Hi there! I enjoyed reading your post. I like your idea of facilitating student interaction by posting comments under Youtube videos. For students leaving comments I encourage leaving “powerful” comments. Powerful comments follow a three-step formula. The steps are: like (say something you like), comment (give your own stance or support an idea), question (keep the conversation going).
I am wondering what age are your intended students? I teach elementary/middle students and their privacy online is very important. Commenting on public videos makes me apprehensive due to the prevalence of individuals who use the internet for the purpose of being unkind. Therfore, any comments my students are leaving will be on restricted videos that viewers need a link to access.
Hi there! I enjoyed reading your post. I like the topic your group chose to focus on in your interactive learning resource. What I like about learning to draw videos is that students can take the skills they have learned in these videos and practice on their own time. They motivate students to want to improve their skills when they are not at school. I use directed drawing videos from YouTube with my students all the time. As somone who is not as artistically inclined, videos like these help me teach art in a way that is fun and engaging. This past week I did a learn to draw Spongebob and Patrick from the Spongebob Squarepants tv show with my grade 6 class. I am wondering because this video is fairly long, who is your intended audience? If they are high school or university-aged then this video is perfect. For a younger demographic, videos that are shorter with fun music and narration are more effective to maintain attention.
I enjoyed reading your blog post. I am fairly new to teaching but my experience working with gifted students has been very similar to what you have described. Particularly, the presence of anxiety and perfectionism. Sometimes if something was not perfect for my students they were prone to throw away their work and start over, creating more work for themselves to do at home to catch up for the lost time.
Additionally, I found that since my gifted students finished tasks sooner, they were often off-task and distracting to others, unless the activity was of interest to them. I agree with what you said about exploring passions. Gifted students may benefit from investigating their own wonderings and presenting their learning in whatever way they would like. I have found that honouring student voice and choice through inquiry projects is the best way to stimulate authentic and engaging learning experiences. If I were to do a classwide inquiry project, gifted students may be participating in inquiries that are free while the rest of the class participate in an inquiry that is guided or controlled.
Hi Sabrina! I enjoyed reading your post. I love the link you included to view different websites through the lens of the different kinds of colour blindness. I played around trying different URLs and types of colour blindness. My favourite was seeing how the GOOGLE letters changed. Your learning resource sounds really cool. I like how you have included a range of resources like videos, articles and textbooks, as well as a range of online communication tools, such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Messenger. By providing alternatives for auditory and visual information, and customizing the display of info your resource provides multiple means of representation (UDL) to support the “WHAT” of learning.
For my pod’s interactive learning design, kindergarten students play outside and travel to 4 different stations each with a different subject area focus. For the purpose of this blog post, I found a video that would support our science activity. In this activity, teachers will lead students on a walk through the local forest area and discuss key features of local plants. Students will take pictures of their learning to be uploaded to the class website.
What kind of interaction would the video require from your students? Does it force them to respond in some way (inherent)
This video includes a plant song with corresponding dance moves for each part of a plant. The expectation is that we will watch it a couple of times and students will copy the dance moves and sing along. Song and dance are excellent ways to learn as they provide multiple means of representation. In this video specifically, students get to listen to a song and sing along (auditory), the video includes pictures and labels the parts of the plant (visual), and students are invited to dance using the corresponding dance moves (kinaesthetic).
In what way are they likely to respond to the video on their own, e.g. make notes, do an activity, think about the topic (learner-generated)?
Because of the repetitive nature of the song, it is hard not to sing and dance along. It is likely that on their own, students will want to sing along with the chorus once they know some of the words, and dance along with the singer.
What activity could you suggest that they do, after they have watched the video (designed)? What type of knowledge or skill would that activity help develop? What medium or technology would students use to do the activity?
After they have watched the video, students will go out on a nature walk with their teachers. On this walk, the teacher will stop at a few selected plants and point out the anatomy of each plant using the same terminology that the students just learned in the song (roots, stem, leaves, flower). While observing plants students will be drawing and colouring in their plant journals and they will be taking pictures on class ipads to be uploaded to the WordPress site. In this activity, students are learning content from the Science K curriculum. According to the B.C. curriculum, students are expected to know the following “basic needs of plants and animals adaptations of local plants and animals” (BC Curriculum, 2019).
How much work for you would that activity cause? Would the work be both manageable and worthwhile? Could the activity be scaled for larger numbers of students?
The work from this activity is worthwhile because students are able to take what they learned from the song and see it in action on their walk. This makes their learning more authentic as it becomes real-world relevant to them. They will be able to learn how the plants native to them grow and change. The work from this activity is for the most part manageable. The video component is easy as every classroom comes equipped with a projector and speakers. The most challenging aspect is the nature walk. Before leaving school property we would need to obtain permission for walking field trips. Most schools get this at the beginning of each year. In addition to myself, if I did not have a partner teacher I would most likely need an EA to come with me to manage student behaviour.
How will you address any potential barriers for your learners in the use of this video to ensure an inclusive design?
Students with movement challenges: Because this is a song and dance video, some students may have difficulty being fully active. In this video, all of the moves can be adapted to a seated position instead of standing.
E.L.L Learners: For students who speak English as a second language the visual and kinaesthetic components of the song will help them identify parts of a flower but the auditory part will be more difficult to understand. I have attached the lyrics to this post. It would be beneficial to input the lyrics into a text-to-speech program (ex: Google Read&Write) so that E.L.L. students can have the lyrics read to them in English and in their native language.
Students who are deaf or hard of hearing: Youtube does have closed captions and this video labels the parts of the plants, however, this resource is designed for kindergarten students who are not yet readers. Teachers can learn the signs for the 4 key terms (roots, stem, leaves, flower) if an interpreter is not available.
Prompts: How will your interactive learning resource specifically ensure that the needs of all learners can be met? Choose one (or more) of your planned learning activities from your Blueprint and identify any barriers for student success. How can you alter or adjust your current plan to reduce those barriers?
Our topic is play-based learning (land-based). We designed our learning resource with the 3 principles of UDL in mind in order to meet each unique student where they are at in their learning.
How we planned for multiple means of representation.
This UDL principle requires learners to access materials through visual, auditory, and kinesthetic experiences. In our resource, during the science activity, students learn visually in their investigations of local plant life. They are drawing and taking pictures of the plants that are native to their communities. In our phys-ed activity, students learn kinesthetically as they dance to a song. In our language arts, visual arts and Indigenous ed activity, students are listening (auditory learning) to a read-aloud of an Indigenous story about the land and completing a craft based on the story. They are colouring a frog, cutting it out, and creating a puppet out of it.
How we planned for multiple means of action or expression.
This UDL principle requires students to demonstrate newly acquired skills and knowledge in a variety of ways. In our math activity, students are encouraged to forage for their own manipulatives (sticks, leaves, rocks, pinecones) so that they can practice counting and making patterns. Students are free to be as creative as they want with the patterns they create. In our phys-ed activity, students will choreograph parts of the song. It is assumed that all students will move their bodies in different ways.
How we planned for multiple means of engagement.
Play-based learning supports multiple means of engagement because it honours student voice and choice. The core of play-based learning lies in student autonomy because they get to decide how they play and who they play with. Additionally, in our assessment students will be “interviewed”. In these interviews, students will discuss what they liked, did not like, what they did well and what they are still working on. These interviews encourage self-regulation as students are self-assessing and reflecting on their learning.
Barriers and adaptations:
Listening to a read-aloud may be a challenge for E.L.L students. Students will be given an iPad and headphones to listen to an audiobook of the story so they can stop and start the story wherever. Any text-to-speech software will help (Google Read&Write)
The read-aloud will be a challenge for a student who is deaf or hard of hearing. Because our activities are designed for kindergarten students who have not yet learned to read, providing a physical copy of the story will not be helpful. In this case, an interpreter will be required.
The art component of this activity may be a challenge to students with fine motor difficulties. It may benefit them to receive an iPad with an image to colour on a painting app. This can be printed. Also, they will need help cutting and gluing.
Here is an article about UDL in early childhood classrooms with rich play-based learning.
I enjoyed reading your post on experiential learning. I agree that experiential learning supports our pod’s chosen topic of play-based learning. In our resource, our students are learning from their experiences of the environment that surrounds them as well as their experiences interacting and learning alongside their peers. I learned a lot from your post. I especially like the graphic you included depicting the cyclical nature of active experimentation-concrete experience-reflective observation-abstract conceptualization. I agree that experiential learning occurs throughout life and not just in classroom settings. I find that the most authentic learning experiences occur outside of the classroom from everyday experiences and interactions with others. It is when we can make learning real-world realistic that we are more likely to stimulate student engagement and motivation.
Another note. As a part of the BC curriculum, BC educators aim to include the First Peoples Principles of Learning in their practice. One of the principles values the importance of experiential learning. It states that “[l]earning is holistic, reflexive, reflective, experiential, and relational (focused on connectedness, on reciprocal relationships, and a sense of place)” (FNESC, 2020).
First Peoples Principles of Learning – First Nations Education Steering Committee FNESC. (2020). Fnesc.ca. http://www.fnesc.ca/first-peoples-principles-of-learning/
Hi Vikrant! Open pedagogies is something that interests me and I have explored it briefly. Last summer I took EDCI 339 (Distributed and Open Learning). In this course, I learned a lot about OER (Open Educational Resources) and explored open learning and developing personalized learning networks. If you are looking to research more into this topic I suggest looking up Laurence Lessig. He is one of the co-founders of creative commons. He was also the recipient of the Honourary Doctorate of Education (DEd) at my Uvic convocation this June.
Hi Jess! I enjoyed reading your post. I like how you got to present your learning in a different way as opposed to being assessed with a test. I agree with what you said about tests. I tend to think that tests are not accurate ways of assessing student learning as they are often a representation of how fast students can memorize and regurgitate information and not necessarily a way to demonstrate learning. When I was memorizing facts for tests in high school I often found that shortly after writing the test I did not remember much of what I had memorized to prepare. I do remember a lot of the projects I did in high school specifically the ones that I enjoyed much like your geology class.
From this week’s readings, I really connected with Keller’s Arcs Model. This model suggests designing learning based on 4 categories:
Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction.
I like how you described how your geology project allowed you to take your learning and apply it to the area around you thus giving it real-world significance. It is clear that this project really addresses the “Relevance” category of Keller’s Arcs Model. It was both personally relevant and meaningful to you.
Hi Vikrant! I enjoyed reading your post about your best learning experience. Thanks for sharing. I can make a connection to your experience because like your computer engineering course, I had a psychology course in my first year that offered bonus questions. Although each exam was worth 100 points (2 points per question) my professor always included 2 bonus questions to score a maximum of 104%. On one exam I was one of the few students who got more than 100%. Like yourself, I found the bonus opportunities to be motivating. I was driven to duplicate my result, thus I studied harder for each upcoming exam.
I enjoyed reading your interactive learning resource. Critical thinking is a core competency in the BC curriculum that I strive to include in my teaching every day. According to the BC Curriculum, critical thinking is pivotal to student development because “[p]eople who think critically and reflectively are analytical and investigative, willing to question and challenge their own thoughts, ideas, and assumptions and challenge those of others. A critical thinker uses their ideas, experiences, and reflections to set goals, make judgments, and refine their thinking” (BC Curriculum, 2019).
I like how your resource has the ability to teach critical thinking while addressing all 6 of the skills from Bloom’s Taxonomy.
Discussions use the remembering and understanding skills
Debates use the applying, analyzing and evaluating skills
Below is my review of how your group met the assignment requirements. I separated my review into two sections, what I really liked, and suggestions (you may use or choose not to)
What I really liked:
Overview of the resource
I thought your overview of critical thinking was thorough. It is clear you researched the topic well because you have provided definitions from 2 different sources in addition to your own. I also liked how you provided misconceptions about your topic and an example of where in our real lives we need to think critically (fake news). This makes your resource real-world realistic to readers.
Description and rationale for the learning theory (behaviourism, cognitivism, constructivism)
I like how you modelled your resource on constructivism. I like to design learning experiences with constructivist teachings in mind. I find the most authentic learning occurs when students form their knowledge based on their own interactions and personal experiences. My pod’s learning resource is also modelled on constructivism.
Description and rationale for the learning design you chose (inquiry, project-based, direct instruction, etc)
I think the learning design you chose (cooperative learning) is appropriate for your topic. I agree that it is important to consider multiple perspectives and work with others to solve problems. I think no forward progress is possible without collaboration. Along with critical thinking, another core competency I teach as a part of the BC Curriculum is communication, specifically collaborating. According to the BC Curriculum “[c]ollaborating involves the skills, strategies, and dispositions that people use to work together to pursue common purposes and accomplish common goals. People who collaborate effectively recognize how combining others’ perspectives, strategies, and efforts with their own enhances collective understanding” (BC Curriculum, 2019).
Description of your learning context (K-12, higher ed, corporate, individual, etc)
I think the learning context works well for your chosen topic (I do think that critical thinking is possible at any age.)
2-4 learning outcomes (copied or revised from your blueprint)
Your outcomes are excellent. They work really well for your discussion and debating activities. Specifically, the outcome regarding problem-solving using multiple perspectives.
Overview of your assessment plan.
I think your assessment plan is reasonable for your learning context. Individuals in university are assessed on a percentage scale with letter grades associated per percentage earned. As an elementary/middle school teacher I grade on a proficiency scale (emerging, developing, proficient, extending). If you are interested in learning more here is a resource explaining how we report student progress.
Suggestions:
Brief commentary about each topic and activity/One interactive activity for each learning outcome/topic based on a resource aligned with that topic
I like your three activities, I think they provide a logical progression of learning. My suggestion is to include some sample topics for the discussion, debate, and hands-on teaching sequence? (I.E what are they talking about, what issue are they debating)
To take your interactive learning resource to the next level, including sample topics will make your resource classroom-ready to go if a teacher wanted to use it tomorrow.
Overview of your plans to design for the inclusion of diverse learners
I found the section on designing learning for colorblindness brief. I don’t think it is possible to determine a “level of colorblindness”, I know there are two types (red-green and blue-yellow) but I don’t think there is a specific level of severity. If a student is colourblind we should adapt the visual display of our materials regardless of the severity. I think the easiest way to do so is to provide all materials in greyscale.
Also if you want to include it… Read&Write for Google Chrome is an excellent text-to-speech tool for ELL learners to gain confidence in their reading and writing skills.
Here are some resources I found online about catering to students with colour blindness.
For your technology choices section, I think you should include what technology your students are using (during the discussion, debate, and hands-on teaching sequence).
ideas: Chromebooks for research prior to discussion and debates, word processing software to write scripts for debates, presentation software for the teaching component (Canva, PPT, Google Slides?)
Inquiry is about exploring wonders and triggering curiosity. According to the Alberta Focus on Inquiry, inquiry based-learning is “a process where students are involved in their learning, create essential questions, investigate widely. and then build new understandings, meanings, and knowledge. (Alberta Focus on Inquiry, 2004, p. 1). Essentially, inquiry-based learning is a student-centred learning design that allows students to investigate their own interests and present their learning to others.
The inquiry method supports a love for learning. Students are allowed to investigate what they are interested in and passionate about. Thus learning experiences become more authentic to them and they are much more likely to be engaged in the classroom and excited to learn. Additionally, by honouring student voice and choice teachers can establish a sense of belonging in the classroom. One of the most impactful benefits of inquiry-based learning is its ability to teach perseverance. Students are encouraged to fail and try again. By creating this growth mindset in our students, educators are much more likely to establish lifelong learners with a thirst for knowledge.
The Inquiry Model
Below are the stages for inquiry and the important steps at each stage.
The types of inquiry follow the gradual release of responsibility (Vygotsky). Teachers scaffold learning experiences to gradually increase student agency.
The most important factor to keep in mind when adopting inquiry-based learning in the classroom is that although it is a student-centred learning experience, the teacher’s facilitation is instrumental to its success. According to the Inquiry Mindset “A successful inquiry begins and ends with the teaching working with the students in inquiry” (Mackenzie and Bathurst-Hunt, 2018, p. 2). Like the students, inquiry teachers should also be playful, passionate, and curious. Teachers are important to help students find resources that can support their research and can help design objectives for students to meet their roles. Through effective inquiry facilitation, teachers can “create an atmosphere that promotes and strengthens the relationship or interaction between students and teachers and students with students” (Shanmugavelu et al., 2020, p. 8).
How the Inquiry approach aligns with my chosen topic.
My group is exploring play-based learning, specifically play-based learning outdoors. Play-based learning is inquiry because it is self-guided learning driven by curiosity and wonder. Play-based and inquiry-based learning are both constructivist approaches that place students and the centre of their learning and allow them to make meaning out of their own individual experiences and interactions. According to the Ontario Ministry of Education “Play is an optimal context for enabling children to work out their ideas and theories […] Innately curious, children explore, manipulate, build, create, wonder, and ask questions naturally, moving through the world in what might be called an “inquiry stance”” (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2019).
The Inquiry Approach and our Interactive Learning Design
In our Interactive Learning Design, our students will be rotating through 4 different learning centres that each follow a different subject area. In these centres, students will be playing with the environment around them. Like in inquiry, their curiosities and wonders are driving their learning. In our science activity, students are exploring their environment and are welcome to question and explore the plants that are native to their community. In our math activity, students are playing with the materials around them to create their own manipulatives for counting and pattern designing.
Examples of inquiry in Vancouver Island schools
Inquiry Mindset by Trevor Mackenzie and Rebecca Bathurst-Hunt
Two Vancouver Island teachers who follow the inquiry method with their High School and Kindergarten classes.
PSII: a school on the island that follows the inquiry method with all of their students. PSII students have the opportunity to engage in authentic learning experiences and co-design their learning paths.
Shanmugavelu, G., Parasuraman, B., Ariffin, K., Kannan, B., & Vadivelu, M. (2020). Inquiry Method in the Teaching and Learning Process. Shanlax International Journal of Education, 8(3), 6–9. https://doi.org/10.34293/education.v8i3.2396
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