TLAT #3--The last one!

Problem-Based Learning and Critical Thinking (We didn't get to this on Wednesday)
Many of you may have grown up hearing about Jack and the Beanstalk. On the surface it seems a harmless fairytale, but there are many things one can consider from this story. Poverty, theft and murder are a few of the big ones. Argumentation and civics are two broad areas that can lend themselves to many classroom lessons.  Watch this video of Jack and the Beanstalk and consider what points of view can be argued as well as how one can learn about the court system by using this story as a launching point.

Problem-based learning is a method of teaching centered (obviously) around a real-world problem. Students are given a complex problem, and must work in groups, often with guidance from the teacher, to solve it. It often involves several steps and many investigations into unknown content. A great deal of learning takes place, which is then applied in meaningful ways.

Consider a roller coaster. Many of you have ridden one before, although some of you may be very scared to, or haven’t yet had the chance. Let me tell you, Disney World has some of the best ones!!! But let’s take a look at this video for some new coasters at Six Flags Magic Mountain. Anyway, imagine a coaster – what it looks like, what it feels like, and all the things that had to go into the design, development and marketing of it. With a partner, brainstorm a list of ALL the issues and concerns involved with creating (designing and building) it, testing it, and advertising it to the public.  Which Georgia Standards (especially middle or high school) might align to some of the items on your list?


What does your book say about problem solving?
Here are a few takeaways:

“Students apply critical and creative thinking skills to prior knowledge during the problem solving process. The end result of problem solving is typically some kind of a decision: choosing a solution and then evaluating it.” (p 155)

“Problem-based learning (PBL) is a teaching approach that combines critical thinking, problem-solving skills, and inquiry as students explore real-world problems. It is based on unstructured, complex, and authentic problems that are often presented as part of a project.” (p 156)

A few characteristics of effective technology-enhanced problem-based learning tasks:

1. Give students control of their learning
2. Include communication and collaboration
3. Emphasize the process and the content
4. Lead to additional content learning
5. Have a measurable, although not necessarily correct, outcome

You all did some great brainstorming as we talked about designing and building roller coasters as an authentic, complex problem that required lots of information to solve.

We also talked a bit about critical thinking, but what is it? What does it involve? Let’s look at this Prezi to find out more.

WebQuests
WebQuests are a teaching tool that use web-based resources and other sources to support students as they work through an inquiry or problem-based activity. They are web-based lesson plans written for the students that support and scaffold student understanding of a set of curriculum standards. Generally, students are asked to work collaboratively to answer a question or solve a problem and then present the answer or solution in a technology-supported format.

You can find many examples of WebQuests at the WebQuest page maintained by Dr. Bernie Dodge from San Diego State University. Dr. Dodge is the creator of WebQuests and WebQuests have been around for over 10 years. We’ll spend some time looking at example WebQuests by searching the QuestGarden. Here are a couple I found by trying the different search options. Primary mathematics; Middle school interdisciplinary unit; High school economics. Take a couple of minutes and find a WebQuest in an area of interest. Share your findings with someone nearby.

Problem-Solving Software
Tom Snyder Software is a well-known software company that creates many K12 software based activities that promote critical thinking and problem solving. You’ll likely find that the various software packages also support content learning, communication, collaboration, and creativity. Monday we looked at a software activity called “Science Court” and we looked at how this tool can support critical thinking and problem solving. Here’s some additional software for 5th-8th graders that looks really interesting for science lessons.

TLAT #3
We won’t have time to get very far, but it’s time to begin the last TLAT. I’ve been grading your last ones, and some of them are very good. Just remember to explain your thoughts clearly and in detail and you will do well.

Here’s our schedule on this one:

• Friday, November 12 – TLAT Section 1
• Monday, November 15 – TLAT Section 2 and 3 (HW)
• Wednesday, November 17 – TLAT Section 4
• Friday, November 19 – TLAT Section 5 (we'll try to finish it in class; it's due by 11:59 p.m.)

And here’s our schedule for the rest of the semester:

• Monday, November 29 – Nadine Cohen from the library will talk about K-12 resources
• Wednesday, December 1 – Case Study #2
• Friday, December 3 – Prep for Showcase and Course Evaluation
• Monday, December 6 – Final Showcase

Sit in our thinking chair and think, think, think.

Part One: Problem-Based Learning and Critical Thinking
Many of you may have grown up hearing about Jack and the Beanstalk. On the surface it seems a harmless fairytale, but there are many things one can consider from this story. Poverty, theft and murder are a few of the big ones. Argumentation and civics are two broad areas that can lend themselves to many classroom lessons.  Watch this video of Jack and the Beanstalk and consider what points of view can be argued as well as how one can learn about the court system by using this story as a launching point.

Problem-based learning is a method of teaching centered (obviously) around a real-world problem. Students are given a complex problem, and must work in groups, often with guidance from the teacher, to solve it. It often involves several steps and many investigations into unknown content. A great deal of learning takes place, which is then applied in meaningful ways.

Consider a roller coaster. Many of you have ridden one before, although some of you may be very scared to, or haven’t yet had the chance. Let me tell you, Disney World has some of the best ones!!! But let’s take a look at this video for some new coasters at Six Flags Magic Mountain. Anyway, imagine a coaster – what it looks like, what it feels like, and all the things that had to go into the design, development and marketing of it. With a partner, brainstorm a list of ALL the issues and concerns involved with creating (designing and building) it, testing it, and advertising it to the public.  Which Georgia Standards (especially middle or high school) might align to some of the items on your list?

Part Two: Exploring Thinkfinity
One of the uses of technology that I’m sure you are very familiar with is the use of online resources for research activities. This task will help you to locate online resources to use in your grade/content area. This first section will have you preview several reliable educational resources. I recommend looking back through the Georgia Performance Standards for your subject/grade level before moving on with this task (it will make it easier in the long run). If you’ve  had trouble developing TLAT lessons for your content/subject area, this might be a great time to try a new one!

There are many online resources that teachers use to collect tools and information for K-12 students. One cool one is Thinkfinity. Thinkfinity has resources for all content areas and all grade levels. So everyone in our class should be able to find something they can use.

1. Watch this overview of Thinkfinity. (Click on the red “take a tour” button in the bottom right corner – it’s a bit commercial and cheesy – but it’s a good overview). Then watch a detailed tutorial. This detailed tutorial really explains how to incorporate web resources in K12 classrooms. There’s so much more on the web than just lesson plans and long pages of text on Wikipedia. (You can skip the last minute that talks about how to do the survey – which you don’t need to do).

2. Use what you learned from the video to explore the resources within Thinkfinity. Set a timer for 15 minutes (seriously – really do this) and just explore the site to see what you can find. Try and focus on student interactive materials like the ones demonstrated in the detailed tutorial.

Part Three: Creating an Enrichment Kit
One big problem in education (and there are many) is the issue of “summer learning loss” Read this article to prepare for this next task. As a teacher, parents will look to you for ideas on how to prevent this “learning loss.” To help solve this problem, your task is to locate 8-10 exceptional web-based resources that a student from your grade/content area could use over the summer to enrich (NOT remediate) what they have learned in your class during the school year. You can focus on one topic or a multitude of topics. If you are focusing on elementary grades – you can focus on multiple subjects. These resources should include games and other interactive resources. Your resources should not be a set of webpages that contain only text. The Thinkfinity site is a great place to find interactive activities for any subject or grade level. (Hint – on any of the partner sites – look for words like “student interactive”).

As you locate your resources, you will add them to a new webpage called “Summer Tool Kit” or something a bit more creative. For each resource you find you will provide the title of the resource, the web link, and a short description of how this tool can be used (make sure to decide if your audience for your descriptions is students or parents).

Once you have finished collecting your resources, write a 2-3 paragraph letter to parents describing the summer enrichment kit that you have developed. Give them highlights of what they will find in the kit, suggestions for how they might use it, and a link to your Summer ToolKit webpage. (If you are teaching high school students you might want to talk to them in the letter instead of parents). You should attach the letter to the webpage. Here’s an example for an elementary Spanish student. (The parent letter is attached at the bottom of the linked page).

Here is an example of the same assignment for elementary language arts. In this example, the Maymester student used delicious to collect and organize her resources – then, of course, she attached the parent letter to the bottom of the page.

Here’s an example of one Gretchen made for her daughter last summer also using delicious (no parent letter, though). **Hint: She found most of these resources by searching on the Thinkfinity site. She searched for “writing” and limited search results to grades K-2. She also did a Google search and used key terms like “reading games,” “summer reading activities,” “summer writing activities,” etc. So – use the Thinkfinity website as a resource and be smart about the search strategies you use.
Your completed tool kit and letter are due at the beginning of class on Friday.

Homework

• Finish the Chapter 4 reading guide (This is the last one! Due Friday, 11/12).
• Finish your tool kit/parent letter (due Wednesday, 11/17). On Friday we will be starting a new TLAT, so it would be best if you get you tool kit done by then.

Court is in session

I hope you are all getting to be better problem solvers and critical thinkers after the activities and reading assignments we've had lately.

In order to get a better idea of what this looks like in the classroom, I've invited Gretchen Thomas to walk us through a critical thinking software program called Science Court, by Tom Snyder Publishing.  I hope you enjoy your day today.  It should be something a little bit different from what you do in your other classes. :)

Homework:

Do the Reading Guide for chapter 4 (critical thinking).  It is due on Friday.  This is the last reading guide (If you've already turned in 4, then you don't have to worry about it) and it's the last chapter in our book that we haven't already read!