Project-Based Learning
11 Essential Tools For Better Project-Based Learning
The rise of technology used in classrooms has made learning much more interactive. The emergence of iPads to browser-based tools in project-based learning, take teaching to a new level in the 21st century. Even the current trends in education include the use of new technology, from collaborative projects to blending traditional textbook teaching with innovative tools.
High School Wind Energy Project Inspires College Careers in STEM
Wind is the fastest growing source of renewable energy in the world today and the students at Camden Hills Regional High School in Rockport, Maine, have learned that first hand. Six months after the commissioning of the school’s NPS 100 wind turbine, the students, teachers and community have grown accustomed to the 121-foot-tall, sleek white tower that stands next to the athletic fields.
8 Examples of Classroom Musical Magic
I believe it was J.K. Rowling's Albus Dumbledore who said, "Ah, music. A magic behind all we do here!" This quotation comes to mind so many times when I witness the effect of catchy tunes and powerful lyrics on our creative students in Studio 113. Whether the classroom malady is a group of lethargic, uninterested students, a bulky reading assignment of seemingly ancient pages, or the misunderstanding of key literary characters, a solution often lies at the intersection of a crafty jam and a thematically connected excerpt of literature. The result? Classroom musical magic.
Want Engaged Learners? Sign PBL Contracts.
There was a time when my sole purpose for living and breathing, my ultimate dream, was to sign a contract -- a contract to play professional baseball. I simply wanted the opportunity to work hard in order to create a better me for the entire team. “Give me that pen,” I remember thinking. “I’ll sign for a Coke and a smile,” I told anyone who would listen. That day never arrived.
It’s Student in Action, Not Inaction
The natural state of children is “in motion.” They are not simply pictures, they are motion pictures. A classroom full of third graders is a lot like a pool of sharks, except scarier. We are all aware of this natural state of activity yet we’ve managed to take our adult cubical workspace and force it upon the classroom.
The Talent & the Agent: My Desired Class
Leaning on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s famous “frightening conclusion” quotation, I am Zen-like in my focus on the classroom atmosphere and I intend to create - the talent and the agent this upcoming school year. By developing flexible lesson plans, implementing interactive learning structures, and engaging the customers with passion-based projects, the class of my dreams will be a reality.
Project-Based Blends
Proejct-Based Learning is a great way to engage students and encourage deeper learning. Blended environments makes it easier to create time for projects. New tools make it easier to create consistently rigorous projects. Digital learning makes it easier to build skills to successfully participate in a PBL environment.
Digital Portfolios for Primary Students
“Mrs. Cassidy, I showed my blog to my parents last night. I showed them everything on my blog. I showed them all the things on the computer!” That was my morning greeting from one of my six-year-old students not long ago. He had received a surplus computer1 from my school division the day before, and had suddenly been able to show his parents all of the learning artifacts he’d been adding to his digital portfolio through the course of the school year.
Not My Parents High School
I spent the last two days in Chicago with principals and superintendents including Glenn Vos from Holland Christian Schools (HCS). While it includes the high school that my parents graduated from, this is not a Rip Van Winkle school system. Ted Sizer and the Coalition of…
Feature School: Northwest Passage
We need to pursue a system of public education that endorses schools like Northwest Passage and that embraces them as part the norm, rather than perpetuate a system that holds them at arm’s length.