Eclectic Technology

Do we teach our learners how to learn? Neuroscientists are often at the cutting edge of research, and much more is known about how we learn. Is it time for educators to up this mantle and teach their classes what is known?

This post is divided into the following sections.

* Technology and Distraction - We know that the Internet may be distracting to many learners. Did you also know that the science is showing that multitasking does not really exist? When one multitasks the brain is rapidly switching  between different tasks, which interferes with  forming memory.

This discussion continues and is followed by a number of Takeaways, concepts that you may want to share with your learners. These include:

* Stress is bad for learning.

* Classroom decorations can be distracting.

* Test for a reason.

* Spend more time teaching learning skills.

Additional information is available in the post.

At times we need to quiet our students down. This post provides 30 suggestions that you might want to implement in your classroom. They have categorized the suggestions by grade levels, but it is often true that a tip for elementary school will also work with middle school students.

Throughout the post there are links to additional resources, including a number of videos where you can see the suggestions in action. You might also consider reading the comments from other listeners. There are a number of ideas in some of them and one provides a link to a different article from Edutopia, A Sure Fire Strategy for Building Classroom Community (and I would suggest checking out the comment since you are hearing from a teacher who did this with their students).

Do you know how to provide meaningful feedback to your students. This post in Edutopia provides five suggestions, all of which are included in the illustration above (located here).

What are the suggestions?

* Be as specific as possible

* The sooner the better

* Address the learner's advancement toward a goal

* Present feedback carefully

* Involve learners in the process

Additional information on these five suggestions are in the post.

This post provides a look at seven principles of creative thinking. Each is described in some detail. Three of the principles are below (without explanations).

* You are creative

* Creative thinking is work

* You must go through the motions

If you would like to see a different version of the same seven principles you can head over to Sean Junkins twitter account and see an infographic that he put together that is based on the Edutopia article. As far as I can tell the shift he made was to create the infographic. It appears that all text is from the article (and the infographic gives credit to Sean Junkins).

Check out this infographic from Mia MacMeekin that looks at verbs that help us meet the six levels of Bloom's taxonomy. This would be a great infographic to print out and put up in your classroom!

So how would one go about reinterpreting project-based learning? This post explores this idea in depth, providing five key areas where change must occur, and detailing one to five additional ideas that will help move project-based learning to a "philosophy of inquiry."
What are the five key areas?

1. Put PBL on a continuum of inquiry.

2. Blend surface knowledge and deeper learning.

3. Start with a sophisticated student-centered culture.

4. Make collaboration as important in school as it is in life.

5. Understand that PBL cannot be done alone.

If you are using project-based learning, or are considering implementing project-based learning next year take the time to check out this post. There are many great ideas that will lead our students to "deeper learning, creative inquiry, and a better fit with a collaborative world in which doing and knowing are one thing."

When we ask students to become better questioners we are asking them to use critical thinking skills. The infographic/visual above is based on an article published by Edutopia called 5 Ways to Help Students Become Better Questioners. The post, by Warren Berger, suggests five ideas to encourage learners to ask more questions:

* Make it safe.

* Make it "cool"

* Make it fun

* Make it rewarding

* Make it stick

Additional information is found in the post.

How can we get students more engaged in units of study? What if we design our class so that they have ownership from the beginning of the unit? This post explores this issue, and although the focus is on social studies you could use the same steps in other curricular areas. What are the steps?

1. "Partner students and have them do a speed search on the topic." What can they find in 12 - 15 minutes? Let them generate a list of interest.

2. "Decision by debate." Change partners. Allow them 3 minutes to discuss and rank the topics by interest.

3. "Main characters." Switch partners again. In history you might be looking at key individuals, or key battles in a conflict.

There are five more steps that will help students learn to collaborate, analyze perspectives, co-create with you (as the teacher your job is to  make sure that all key areas are covered and help create the framework as well as providing additional input where necessary), and more.

This type of process allows the students to be engaged and have their voices heard from the beginning....a win-win situation in the classroom.

So the question is, what does research tell us are the best teaching and learning strategies? This list, from John Hattie's research, provides insight into this question.

After an introduction that describes how the effect size is applied and the cautions that must be observed, there is a short section that discusses how you might apply this data...and then there are six scrollable pages where the data is shared. There is also a list of of the 39 strategies that is to the point. The scrollable list provides additional insights for better understands.

What is least successful? Retention.

What is most successful? Teacher credibility in the eyes of the student.

This post is worth reading, and reading again. The strategies may not be new to you, but as you read through the research you may choose one or two to work on as this school year continues.