Project Based Learning

     In the article Project Based Learning by Suzie Boss, we learn about the history and benefits of using projects to teach.  Teaching by simply having students go through lessons may work to teach theoretical problem solving, or to teach them facts from research that are likely to be quickly forgotten, by using a project based curriculum to teach, the student is more likely to learn teamwork.  Also because the student is associating the knowledge with an activity, as well as using multiple styles of learning, the information is more likely to be retained in the long term.  Perhaps the most important benefit of project based learning though, is that students will learn how to take information and knowledge and apply it to real world situations and use them for real problem solving.

Digital Story

     Digital storytelling can be a useful tool in education.  Modern students are bombarded by a 24 hour news cycle, multiple forms of social media, and countless types of visual entertainment.  It is important to find new and unique ways to hold their attention.  By using digital storytelling, an educator can tailor their lessons and subject to their students by introducing it in a medium with which they are familiar.

Diversity Song Analysis

 In this video you see the inclusion of several different cultures from around the world participating in the video.  The images in the video do an excellent job of reflecting the message that race gender and whats on the outside is not what matters but your ideas and emotions are what defines you.  I believe that this song was written in the midst of growing racial turmoil in the country.  The lyrics work to send the message,to anyone who wants o hear it, that we are more alike that we often would like to admit. The music is high energy and written in a major key to invoke positive responses to the message.  The message is that e need to stop focusing so much on skin color.  I would use this to reinforce the idea that diversity of ideas is more important than diversity of skin color.

Team 4 Diversity Poster

Throughout this past week, I have recognized, to much disappointment, that for too many people the term diversity is simply a politically correct term for discrimination.  It is sad but when you hear the most outspoke members of our society speak of "diversity", they mean "race" or "gender" or "sexual orientation".  When faced with the question of diversity, many only want to be able to walk by a classroom and be confident that they can see a "rainbow of colors" on the outside.  it is all about the outside.  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stated that his dream was that we all be noticed for what is in side and not the outside.  We have veered too far from that, and have abandoned the concept of intellectual freedom and diversity especially in the academic realm.  Whether it be the endless arguing over keeping evolution or creationism out of schools, or yet another incident of politically motivated censorship/bias or violence at a university, this is the area where intellectual diversity should be celebrated, not stifled (by anyone on any side of any issue).  We wanted to emphasize that need for intellectual diversity in our poster and in our songs and I really think we managed to do that.


 

Songs:

• "Lean on Me" by Bill Withers
• " Turn, Turn, Turn" by The Byrds
• "All Kinds of Kinds" by Miranda Lambert

The Learning Power of Webquests

 

"When a WebQuest poses an open-ended question, students must do more than “know” facts. Open-ended questions activate students’ prior knowledge and create a personal curiosity that inspires investigation and brings about a more robust understanding of the material."

The Learning Power of Webquests

Learning by Playing: Video Games in The Classroom

In recent years (1999 - present) the use of video games in classrooms has become more widespread and accepted.  Developers and programmers have created web sites dedicated to teaching through the use of educational video games.  whats more, is that the games they are creating are fun for students.  so much so that students often times rush through classwork to be able to play these games in their free time in class.  The fact remains that video games have become part of our culture so much that several professions are even recognizing the skills necessary for success can be enhanced through video gam playing.  Military operations are often carried out by unmanned aircraft operated from a control station half a world away, much like a flight simulator program.  Surgeons have even recognized that playing video games can help to improve dexterity, hand eye coordination, and reaction time.  This recognition has led to an incredible advancement in the applications for laproscopic surgery as well as delicate procedures being able to be performed by remote controlled robotics.

The use of video games in classrooms is the future.  Like any other tool it simply needs to be properly utilized.

 

Diversity in Little Boxes

We see in the video everything is made of cardboard and they are all inside a box. All were white artists but have different colored shirts. The music is slow and melancholy and very catchy. It was written after the baby boom and speaks of housing communities that were built with cheap materials. Speaking of college, it’s become a cookie cutter of what is expected for everyone. “All went to the university, where they were put in boxes, and they came out all the same”.  We go to college and are put into dorms which are like boxes and we are all expected to finish college. The song also goes into details about becoming doctors and lawyers, stating this is the only “real world” jobs that are acceptable; this doesn’t give the opportunity to be music majors or creative writers. The song was written for those who were trying to break away from the normal and the housing/baby boomers community system.

The group reaction to the images is that we liked how it brings you inside one of these very uniformed homes and everything is made of boxes. It makes you think about what you find as important goals and what makes individuality. Teachers should support debates that states ideas and information rather than allowing students to attack each other’s ideas. Support participation rather than the “right and wrong answers”.  You need to have a class that goes beyond the black and white view of thinking; you need to have diverse answers. Having a larger number of teachers throughout the school year helps support diversity; in elementary school it’s up to the one teacher to instill diversity opinions in the students. As for this assignment it asks us to write why it’s import to support diversity and how this song supports that, this is limiting in the assumption that the student has an idea about diversity that is supported by the message in the song.

The idea that supporting diversity in schools is one with a tricky and very sharp edge.  Too many people (many of whom are in positions of power) only look at outward diversity.  They want to SEE how many colors that you have in your classroom.  They don't care about content, as long as they don't see a class full of white kids.  The more important diversity, the one that is being ignored, is diversity of thought.  opposing ideas are not heard and studentss are all too often not taught how to back up their thoughts with facts and research.