Education foundation: Poster

 

10 Tips to keep in mind 

 

1. Begin with what the student knows

Constructivists believe that learners build new knowledge from their own experiences (Churchill et al, 2011). Evaluating students' knowledge and competences at the beginning of a course will help structure and enhance learning.

2. Set realistic expectations

When planning lessons, take into consideration students' level of cognitive development (Piaget in Churchill et al, 2011) as well as their abilities to solve problems by themselves or with help (Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development, Berk et al., 1995). Planning outside the student's ZPD will result in either boredom or anxiety and poor learning.

3. Develop cooperation among students

Plan time for students to talk about their learning, write about it, link it to past experiences and think how it applies to their daily lives. Group work and peer learning is a meaningful, engaging and attractive experience. In chapter 3 of Churchill et al., (2011) Vygotsky's social constructivist theory promotes learning mediated through social and cultural interactions in which students play active roles. Bandura also points out the importance of observing and modeling behaviours, attitudes, and emotional reactions of others in learning.

4. Keep students engaged and motivated

Motivation and emotion play a role in the retention of information. Long term memory is also influenced by relevancy, novelty and currency of the subjects (Churchill et al., 2011). New technologies - in particular Internet technologies -  appeal to students and help them to engaged with subjects. Keep learning active, reflective and collaborative and teaching has to be structured, connected and challenging (PPLE+Module+4).

5. Various material suits various intelligences

Learning style preference affects the speed and depth of a students' learning. Assessing students' preferred learning style using Gardner's multiple intelligence, and appropriate teaching tools (video- audio-, movement, ) will help students recognise their own skills and access learning in a way which is easier for them. Use Bloom's and Gardner's grids to design activities and assessment in order to cover different types of skills and levels of complexity.

6. Be aware of the pressure on students

The type of pressures learners undergo at high school during teenage years are numerous. Be aware of these and help students enhance their self-perceptions especially when these are negative (Krause et al., 2010). Keep in mind possible difficulties that some students may be (or have been) going through at home or in the past as these can affect their social and emotional development and interfere with their learning (discussion in STS Science Tutorial).

7. See that the students basic needs are satisfied

Maslow has set up a hierarchy of five levels of basic needs (Churchill, 2011). People need to satisfied the lowest level of needs before feeling the need to satisfy the level above going through 4 levels before reaching the highest level of need. Learning and students' development would therefore be affected if basic needs are not satisfied. Teachers must recognise a lack of basics needs and look for solutions to improve the situation.

8. Respect everyones culture and background

A child's learning and development is mediated through language and cultural tools. Teaching should be inclusive and culturally appropriate (Vygotsky in Churchill et al., 2011). However, teachers also have a role in helping students surpass their cultural conditioning and become world citizens.

9. Move from simple to complex

Giving students the opportunity to master simple concepts first before applying more complex ones will guide them to higher degree of thinking as defined in Bloom's taxonomy. What one student finds simple, another may find complex. Therefore, offering different level of difficulty when designing tasks and assessments is essential. However, the curriculum always offers the “bottom levels of Blooms' taxonomy” (Remember/Understand/Apply) and teachers must include higher degree of thinking in their teaching (Analyse/Evaluate/Create, from Ed Foundation, Module D, pt 2).

10. Reward learning with praise

A verbal praise, a good grade or a feeling of increased accomplishment improves the chance for students to retain the material or to repeat good behavior. Giving prompt feedback will help them to understand what they know and don't know and how to assess themselves (B.F. Skinner: Operant Conditioning in Churchill et al., 2011).

References:

Churchill, R., Ferguson, P., Godinho, S., Johnson, N. F., Keddie, A., Letts, W., Mackay, J., McGill, M., Moss, J., Nagel, M. C., Nicholson, P., and Vick, M., 2011, Teaching: Making a Difference, Chapter 3, John Wiley & Sons Australia

Krause, K.L., Bochner, S., Duchesne, S., and McMaugh, A. 2010, “Social, Emotional and Moral Development” Chapter 3 in Educational Psychology for Learning and Teaching 3rd Edition, pg. 98-146, Cengage Learning Pty Limited

Berk, L & Winsler, A. (1995). "Vygotsky: His life and works" and "Vygotsky's approach to development". In Scaffolding children's learning: Vygotsky and early childhood learning. Natl. Assoc for Educ. Of Young Children. pp. 25–34

PPLE+Module+4 : http://ucangraddip.wikispaces.com/PPLE+Module+4

Gardner's multiple intelligence : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_multiple_intelligences

Bloom's taxonomy : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom%27s_Taxonomy

Ed Foundation, Module D, pt 2 : http://ucangraddip.wikispaces.com/Ed+Foundations+Module+D+pt2

Am I ready to teach?

Comment on Lizzie's post: Stan's scenario

Hi Lizzie,

In your post you have discussed the reasons behind the formation of 'gangs'. I would like to comment on this subject as I just read a very interesting article from the Australian Institute of Criminology on gangs in Australia: “Young People and Gangs” (Perrone S, 2000). As you have mentioned, the coexistence of two communities (the old and the new Australian), the desire to be accepted by peer group, the absence of parents and their lack of involvement in the school and homework have influenced the students to seek support outside the house. In a gang membership, they will find a form of social status, identity, security, respect and compensation for the lack of support. 

Stan associates these youth groups with 'gangs'. The term 'gang' refers to highly structured youth organisations known in the United States. Its relevance for Australian youth groups is discussed in the paper mentioned above. These groups are formed in big suburban areas of Sydney or Melbourne, similar to Stan's school area and they are based on ethnicity or preferred activities. They are sometime involved in illegal activities but these remain minor (drug dealing, burglary, robbery and theft) and often prompted by boredom or peer pressure. Adolescents need organised social play like sport and physical activities as a break from school and a buffer from stress (Krause chapter 3 page 131). Lack of organized structure results in the problems just mentioned. Public concerns have been raised regarding the proliferation of youth groups in Australia. They are fueled by media reinforcing the ethnic character of their criminal activities. However, the term 'gang' as used to describe highly organized criminal American groups does not be apply in the Australian context.

What could Stan do in the context of his school? The school needs to include cross-cultural and multicultural programs in its curriculum. Inclusion of anti-racist, anti-violence strategies and conflict resolution should be established in order to assure students safety and security in the school. Students would also benefit from individual and group support as well as development of extra-curricular activities such as after school programs or recreational outlets.

Reconciliation projects also promote diversity of culture and opportunity to know each other at a personal and group level. Kerrie Heath on her lecture (Lecture J, April 21, 2011) gave us an excellent and inspiring example of a program she has developed aiming to include students perceived as “scary” in the community by organising Tai-chi classes with people from the community and lunches for the workers of the nearby construction site.

Stan would definitely benefit from a UC PD course!



References:

Perrone S, White R. (2000). Young people and gangs. http://www.aic.gov.au/documents/0/F/B/%7B0FB12D31-3769-4558-BC5F-6AA519D3831F%7Dti167.pdf

Krause Chapter 3: Social, Emotional and moral development. p. 98-146

Heath K. (April 21, 2011) Lecture J3.

Lizzi's post on Stan's scenario: http://lizzythamm.wordpress.com/2011/04/20/education-foundations-assignment-1-post-2/

Max's scenario

Student: Max

Year: 9

Age: 15

Class: Math

Scenario:

On Monday the 7th of March 2011 Max attended his Math class during third period. This class usually runs for a time-period of an hour and fifteen minutes. During this class the students were given their first exam of the year on their first study focus of Pythagorus Theorem. The exam was to run silently in class for the hour duration. Approximately forty minutes into the exam, Max with two questions left began to feel restless and started making conversation with the student next to him. The teacher provided Max with a first warning, asking him to remain silent. Max after a couple of minutes began talking again prompting the teacher to walk over standing next to Sam. The teacher then took the exam paper off the table whilst saying, ‘excuse me Max!’ Max stood up and then snatched the exam paper back off the teacher saying ‘Yes, excuse you miss!’ The teacher asked Max to sit down and told him she knew where he was up to on the exam and wouldn’t mark any further work he completed. Max getting upset and angry swept up his belongings kicked back the chair so it fell over pushing desks out of his way as he left the classroom. After this event occurred the teacher spoke to his parents about the incident.

Additional informations:

About subjects:

Max likes his metal and wood work classes the most because of the teachers. Teachers in these two classes are more laid back, let the students talk more but still make sure all work by students is completed. Current Woodwork teacher is Max’s favourite teacher of all, to date. 

Max likes environments with plenty of movement, walking around the class talking to other students, very collaborative, using hands for majority of work, loud environment, noisy, more interaction and more one on one time with the teacher, very practical based subjects.

About teachers:

He likes teachers who are more ‘laid back’ and ‘chilled’.Max likes the content of all his subjects but dislikes some classes due to the teachers.Max talked about his experiences in math class in his last semester of year 8. His teacher was a young male who was also Max’s Pastoral Care teacher. Max felt he understood his needs more and often helped Max more collaboratively in class than his current teacher does. Max noted this teacher did this with most students. His year 8 Max's teacher also quite often used the interactive white board in class. Although there was still very little group work and class discussion. In this class Max’s two end test results reflect his academic achievement in this class, the grades were 86% and 98%.

About Math:

Max explained that he liked the subject of Maths and gets extra tutoring outside of school. As such he often finds that he understands ideas, equations and formulas quickly and manages to get work done quicker than others. The teacher does not set extra work for those who have worked quickly so Max often finds himself sitting with not much to do. This is when he becomes bored and talks and begins to disrupt others. Max feels at times he is not challenged enough within his class (could be attributed to tutoring and learning more)

Max takes a laptop to school but only gets to use it in English class. Likes using his laptop but also likes working from the text book. He always has his phone in his pocket and all equipment is to be provided by the students. There are no bags allowed in the classroom. 

 

Classroom Rules: 

No talking 

No standing up and walking around the classroom

One person speaks at a time 

No throwing things

Comment: 

To preserve anonymity, all names have been changed.

Comment on Sirtimothy's post: "Wayne and the Brain"

Hi Sir Timothy

This is a great post! You've covered so much already, I am not sure there is much left to say! But since we are all starting to agree that teaching is a profession and an intellectual pursuit, and teaching students is as important as teaching subjects, I will focus on Wayne's students' behavior and look for possible solutions to improve their learning conditions.

Wayne needs to worry about his students who are distracted and tired. Maslow's pyramid of need (Churchill, Chapter 3, p78) suggests that if the basics human needs are not met, the highest levels of need can not be attained. Therefore, lack of sleep and constant tiredness will interfere with development and learning. The reason for this condition could very well be drugs or alcohol abuse, as Wayne suggested. As a future high school teacher, I feel concerned about the subject. How do drugs and alcohol interfere with adolescents' development and learning and what is our role and responsibilities toward keeping our students safe and out of dangerous behavior? The short term consequences of excessive drinking like hangover, headaches, nauseas will make a day at school and learning very difficult, but alcohol have also long term effect on the developing brain as it may affect areas undergoing dramatic changes during teenage year like the frontal lobe and the hippocampus which are associated with reasoning, learning and memory formation (Gogtay et al, 2004). Schools are provided with a large range of resources on alcohol and drug awareness to support the implementation of drug and alcohol education (see:school drug and alcool education ) and teachers are responsible for keeping themselves and their students aware of the dangers of alcohol and drug abuse. Discussing the problem and the attitude to adopt with the school counselor and the principal is also the teacher's responsibility if he suspects that a student is putting himself in danger.

A second group of students is showing signs of anxiety. Anxiety is often exacerbated in adolescents due to a myriad of pressures: social, physical, increased performance at school, exams and focus on career choices. These topics should be discussed in class and students will benefit from group work and peer learning as shown from Vygotsky's sociocultural theory (Wells, 1999). Anxiety could also be the result of too challenging work. Vygotsky points out the importance for students to learn within their zone of proximal development (ZPD, see Churchill, Chapter 3, p77). If the challenge is too low, the students are bored, but if the challenge is too high, it would result in anxiety and lost of engagement. Differentiating learning experiences and proposing choices of tasks will help to keep students within their ZPD (Churchill, Chapter 7, p 208).

Wayne should always remember that “the adolescent brain is a work in progress” and that nurturing this development is as important as their academic achievement (Churchill, Chapter 3, p88).


Reference: 

Gogtay et al, (2004) Dynamic mapping of human cortical development during childhood through early adulthood. Proceeding of the National Academy of Science of the USA 101(21):8174-8179.

Churchill et al, (2011) Teaching, making a difference. Chapter 3 and 7.

Wells et al. (1999) Dialogic inquiry: Toward a sociocultural practice and theory of education. Cambridge University Press, New York. 

School drug and alcool education: http://www.edna.edu.au/edna/go/schooled/school_theme_pages/drugs

Wayne and the Brain:  http://sirtimothy.wordpress.com/2011/04/06/wayne-and-the-brain/

Why we shouldn't miss our ELPC G1 Tutes!

What do parents think?

With the 3rd provocation in mind “To whom am I accountable?”, I am thinking about an important player in the implementation of video games in the classroom: parents. So, what do parents think about using video games in the classroom?

Despite the findings showing that video game-based learning improves students motivation and stimulates deep and creative learning, the perception of parents is often negative and their opinions greatly influence the decision to use them in a classroom setting. In order to understand the reasons behind these beliefs, a study has been conducted based on a survey about video games involving 858 parents of secondary school students in Flanders (Bourgonjon, 2011).

The survey reveals that:
- the majority of parents had no experience with video games and this lack of experience resulted in a diminished belief in the learning opportunities offered by video games and little confidence in their choice as a pedagogical tool.
- parents believe in both positive and negative effects of video games. They believe there is some truth in the negative messages portrayed by the media and are displeased with the content of certain video games. However, they also believe the games offer some learning opportunities and children favor their use in the classroom but these idea is not always supported by the teachers.

These findings are important for teachers to keep in mind when proposing to parents the use of video games as a learning tool. For parents, we need to help develop their understanding of the potential learning opportunities offered by video games. We could achieve this by gathering specific information regarding the learning opportunities from different sources while at the same time providing an opportunity for hands-on experience with educational video games.


References:

Bourgonjon, J. Valcke, M. Soetaert, R. de Wever, B. Schellens, T. (2011) Parental acceptance of digital game-based learning. Computers & Education Vol. 57 pp1434-1444.

Games for learning assistance

In this post, I will discuss a very interesting application for the use of video games in helping students with special needs. In his paper, Wayne Holmes (2011) followed a group of young children between 8.5 and 10.5 years of age with severe literacy difficulties, all with a reading age more than two years below their chronological age. He studied the effect of a literacy program, based on a video game called Catch Up Literacy, to support their literacy development at home.

The author found that students really liked the gaming approach, the graphics and animations, the feedback and the challenges of beating their best time. Parents appreciated the benefit of being able to support their child's learning as well as the quality time spent with their child. However, most of the parents did not use the guide and complained about the lack of instruction and the the loss of interest from the children after the novelty had worn off - mainly because the children played the game randomly instead of following the order recommended in the user guide or because they repeated the games that they found easy and then lost interest.

The latter observations can be explained in light of the findings presented in my first 2 posts (“A good game” and “Go with the flow”). To keep the player motivated, the task has to be challenging but achievable. If the task is beneath their capability, the player becomes bored but if it is beyond their capability, the player fails and gives up. This points out the importance of good game design in order to maintain students' engagement and motivation.

These findings open new horizons for the potential of video games in supporting students who need individual remedial learning by creating a structure at home that both parents and children find enjoyable.


References:

Holmes, W. (2011) Using game-based learning to support struggling readers at home. Learning, Media and Technology. Vol. 36, No.1, pp5-19.

Fighting Mr. X

Competition can be used in the classroom to enhance motivation, excitement and involvement of learners in their activity. However, research has shown the possible negative effects of competition on human interactions including less effective communication within the cooperative team and decrease of overall performance gains as well as interpersonal relationships (Johnson, Johnson and Maruyama, 1983).

This paper (Yu, 2003) explores the possibility of educational video games (in this case a Monopoly-like video game named “Joice”) to offer anonymity or physical separation while interacting within a networking system and their effects on classroom atmosphere and group processes. Pairs of students were set to compete either face-to-face, separated by at least 15 feet but aware of the name of their competitors or in an complete anonymous setting where the pairs of students did not know the names of the competing pair. After the game, they were asked to answer a survey exploring their perceptions of the classroom climate and the group process. The results of the survey showed that anonymity and reduced proximity minimized in-group process losses associated with face-to-face competition and increased teammate interactions and good communication within the group.

The implications of these results are particularly important for educational game designers as it suggests that anonymity is a useful feature in the design of the games. It also underlines the positive and negative aspects of competitive environment in education as well as the effect of anonymity on students communication in a social networking environment.


References:

Johnson, D.W., Johnson, R.T., and Maruyama, G. (1983). Interdependence and interpersonal attraction among heterogeneous and homogeneous individuals: A theoretical formulation and a meta-analysis of the research. Review of Educational Research, 53, 5-54.

Yu, F.Y. (2003). The mediating effects of anonymity and proximity in an online synchronized competitive learning environment. J.Educational Computing Research, Vol. 29(2) pp153-167.

Go with the "flow"!

I found the next article (Admiraal, 2011) very relevant not only in terms of video games as a learning tool but also as a source of motivation and engagement in any educational activity. It refers to the concept of 'flow'  defined by Csickszentmihalyi in 1990 as “a state of deep absorption in an activity that is intrinsically enjoyable”.

One of the main problems of today's high school students is their under achievement due to boredom or disengagement from learning process. So, how do we engage and motivate our students to maximise the learning experience?

Flow occurs when there is a balance between challenge and skills. However, this balance is easily disrupted resulting in either anxiety (high challenge, low skills) or boredom (low challenge, high skills).

The concept of Flow (Csickszentmihalyi, 1990): 

The effect of flow on game performance and learning outcomes was studied on secondary school students using a computer game about medieval Amsterdam called “Frequency 1550” (Admiraal, 2011).  The study showed that students were deeply engaged with the game, but sometimes were distracted by solving problems related to technology and navigation.  The main effect of flow was shown to increase game performance but not necessarily their learning outcome (as measured against level of knowledge of medieval Amsterdam).  Learning outcomes were influenced by distractive activities and team competition: when students were less distracted, they were more engaged with group competition and therefore increased their learning  outcome.

The implication for using educational computer games is that the concept of flow is directly related to increased motivation and concentration but its effect on learning outcome depends on the level of distraction and involvement in group competition . However, the experience of flow being enjoyable, it is likely to be repeated and this concept by itself is worth being explored in terms of increasing motivation and engagement in education.


Reference:

Admiraal, W. Huizenga, J, Akkerman, S. ten Dam, G. (2011) The concept of flow in collaborative game-based learning. Computer in Human Behavior 27 pp 1185-1194.

Csickszentmihalyi, M. (1990) Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. New York: Harper-Perennial.

A good game

My topic for this second series of posts is educational video games. I'd like to explore different aspects of them, from the pedagogical benefits to problems we may encounter while using video games in the classroom.

My first paper ( What makes a good learning game? By Simon Egenfeldt-Nielson) discusses the different components of video-games and the essential qualities we have to look for in a good learning game. The author describes the two essential components of a video game as the substantives and the verbs. The substantives are what you see. It makes up the story and the environment. The verbs are what you do in the game. They are about making decisions and seeing the consequences in the form of feedback and rewards system regulated by the rules of the game.

Three factors are essential for a good design:
- Integration: learning is an essential part of the game. It means that students need to master the learning goals to succeed. Curriculum should be integrated in both the environment (the substantives) and the actions (the verbs).
- Motivation: the advantages of using a game format are attraction and motivation. It is used to engage and attract students interest and requires a good rewards, feedback and consequences system. The player is motivated when challenged and the progression follows the “flow”theory (see post 2: Go with the “flow”!)
- Focus: this part relates to the meaning of both verbs and substantives. The learning experience can be integrated within the setting of the game (the substantives) but if it is not integrated within the verbs, the focus of the learning experience will be lost.

I believe this article points out essential fields that we as teachers have to take into consideration when looking at the pedagogical value of a learning game. The integration of the curriculum in both the setting and the actions is as important as the motivation and the engagement values of the game.

A beautiful example is shown in the following video where a teacher guides his students through the setting of a video game in order to engage them, motivate them and stimulate their creativity resulting in a better quality writing.

Reference:

Elearn magazine: What makes a good learning game? By Simon Egenfeldt-Nielson.

Youtube: Creative writing with computer games

Module B: Human development

Scenario: Anne (2)
Anne couldn’t believe her luck when her former school invited her back to fill in a maternity leave position. Seven years on and she is now a permanent teacher at this old private college and about to embark on an overseas exchange for a year. The school has a significant boarder population with students drawn from the city and rural areas. Anne has developed a reputation as a great teacher, with her students achieving high grades and routinely making the top 10% of the state / territory cohort. Similarly her International Baccalaureate students have achieved outstanding results. Anne is looking forward to her travels and is excited about bringing back new ideas from overseas, as well as a little personal travel. Recently Anne’s school has opened a boarding house for rural Aboriginal Students, upon her return Anne will be taking on the role of coordinating this equity initiative. She has enjoyed teaching the students in this program for the last year. While it does entail extra work in preparing work to support the students and after school tutoring, she finds it very rewarding. Ann is hoping to develop some ideas on her study tour of Canada about how to help students from different cultural backgrounds develop empathy and understanding for each other, and learn from each others experiences and ways of viewing the world.

In this blog I am referring to the theories learned in the Module B and to the 8th provocation: "To what extend is teaching an intellectual pursuit?"

Anne has invested a lot of time and energy in establishing a boarding house for rural Aboriginal students. One of her main concern is to be able to cater for the different populations of students in the school. The goal of her trip to Canada is to gather information about different cultures and values and their implication in teaching and learning in the classroom. She also would like to learn more about how Canadian Indians are integrated in school and how the Canadian school system has recovered from the Canadian Indian residential school system (see article:Canada apologizes for 'killing the Indian in the child). She is particularly concerned about making her teaching meaningful for Aboriginal students and promoting good relationships between students from different background in order to maintain a positive and stimulating learning environment.

The historical similarities between Canada and Australia when it comes to inclusion of indigenous students in a strong western dominant culture is particularly relevant for Anne. The goal of her study tour is to build extra- knowledge and understanding of multiculturalism in a social constructivism manner. Canada is recovering from the failure of the forced attempt to assimilate Aboriginal People in Canada into European-Canadian society with compulsory boarding school. Following the closure of the schools in the 1960s and the official government apologies, many school in Canada have integrated Native studies including Aboriginal cultures, crafts languages, spirituality, knowledge of nature, and tours to indigenous heritage sites (Wotherspoon, R. 2006).

During adolescence, students undergoes huge psychological and social development involving the search of their identity and their place in the society (Erikson's stages of psychosocial development: Identity versus confusing, Krause chapter 3, page 110). Students' search of their self strongly depends on the social context of the individual, and adolescents are very sensitive to feedback from others and to comparison with others (Harter, Krause chapter 3, page 106) . A multicultural context can have a positive and enriching impact on the building of the students' identity but it can also be a challenge for Aboriginal students living in a boarding school separated from their families and their culture. This situation is also found in boarding schools in Canada, where students are often separated from their families and communities located in remote areas away from cities' high schools. Activities increasing empathy and perspective-taking skills are necessary to promote prosocial behaviour. It could be approach in a social constructivist manner (Piaget and Vygotsky) through conversations or shared problem solving tasks or activities. The feeling of community and collaboration in classrooms increases through offering more chances for students to talk together.                                                                   
Developing a positive self-concept is also essential for learning at this stage. Subjects have to be related to their life in order for students to feel valued and engaged. Learning is relevant if it refers to one's culture. Aboriginal students are not valued in a school system based on white middle class value. In order to respect multiculturalism and for indigenous students to achieve development of self-efficacy, the teacher needs to take the role of the culture broker between curriculum and students as it is mostly a curriculum based on western concepts (Aikenhead, 1996). Planning, teaching, and assessing have to be inclusive and culturally appropriate. The link between self-efficacy and student outcomes is powerfully illustrated in a study of indigenous Australian students in which self efficacy beliefs were found to play an important role in school outcomes (Purdie et al, 2000).

Anne's trip  to Canada will be an intellectual pursuit as she will be researching the Canadian education model about positive outcomes of inclusion of indigenous culture and values into the curriculum as well as techniques for developing  feelings of community and collaboration in a multicultural classroom.

References:

Aikenhead, G.S. (1996). Science education: Border crossing into the subculture of science. Studies in Science Education, 27, 1-52.
 

Canada apologizes for killing the 'Indian in the child' (Jun 11, 2008) http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/americas/news/article_1410655.php

Krause ch 3 p. 98-146 : Emotional and moral development.


Purdie, N. Tripcony, P. Boulton-Lewis, G Fanshawe, J and Gunstone, A (2000). Positive Self-identity for endogenous students and its relationship to school outcomes. Canberra. Department of Education. Training and Youth Affairs. 
 

Wotherspoon, R (2006). Teachers' work in Canadian aboriginal communities. Comparative Education Review, 50 (4), 672-694.

How can I engage my students?

Yesterday's lesson was about the periodic table of element, a lesson delivered to year 8 students in their chemistry class. How dry can this be? In the initial lesson on the subject, using lots of tools from her treasure chest, the teacher (my practicum mentor) managed to engage students in the subject and have raise their interest for the lessons to come.

The 2 hours lesson was carefully planned and broken down into 15mn-20mn small activities. She used a backward design and and inquiry based lesson. Starting with an assessment for learning in the form of a quick individual quiz, the following animated discussion demonstrated the initial engagement of the students. A coloring activity was then given to students to identify the different categories from the periodic table and color them in bright colors. Working in group of 5, the next task was to build a time-line using fluorescent paper, pictures and a short documentation about history of the table. The group separation technique (student were allocated a number from 1 to 4 which would become their group number) allowed students from different level to mix, share and complement their knowledge with the intention of developing social learning and community building.

This lesson illustrated beautifully a constructivist approach. During the initial assessment, students raised lots of key questions and subsequent activities were directed to answer some of these questions. Teaching was delivered through collective activities, discussions, hands-on practice, attractive audio-visual material and reading for a maximum learning retention.

It was a good example of a very successful lesson!