Category: EDUCATION

How To Address Common Project-Based Learning Challenges Through Culture-Building

contributed by Sara Segar, Experiential Learning Depot

I would never claim to be the world’s best project-based educator.

There have been ups and downs, some duds, and big mistakes. I have encountered every PBL challenge imaginable, but I’ve used them as opportunities to do better. I’ve learned that every PBL struggle is preventable with a solid PBL culture. 

What is a PBL culture? 

Project-based learning (PBL) is sustained inquiry that emphasizes authenticity, community, and real-world problems. PBL culture is the shared values, expectations, goals, and norms built around those PBL principles. When your students walk into the classroom, they agree to be active members of a PBL community. 

Not all students are there. Yet. The first step is to understand some of the most common PBL challenges.

Common Project-Based Learning Challenges

1. Apathy

Apathetic learners have been a challenge for me in the past. Project-based learning is student-centered, so little gets done if learners aren’t interested or invested. Knowing the source of the apathy is important, and that’s where culture-building fits in.

2. Project Incompletion

Some students struggle to complete PBLs due to task or time-management struggles. PBLs take time and require students to juggle many tasks. A little confidence-building can move the needle forward.

3. Burning Bridges

Community members play an essential role in project-based learning. When students arrange to work with a community expert and then don’t follow through, they burn bridges, which negatively impacts the entire classroom community. 

4. Low-Quality Work

Low-quality work is an expected challenge. Students produce final products that fall below their capabilities. When it comes to PBL, poor-quality work has big implications. Final products are designed to solve a problem for an authentic audience, so the intended audience takes the hit if quality is lacking. 

5. Low Productivity 

Periods of low productivity are normal. A culture of low productivity, however, is a problem. Project-based learning requires dedicated, active, and self-directed work periods. As a result, there are frequent opportunities for low productivity.

See also 25 Questions To Guide Teaching With Project-Based Learning

PBL Culture-Building Strategies

Those challenges can feel overwhelming. On the bright side, they’re all fixable by prioritizing culture-building. Implement the strategies outlined here and reinforce the culture you and your students have built together throughout the year.

1. Cultivate Strong Relationships

One of my strengths as a project-based teacher is fostering intrapersonal and interpersonal relationships within our learning community.

I employ various relationship-building tactics, including get-to-know-you PBLs, personal learning plans, team-building activities, and more. 

These strategies have helped my students form close connections with others, and enhance their ability to identify their needs, interests, and challenges. 

These strong relationships have helped me overcome many PBL challenges such as apathy and burned bridges. I can get to the source of the problem because intra- and interpersonal relationships are strong.

2. Co-Develop Classroom Norms 

Writing classroom norms is vital to reducing PBL challenges. I like to cocreate PBL-specific norms with my students during the first week of school. I put those norms somewhere visible and we revisit them together when challenges arise. 

Encourage students to write norms that address specific challenges. For example, “I will accept and offer kind and helpful feedback.” This example norm addresses low-quality work. 

3. Incorporate PBL Training for Students

Many of your students might be new to project-based learning (PBL). Inexperience with PBL can lead to problems such as project incompletion, low productivity, and low-quality work. Help students build PBL confidence through scaffolding and a training program.

I have implemented a mentorship-type program and a PBL training seminar, and I’ve had my upper-level project-based learners create a PBL training video for newcomers. 

4. Prioritize Skill-Building

Incorporating skill-building exercises or experiences into the learning day is game-changing. Producing a high-quality PBL involves various skills such as problem-solving, collaboration, communication, resourcefulness, time and task management, follow-through, and more.

Your students can and will acquire these skills in doing PBLs. However, giving them short and consistent skill-building exercises that tackle specific skill deficiencies can fast-track that process.

5. Set the Stage for Autonomy

Creating a culture of autonomy is a powerful tool for preventing PBL challenges. Set the stage so that your students are inspired, curious, and self-motivated. 

Provide opportunities for students to take the lead. They can write the classroom norms, run class meetings, coordinate authentic learning experiences, participate in class committees, design and lead their PBLs, create assessments, and more.

This approach sparks curiosity and engagement because learners are invested in the outcomes. PBL’s peskiest challenges fizzle out when there’s a culture of agency, self-direction, and passion. 

Conclusion

I believe a solid PBL culture is a cure-all. Try identifying the PBL challenges you’re experiencing right now. Then, start implementing some of the culture-building strategies. You’ll be amazed by the dramatic impact just one of these strategies can have on the community culture, and there’s no better time to start than right now!

Sara Segar’s first career was in field ecology, and this authentic experience inspired her to pursue experiential education. She taught at a student-led project-based high school for ten years, where PBL was the entire curriculum. In 2018, she founded Experiential Learning Depot to train educators in PBL, which she still does today. She also works at a Montessori school in Minneapolis and remains committed to project-based learning after 16 years.

by TeachThought Staff

As learning becomes increasingly digital, access becomes increasingly important.

The Flipped Classroom, for example, requires technology that would have been considered dramatic only a few years ago. Broadband access, CPU speed, graphics processing, multi-media production in terms of sound, image, film, and other innovations have placed significant demands on the technology industry.

Of course, it has been too eager to respond as an industry grounded in business principles.

Among those most under-appreciated of those responses has been the ‘cloud.’

Examples of Cloud-Based Learning

Google Classroom

Function: It enables teachers to create, distribute, and grade assignments paperlessly, fostering efficient communication and collaboration between students and educators.

Khan Academy

Function: It provides free, high-quality educational resources and personalized learning dashboards, allowing students to learn at their own pace and teachers to track progress effectively.

Coursera

Function: Offers access to courses from top universities and companies worldwide, promoting lifelong learning and skill development with flexible scheduling and certification options.

Edmodo

Benefit: It connects students, teachers, and parents on a single platform, enhancing classroom interactions with features like quizzes, assignments, and real-time feedback.

Benefits of Cloud-Based Learning

Benefit 1. Scalability and Updates

Educational content and tools can be easily scaled and updated in the cloud, ensuring learners can access the latest information and resources without the delays and expenses of traditional updates.

Benefit 2. Accessibility

Students and teachers can access educational materials anytime and anywhere, making learning more flexible and accommodating diverse schedules and learning environments.

The cloud offers access to all of your data at all times. This improves ‘dwell time’ with assignments and projects from various locations and promotes more diverse collaboration.

Benefit 3: Collaboration

Cloud-based platforms facilitate seamless collaboration among students and educators through shared documents, discussion forums, and real-time feedback, enhancing the learning experience.

Speaking of collaboration, the cloud–with Google Docs, for example—makes sharing, viewing, and real-time collaborative editing of media not only possible.

The cloud also supports simpler and more compelling curation of digital work in pursuit of digital portfolios.

Benefit 4: Cost-Effectiveness

The cloud reduces the need for physical textbooks, printed materials, and in-person training, cutting educational institutions and students’ costs while (potentially) providing high-quality resources.

by TeachThought Staff

Welcome to a new school year!

While most teachers and students have so much to look forward to as the new school year begins, at times the groans you will hear from the students are almost as loud as the more subtle groans of the teachers. The end of summer is always seen as a tragic end to freedom and fun. Like on Mondays, when the whole long week seems to loom threateningly in front of you, new school years can sometimes fill you with the same sort of dread. The good news is that dread is only based on imagined outcomes.

Your classroom indeed feeds off your energy. You are handed a classroom full of students excited to return but not so enthusiastic to study. You can even use their summer slide to your advantage and bring back the joy of learning. It isn’t as monumental a task as it seems.

Ideas For Easing Students Back to School

1. Reboot your teaching techniques 

The new school year presents you with an unbelievable opportunity to start afresh. This means you can spend quality time with yourself, reflecting on the things that went well in the past year and the things you can revise and improve. It’s always a good idea to find out who is in your class and to start personalized learning. Introduce technology into your classroom, use more visual aids, and make your lessons more practical. It’s a good time to create goals that promote student-centric learning.

2. Create a Welcoming Environment

No matter your students’ age, we are all visual creatures. Returning to a drab and grey class can put most people off the idea of learning. Make their return a thing to celebrate. Throw a welcome back party. Open up the windows. Add some color to the room. Create student boards they want to be featured on. There are are a million things you could do depending on how much time and access you have to resources.

Decorate the Classroom: Use vibrant and welcoming decorations. Consider themes that are engaging and inclusive.

Personalize the Space: Allow students to bring something from home to decorate their desks or classroom bulletin boards.

3. Establish Routines Early

Morning Meetings: Start the day with a meeting to set the tone and review the schedule.

Consistent Schedules: Maintain a consistent schedule to help students feel secure and understand expectations.

4. Icebreaker Activities

Get-to-Know-You Games: Activities like “Two Truths and a Lie” or “Find Someone Who” can help students learn about each other.

Team-Building Exercises: Simple team-building activities can foster community and collaboration.

6. Engage in Mindfulness and Meditation

Mindfulness Exercises: Start the day or transition times with short mindfulness exercises to help students focus and reduce anxiety.

7. Incorporate Fun Learning Activities

Interactive Learning: Use games and interactive activities to review material from the previous year.

Creative Projects: Assign creative projects that allow students to express themselves and share their summer experiences.

8. Talk to Parents/Families

Parent Newsletters: Send home newsletters to keep parents informed and involved in the back-to-school process.

Open House Events: Host an open house for parents to see the classroom and meet the teacher.

Provide Emotional Support

Check-Ins: Regularly check in with students to see their feelings and address any concerns.

Counseling Resources: Ensure students are aware of counseling resources available to them.

9. Set Goals and Expectations

Goal Setting: Help students set personal and academic goals for the year.

Classroom Contracts: Create a classroom contract with input from students to establish clear expectations and responsibilities.

10. Rewind & Recap

There is no point in starting your lessons if your students will see stars anyway. Use the first week to ease them back into your classroom processes by exciting them. Time is of the essence, but there is no debating the importance of a good foundation. Remember how you hated Math when the concepts the teacher taught you went over your head? Do you think you would have understood better if you were more comfortable–not just engaged, but at ease in the classroom?

One idea? Create an elaborate hangman game: Divide the class into teams and divide their lessons. Each group will have to think up words for the other groups to guess. Once the word is guessed correctly, the group can explain the term/concept.

11. Use Video Games

Also, consider teaching with video games. You will see that gamification and using new-age media in education can be powerful tools to ease students back into the classroom. You may find students—especially those put off by a traditional classroom—completely at ease when dealing with video games and related technology. One example is this small town in Mexico that is unleashing a new generation of geniuses using the very simple concept of self-study and technology.

Let your students enjoy a couple of hours a week in the computer lab, engaging in online learning games,  discovering things about a subject a textbook can’t teach you. After all, kids learn and retain these lessons better when they use them practically – even if they only have access to a virtual lab.

12. Create A Simple Game Show

Host your own game show:  I know pop quizzes are a universally hated concept but imagine you play it in the style of your favorite game show – Minute to Win It, Hollywood Squares, Family Feud, and one quiz show I recently discovered on my trip to England – Never Mind the Buzzcocks. If you cannot pick the kind of quiz format you want to follow, you could always divide the class into teams and each group could pick a format and create their own quizzes around foundation topics that are important to know this year. Create fun rounds, each round carrying certain points. Add a buzzer to the mixture and you are all ready to go.

Take a deep breath, brew yourself some nice tea, and sit back. The ideas in your head will become a concrete plan, and going back to school will seem like a cinch this year. Whatever your plans for your class this year, know that you are going to be amazing, and in being that, you’re going to let your class come into its own.

by TeachThought Staff

Life can be crushingly busy–especially if you’re an educator or any other profession where deadlines are constant and the pressure is, unfortunately, unrelenting.

With that in mind, keeping your schedule organized and managing your time efficiently is more important than ever. With so many calendar apps available for iOS, it can be tough to find the one that really fits your needs. Whether you’re balancing work meetings, personal appointments, or family activities, the right calendar app can make life much easier. Below is a together a list of the best calendar apps for iOS to help you streamline your planning and ensure you never miss an important event.

From the native Apple Calendar on your iPhone or iPad, to the platofrm-agonistic apps like Fantastical and Timepage by Moleskine, there’s probably omething here that is worth a look.

If you’re deep into the Google ecosystem, Google Calendar offers powerful scheduling tools, while Microsoft Outlook provides a seamless email and calendar combo. Families can stay coordinated with Cozi Family Organizer, and if need customization, you’ll appreciate BusyCal’s flexibility.

You can find the list below.

1. Apple Calendar

• Features: Native iOS integration, Siri support, natural language input, seamless integration with other Apple services.
• Best For: Users who prefer a straightforward and reliable calendar app that’s deeply integrated with the Apple ecosystem.

2. Google Calendar

• Features: Smart event suggestions, integration with Google services, multiple calendar support, reminders, goals, and tasks.
• Best For: Users who rely heavily on Google’s ecosystem and need powerful scheduling tools.

3. Fantastical

• Features: Natural language event creation, beautiful and intuitive design, integration with various calendar services, weather forecast, tasks, and conference call detection.
• Best For: Users who want a feature-rich and user-friendly calendar app with advanced scheduling capabilities.

4. Microsoft Outlook

• Features: Email and calendar integration, intelligent scheduling, meeting management, and integration with Microsoft services.
• Best For: Users who need a unified email and calendar solution, especially those in a Microsoft-centric environment.

5. Timepage by Moleskine

• Features: Elegant design, timeline view, heat maps for availability, weather forecast, and smart notifications.
• Best For: Users who appreciate aesthetic design and want a visually appealing calendar app.

6. Calendars by Readdle

• Features: Natural language input, task management, integration with Google Calendar, and customizable views.
• Best For: Users who need a flexible and powerful calendar app with robust task management features.

7. BusyCal

• Features: Customizable views, smart filters, integrated to-dos, weather, and time zone support.
• Best For: Power users who need extensive customization and detailed calendar views.

8. Informant 5

• Features: Calendar, tasks, notes, contacts, and customizable views. It offers powerful project and task management features.
• Best For: Users who need a comprehensive productivity app that combines calendar, tasks, and notes.

9. WeekCalendar

• Features: Customizable week view, calendar syncing, event templates, and a widget for quick access.
• Best For: Users who prefer detailed week views and need quick, at-a-glance scheduling.

10. Cozi Family Organizer

• Features: Shared family calendar, to-do lists, shopping lists, meal planning, and family journal.
• Best For: Families who need to coordinate schedules and activities, sharing events and tasks among family members.

Each of these calendar apps offers unique features and advantages, catering to different needs and preferences. Whether you need a simple and integrated solution, a powerful scheduling tool, or a family organizer, there’s an app on this list that can help you manage your time more effectively.

Setting specific goals isn’t just about ticking off checkboxes; it’s about charting a path toward academic excellence and personal growth. As a college student, you juggle lectures, exams, and study sessions. That’s where learning goals come into play—they help you focus, measure your progress, and keep your eyes on the prize, whether acing your finals or mastering a complex concept.

If you’re overwhelmed with the mountain of essays and assignments, remember there’s help around the corner. You can partner with an online essay writer for easier learning and better results. But first, let us help you determine your learning goals. 

What is a Learning Goal?

A learning goal is a clear and concise statement that outlines what you aim to learn or accomplish in a specific area of your studies. Unlike general hopes or wishes, a learning goal is targeted, giving you a specific endpoint to aim for. For example, instead of vaguely wanting to “get better at math,” a learning goal would be “understanding and applying the quadratic formula successfully in algebra.”

Setting these goals is crucial because they provide direction and motivation. They help you organize your study time effectively, ensuring every hour you invest is a step toward something meaningful. Having these goals allows you to monitor your progress, which can be incredibly satisfying and motivating.

How to Set Effective Goals

Now that you know the definition of learning goals, let’s see how to set an objective that will be effective. 

• Be Specific: Unclear plans are difficult to attain. Specify what you want to accomplish.
• Make it Measurable: Put numbers to it if you can. How many chapters will you read? How many practice essays will you write?
• Achievable: Aim high but stay realistic. Overly ambitious goals can be discouraging.
• Relevant: Your objectives should match your overall educational or employment goals.
• Time-bound: Set a deadline. When do you hope to accomplish this goal?

Learning Goals Examples for Core Academic Subjects

Navigating different academic subjects requires a set of clear and specific goals to ensure success and deeper understanding. A student who starts a plan to get a better grade in a course has a goal that reflects proactive academic management and personal accountability. Here are the examples of learning goals for major subjects:

Math

Mathematics is all about understanding concepts and applying them effectively. Aim to:

• Master the fundamentals of algebra to solve equations and inequalities.
• Understand and apply the principles of geometry to real-world problems.
• Develop skills to analyze and interpret statistical data.
• Learn calculus concepts to differentiate and integrate functions.
• Improve problem-solving speed and accuracy in quantitative sections.
• Explore advanced topics like discrete mathematics for computer science applications.
• Learn to use mathematical software tools like MATLAB or R for computations.

Science

Science goals encompass a broad scope of fields:

• Master the basic concepts of Newtonian physics.
• Explore biological systems and their functions in human biology.
• Learn to document and present scientific findings accurately.
• Understand chemical properties and reactions in organic chemistry.
• Analyze the impact of environmental changes on ecosystems.
• Develop proficiency in using scientific equipment and conducting experiments safely.
• Study the principles of genetics and their applications in real-world scenarios.

Literature

Literature encourages exploration and analysis of written works:

• Analyze classic literary works and understand their historical context.
• Compare and contrast different literary genres.
• Improve ability to write structured literary essays.
• Explore various literary theories and apply them to texts.
• Develop interpretive skills to understand symbolism.
• Create a portfolio of personal responses to different texts.

History

Examples of student learning goals for history learners include: 

• Analyze the causes and effects of significant historical events.
• Compare different historical interpretations and perspectives.
• Develop skills to assess historical sources critically.
• Study the development of political systems and ideologies.
• Understand the cultural, social, and economic factors in history.
• Learn to write comprehensive history essays.

English

English learning goals focus on language mastery and effective communication:

• Develop an advanced vocabulary for academic and professional use.
• Master the fundamentals of grammar.
• Improve writing skills across various styles, including expository and persuasive.
• Enhance reading comprehension of complex texts.
• Learn to construct well-argued essays and reports.
• Improve editing and proofreading skills for clarity and accuracy.

Foreign Languages

Learning a foreign language can have the following objectives:

• Achieve conversational fluency in the target language.
• Understand and apply basic grammar of the foreign language.
• Develop a vocabulary for everyday use and professional contexts.
• Practice listening skills through audio resources and real-life conversations.
• Use language skills in real-world situations, such as travel or business.

Art

Art goals can foster creativity and technical skills, for example:

• Master basic drawing and painting techniques.
• Explore various mediums and materials, like sculpture or digital art.
• Study art history to understand different movements and influences.
• Develop a personal artistic style and portfolio.
• Learn to critique art constructively and analytically.
• Utilize technology in art creation, such as graphic design software.

Conclusion

Learning goals are more than just academic targets; they are stepping stones to greater understanding and success in your college career. By setting and pursuing well-thought-out goals, you’re building a foundation of knowledge and skills to support your academic and career aspirations for years.

Featured image attribution Unsplash

by Terry Heick

My wife is a schoolteacher, and recently I’ve been listening to her online meetings.

And there have been a lot of them.

It’s July 2024 and a week or three from the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year in the United States depending on your local school district’s schedule.

Yesterday, I was at a cafe sitting next to what seemed to be a group of teachers and they had a lot of ideas.

And a lot of enthusiasm.

Over the low but constant noise of most cafes, some words and phrases were audible:

Data.

Goal.

Standards.

Vision.

Fidelity.

Roll out.

More about data.

Activity.

Track.

Something about dots and dot walls and data walls.

They talked about goals.

Parents.

Groups and grouping.

Tracking.

Programs.

Data, again.

Fidelity, again.

Communication.

The district.

More tracking (based on grouping and data).

The gist of it all was clear and I could hear the eagerness and buzz lifting up away from the table. It’s July and school is starting soon and there are things to do and teachers are clearly busy, busy, busy.

But it wasn’t just buzz. The was more to it. Something just beneath the surface.

Mindnumbing-ness

My wife has had 8-10 of these meetings since late last week—faculty trainings where she’s being trained on things she needs trained on and then faculty meetings to discuss the schedule for upcoming trainings.

It’s exhausting to hear but, with only a few exceptions here and there, it is all numbing. There is a kind of forced energy but the numb bit is both a cause and effect: another year, another series of sprints.

A few thoughts–

Teaching is a lot work. A lot.

This has always been true but, for many educators, it’s gone from exhausting to unsustainable.

All of the planning and energy busts are followed by something close to a slog or dredge, which itself is followed up by an annoyed kind of fatigue, and then finished as entirely depleted by the end of the school year.

Of course, this varies greatly from teacher to teacher. It depends on factors, including building and climate, mindset, relationships with parents, student engagement, and classroom management, the function of various standards in your teaching and curriculum, the quality of the PLCs—if they are used in your building—and so on.

So much goes into teaching, and so describe the profession as an exhausting slog that is barely endurable by the end of the year is a magnificent over-generalization and probably disillusioned.

The point here isn’t necessarily to mark the general satisfaction of teachers over the course of the school year, but rather to notice the passion and enthusiasm of many teachers in July and how it will, sadly, wain as the year progresses.

Policies vs Children

There is so much to do and plan and prepare and create spaces for that there is very little left for human conversations about the teacher and about the student. That’s the broadest lesson here, for me.

July energy is markedly different from the spring semester.

And this isn’t just a matter of energy being higher and lower. Rather, as the school year continues, there is a shift from vision and creativity and even a bit of enthusiasm, to a quieter and plainer sense of effort.

Take ‘July’ as a metaphor—a bridge month from the summer to the upcoming school year. (The idea of the teachers get the summer off is a dated one, but that’s another post entirely.)

The level of energy from teachers in July is often, and understandably, much higher than it is in late November, never mind March or April of the following year.

July is a beginning.

A Few Strategies For Sustaining Your Enthusiasm For Teaching During The School Year

1. Pace Yourself

Pacing, as an obvious solution here, requires the luxury of pacing, which many teachers don’t have.

The idea is that the energy levels that are both tempting and often necessary before the school year starts can often set schools up for failure because educators create these necessary, set of plans to try to meet student needs and start off with the best intentions simply.

2. Create Moments

Or recognize them, but whatever you do appreciate. Just as it can be difficult in life—but also rewarding—being present for the individual moments during a lesson, for a small group activity, or conversation with a student all gather to create a larger body of work called teaching.

2. Set Realistic Goals

Setting achievable goals helps maintain motivation and reduces burnout. Break the school year into manageable segments with specific, attainable objectives for each period.

Create a yearly plan with milestones and celebrate small victories along the way. This could include mastering a new teaching strategy, implementing a successful project, or simply staying on top of grading.

3. Prioritize Self-Care

This can be, just as a can be in your personal, but self-care is absolutely essential for sustaining energy and enthusiasm. Taking care of your physical, emotional, and mental health helps you stay resilient and positive.

Schedule regular exercise, maintain a balanced diet, and ensure you get enough sleep. Incorporate relaxation techniques such as mindfulness or yoga into your daily routine. Make time for hobbies and activities that bring you joy outside of teaching.

4. Build a Support Network

A strong support network can provide encouragement, share ideas, and offer emotional support during challenging times.

Connect with colleagues, join professional learning communities, and participate in teacher groups or forums. Regularly meet with a mentor or coach for guidance and feedback. Don’t hesitate to seek help when you need it.

5. Stay Organized and Efficient

Organization and efficiency in planning and classroom management can save time and reduce stress, allowing more energy for teaching.

Use tools like planners, apps, or digital calendars to keep track of tasks and deadlines. Develop routines for common tasks such as grading, lesson planning, and classroom setup. Delegate responsibilities when possible and use time-saving teaching strategies, such as flipped classrooms or project-based learning.

6. Reflect and Adapt

Regular reflection helps identify what’s working and what isn’t, allowing for adjustments that keep your teaching practice fresh and engaging.

Set aside time each week to reflect on your teaching. Keep a journal to document successes and challenges, and brainstorm ways to improve. Solicit feedback—formal or informal—from students and colleagues and be open to trying new approaches or techniques.

7. Social-Emotional Teaching

and so far as you were able, try to create learning activities and lessons that lend themselves well to joy or fun or positive experiences for both the students and yourself. It’s hard for teaching to be fine, and sustainable, the work.

8. Embrace It All

That doesn’t mean to lower your expectations, but to realize that an all professions there are challenging times or facets of the job they can feel draining.

Teaching is unique and that it is a kind of mix of procedure and creativity, and that can make it both a challenge and an opportunity to enjoy.

Strategies for Teaching AI Concepts Without Technology

by TeachThought Staff

Preface: This post is primarily for general content-area K-12 teachers (likely 6-12). Teaching AI theory, for example, is well beyond these ideas.

You don’t need a wind tunnel to learn about aerodynamics or boiling water to help students understand boiling points.

How you teach something depends, obviously, on what you’re teaching. Hands-on approaches can support creating compelling, engaging, and memorable learning experiences.

However, skills and ideas can be introduced, practiced, mastered, or reviewed anytime.

For example, it’s possible to introduce students to AI concepts without relying on technology.

You don’t need a wind tunnel to learn about aerodynamics or boiling water to help students understand boiling points.

By using teaching with analogies, discussions, and hands-on activities, students can begin to understand AI in an engaging and accessible way.

Let’s take a look.

Introducing AI in the Classroom Through Creative, Hands-on Methods

1. Understanding AI Concepts

Start by helping students grasp core AI ideas like algorithms, data analysis, and pattern recognition through traditional teaching methods

Analogies and Stories: Compare an algorithm to a recipe a chef follows, highlighting the step-by-step process. Use stories to explain AI, such as likening it to a detective solving a mystery by piecing together clues.

Discussions and Debates: To encourage critical thinking, engage students in conversations about AI ethics, societal impacts, and future possibilities. Use case studies of AI origins or advancements to help them make broader sense of AI as both a tool and a product or symbol of technological progress.

Compare an algorithm to a recipe a chef follows, highlighting the step-by-step process. Use stories to explain AI, such as likening it to a detective solving a mystery by piecing together clues.

Concept Mapping: Have students create visual maps connecting different AI terms and ideas to help them see how various aspects of AI interrelate.

AI in Everyday Life: Introduce an ‘AI Diary’ project in which students log their interactions with AI-driven technologies for a week and discuss their observations in class.

See also 10 Roles For Artificial Intelligence In Education

2. Simulation and Role-Playing

Simulate AI processes with hands-on activities

Human Algorithms: Students can act as parts of an algorithm by sorting themselves by height or birth month. This helps them understand sorting processes.

Decision Trees: Create exercises where students make decisions based on set criteria, mimicking how AI makes choices.

Pattern Recognition: Engage students in activities that require them to recognize patterns, such as trends in historical events or sequences of numbers.

Physical Computing Simulation: Design and ‘program’ cardboard robots to perform simple tasks, introducing concepts of sensors and actuators.

Design and ‘program’ cardboard robots to perform simple tasks, introducing concepts of sensors and actuators.

3. Data Collection and Analysis

Teach the importance of data in AI through manual data collection

Surveys and Experiments: Conduct surveys or experiments and analyze the data to identify patterns and make predictions.

Math Integration: Use math lessons to teach statistics and probability, linking these concepts to how AI processes data.

Historical Data Analysis: Analyze historical data to identify trends and demonstrate how AI forecasts future events.

Data Visualization: Create visual representations of data to help identify patterns and make predictions, similar to AI systems.

4. Problem-Solving Activities

Encourage logical thinking and problem-solving skills essential for AI

Logic Puzzles and Games: Introduce puzzles and games that require logical thinking and pattern recognition, such as Sudoku or chess.

Creative Challenges: Set challenges requiring innovative problem-solving, like building a structure with limited resources.

Algorithm Design: Have students create algorithms for simple tasks, such as organizing chores or scheduling events.

Computational Thinking Exercises: Create step-by-step instructions for tasks, teaching abstraction and problem decomposition.

Have students create algorithms for simple tasks, such as organizing chores or scheduling events.

5. Critical Thinking and Ethics

Explore AI’s ethical dimensions through case studies and debates

Case Studies: Discuss real-world AI applications and their societal impacts.

Ethical Debates: Debate AI-related ethical issues like privacy and job displacement.

Philosophical Questions: Pose questions like ‘Can a machine be truly intelligent?’ to encourage deep thinking.

Future of Work Discussions: Research how AI impacts careers and discuss societal adaptations to technological changes.

6. Cross-Disciplinary Projects

Incorporate AI concepts into other subjects

Literature and AI: Read and analyze stories exploring AI themes, like ‘Frankenstein’ or ‘I, Robot.’

History and AI: Study the history of technological advancements and their societal impacts.

Art and AI: Create artworks inspired by AI-generated pieces and discuss AI in digital art.

Science and AI: Explore AI applications in scientific research, such as analyzing astronomical data.

Music and AI: Discuss AI-generated music and its implications for creativity and the future of music composition.

Science and AI: Explore AI applications in scientific research, such as analyzing astronomical data.

7. Reflective Writing

Encourage students to reflect on their learning

Journals and Essays: Keep journals or write essays on AI concepts and future predictions.

Peer Reviews: Foster collaborative learning through peer reviews of reflections and essays.

Future Scenarios: Write scenarios of future daily life with advanced AI technology.

Collaborative AI Stories: Write short stories about AI’s impact on various societal areas in groups.

8. AI-Inspired Teaching Methods

Enhance teaching methods by drawing inspiration from AI

Personalized Learning Paths: Allow students to choose different routes through topics based on interests and prior knowledge.

Adaptive Assessments: Design quizzes that adjust difficulty based on student performance.

Flipped Classroom Approach: Use class time for personalized support and advanced discussions after students engage with content beforehand.

by TeachThought Staff

In just the last decade, the image of technology in the classroom has shifted from rows of desktops in a dedicated computer lab (all facing the same direction) to one where a variety of different devices coexist, often uneasily, in and out of the lab.

The role of the teacher, on the other hand, remains dynamic as ever: morphing hour to hour, if not minute to minute, between lecturer, coach, guide, mentor, referee, and on-call problem solver. Has the unleashing of technology out of the lab, away from bulky desktops, provided the classroom with better tools to support the teacher in all her roles, and the students in all their activities?

Terry Heick’s article on ‘second screen learning’ (What Is The Sync Teaching Method?) addresses this question head-on. He provides a framework for understanding how a 1:1 (or 1:few) environment can best be leveraged. How can today’s potentially ubiquitous technology support the variety of interactions between students and content in a classroom? What should we think about when we think about the sorts of interaction between the teacher’s device and the students’ that may best support and extend a classroom’s effectiveness?

The difference between 1:1 and second screen learning ‘is a matter of syncing.’ Synced learning requires two potentially opposing technologies: one, the ability to engage the same core material, and two, the ability to engage the material independently. “In second screen learning classrooms, the teachers and students are ‘sync’d’ content-wise with one another, while still having the tools, strategies, freedom, and space to clarify, extend, create, or connect the learning.”

This notion of a class that moves fluidly from a focus on a single theme to individual or small group activities, and back again, is not new. The teacher guides the class as a ‘conductor’ while unleashing each student to delve into topics on their own as well, harnessing each individual’s curiosity and aptitude. And this occurs routinely with or without digital media.

This post is a brief introduction to the technologies that can support a synced classroom using second screens—focusing on the use of web-based resources. As web-based resources play an ever-larger role in K-12 education, the ability to better wrangle and adapt them to the natural rhythms of classroom instruction rises in importance.

The hope is for this discussion to be useful to educators thinking about what technologies to adopt in amplifying the ‘syncing’ that they already practice.

5 Steps To The Sync’d Classroom

Step 1: Sync’d Resources: Common Access To A Predetermined Set Of Educational Resources

An anchor for sync’d learning is the ability to have students engage with a common set of educational resources curated by the teacher. From email and browser bookmarks to more elaborate social bookmarking and curating services, the options are many.

To enable deeper engagement, bookmarking can be supplemented by two additional features: the ability to add commentary, and the ability to freely add to one’s own collection of resources.

The ability to comment on resources enables teachers to put resources in their proper context and sequence. Students in turn can engage with the resources with questions, reactions, answers, and thoughts.

The initial set of resources provided by the ‘conductor’ becomes a core around which the students can start to create their personal collections, be it videos, scientific articles, or URLs of apps that provide a ‘gamified’ introduction to programming.

Even with just these elements, a classroom may be ‘sync’d.’ Whether loosely around a collection of resources and comments or more tightly on a page that the teacher is discussing live, the teacher can vary the interaction to create a synced experience. The following steps, however, would significantly ease the burden on both the teacher and the student–and support interactions not possible before.

Step 2: Sync’d Navigation–The Same Thing At The Same Time

Though ‘synchronous navigation’ may bring to mind a lecture, armed with second screens, it can be more. Because most digital resources are at least partially interactive, landing on the same page or using the same app does not require everyone to engage with the content in exactly the same way.

However, screen sharing apps usually work only in one direction—very much like a ‘first screen’ (the teacher’s) on a projector. Instead, teachers should be able to take all students to a page and, perhaps after a context-setting introduction, set them free to explore on their own. Synchronous navigation differs from screen sharing because it provides a common path around which exploration is encouraged.

To use both definitions of the word, the teacher is a ‘conductor,’ guiding where necessary, corralling everyone in the same direction when called for, and asking everyone to disembark and go off on their own when appropriate. Coupled with the ability to view the teacher’s comments and the ability to contribute one’s own thoughts, synchronous navigation supports a blend of guidance and freedom, of focus and creativity.

Students should be allowed to lead these sessions as well—to present their finished work, engage their peers and their teacher in the research phase of a project, and lead each other in smaller groups as a part of everyday learning.

Step 3: Different things at Different Times—Switching Between Sync’d & Unsync’d

A blend of synchronous and independent activity may be determined on the fly. This blend is often the magic of live teaching, where instruction is leavened by questions, pauses, changes in direction, as well as time for independent work. So the ability to shift fluidly between the two is critical. Even if planned, the easier the mechanics of the transition, the more transitions there can be.

Necessary elements include the ability of the teacher or a student to pause navigation to allow for discussions. They also include allowing students to ‘catch up’ and re-engage after having gone off on tangents of their own.

It should also support the full use of the shared resources in Step 1—to guide a session, to add new resources during a session, and the ability to comment on everything. Figure 1 shows a simple example of the type of progression possible with ‘on the fly’ switching.

Step 4: Sharing Ideas—Communication & Collaboration

Although teachers can incorporate existing messaging and note-taking apps to support Steps 1-3, the ideal would be to have commenting, messaging, and chatting be integrated into a common platform.

For example, synchronous navigation would include a messaging function. Even when all participants are in the same physical space, writing comments, questions, and answers through an integrated messaging function will provide a more focused channel for engagement, to augment verbal exchange as well as substitute for it.

To encourage dialog and collaboration, discoveries and comments should trigger a ‘new message’-like notification. And once notified, participants should be able to have both synchronous and asynchronous discussions. Much like how synchronized navigation should be switchable on the fly, commenting and messaging should also support the seamless transition between synced, real-time discussions (similar to chatting or instant messaging) and conversations adapted to each student’s own pace (more like email).

Step 5: The Glue—From The Individual To The Group

This brings us to the synced classroom’s structure. Whether the entire class is synced on the same page at the same time or smaller groups are synced loosely, the teacher must determine both the degree of syncing and the scale of it for different occasions. And the two decisions may be tightly related. Technology can help by making it easy to create different groupings for different purposes—from the single student all the way to a combination of multiple classes.

Different grouping should also exist simultaneously, for collaboration, messaging, and synchronous navigation. These need to act as the glue that creates the context for synced learning at different scales. One can imagine the cross-cutting groupings in Figure 2 all going through their own seesawing between synchronous and independent activities on their screens over the course of a day, with the teacher orchestrating as much as needed or desired.

A Successfully Synced Classroom

As Terry Heick reminds us, “Interaction is possible with teachers and textbooks as well as it is with apps and tablets, but not on the same scale, with the same degree of personalization, or the same engaging form factors.” Sync teaching using technology is valuable because the analogous method of sync teaching without technology is effective. The appropriate enabling technology, especially when combined with the “abundance of engaging and flexible learning resources on the internet,” becomes a way to amplify a tried and true method.

To be even remotely useful, the technology outlined above needs to be convenient. For it to be relied upon by teachers looking to support an adaptive and responsive learning environment, it too has to provide an adaptive and responsive service. So the challenge is to combine the above functions in a way that is intuitive and easy to use, if not also a little fun.

by Terry Heick

Phonemic awareness is knowing that certain letters make certain sounds.

Phonemic awareness is knowing that sounds can blend together in predictable and unpredictable ways.

Phonemic awareness is about loving the sounds that letters can make, then noticing common patterns across symbols, media, and languages.

Phonemic awareness makes decoding possible.

Decoding is being able to blend sounds together to ‘make’ words you recognize.

Decoding is collecting as many words as possible into your ‘sight word bank’ to increase your reading speed and comprehension.

Decoding is recognizing common word parts used in many words and using knowledge of those parts to predict the meaning of unfamiliar words.

Decoding enables comfortable reading speeds and oral fluency.

Decoding makes literacy possible.

Literacy is about comfortable reading speeds, sufficient background knowledge to make sense of embedded ideas, and syntax.

Literacy means understanding that the order of words in a sentence affects meaning (and includes a basic grasp of grammar categories).

Literacy is about knowing how punctuation can enhance meaning.

Literacy is choosing to read a variety of authentic texts and digital media for a variety of authentic purposes.

Literacy is thinking about what you read after you’re done, then sharing what you read with others.

Literacy is, in part, reading important texts because you want to, then using those ideas to inform your behavior.

When practiced well, literacy breaks down who we were to create who we might become.

See also The Definition Of Critical Reading

Literacy makes critical literacy possible.

Critical literacy begins with being able to decode a text, and then analyze it for meaning, implicit and explicit themes, the relationship of a text to a given perspective, existing texts, biases, and so on.

Critical literacy is about a text and the motives of the people behind the text. (Critical literacy might insist that authors cannot be separated from what they write in the same way as one’s ‘self’ should be seen as indistinguishable from one’s work.)

Critical literacy is also about understanding how what we read and consume affects us. Critical literacy, then, suggests we become critical consumers of any given media. Think: What am I ‘consuming’, and what might I do as a result?

See also: Stop Worrying About Screen Time

Critical literacy, further, means understanding the potential human value of a text or digital media–value to people rather than ‘literary canons’ and purely academic pursuits.

Critical literacy means understanding the relationship between seemingly disparate media forms (e.g., books, social media, music, etc) as examples of human expression.

Critical literacy is also about creating--writing, socially sharing, remixing, etc. (Reading and writing should be seen as two hemispheres of the same sphere.)

Critical literacy, now more than ever, recognizes that human expression depends on prevailing local technology. As that technology changes, so do communication patterns. One things impacts another.

Critical literacy makes cultural literacy possible.

Cultural literacy is, in part, about acquiring knowledge and perspective that helps us create that which is worth creating, and realizing that answer is different for everyone.

Cultural literacy can support cultivating genius, disrupting inequalities, creating sustainable systems, emphasizing our cultural memberships, and seeing our own role in the various natural, digital, and human ecologies we are a part of. (Digital citizenship, for example.)

Cultural literacy depends on our knowing who’s said what and why–which messages and themes and ideas persist within them. This means we have to read, understand what we read, critically examine what we read, and use those lessons to inform our behavior.

To do this we have to choose to read.

To choose to read, we have to be able and choose to closely scrutinize texts and digital media.

To do this, we have to know what words mean–what they really, really mean.

To do this, we have to know that in digital media, modalities (e.g., light, color, sound) are symbols just like letters are symbols in texts, and these symbols–if we’re attendant to those sounds and the possibilities–can change the world.

Sounds lead to words, words lead to ideas, ideas lead to perspectives, perspectives lead to behavioral change, behavioral change–if done critically–leads to a better world.

by Terry Heick

It’s possible that there is no time in the history of education that our systems of educating have been so out of touch with the communities. Growing populations, shifting communities, and increasingly inwardly-focused schools all play a role.

In light of the access of modern technology, social media, and new learning models that reconfigure the time and place learning happens, it doesn’t have to be that way. Schools can evolve while simultaneously growing closer to the people they serve.

First, for the purpose of this post let’s think of technology and social media as distinct.

Technology has many forms, but in education, it is most visible in terms of computing hardware and software. The hardware is pretty obvious—phones, wearable technology from Apple and Android, iPads, personal computers, Macs, Chromebooks, graphing calculators, and the like.

The software is a bit more inconspicuous because it’s embedded in the hardware. Here we have fundamental PC software like Microsoft Windows or Mac OS; we have productivity suites like Microsoft Office; we have web browsers like Google Chrome or Safari or Firefox; and we have niche programs like reading assessment tools or educational games, which function like what we’d now consider computer-based apps.

There are also less visible forms of technology that make teaching and learning with technology possible, including electricity (you take it for granted until it doesn’t work) WiFi (imagine your classroom looking like it does behind your television—wires everywhere), the cloud (which enables mobile learning, hardware sharing, flipped classrooms, and other advances), and more. Each of these technology tools is critical in their own way, working together to make whatever we’d define as a ‘modern classroom‘ and ‘modern learning‘ work.

But hidden with this list is one bit of seemingly dated software that can be concept-mapped on its own in a million other directions of possibility. No one gets excited by it, but it still makes the internet go: the web browser.

Although itself just a program that translates html code to visual information, the modern web browser has become a vessel that everything else attaches itself to. For schools looking to connect with communities, it also actuates social media channels like Instagram, twitter, facebook, and pinterest, and allows for the blogging or site updates that keep parents informed.

None of this is new, really. The technology has been there for years. Parents have always been ‘informed’—but of what? That’s where there is potential. What we’re communicating as educators, when, and why.

So what can social media ‘do’?

Solicit mentoring relationships

Whether organized by a district, school, teacher, family, or the student themselves, connecting with potential mentors through social media is compelling because it’s A) Public—transparent and safer than ‘social media’ sounds and B) Because it’s public, it can encourage companies to respond when they may not in private.

Connecting students to the artists, architects, engineers, makers, writers, farmers, cooks, and other ‘roles’ for the purpose of mentoring and apprenticeship is one way to begin to repair the disconnect between schools and communities.

This one is closely related to the idea of ‘mentoring’ in the sense that it connects students with people outside of the classroom from their community. But rather than for the purpose of mentoring, it could be less involved—topical but authentic communication between those leading the community, and those living in it, and social media is the perfect way to make it happen.

Share ‘school work’

Ideally authentic products and artifacts produced through new skills and knowledge useful to people and communities.

Want work to leave the classroom? Use social media to publish it with the world. Worried about privacy? Assign students anonymous codes or avatars to publish under. Used closed communities (Facebook Groups, for example) that, while not fully open, are still school-wide. There are ways.

Curate cultural artifacts and ‘local memory’

Today, museums do the work of ‘curating,’ but that’s a crude way to preserve the cultural artifacts that matter. Why can’t schools do this? And why can’t technology be used to streamline and crowdsource it?

How To Connect Schools And Communities Using Technology

In addition to connecting with the world students live and breathe in, new learning models afforded by technology are also useful in reconnecting with families, neighborhoods, and native places students have affection for.

Flipped Classroom

The flipped classroom is one way to exchange where learning happens—or at least what kind of learning happens where. Here, the roles are reversed: Students are exposed to content at home and practice it at school.

Mobile learning

Mobile learning is a brilliant way to immerse students in native places and landscapes. The challenge here is that education isn’t quite ready for it, but if you can figure it out, the possibilities are extraordinary: Deep integration of learning, place, and people.

Place-based education

See above—learning that is based on place and not an indexed set of nationalized curriculum. Authentic, familiar, and personal.

Project-based learning

Project-based learning can incorporate all of the above—flipped classrooms, place-based learning, mobile learning, and so on. The idea is that teaching and learning are anchored through the process of authentic projects constructed over time. These ‘reason’ or ‘need to know’ for these projects will ideally both start and finish in communities.

Experiential learning/Scenario-based learning

Treat the school like a think tank. Explore and address local community issues. Use social media to connect with families and neighborhoods and businesses and organizations, then use problem-based or scenario-based learning to address them.

Conclusion

Technology, so far, hasn’t healed the disconnect between schools and communities, but that could be because we’re selling it short for what it can do—which might start with not seeing its potential fully. Today, popular uses are sharing grades, missing work, test dates, snow days, and basic school announcements. This isn’t nearly good enough.

Whether you’re talking about hardware, software, social media, or something in between, more than anything else, technology connects. As educators, we just need to be intentional about what we’re connecting, and why.

image attribution flickr user usdepartmentofeducation; how to connect schools and communities