This entry is an activity for Teach-Now while working towards a teaching certificate. Specific goals and requirements had to be met by this entry and is by no means designed to be an independent feature.
Problem-based learning:
- learning by and through experience.
- hands-on learning to master and demonstrate knowledge.
- student-centered project where students take ownership of learning knowledge.
- teacher facilitates, students demonstrate.
At the end of the day, teachers should find themselves not the leader of a classroom but a host to a working conference attended by newly developing experts that up to this day have been known as students. Traditionally and probably still practiced, teachers lecture and question students to prepare them enough to demonstrate listened and taught knowledge by a series of quizzes, tests, reports, and the final exam. I am not declaring this as a bad example of learning, I am simply stating a fact of the common experience greatly punned and ridiculed in many public forms of art such as movies and books; a highly familiar representation could be a scene from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off when a social or political science or history teacher presents a small moment of American history in a monotone voice.
The only individuals that would be engaged in the topic would be students who in their own time probably live or engage in that topic, and unfortunately would be teased for their interest.
That is the problem—engagement. How do all students become and remain productively involved in learning? How does a classroom of students become excited and want to learn? Create an environment that expects all students to learn through practice. Adrienne Curtis Dickinson—a program leader for problem-based learning in Sammamish High School, Bellevue, Washington—defines problem-based learning as “…students actively working together to solve a problem (Edutopia, 2013).” Essentially, this learning method engages students to be responsible of their own acquired knowledge. How are they responsible? Through hands-on projects, students teach themselves the subject’s materials through creating potential solutions by applying new knowledge to problems and testing it, observing it, and building from it. Students then present to their peers to share their findings. Their peers observe and comment essentially assessing each others work. The teacher as facilitator maintains and supports the environment for this whole event to happen.
Build it, and they will learn.
A good example of student-engaged-and-centered learning by problem solving can be witnessed by a recording of a program in Oceanside School District, New York. Students explore physics in a fun and engaging method through levels of experiments within one project.
For the Roller Coaster Experiment, what are the expectations? The teacher expects a team of students through a series of experiments within a single project to collaboratively develop a working maquette that demonstrates:
• Safety – the marble has to remain on the track;
• Fun – the marble has to flow through a dynamic course;
• Restrictions – the course has to be designed within a budget and the marble has to stop at the end of the track.
While designing and refining the course, the students as a team have to evaluate with scientific terminology the project’s specifications and process as well as results and developing questions. Within each team, students have particular responsibilities that together determine the project’s efficiency and success. First, each student has a task to design their own proposals. They then present or pitch their own designs to their group with the hopes that part if not all of the design could be implemented in the final project. Eventually, through collaboration of an engineer (the lead builder and materials gatherer), the accountant (maintains and records the project’s budget), the data recorder (concisely observes and records each step, refinement, question, solution, and result), and the project manager (oversees that each individual has successfully and fully applied themselves to their specific tasks as well as maintaining a constructive collaborating environment), the team creates a working prototype. Through this development, they challenge their knowledge, recite their terminology, and become scientists through practiced experience. They are practicing their knowledge.
The teacher through comprehension checks learns of additional topics for future exercises to expand on the project. The problem-based learning creates an environment that practices knowledge and creates deeper learning through more and expanded experimentation based on new problems through that practice.
Sing a song of …multiplication. In Chinese.
A teacher for a third grade math in an presumably American school (based on the student attendance in the classroom) teaches multiplication through another language. Every aspect of the class—transitions, questions, answers— and its subject is demonstrated and developed within a dialect Chinese.
Is this a high performing learning experience? Hard to say.
Students assist their memory through rote practice by singing which can be considered a common format to engage children at a young age to learn subject matter. During the timeline, students participate in collaboration to find a solution for a large number multiplication problem. The interesting aspect of this lesson is when and how did the children learn the language; and do they understand it? Do they know what they are learning beyond the language? The process of this entire lesson in another language is impressive but translate back to their native tongue and the format of the lesson may not be much more different from a typical day in school.
There is a teacher, writing on a board with children singing multiplication.
A teacher demonstrates multiplication and asks the students to assist in the solution.
The academic expectation of students is simply to become familiar with the multiplication relationships by memorizing and then testing their memory through an exercise. Admittedly, communicating a different language your thinking process and answer is an awesome task and adds a level of difficulty. Students have to engage through another language as well as follows the teacher’s expectations to listen and answer in an orderly fashion.
Potentially creating an environment with the same tone as a Chinese classroom may not mean the same education rigor. Chinese students spend on average 13.8 hours a day learning and studying; 9.8hours at school and the rest for homework (Wei, Feb 2014) and doing this for 245 days each year. For most students, this means getting up at 6:00 a.m. to prepare for the day and for some participate in family routines and then lasting the whole day completing their assignment and finishing any other domestic responsibilities before going to bed at 11:30 p.m. How many American students can you say honestly works in this same fashion? I could say they stay up to 11:30 p.m. texting to friends while updating their social status, hash-tagging some tweets, and expanding their selfie instant portfolios.
For this format, beyond reciting and answering in another language, the song remains the same.
Whole Brain, (clap), oh yeah!
The Whole Brain Learning through Power Teaching format designed by Chris Biffle (Biffle, 2008) relies on six techniques:
- getting the attention through a transition by stating “Class” and getting a like response with “yes;”
- instructing the class to demonstrate by a command to “Teach” with a class response of “okay” usually in the same manner and tone copying every gesture before the release command;
- a scoreboard presenting assessment by extra or dextra-credit whereupon the class will appropriately respond with celebration or remorse;
- a 30-second micro-lecture where after on a release command a student or students will repeat or explain in their own words the new knowledge;
- demanding their focused attention with “hands and eyes” so that students have their hands clasped in front of them eyes on the teacher; and
- a comprehensive check by a walk-about to hear and assess students’ comprehension and learning.
Academically, the teacher expects a student to either come prepared with knowledge or to actively listen during the micro lectures and learn. This acquired knowledge should then easily be demonstrated during class through teaching the teacher and fellow students. Try to sit through the micro-lecture; if you are not listening you are not learning and that will be displayed when called upon to teach. The basis of Whole Brain Learning is engaging the students into active listening through vigorous exercises. You have to be prepared, fully focused, and quickly think. The recite could be considered the project-based lesson, but the moments line up as a series short bursts. The lesson ownership flips back and forth from teacher to student but ultimately the teacher has the control of the classroom function and performance (“CllllllaaaaAAAAAAaaaaassssuh! Hands and eyes!”). Each micro-lecture has the opportunity to build on the previous and challenge the students to make and practice that connection (“Teach!”).
The class does have to follow five classroom rules (Biffle, 2008):
- Follow directions quickly.
- Raise your hand for permission to speak.
- Raise your hand for permission to leave your seat.
- Make smart choices.
- Make your dear teacher happy.
How these rules allow students to engage simply perplexes me. The rules do not clearly specify a direction of how to act except to raise your hand for permission. “Make your dear teacher happy” is vague. What do I do to make my dear teacher happy; and isn’t the relationship of student to teacher somewhat set as a subordinate/dominant compared based on the demand of this request? What does the teacher do to make the students happy, the scoreboard? I would say not, because points can be removed based on behavior. The students act based on command and only collaborate when allowed; this format gives the impression of a regiment military process but in a lighter mood. There is a high expectation to listen and to demonstrate knowledge but the moment is intensely quick. Students do not perform to solve problems but only to show their comprehension through dramatic play. The whole process reminds me of reciting “Bingo the Dog” or “Cabin in the Woods.”
School in the Summer — My Class.
If I worked in classrooms of secondary or middle level students facilitating art and art history, I might weigh more on the first format blending probably a bit of the third simply for transitions and gaining attention by variety. There would be no way I could provide another level of complex learning teaching in a different language unless I sarcastically speak in French phrases like “je ne sais quoi” — a fun interactive format with my son to brush his teeth (brossez les dents, s’il vous plait) and other requests (ferme la porte) with a little bit of the french chef grunt.
Art by default is a project-based learning. Artwork techniques are only acquired through practice and observation with a critique. Students learn art terms defining and describing techniques such as volume, shade, line, chiaroscuro, perspective, juxtaposition, composition, gesture, foreshortening, form, tone. They will be speaking of others work based on experience and context and maybe influence from other art periods. Examining art history provides the “invented wheel” for the educated inspirational leap.
Art by default is a hands-on activity. Students perform and take ownership of their own visual stories learning and exploring the language and vocabulary to make that story translate from mind and inspiration into a tangible form. Hands-on demonstrates a mastery of the knowledge.
Students mostly work independently, and because they have a project, they are held responsible to find a way to work towards a finish state. There are moments of collaboration during class discussion and critiques; a group art project could also occur. The art history knowledge could be acquired by project or problem-based learning. Working in groups, students search a style, an artist, a period and dive deep not into just the familiar or popular but the fringes and learn of the other artists that found no or little recognition with the ranks of history. Danielle, a student of Sammamish High School observed that “If you have a group project, you’re gonna have other people have other ideas besides you, so you are gonna be … understanding it better than just reading something by yourself.” The knowledge the learn, they share by presentations being a teacher for the day. Beyond dictation, students could create an artwork of that subject matter and may even guide a lesson for the other students to practice.
“As teenagers, I think often what they fight against is the sense that life is happening to them, so we give them classroom where they help to direct what is happening there.” “we want the best of you, we see the best in you, now let’s bring that out (Dickinson – Edutopia, 2013).”
Every-now-and-then, we could celebrate with some “oh yeah’s” and provide extra’s for arriving to class on time, some dextra’s for not. Maybe a “CuhlLLLLAAAaaaaAAAAssss! Eyes and Hands!” if I need their focus. (emoticon : smile and wink!)
Works Cited / References
Biffle, Chris. (March 4, 2008). Whole Brain Teaching: The Basics. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBeWEgvGm2Y&index=6&list=PLDFbMqKBFbk8x9KfLOipq2t1iSHkrd_Rx
Edutopia. (Mar 20, 2013). Reinventing a Public High School with Problem-Based Learning. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tlg-nsGi7V0&feature=youtu.be
Migdol, Donna. (n.d.). Roller Coaster Physics: STEM in Action. Oceanside School District, NY. TeachingChannel. https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/teaching-stem-strategies
Wei, Kan. (Feb 24, 2014). https://theconversation.com/copying-the-long-chinese-school-day-could-have-unintended-consequences-23398