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Podcast Series: Innovations in Education
Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.
Problem solving skills: The value added by maker spaces
What are the characteristics of great problem solvers?
For the past couple of months, I have been working on adapting the Workshop Model of Reading and Writing instruction to design a course I will offer in our school’s new maker space next year. What I especially like about the workshop model is that it deemphasizes content in favor of building the strategies and habits of mind that make a student an effective reader. The whole “give a man a fish…” metaphor looms large here.
It became very clear to me that it could be adapted to almost any subject. It is a really strong model for student-centric, problem-based learning, and I wanted to see if I could apply it to teaching electronics and programming. But the habits of effective readers didn’t make much sense in this context. What are the strategies and habits of mind that I want to impart to my students in an electronics course?
I realized it isn’t the content, but the strategies, which are most important. I want my students to be great problem solvers. I want them to learn how to learn. I wrote the following Strategies for Effective Problem Solvers, which will be the primary learning objectives of my 7th and 8th grade Physical Computing course next year.…Read More
Making education more like real life through design thinking
Design thinking asks students to become investigators in their world, attempt to solve problems, bridge gaps of knowledge independently, collaboratively, and resourcefully, the Huffington Post reports. These are skills that are highly relevant in today’s job market. When I think of Design thinking, I think of Steve Jobs. He’s a great character to illustrate a variety of ideas, innovations in particular. For one, he applied principles of graphic design to the world of personal computing to bring us the smartphone and tablet. Jobs revolutionized our lives by integrating different innovations into a single device. There is great value in the ability to synthesize, create, and invent. So how are we going about imparting these skills to our students?
…Read MoreLumosity offers free accounts for students to ‘train their brains’
Lumosity has turned breakthroughs in neuroscience research into fun, effective games for stimulating your brain and improving skills such as attention, memory, and problem solving. Now, through the Lumosity Education Access Program (LEAP), the company provides free Lumosity accounts for educators to use with their students.
Educators can apply for free memberships for their students in exchange for providing feedback on the use and effectiveness of Lumosity among their students. Depending on the length of time and number of students that are participating, this grant can be worth up to $3,000, Lumosity says.
In a study involving 93 middle school students from an Oregon public school, students who completed Lumosity training improved twice as much as the control group average in measures of math and reading achievement, according to the company.…Read More
How classroom games can help build reasoning skills
While most students enjoy games, even the simplest kind—such as tic tac toe—can help children develop important 21st-century skills such as critical thinking and mathematical reasoning, experts say.
During a webinar hosted by edWeb, Sarah DeLeeuw and Patrick Vennebush from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics demonstrated how basic games can help students become more engaged in math lessons.
Many rudimentary games give students a chance to make their own decisions, reflect on those decisions, and talk about strategies with their peers, the panelists said. In addition to promoting communication skills, students can learn from one another and explore different ways to play games.…Read More
New test measures students’ digital literacy
Employers are looking for candidates who can navigate, critically evaluate, and make sense of the wealth of information available through digital media—and now educators have a new way to determine a student’s baseline digital literacy with a certification exam that measures the test-taker’s ability to assess information, think critically, and perform a range of real-world tasks.
The test, iCritical Thinking Certification, created by the Educational Testing Service and Certiport, reveals whether or not a person is able to combine technical skills with experiences and knowledge.
Today’s students need to be able to think critically and effectively solve problems while using technology, Certiport explains—going beyond simply searching for information. They also must evaluate the legitimacy of the information, put it in context, and then apply problem-solving and decision-making skills.…Read More