Chapter 3: Imagining the Possibilities

Eh, Whats the big idea?  You trying to tell me aliens ain't real- Prove it!

1.)      Teaching is an art- its subjective, open for interpretation and there are many different ways to express an important concept. The Big Idea simply means getting to the core of a concept.  However, the complexity of how to present, understand and relate the core concept to the students is a teacher's biggest job. Connecting  the students interest, experiences and prior knowledge to the main idea makes learning meaningful and there is a likelihood that the information will stick. It's easy and quite frankly outdated to teach straight from a textbook. In an age where things move so quickly and there are multiple sources of stimulation, its important to present information where students can actually experience the knowledge instead of just hearing about it.

         Projects are an excellent way for to connect with important contextual material and find the big idea. They require students to be immersed in making decisions, researching and yearning to find an answer, solve a problem. The textbooks are now a point of reference instead of the main vessel for relaying knowledge. Teachers are now responsible for presenting the project to the students, and leaving it up to the students to figure out a proper solution. Projects are directly related to real world scenarios and cover an array of disciplines   learning skills and deal with real-world scenerios and 

 2.) Having   21st century skills means to approach projects with a higher order of thinking, based on Blooms Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. Straying away from the traditional method of presenting knowledge-  where knowledge can be dense and allusive- will help students to develop skills such as analyzing, evaluating and creating which will comes more natural in the learning process.  In Blooms Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, there are 6 categories in our thinking order, non of which are more irrelevant than the other but maybe less engaging. Memorizing and practicing comprehension are lower level thinking but analyzing, evaluating and creating tend to be more engaging and stimulating in the learning process. Projects are useful for expanding a students approach to gaining knowledge and demand a higher order of thinking in order to adequately solve the problem. 

The research team who defined what is meant by  21st century skills spent lots of time examining research, interviews with teachers, observing the workforces and conducting literature reviews. They decided that 21st century skills  means to be familiar with  Digital age Literacy, which entails a wide array of technologies such as scientific and visual. Its the ability to collaborate and communicate on a global level, to have self direction  and  inventive thinking that can be applied  to produce high-quality products, new ideas and effective uses for real world tools. Its crucial for students to be equip with the skills needed to function in a progressively digital world, and those skills go beyond the basic influx of core subjects. Students need to know how to navigate in a digital environment, they need to be able to solve problems and think critically  and then be able to communicate on a broad scale. One thing that the 21st century is going to require is adaptability and accountability- it holds a person accountable for figuring out information, which may require adapting but it also allows the person to have a deep understanding of what they are learning.

3.)  The ISTE NETS have developed standards for students  to be instructed in order to keep up with a increasingly digital world.This instructional standard emphasizes digital literacies and mainly the wide range of learning oppurtunities that technology has produced. The NETS place a high value on creativity and innovation, communication and collaboration, digital citizenship- which is understandning how human issues relate to technology- and research and information fluency. To be literate in the 21st century basically means that learning needs to be independent, fully aware of the changes happening around us, whether its physical or technological, and the ability to adapt in order to be productive.  

     One term I really loved in this chapter is Information Artists, which is exactly what I believe the new way of learning and instructing is going to require. Finding ways  to gain knowledge and information about a subject and then relay the new knowledge a creative, innovative way that is meaningful and relevant to the learner. As far as the teacher's role in a PBL setting, we are required to develop new instructional tasks such as developing a project outline and rubrics that will focus the students attention and crucial areas of information. Just as its important for students to collaborate, it's also important for teachers to practice PBL standards.

4.) The Essential Learning Functions:

1.  Ubiquity- Noun. "State of being very widespread or seeming to be everywhere at once".  (Thank you, Yourdictionary.com/ubiquity. : In other words: Endless access to information. A constant learner and learning potential. We no longer have to wonder for hours about something, until we get to the library to look it up. There are constant opportunities- think handheld devices to web based applications- to learn and find knowledge. 
2. Deep Learning:  Learning  goes beyond regurgitating knowledge that is already given. Deep learning is experiences something as it is given to you, such as raw data that happens at the time and it requires students to navigate and sort through information, analyze it  and then relay the information through possibly graphical representations. 
3. Making things Visible and Discussable: Learning should be an experience that is shown and talked about. If we think about possibly the most addicting, for some of us guilty pleasures, that has swept the country and world by storm, which is Facebook, which incorporates visuals and discussions. Imagine students wanting to be in school as much as they wanted to be on facebook. 
4. Expressing Ourselves, Sharing Ideas, Building Community:  Creating a safe environment so students can express themselves and their ideas to one another  and using the World Wide Web to do that.  A cautionary note is that it would be extremely important to monitor a student to prevent any form of cyber bullying.
5. Collaboration- Teaching and Learning with Others: A good tool for teaching and learning with others is Skype. A Project typically involves more than one person to share ideas and help network,
6. Research: Research is typically at the heart of a project, the projects will inevitably involve some form of research. Making sure research is legitimate with quality directories and search engines, as well as pre-screened websites are essential for a students organization and understanding
7. Project Management:  Project management helps the student organize each aspect of their project such as how much time to allocate towards something, finding credible sources, getting feedback from others and managing work load. Basically  there are online tools that can help students manage their project and stay organized.
8. Reflection and Iteration: Examining your project from al sides and perspectives will enable a student to have a better understanding of project. Reflections often lead to future improvement for how to do better on some aspect of the project.  If projects are documented, step by step then its easier to locate the successful portion and the ones that need improvement.

6.)  This chapter challenges us as teachers to go deep within the learning process and fully invest in a learning project. It is asking that we uncover the multiple layers of a concept and use higher order thinking. Our project incorporates many characteristics of what this chapter discussed. For instance, we realize how important technology and digital tools are in the 21st century, so we are incorporating a digital component to our end of the year project. We are asking that students communicate and collaborate ideas that they need to come up with on how to perform an event in history. We as teachers have given them autonomy in choosing what historical event they want to perform and how they will perform it. This entails a lot of research and organization for both student and teacher.  Our students are also blogging with another classroom in Japan to gain a multicultural perspective on theatrical productions. We are physically going to experience a play and dig deeper into what goes on beyond the scenes.