes sense right? Isn't that a model student? What the education system often fails to realize is that acts of rebellion from students who do poorly are often a cry for help. Not all students learn in the same way or at the same pace, but because we have 1 teacher to work with 30 students, they often do not get the attention they need in order to learn at their own pace. This must be connected and derived from teachers' work with their students (Darling-Hammond, McLaughlin). Teacher's must work to treat all students equally and acknowledge the learning needs of each student, and not fall into an ineffective pattern of leaving students behind just because they do not learn a certain way. Furthermore, hidden curriculums will also reflect in in the students' behaviour, as they will learn to value their classmates who are not equally intelligent as unequals, making their educational experiences even more difficult.

    I will leave you with this video composed by students to reflect on the issues of the hidden curriculum, and the importance of maintaining an equal classroom free of biases, stereotypes and favouritism.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hAqss8j1yI

Cheers for now,

Alex Graham

Sources: 
Anyon, J. (1980). Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work.Journal of Education, 162(1).

Darling-Hammond, L., & McLaughlin, M. (1995). Policies That Support Professional Development in an Era of Reform; Policies Must Keep Pace with New Ideas about What, When, and How Teachers Learn and Must Focus on Developing Schools' and Teachers' Capacities to Be Responsible for Student Learning. Phi Delta Kappan, 76(8), 597-604.

Drake, S., Reid, J., & Kolohon, W. (2014). The Twenty-First Century Teacher. In Interweaving Curriculum and Classroom Assessment: Engaging the 21st-Century Learner (p. 153). Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford.