RCAC Symposium 2013 An inquiry approach to elementary classrooms using Computer Science Brian Grade 8 LKDSB "Flipping Out" Exploring Buzzwords in Education
Traditional Classrooms ❖ Used to go to school because that's where the knowledge was brianaspinall.com
Classrooms Today ❖ Knowledge and information is available from experts 24 hours a day ❖ Students know more than teachers about 21st century tools and trends ❖ A connected world brianaspinall.com
Teaching Today ❖ It's not about the apps ❖ It's not about the technology ❖ It's about the process brianaspinall.com
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In a nutshell ❖ Through a class website or other medium, teachers share resources to students outside of the classroom ❖ Students watch, listen and interact outside of school ❖ By definition, students complete "homework" in class brianaspinall.com
Why? ❖ Student engagement improves student learning ❖ In most cases rote and repetitive math is like Michael Myers - we want it to die but it won't go away ❖ ** (Some math concepts require rote learning eg: BEDMAS) brianaspinall.com
Genius Hour ❖ Another buzzword in education ❖ Refers to a process in which students guide the learning through inquiry based tasks ❖ Teachers incorporate it into the curriculum where applicable ❖ Students publish to real world audiences (blogs, YouTube etc.) brianaspinall.com
Kids today will work in jobs that do not yet exist, solving problems we don't yet know are problems with tools that haven't been invented today. brianaspinall.com
"Never memorize anything you can look up in a book" brianaspinall.com
Why do we still ask these questions over and over? brianaspinall.com
Why do we still ask these questions over and over? brianaspinall.com
With the right scaffolding, even Siri can answer multi-step problems We need to teach kids to view larger problems as A sum of smaller ones brianaspinall.com
2DMeasurement ❖ In the past: ❖ Find the (circumference / area) of a (circle / triangle) with the (radius, base, height) of 10 units ❖ Closed book, memorized formula ❖ Kids answered dozens of questions on a test brianaspinall.com
❖ Instead I only ask rich questions Open book Use google Use siri Etc. brianaspinall.com
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Results? ❖ I've had a repeat of students for two years ❖ Engagement has increased ❖ CAT scores have increased ❖ Behaviours almost non existent brianaspinall.com
Almost every grade 8 student could answer this end of the grade 9 year question in early October. brianaspinall.com
What's more important? Remembering the formula for the volume of a cylinder at the end of the semester Or Knowing how to identify this problem using appropriate resources to find the formula and derive a reasonable solution brianaspinall.com
Learning by the Process brianaspinall.com
Demonstrating Through Creativity brianaspinall.com
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Character Development ❖ This process provides students the opportunity to demonstrate their learning skills ❖ Initiative, collaboration, self regulation, organization, ❖ Independent work, responsibility ❖ Work gets published to a real world audience, not an honour wall or some file folder or binder ❖ Parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles can follow brianaspinall.com
Steve Jobs ❖ "Every kid should code because it teaches them how to think" ❖ "Coding is as important as literacy and numeracy" ❖ Coders are the new rock stars - Will I Am brianaspinall.com
Coding in K-6 Cargo-bot for iOS brianaspinall.com
Codea on iOS Grades 7- 12
Release of Responsibility ❖ Remember, your students must know the math concepts before they can begin in class tasks ❖ Teachers do not need to know how to code ❖ Instead they facilitate the process and encourage the problem solving process brianaspinall.com
Tynker for K-8 brianaspinall.com
Code Academy for 7-12 brianaspinall.com
Scratch for 4-8 brianaspinall.com
How to "Flip" brianaspinall.com
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Teaching Today ❖ It's not about the apps ❖ It's not about the technology ❖ It's about the process brianaspinall.com