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Student and Teacher Motivational Needs in the School Setting
Motivation is not only important in its own right; it is also an important predictor of learning and achievement. Students who are more motivated to learn persist longer, produce higher quality effort, learn more deeply, and perform better in classes and on standardized tests. It’s commonsense, but it’s also reinforced by hundreds of studies (An Important Piece of the Student Motivation Puzzle).
The topic of teacher and student motivational needs is too often given tangential thought and discussion. I know that teachers, curriculum specialists, and administrators believe in its importance, but I rarely see it brought up in readings and professional development. I propose that it is at the core of learning and as such, needs to be forefront of all teaching and learning.
In addition to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, motivation theories of William Glasser, David McClelland, and Fredrick Herzberg have application to a school environment. Looking at theories of motivation can create a broader perspective as well as give educators additional ideas for meeting their own and their students’ needs. In this post, I discuss some of these motivational theories and propose an integration of these theories. This discussion is relevant for both teachers and students. If teachers aren’t getting their growth needs met, then it is very difficult for them to help their students get theirs met.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Note: When referencing Maslow, it is important to note and acknowledge that Maslow was heavily influenced by Blackfeet ideas but did not credit them for that influence. For articles that discuss this, see https://elink.io/p/9155b1f.
Every teacher I’ve met has studied Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs so I won’t include any detailed explanation as part of this discussion. As a review, I included some resources that follow:
Resources:
- Addressing Our Needs: Maslow Comes to Life for Educators and Students https://www.edutopia.org/blog/addressing-our-needs-maslow-hierarchy-lori-desautels
- Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in Education – https://educationlibrary.org/maslows-hierarchy-of-needs-in-education/
Take-Aways:
Almost all teachers know about Maslow and believe in the validity of this theory. A key point is that there are deficit and growth needs. I believe that most schools do a great job insuring that students’ (and teachers’) deficit needs are met. Most students would say that they aren’t hungry (due to free and reduced programs), have a roof over their heads, enough light, and a chair to sit on. Even though there are still too many exceptions, most would also say that they don’t feel unsafe by peers or teachers. Too many teachers and students, though, would say that school doesn’t address their growth needs; that they don’t spend enough, or even any, time pursuing personal interests and talents.
Willian Glasser’s 5 Basic Needs
William Glasser’s theory isn’t studied or discussed as much as it was a decade or two ago. He identified basic motivation needs: Survival, Belonging, Power, Freedom, and Fun. Survival and Belonging are similar to those identified by Maslow but Power, Freedom, and Fun are different and are important in the discussion of student and teacher motivators.
Power: Power is a sense of empowerment, worthiness, self-efficacy, and achievement, and an outer sense of being heard and respected and feeling competent and attaining recognition. Power in a school setting may be defined by the student’s (and teacher’s) ability to make choices and be an equal contributor in learning. Students (and teachers) want activities to be relevant and to bring them competence and pride.
Freedom: Freedom is the need for independence and autonomy; the ability to make choices, to create, to explore, and to express oneself freely; to have sufficient space, to move around, and to feel unrestricted in determining choices and free will. To achieve this, students (and teachers) need independence, options, choices, autonomy, and liberty in both physical and psychological aspects. Ideally, it will include having the freedom to create, having time to generate one’s own thoughts, and sharing what’s been have created in the context of learning.
Fun: Fun is the psychological need for enjoyment-the desire to enjoy a job, to have a sense of humor, to engage in a hobby, to have interests, and to feel excitement about a work project or leisure time activity. Having fun includes experiencing enjoyment, pleasure, relaxation, laughter, and learning. In addition, the combination of laughing and learning can maximize the relationship that educators have with students.
(Source: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249832861_Our_Five_Basic_Needs)
Resources:
- Our 5 Basic Needs – https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249832861_Our_Five_Basic_Needs
- Student Needs Survey: A Psychometrically Sound Measure of the Five Basic Needs – https://www.academia.edu/29718966/Student_Needs_Survey_A_Psychometrically_Sound_Measure_of_the_Five_Basic_Needs
- Extra: The Neuroscience of Joyful Education https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/the-neuroscience-of-joyful-education
McClellands’ Learning Needs Theory
Resources:
- Learned Needs Theory and Students – https://educationalresearchtechniques.com/2021/02/03/learned-needs-theory-and-students/
- McClelland’s Three Needs Theory: Power, Achievement, and Affiliation https://educationlibrary.org/mcclellands-three-needs-theory-power-achievement-and-affiliation/
In his research, Mclelland states that people have three primary needs: need for achievement, need for affiliation, and a need for power.
Need For Affiliation: The need for affiliation is a need to have positive social relationships with other people. These are your classic extroverts who love the company of others. Everyone has some need for affiliation, but for many, this is a high need. For people who need affiliation, the task is not essential to them. Instead, people who need affiliation respond to situations in which people depend on them. For students, this can be situations such as group projects and or team sports. Nothing can cripple high affiliated people then isolation. In addition, students who have a low need for affiliation will equally cause issues if they are always expected to socialize and be a part of the group.
Need for Achievement: The need for achievement is how strongly a person wants to have success at completing a task. High-achieving people feel a personal responsibility when they are expected to do something. High achievement people like to take on projects that have a moderate success rate. In other words, high achievement individuals hate something that is too easy but equally loose motivation for suicide tasks that have a low success rate. High achievers also have a desire for feedback. This is because they want to know if they have achieved success.
Need for Power: The need for power is a need to control, which means to influence other people. McClelland indicates two types of power, and these are personal power and social power. Personal power is a power to control others and is often political with a secret agenda. Social power is also seeking to influence others but to achieve the goals of the group or organization (Source: https://educationalresearchtechniques.com/2021/02/03/learned-needs-theory-and-students/) .
Note: Both Glasser and McClelland discuss the power need. Glasser’s explanation and description makes more sense to me in terms of this discussion.
Key Take-Aways from Glasser’s and McClelland’s Theories
There is some overlap of these two theories. Schools often work toward helping students develop a sense of affiliation and belonging especially after the pandemic with a greater focus on implementing social emotional learning. This is less so for power and freedom needs. I love that Glasser included fun. Sadly, way too often there is an emphasis on compliance within schools which is the antithesis of power and freedom – sometimes it is also the antithesis of fun and play.
Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory
This is a good overview. It includes a comparison to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
Resources:
- Herzberg’s Motivation Two-Factor Theory – https://www.simplypsychology.org/herzbergs-two-factor-theory.html
- Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory: Two-factor https://educationlibrary.org/herzbergs-motivation-hygiene-theory-two-factor/
Frederick Herzberg, a behavioral scientist, proposed a two-factor theory or the motivator-hygiene theory. There are some job factors that result in satisfaction while there are other job factors that prevent dissatisfaction. The opposite of “Satisfaction” is “No satisfaction” and the opposite of “Dissatisfaction” is “No Dissatisfaction.
Hygiene factors are those job factors which are essential for existence of motivation at workplace. These do not lead to positive satisfaction for long-term. But if these factors are absent/if these factors are non-existant at workplace, then they lead to dissatisfaction. Hygiene factors are also called as dissatisfiers or maintenance factors as they are required to avoid dissatisfaction. These factors describe the job environment/scenario. The hygiene factors symbolized the physiological needs which the individuals wanted and expected to be fulfilled.
The hygiene factors cannot be regarded as motivators. The motivational factors yield positive satisfaction. These factors are inherent to work. These factors motivate the employees for a superior performance.These factors are called satisfiers. These are factors involved in performing the job. Employees find these factors intrinsically rewarding. (Source: https://www.managementstudyguide.com/herzbergs-theory-motivation.htm)
Take Aways:
This theory was developed with a business setting in mind. The two factor model can be applied to a school setting, too. When teachers and students have their survival and safety needs met (Herzberg’s hygiene factors), they may not be dissatisfied with the school but that doesn’t mean they are satisfied it. The goal of every teacher and administrator should be to create motivator-based factors and an environment whereby every teacher and student is motivated to be there and learn; where everyone in the school setting has the potential to be quite satisfied with their roles and jobs.
Student and Teacher Needs Ladder Framework
As someone who has been passionate about and studied human motivation for decades, I propose an integration of these motivational theories. I developed this framework to put a greater emphasis on growth and actualization needs in the school environment. A ladder and steps are used as the metaphor as I prefer a more physical-oriented depiction than a hierarchy or pyramid, which is difficult to impossible to climb. Including both a ladder and steps symbolizes that there are multiple ways to climb to high levels. (Note: This framework is appropriate for grades 2nd/3rd up.)
It has the following characteristics:
- The overall goal is to intentionally bring self-directed, self=determined, and joyful learning into the school environment.
- Experiencing as state of flow and student-centered learning are important aspects of motivation and increase as one goes up the ladder of needs. For more about flow, see What did you do in school today? and Flow – A Measure of Student Engagement.
- The needs ladder is split into safety and growth needs with a greater break down and emphasis on growth needs. I believe as Herzberg does in a two factor model. If student and teacher safety needs are met, then they are not dissatisfied with school but they aren’t satisfied with it either. Schools, as I’ve mentioned, typically do a good job with addressing needs. I believe it is now time to put a greater focus on growth needs so that both teachers and students are motivated, satisfied, and happy with their schools.
- This differs from Maslow’s model in that teachers and students can and will move up and down the ladder depending on the situation and class setting.
- Basic Survival
- Students and teachers have a safe physical environment and are fed if they are experiencing food insecurity. When school is unsafe for these students, their motivation is survival on a day-to-day basis.
- Extrinsically-Motivated Compliance
- Student and teacher needs are centered around avoiding punishment and/or receiving rewards, or because it is the expectation. It might be all both teachers and students know as compliance has been the expectation through their school careers. Motivation is strictly based on extrinsic elements.
- Physically and Emotionally Safe with Peers, Teachers, and Staff
- Physical safety involves freedom from physical harm or threats of harm; emotional safety refers to freedom from bullying, harassment, and humiliation (A comprehensive approach to promoting social, emotional, and academic growth in contemporary schools).
- Connection to School Community
- This is the transition from safety needs to growth needs. For some teachers and students, it is solidly a growth need, connection to peers and other school personnel meets core growth needs. For others, it helps to create a safe place but it may not personally meet growth needs.
- The underlying core need is Affiliation, Love & Belonging – The need for affiliation and to love and belong includes the need for relationships, social connections, to give and receive affection and to feel part of a group.
- Engagement and Excitement
- Student engagement refers to the degree of attention, curiosity, interest, optimism, and passion that students show when they are learning or being taught, which extends to the level of motivation they have to learn and progress in their education (https://www.edglossary.org/student-engagement/).
- The core underlying need is Fun. The need for fun is the need to find pleasure, to play and to laugh.
- There is potential to experience flow and joy.
- Empowerment
- Empowerment is the “process by which individuals and groups gain power, access to resources and control over their own lives. In doing so, they gain the ability to achieve their highest personal and collective aspirations and goals” (Robbins, Chatterjee, & Canda, 1998, p. 91 as cited in What is “empowerment” in education?).
- The underlying core need is Power. To be powerful is to achieve, to be competent, to be skilled, to be recognized for our achievements and skill, and have a sense of self worth.
- Empowerment occurs when teachers and students are given choice. John Spencer’s video provides some good suggestion 10 Ways to Empower Students With Choice.
- A flow state is typically experienced; joy may or may not be present.
- Intrinsically-Motivated Mastery
- Motivation stems from internal sources – the increased self-esteem, Confidence and recognition that comes from successful performance (Pedagogy, Andragogy, and Heutatgogy – a Continuum and Comparison).
- The underlying core need is Power. To be powerful is to achieve, to be competent, to be skilled, to be recognized for our achievements and skill, and have a sense of self worth.
- This can occur through teaching self-directed strategies. It can be mastery of content or of a skill, or in the case of the teacher, learning and successfully teaching new content or skill. It may be interest-driven or not. For example, I have a student who often expresses a disdain for math, yet he prides himself on being able to get correct answers of his math problems.
- Flow State is evident and observable. Joy may or may not be present and observable.
- Actualization of Interest and Talents
- Motivation, not only comes from being able to pursue their own interests and develop their own talents, but through developing self-efficacy, knowing how to learn, embracing creativity along with the ability to use these qualities in novel as well as familiar situations and working with others will be he thing that takes place (Pedagogy, Andragogy, and Heutatgogy – a Continuum and Comparison).
- The core underlying need is Freedom, the need for independence, autonomy, to have choices and to be able to take control of the direction of one’s life while at school.
- This can be facilitated through self-determined strategies. The goal is not only for students but for teachers whereby they have the permission, space, resources, and time to pursue their own self-determined learning and teaching
- A flow state and joy are evident and observable, almost palatable.
The higher levels of Intrinsically-Driven Mastery and Actualization of Interests and Talents can be facilitated through self-directed/andragogy and self-determined/heutagogy teaching and learning strategies respectively.
Resources to Learn More About Self-Directed/Andragogy and Self-Determined/Heutagogy Teaching and Learning Strategies
- Experiences in Self-Determined Learning: Moving from Education 1.0 Through Education 2.0 Towards Education 3.0 –https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2014/12/01/experiences-in-self-determined-learning-moving-from-education-1-0-through-education-2-0-towards-education-3-0/
- Self-determined learning: Creating personal learning environments for lifelong Learning – https://www.slideshare.net/lisamarieblaschke/selfdetermined-learning-creating-personal-learning-environments-for-lifelong-learning
- Pedagogy, Andragogy, and Heutatgogy – a Continuum and Comparison
Needs for BIPOC Students
It is important to add to this discussion a special note about addressing the human needs of BIPOC students. Here are some suggestions as identified by BMEsTalk (Black Male Educators):
- Allow what you know about each individual to inform your expectations and attitudes towards them. Who they are as a singular person, as part of their culture, and where they’re at developmentally. See the whole being they are.
- This is a powerful position to take! Every teacher should desire to become familiar with the experiences of BIPOC students so they’re more aware of the unique challenges they face. As an educator, this knowledge can be shared, and racial equity can be advanced.
- Give BIPOC students safe and brave spaces to share difficult topics such as racial inequality, bias, and social injustice. You are being invited into a world that is not your own. You can learn so much from your students to further a racially equitable future for them and the students around them.
- As their current significant influence in their lives, educators should reinforce and redirect the language and conversation to model support for a student sharing their Black or BIPOC experience. When difficult topics arise during class time, you or your students may feel uncomfortable. Lean into the discomfort. Beyond the discomfort lies the opportunity to learn and educate more on these crucial issues. (https://bmestalk.com/social-emotional-learning-for-black-students/)
Artificial Intelligence: Generative AI
My gifted students, grades 4th-6th, selected Artificial Intelligence, as their elective during Spring, 2022 semester. (For more about this see Offering Electives to Elementary Students.) The Generative AI learning activities I describe below are part of their larger Artificial Intelligence elective as well as being part of the ISTE AI Explorations course I am taking.
ISTE Standards for Students
- Students leverage technology to take an active role in choosing, achieving and demonstrating competency in their learning goals, informed by the learning sciences. Students understand the fundamental concepts of technology operations, demonstrate the ability to choose, use and troubleshoot current technologies and are able to transfer their knowledge to explore emerging technologies.
- Students use a variety of technologies within a design process to identify and solve problems by creating new, useful or imaginative solutions. Students exhibit a tolerance for ambiguity, perseverance and the capacity to work with open-ended problems.
- Students develop and employ strategies for understanding and solving problems in ways that leverage the power of technological methods to develop and test solutions. Students understand how automation works and use algorithmic thinking to develop a sequence of steps to create and test automated solutions.
- Students communicate clearly and express themselves creatively for a variety of purposes using the platforms, tools, styles, formats and digital media appropriate to their goals. Students create original works or responsibly repurpose or remix digital resources into new creations.
The Hook
Students explore the following Generative AI technologies:
- This Person Does Not Exist https://thispersondoesnotexist.com/
- Which face is real? https://www.whichfaceisreal.com/
- DALL·E mini: Generate images from text https://huggingface.co/spaces/flax-community/dalle-mini
- Image-to-Image Translation https://affinelayer.com/pixsrv/
- Deep Fakes: https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2019/01/business/pentagons-race-against-deepfakes/
Introductory Videos
Students watch the following videos to gain some background knowledge about GANS:
Warm-Up Activity: Create a Mythical Creature
Students create a mythical creature using Google’s Chimera Painter-https://storage.googleapis.com/chimera-painter/index.html. “Chimera Painter is a demo that lets you run wild by drawing out creature shapes that become fully fleshed out by our CreatureGAN machine learning model, which was trained on hundreds of thousands of 2D renders of 3D creature models.” To begin, students watch the following video. It provides a great overview about how GANS work in the context of using the Chimera Painter. Once they create their creatures, they write a short story about them. Students can be instructed that their favorite creation can be used in the next activity – their presentation assignment.
The students loved making these.
Assignment: Create a Generative AI-Enhanced Presentation
For this assignment, students are going to make a presentation out of Generative AI Art that shows the projects they created for our AI unit (see previous blog posts). An alternative can be that the theme for the presentation is decided upon by the student and/or the teacher). It needs to include AI Art, AI sounds or music, and AI Drawing or Painting elements.
To begin students experiment with and create artifacts for the following GANS. They then choose their favorite creation from each of the following for use in their presentations. Students can use Google Slides to upload their creations, and possibly add text to create a GAN-enhanced presentation.
Generative AI Art
- Deep Dream Generator – https://deepdreamgenerator.com/
- NightCafe Creator – https://creator.nightcafe.studio/ (requires a login)
- Google Arts & Culture App – https://www.blog.google/outreach-initiatives/arts-culture/transform-your-photo-style-iconic-artist/
Generative AI Music
- NSynth Sound Maker – https://experiments.withgoogle.com/ai/sound-maker/view/
- AI Duet – https://experiments.withgoogle.com/ai/ai-duet/view/
Generative AI Drawing / AI Painting:
- Pix2Pix – https://mitmedialab.github.io/GAN-play/
- AI Painter – https://www.instapainting.com/ai-painter
- Cartoonify – https://experiments.withgoogle.com/cartoonify
- Dream – https://app.wombo.art/
Example Student Project
My List of Best Education Videos – 2019
Here is my annual list of best education videos.
Youth Voice
As you’ll notice the first several are youth voices.
“The power of youth is the common wealth of the entire world… No segment in society can match the power, idealism, enthusiasm and courage of young people.” Kailash Satyarthi, Nobel Peace Prize laureate
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg chastised world leaders Monday, Sep. 23, for failing younger generations by not taking sufficient steps to stop climate change. “You have stolen my childhood and my dreams with your empty words,” Thunberg said at the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York. “You’re failing us, but young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say we will never forgive you,” she added.
“Change will happen when we put the flourishing neighbor above our own hero status. Even though we don’t always get to be the hero, we always have the chance to be a world changer. “How should we respond to the current wave of activism? Megan calls us to treat this political moment as a time for both celebration and self-examination. See how she recommends we share power and resources and prioritize others above ourselves.
Jahkini Bisselink is the Dutch Youth Ambassador of the United Nations representing all young people in The Netherlands. Jakhini is auspiciously bridging the gap between young people and politics, fighting to let their voices be heard in national and international decision-making.
Education Thought Leaders
“Are we helping children find solutions to their own challenges? This will become their strengths.” Leading thinker, best selling author and friend of Big Change, Simon Sinek shares his thoughts on the future of education – the change that’s needed and the change that is possible.
Catlin Tucker’s keynote at Fall CUE 2019. Grade better, make your life less stressful and be more effective.
In her SXSW EDU keynote, Jennifer Gonzalez explores the Aerodynamics of Exceptional Schools. In any school, just as in air travel, different forces impact our progress: some of these forces push us forward and lift us up, while others pull us back and drag us down. The success of our schools depends largely on how well we manage these forces. By applying wisdom from change management theory, instructional coaching, the tech industry, and even the fitness world, we can learn how to fight weight and drag, increase lift and thrust, and make our schools truly exceptional.
Pedro Noguera shares his insights on educational equity, Project Based Learning, and more at PBL World 2019. Pedro Noguera is a Distinguished Professor of Education at the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at UCLA. His research focuses on the ways in which schools are influenced by social and economic conditions, as well as by demographic trends in local, regional and global contexts.
Here’s an overview of the benefits of PBL. To read more, check out: http://www.spencerauthor.com/10-things-happen-students-engage-project-based-learning/
The Future of Social Media?
Social media has become our new home. Can we build it better? Taking design cues from urban planners and social scientists, technologist Eli Pariser shows how the problems we’re encountering on digital platforms aren’t all that new — and shares how, by following the model of thriving towns and cities, we can create trustworthy online communities.
Feel Good Videos
Released at the end of 2018 and received a 2019 Oscar nomination for best animated short. Luna is a vibrant young Chinese American girl who dreams of becoming an astronaut. From the day she witnesses a rocket launching into space on TV, Luna is driven to reach for the stars. In the big city, Luna lives with her loving father Chu, who supports her with a humble shoe repair business he runs out of his garage. As Luna grows up, she enters college, facing adversity of all kinds in pursuit of her dreams.
Anna Hopson, 5, was born with a rare neurodegenerative disorder. But that hasn’t dampened her spirit. As Steve Hartman explains, her good mood has even rubbed off on her school bus driver.
First Lady Michelle Obama brings gifts and surprises to Randle Highlands Elementary School in Washington, D.C. (Videos like this make me cry – not so much due to the students’ and teachers’ joy, although that does touch my heart, but because they are so happy about receiving resources that all schools should have – an up-to-date computer lab and a basketball court.)
. . . and because this feels so good. Michael Clark Jr. had crowd of supporters at his adoption hearing this week, which included his kindergarten classmates from Wealthy Elementary in East Grand Rapids.
Principles of Authentic Learning Experiences
Providing authentic learning experiences to all learners should be the highest prior for all administrators, curriculum developers, and teachers.
Authentic learning is learning designed to connect what students are taught in school to real-world issues, problems, and applications; learning experiences should mirror the complexities and ambiguities of real life. Students work towards production of discourse, products, and performances that have value or meaning beyond success in school; this is learning by doing approach (Authentic learning: what, why and how?).
In education, the term authentic learning refers to a wide variety of educational and instructional techniques focused on connecting what students are taught in school to real-world issues, problems, and applications. The basic idea is that students are more likely to be interested in what they are learning, more motivated to learn new concepts and skills, and better prepared to succeed in college, careers, and adulthood if what they are learning mirrors real-life contexts, equips them with practical and useful skills, and addresses topics that are relevant and applicable to their lives outside of school. For related discussions, see 21st century skills, relevance, and rigor (Authentic Learning).
The bottom line, in my perspective, is that learners view their experiences as having relevancy to their own lives, that they address their interests and needs.
Qualities of Authentic Learning
I believe authentic learning experiences have the following qualities (which, by the way, are way too, often are not the qualities of many classroom activities):
- A state of flow – learners often say, “Is it time to go already?” For more about this, see Flow – A Measure of Student Engagement https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2011/01/12/flow-a-measure-of-student-engagement/.
- Interdisciplinary standards and skills are addressed. For more about this, see All Lessons Should Be Interdisciplinary https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2019/01/13/all-lessons-should-be-interdisciplinary/
- The focus is on learners learning rather than teachers teaching. For more about this, see ‘The Objective of Education Is Learning, Not Teaching’ http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/the-objective-of-education-is-learning-not-teaching/.
- Often are minds-on, hands-on activities. For more about this, see The Imperative of Experiential and Hands-On Learning https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2016/12/23/the-imperative-of-experiential-and-hands-on-learning/.
- Learners do not ask, “Why do I need to know this?” Because authentic learning involves student voice and choice. they develop their own constructivist reasons for their need to know. For more about this, see Why Do I Need to Know This? https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2014/03/16/why-do-i-need-to-know-this/ .
- The learning activities are open-ended so learners put their “selves” into their projects. For more about this, see Open Ended Learning: What, Why, and How https://thehomeschoolscientist.com/open-ended-learning-resource/.
- Projects are long term not finished in one class period. They take many hours, many class periods.
- Troubleshooting and iteration often occur. Learning as an iterative process is discussed in Educators as Lead Learners https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2015/02/15/educators-as-lead-learners/.
- The learners become a community of learners sharing ideas, asking for help, brainstorming. For more about this, see The Importance of Building Community in the Classroom https://www.teachervision.com/blog/morning-announcements/importance-building-community-classroom
Some Recent Examples of Authentic Learning
Here are some recent examples I have done with my learners – one class did a social entrepreneurship unit while another class made Makey Makey Marble Mazes. I posted videos so their engagement can be seen.
Social Entrepreneurship
My students are finishing a unit on social entrepreneurship where they started a business to raise monies for a local nonprofit. They created a market survey using a Google Form, which asked about products, price points, potential nonprofit organization recipients of the profits; analyzed survey results, decided on and tested products; developed an expense sheet, using Google Sheets, for expenses and income; created a business plan that included the name of company, cost analysis, promotional plan; made a promotional flyer; created a sales and record sheet; delivered products; and managed monies.
For more information about this unit, see Elementary Social Entrepreneurship: A Perfect STEAM Lesson https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2018/05/13/elementary-social-entrepreneurship-a-perfect-steam-lesson/.
Makey-Makey Marble Mazes
Another group of earners made a Makey-Makey Marble Mazes as described by @Colleen Graves, see https://colleengraves.org/2018/05/04/makey-makey-marble-maze-and-5th-grade/
Reflection
I absolutely love planning authentic learning experiences. I get to use my creativity to plan and implement them. It does take lots of pre-planning – finding resources, usually videos, and purchasing, gathering, and organizing the resources used.
I also love watching how excited learners get doing them. There is 100% engagement. I’ve said before that being an experiential educator, there is lots of pre-planning but the learners work harder than me during class time – as it should be.
What Learners Want
I teach gifted students, grades 2 through 6, part time at two Title 1 schools. I pull them out of their regular classes for 3 hours of gifted programming each week. Sadly, but predictably, even though they are classified as gifted, they lack some basic skills in language arts and math (ones like basic grammar and math that they should have by this time in their educational timeline). This makes me question lots of things:
- Is this because of a form of experiences-deficit during their early years? Their parents often lack the funds and time (working several jobs) to take their children to after school classes, visits to local museums and cultural events, and/or go on out-of-city and out-of-state trips.
- Is it due to a lack of academic rigor and vigor in their classrooms? Schools with a higher number of students living in poverty tend to do more grill and drill in an effort to raise their test scores. My personal belief is that grill and drill does not translate into academic vigor and rigor.
- Do the teachers have lower expectations for the students given their backgrounds?
- Do their parents have different expectations for their children in terms of academic achievement and college attendance?
I witnessed a conversation between my students yesterday that I found surprising and further had me wondering about the questions I posed above. In one of my schools, where I serve a class of 4th though 6th graders, I have three students from one of the 5th grades and another three students from the other 5th grade. One of the 5th grades has a teacher who is friendly with the students and does fun things in class with the students like showing them clips from major sports events. The other 5th grade class has a very strict teacher. She has a strict and rigorous class schedule and demands that the students work hard in her class. Personally, I like him better. He is friendly to me and often checks in with me about how the students are doing. She is not friendly with me, never checks in with me. I assumed that the students would also like him better and rave about him as a teacher. Yesterday, the kids started talking about the two teachers. One of the 6th grade boys, who had the nice guy teacher last year, had this to say, “I had Mr. Nice Guy as a teacher last year. If you want a friend, then Mr. Nice Guy is the best class but if you want a teacher, then Ms. Strict and Rigorous is the best class. I didn’t learn a single thing in my entire 5th grade year with him.” It was a short conversation as I don’t talk about teachers with the students and directed them to their computer assignments. But it was a huge shock to me. I really expected the kids to rave about Mr. Nice Guy during this conversation.
I shouldn’t be that surprised. Students often know what it is best for them but sometimes have trouble expressing it. This 6th grader (who, by the way, is far from compliant – way too often talking to his male friends about sports during our class activities) is very articulate so he was able to clearly express his needs. What did surprise me, though, is that his need to learn is stronger than his need for fun and relationship with the teacher. So even with what some might classify as having some disadvantages, he still recognizes the importance of learning.
I went to Google to explore the topic of what students want in their classes and from their teachers. Most of the posts and articles were from educators – not from the students, themselves. So even though I think I know what students want, I may not. What I did re-realize, though, is that what I can do as an educator is keep the lines of communication open with my students, continually inviting them to give me feedback about our learning activities, facilitating conversations about what they are actually learning.
Design Challenge
This year I have been focusing on design challenges and design thinking with my gifted elementary students, grades 2nd through 6th. Last semester I introduced a series of activities to have them explore, learn about, and interact with design thinking principles and strategies. For a description of those activities, see https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2016/09/25/introducing-design-thinking-to-elementary-learners/
To re-introduce design thinking again for this spring semester, this week I asked them to do the Extraordinaire Design Studio:
The Extraordinaires® Design Studio is a powerful learning tool, that introduces children to the world of design, teaching them the foundations of design in a fun and engaging way. Your clients The Extraordinaires® are over the top characters with extraordinary needs, it’s the job of your student to design the inventions they need to fit their worlds. Choose your design client, from a rap star to a vampire teen or even an evil genius plotting in his lair. Look at the exceptionally detailed illustrated character cards to learn more about them, their world and their needs. Once you’ve chosen your Extraordinaire, pick a design project. It could be a communications device for a soldier or a drinks carrier for a circus acrobat. https://www.extraordinaires.com/shop/the-extraordinaires-design-studio-deluxe
To play, the character cards are laid out and then the inventions or gadgets are randomly placed on the character cards. The learners can then select which character/invention pair for which they would like to design.
After drawing out and labeling their inventions and gadgets, they took pictures of them and posted their images along with a short description on a blog post. Some example learner work follows:
Hoverchair 1.0
TJ selected a hover chair for an astronaut.
Le Phone
Sebastian selected a communication device for a fairy.
Bearded Flask
Will selected a drink carrier for a wizard.
This activity was a high interest, high engagement, high yield instructional task. Some learners had a little trouble getting started but once they did, their designs and inventions were fantastic. I think the fanciful nature of the cards helped engagement. The company has a free app to go along with their set for the designs to be uploaded and described. This app did not do what was promised so I cannot recommend its use.
What I think this type of design challenge does especially well is to introduce the idea that design thinking often encompasses designing a specific type of product for a specific type of client. It does a good job of introducing learners to the core of the design thinking process:
The Design Thinking process first defines the problem and then implements the solutions, always with the needs of the user demographic at the core of concept development. (http://dschool.stanford.edu/redesigningtheater/the-design-thinking-process/)
This set does cost some money but there are other free options:
- Maker Education Card Game that I created
- Destination Imagination Instant Challenge
Maker Education Card Game
This game, which I first introduced in the Maker Education Card Game, is a card game that ends with the makers making something based on selected cards. Each maker picks a card from each of the three categories:
- The Thing or Process
- The Product
- The Population.
For example, a maker may choose, Create a Blueprint from The Thing or Process category; a New Toy from the Product category; and Adults from the population category meaning the maker would create a blueprint for a new toy for adults. The educator and makers can choose whether it is a “blind” pick or one in which the makers see their options. (Note – I would love to increase options in all categories. If you have additional card ideas, please leave them in the comments section).
Destination Imagination Instant Challenges
Destination Imagination offers similar design challenges
The Destination Imagination program is a fun, hands-on system of learning that fosters students’ creativity, courage and curiosity through open-ended academic Challenges in the fields of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), fine arts and service learning. Our participants learn patience, flexibility, persistence, ethics, respect for others and their ideas, and the collaborative problem solving process. https://www.destinationimagination.org/mission-vision/
Combination Challenge
Randomly choose one or more items from A and one or more items from B, C, D or E and get busy.
Roll-A- Challenge
Computer Science: Robotics and Coding for Elementary Level Learners
I absolutely love all of the new robotics toys that have been coming out for elementary age learners. I have been using them for my summer maker camp, with my gifted education classes, for my upcoming Saturday morning program, and for my summer camp. One of my gifted girls noted, “Where do all of these robots come from?” I laughed and told her, “It’s actually has become one of my passions. Collecting them has become a major hobby of mine.”
I am an advocate of student-centric learning and giving them choices as to which instructional activities they would like to engage. After going through a series of coding activities, I give them the following choices with their goal of using five of the robotics to complete five of the tasks provided.
My robotics-type devices include:
- Osmo Coding
- Sphero
- Ollie
- Dash and Dot
- Ozobot
- Quirkbot
- Makey-Makey
- micro:bit
- mbot
- Adafruit Circuit Playground
Binary Bracelets: Introduction to Coding
The craft activity involves letting the students make a stylish necklace for themselves, where their names are spelled out in binary using black and white beads. See https://bycommonconsent.com/2014/10/19/activity-day-girls-craft-idea-binary-code-necklace/ for further directions.
Board Games to Teach Coding: Introduction
Several board games that teach children computer coding concepts have been brought out recently. They make a good complement to online learning games and enable techie kids to have some fun family time away from a computer screen. http://www.techagekids.com/2015/11/board-games-teach-coding-kids-teens.html
The Task:
After learning a little bit about Robot Turtles, Code Monkey Island, and CodeMasters, play one or two of them.
Breakout Edu’s Caught in the Code: Introduction to Coding
We are caught in an infinite loop! Someone has re-written our classroom code and we are stuck. We will keep having the same day over and over unless we can find the correct code to de-bug the system. The correct code has been locked in the Breakout EDU box – once we figure out the combos, we will can escape the loop and move forward. http://www.breakoutedu.com/caught-in-the-code
and/or
Breakout Edu’s Haspy & Lockit: Code Buddies
Haspy the Robot needs your help! She was helping her friend Lockit run an update when there was a power surge and her circuit board shorted out. Unfortunately, this scrambled Lockit’s motherboard, flashed a few of her circuits, and wreaked havoc with her logic. Even though Haspy has the owner’s manual and has read what she needs to do, she is still a little confused. She needs your knowledge of loops, algorithms, and coding to help her fix Lockit’s code and reboot her system.
The Task:
The teacher will walk the group through this task.
Coding a Lego Maze
The LEGO mazes, which can be solved with “code” using paper rather than a computer, illustrate 4 levels of difficulty and include a variety of programming concepts (https://researchparent.com/coding-a-lego-maze/).
The Task:
The teacher will assist the learners in setting up and choosing the level most appropriate for them.
Code.org: Introduction to Coding
Code.org® is a non-profit dedicated to expanding access to computer science, and increasing participation by women and underrepresented minorities. Our vision is that every student in every school should have the opportunity to learn computer science, just like biology, chemistry or algebra. https://code.org/about
The Task:
As an introduction to robotics and computer science, do a few hours of tutorials via Code.org. The site, itself, offers a number of different tutorials, within their Hour of Code page – https://code.org/learn. Feel free to do the ones that look interesting to you.
Scratch Tutorials
With the Scratch Tutorials, kids learn to code as they create interactive games, stories, music, and animations. Each card features step-by-step instructions for beginners to start coding with Scratch. The front of the card shows an activity kids can do with Scratch—like animating a character or keeping score in a game. The back shows how to put together code blocks to make the projects come to life! Along the way, kids learn key coding concepts, such as sequencing, conditionals, and variables (https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/editor/?tutorial=all).
The Task:
Complete a full series of two of the projects.
CoSpaces: Introduction to Coding
The Task:
After creating an account at CoSpaces using your school gmail, create a scene and use their Block coding to animate the people and objects in your scene. How-to directions can be found at https://youtu.be/0x-jdrwE7Ng.
Osmo Coding Awbie and Coding Jam
Osmo Coding uses hands-on physical blocks to control Awbie, a playful character who loves delicious strawberries. Each block is a coding command that directs Awbie on a wondrous tree-shaking, strawberry-munching adventure. https://playosmo.com/en/coding/
Kids love music, right? Now they can compose their own by arranging Osmo’s Coding Blocks into patterns and sequences. So it’s happy, hands-on play, and an awesome way to introduce Coding. Rock On! https://www.playosmo.com/en/coding-blocks/
The Task:
Play each game for 30 minutes and use each of the types of coding blocks during that time period.
Sphero and Ollie
“The app enabled ball that does it all” – that’s the tag line for Sphero 2.0. Sphero is robotic ball that connects to your smartphone or tablets over Bluetooth. It has built in multi-color LEDs that gives it light effect in combination of colors. It is waterproof, too. The free SPRK education program (which can be used with both Sphero and Ollie) has series of lab exercises to teach kids programming and robotics concepts. http://getstemgo.com/toys/sphero-and-ollie-robots-all-you-need-to-know-review/
The Task: The Maze
Program the Sphero or Ollie with the SPRK Lightning Lab app to navigate your own original maze made out of obstacles and materials in the learning environment. To complete this challenge, you must gather data about the best route through a maze and figure out how to build a program so Sphero can successfully navigate through the mayhem. More about this lesson can be found at https://sprk.sphero.com/cwists/preview/177x.
The Task: Painting with Sphero
Using a large piece of paper, different types of finger paints, the Sphero with the nobby cover, and the Lightening SPRK app, create a Jackson Pollack type painting. The full lesson plan can be found here – https://sprk.sphero.com/cwists/preview/152-painting-with-spherox
A “cleaner” alternative is to do a light painting with the Sphero using a long exposure app – see https://sprk.sphero.com/cwists/preview/78-light-paintingx
The Task: Battlebots
With a partner, create a Battlebot out of the Sphero or Ollie, cardboard, Popsicle sticks, and skewers. Challenge another team or two to a Battle. Last team with a balloon intact wins.
More lessons can be found at https://sprk.sphero.com/cwists/category
Dash and Dot
Dash & Dot are real robots that teach kids to code while they play. Using free apps and a compatible tablet or smartphone, kids learn to code while they make these robots sing, dance and navigate all around the house. Sensors on the robot mean they react to the environment around them. https://www.makewonder.com/
The Task: Rolling the Code
Using the Blockly app, complete the Dash and Dot Robots: Rolling for Code activity as described in http://www.thedigitalscoop.com/the_digital_scoop/2015/01/dash-and-dot-rolling-for-code.html
The Task: The Xylophone
Using the Xylophone and Xylo app, program Dash to play at least three songs.
Ozobot
Control Ozobot with colors! Draw OzoCode color codes on paper or a tablet and Ozobot uses optical sensors to respond—spinning, speeding up and more at your command. It comes with an OzoCode chart and over 20 games and activities. Color coding masters can move on with free Ozobot apps and the OzoBlockly editor, which introduces block-based programming. http://ozobot.com/
The Task:
After playing with the Ozobot color based coding, learn how to use Ozoblocky – http://ozoblockly.com/. Teach two other learners how to use it.
Quirkbot
Quirkbot is a microcontroller toy that anyone can program. It is compatible with the open construction toy Strawbees and can be used along with readily available materials like regular drinking straws, LEDs, and hobby servos (motors) to create a wide variety of hackable toys. Let your creations express themselves and interact with their environment through sound, light and motion. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1687812426/quirkbot-make-your-own-robots-with-drinking-straws
The Task:
Go through the tutorials found at https://code.quirkbot.com/tutorials/getting-started/ and then build at least one of the Quirkbots found at https://www.quirkbot.com/build. Teacher’s guide can be downloaded: quirkbot-educators-guide-v0-9
Makeblock mbot
From the outset mBot, with its big adorable eyes and cute smiley face, has enthralled more than 4.5 million children worldwide. mBot is an educational playmate for children learning to build and program, and an excellent educational aid for teachers in STEAM lessons. mBot gets children to engage both their hands and their brain, encouraging them to exercise their interdisciplinary abilities while allowing them to experience the endless fun of creation at the same time (https://www.makeblock.com/steam-kits/mbot).
The Task:
Use the block coding via the app to make the mbot do at least 5 different things.
Parrot Drone
Parrot Airborne Cargo Mars is a robust, impact-resistant minidrone that can be customized in an instant. Quick flights and unlimited scenarios! Our nifty drones are packed with all the fun in the world and additional interactive opportunities : they offer unlimited learning possibilities in STEM and coding! https://www.parrot.com/us/minidrones/parrot-airborne-cargo-mars#learn-code-with-your-drone
The Task:
To use Parrot Blockly – https://activities.parrot.com/blockly– and do two of the projects found at https://activities.parrot.com/cwists/category.
Makey-Makey
Using the MaKey MaKey you can make anything into a key just by connecting a few alligator clips. The MaKey MaKey is an invention kit that tricks your computer into thinking that almost anything is a keyboard. This allows you to hook up all kinds of fun things as an input. For example, play Mario with a Play-Doh keyboard, or piano with fruit! https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11511
The Task: Hacked Poetry
Program the Makey-Makey with Scratch to read a poem – attach Makey Makey to four drawings made by pencil that represent that poem. Idea for this came from Makey Makey Hacked Poetry Month Part I.
The Task: A Small Group Project
With one or two of your classmates, do one of the projects found at http://makeymakey.com/guides/
micro:bit
You can use your BBC micro:bit for all sorts of creations, from robots to musical instruments. This little device has a lot of features, like 25 red LED lights that can flash messages. There are two programmable buttons that can be used to control games. Your BBC micro:bit can detect motion and tell you which direction you’re heading in, and it can use a low energy Bluetooth connection to interact with other devices and the Interne. http://microbit.org/about/
The Task:
For this advanced option, do two of the projects featured on http://www.makereducation.com/microbit.html
Adafruit Circuit Playground (advanced)
Circuit Playground features an ATmega32u4 micro-processor with contains within it: 10 x mini NeoPixels – each one can display any rainbow color; Motion sensor; Temperature sensor; Light sensor; Sound sensor (MEMS microphone); Mini speaker (magnetic buzzer); 2 x Push buttons – left and right; Slide switch; 8 x alligator-clip friendly input/output pins. You can power and program it from USB. Program your code into it, then take it on the go. https://learn.adafruit.com/introducing-circuit-playground/overview
The Task:
For this advanced option, do one of the projects featured on https://learn.adafruit.com/category/circuit-playground.
Chance encounter leads to unlikely friendship between 4-year-old and a senior citizen.
This is typically an educational blog but sometimes events in the world are so touching and significant that I need to share them out. This is one such story. Plus I think it is a great way to start the new year.
A few decades ago I wrote a book of short stories. This story reminded me of one of the stories I wrote titled, Coming Out of the Dark. It was inspired by watching a man, probably around 80, playing with a toddler when I visited a San Francisco beach as well as my experiences leading an Elderhostel canoe trip for folks age 60 to 80 when I was in my 20s.
Coming Out of the Dark
When our son was born, I longed to raise him in a neighborhood like the one where I grew up . . . where its houses had big front porches and where, come summer, people lounged about in rocking chairs and drank freshly made lemonade. In the fall, there would be piles of leaves falling from the trees and the kids would play in them . . . a place where kids would know all of their neighbors, played ball in one another’s backyards, built forts in the trees, and played hide and seek in the shrubs.
After a lengthy search, we found such a place. The very day we moved into our new home, the neighbors greeted us with a homemade apple pie. The neighborhood brought back so many of my own memories along with that old familiar feeling of “home.”
After settling into our new surroundings, I found that one of my favorite things to do was to walk through the neighborhood at dusk. I loved the dull orange light that flowed from my neighbors’ kitchens and living rooms as they settled in for the the evening. I could hear bits of conversation and laughter floating out from their homes as I walked by.
When my son, Justin, was two years old, he began to walk with me in the colder winter evenings. We would see the Smiths next door gathered around their kitchen table for dinner. We watched as parents returned home to their children full of excitement and anticipation. “Daddy’s home! Mommy’s home!” We walked by Mr. Cottle’s house during our evening walks. There he would be sitting in a rocking chair behind his front window watching the traffic pass by. One of my other neighbors mentioned that he had recently lost his wife of fifty years. “When you look into his eyes,” she said, “you can see his sadness. It’s pure grief, the kind that only comes from losing the love of your life.”
Justin and I made a special point to wave to Mr. Cottle each day as we walked by. He waved back but seemed to do so with great effort as though the deep sadness in his eyes and heart were contained within his hand, making it almost too heavy to move.
As spring approached, the days grew a little longer. Backyard barbecues and street football become daily events, and Mr. Cottle moved his rocking chair to the front porch. I took the opportunity to add a cheery, “Hello!” to my regular wave. Justin followed suit with the enthusiasm of a two-year-old beginning to master the power of speech.
On these walks, Justin, like any boy his age, loved to explore. One evening he wandered into what was left of Mr. Cottle’s garden. Trying to keep him from disturbing Mr. Cottle, I insisted he return to me on the sidewalk. Justin scrunched up his little face and looked like he was about to cry.
Mr. Cottle looked at me, smiled, and said gently, “It’s okay. My wife always welcomed children into the garden. She loved for them to play here.” With that, he got up, leaned over the banister and told Justin, “Son, you can come and poke around in our garden anytime you’d like.” Deeply touched, I smiled and thanked him. Justin and I turned back down the street to continue our evening walk.
“He sad?” asked Justin. I explained that Mr. Cottle’s wife died, and Justin nodded his head. He thought about that for a minute then ran down the street in search of his next adventure.
Before long, Justin and Mr. Cottle settled into a routine. Justin would run to the bottom of Mr. Cottle’s porch stairs, hand in a high salute yellling, “High five! High five!” and Mr. Cottle would get up from his rocking chair to slap hands with him. Then they would explore the garden together.
The long days of summer arrived along with the heat that came in full force. Since the beach was only 30 minutes away, I began taking Justin there on most days. One evening, Justin ran up to Mr. Cottle’s porch for their high five and demanded, “Beach tomorrow. You come. ‘kay?”
Mr. Cottle, a bit started at first, turned thoughtfully and said to Justin and me, “My wife, Nellie, loved the beach. We would spend hours there. Nellie made the best picnic lunches, cold turkey salad with her homemade relish, bread pulled from the oven the evening before, fruit salad, and fresh brewed iced tea. We use to go early in the mornings before it got too crowded and walk the beach, pick up shells, and play tag in the waves. We would come home only after we had eaten our picnic lunch together.” I watched as his bright eyes faded to ones on the brink of tears. “We wanted to have children to share all of this with,” he shook his head. “It just didn’t work out.” He smiled down at Justin who stared unflinchingly back at him.
Justin repeated, “Beach tomorrow. You go with me.”
I smile at Justin because of all of his childhood innocence and persistence. I looked at Mr Cottle and softly added, “Please join us. We would really like for you to come.” All kinds of emotions appeared to pass through his eyes, but he said, “Yes.”
As we left Mr. Cottle, I told Justin, “We need to go home so I can go to the market.” Justin squinted his eyes and asked, “No more walk?” I responded, “Nope, no more walk tonight.”
The next morning we stopped to pick up Mr. Cottle for our trip to the beach. He appeared a bit different, dressed in a light weight wind jacket and a New York Yankees baseball cap. Best of all, though, there seemed to be a slight bounce to his walk.
“Mornin’,” he said as he slid into the front seat.
Justin yelled from his car seat in the back, “Yea! Beach today!”
When we arrived at the beach, I asked Mr. Cottle to join us for a walk. As the wet sand silently shifted between our toes, Mr. Cottle watched Justin do what Justin does – peer under shells, chase after the sandpipers, and splash in the waves. His curiosity was contagious, and soon Mr. Cottle and I were following Justin’s lead, looking under driftwood, and digging under the sand, trying to find the crawly things that Justin so adored.
I watched as Mr. Cottle found a strainer and said, “Justin, Justin, come here.” Justin came running, and Mr. Cottle said, “Let’s strain the sand and see what we can find.” They became totally absorbed with their task. They were doing what boys do together, and I had the special privilege of getting a glimpse into their world.
Mr. Cottle showed Justin how to play tag with waves as I sat and watched. “Justin, follow the wave as it goes out, and when it comes back in, race away so it doesn’t catch you.” This game brought squeals of delight from Justin and Mr. Cottle laughed out loud. This sound caught us all by surprised.
“Wow,” said Mr. Cottle. “I haven’t heard that sound in so long. My wife would be so made at me. She once told me that my laugh was one of the reasons she married me.” He laughed again, and we couldn’t help but join in.
When it was time for lunch, we returned to our blanket, and I asked Mr. Cottle to unpack our picnic basket. He pulled out the food I made. He pulled out the fresh turkey salad with homemade relish on freshly baked bread. He pulled out the fruit salad with the season’s freshest fruit. Finally, he pulled out the fresh brewed ice tea. “This is just too much,” he said with a cracking voice.
I suddenly felt that maybe my good intentions might not have been such a great idea. “I’m sorry,” I said, “I just thought . . .”
“No need to make apologies,” he smiled. “No everything is great . . . . everything is fine . . . thank you.” His last word fell out of his mouth without much sound. He sighed as Justin and I sat quietly. Mr. Cottle stared out to the ocean, his chest shook slightly and tears slid down his cheeks.
Justin touched his arm and asked, “What’s wrong? You sad?”
“Yes,” Mr. Cottle replied. “Very sad but very happy at the same time.” He looked at me through his tear-filled eyes and whispered, “Thanks.”
Justin crawled into Mr. Cottle’s after lunch. I noticed that they had the same kind of eyes – young eyes. “I don’t mean to be forward,” I said to Mr. Cottle, “but when I first met you, all I saw was an old person. And now, when I look into your eyes, I see a . . . well, I see . . .” I stuggled to find a word that fit.
“A friend,” said Mr. Cottle.
I responded with a smile, “Yes, a friend.”
When we dropped Mr. Cottle at his home that afternoon, I said, “Beach again on Saturday?” Justin piped up from the back seat, “Beach again on Saturday?”
Mr. Cottle smiled brightly and nodded his head.
Simple and Rube Goldberg Machines: A Maker Education, STEAM Lesson
Recently I facilitated a simple-machines-leading-into-Rube-Goldberg-machines lesson with my gifted elementary students.
As I’ve discussed in past blog posts, I use several criteria to guide my lesson design:
- Instructional challenges are hands-on and naturally engaging for learners.
- There is a game-like atmosphere. There are elements of play, leveling up, and a sense of mastery or achievement during the instructional activities.
- The challenges are designed to be novel and create excitement and joy for learners.
- There is a healthy competition where the kids have to compete against one another.
- Learners don’t need to be graded about their performances as built-in consequences are natural.
- There is a natural building of social emotional skills – tolerance for frustration, expression of needs, working as a team.
- Lessons are interdisciplinary (like life) where multiple, cross-curricular content areas are integrated into the instructional activities.
- Lessons are designed to get learners interested in and excited about a broad array of topics especially in the areas of science, engineering, math, language arts, and the arts.
The lesson activities and sequence went as follows . . .
Simple Machines
- As a group, learners watched the following video and reviewed the following webpage on the Smartboard:
- Via their own Chromebooks, they played the following online game: http://www.msichicago.org/play/simplemachines/
- They used their Chromebooks to go on a scavenger hunt both inside and outside of the school to take photos of example simple machines.
- To conclude the simple machines component, learners were taught about Haikus and asked to write Haikus about simple machines to be posted on their Kidblogs.
Rube Goldberg Machines
- Learners were shown several Rube Goldberg machines posted on Youtube.
- Via their own Chromebooks, learners played some Rube Goldberg machine online games:
- Learners were given a worksheet that contained several examples of Rube Goldberg Machines and asked to sketch their own cartoon versions.
- Finally, they were given the task to create their own Rube Goldberg machines:
- For inspiration, they were shown the following web resources –
- They were split into teams and given lots of materials (dominoes, hot wheels, hot wheel tracks, playing cards, assorted cardboard pieces. balls, tape).
- They were told that they needed to have their creations end with doing a simple task as is characteristic of Rube Goldberg machines.
- Finally, they were told that their creations would go into a display in the school’s center hall.
The Maker Educator Workshop
I have done-am doing full day workshops on The Maker Educator both at ISTE 2016 and EduTECH in Australia. What follows is both the description-goals and an overview of the workshop’s learning activities.
Workshop Description, Goals, and Outline
Description
Being a maker educator requires developing a new mindset; a new set of skills and roles. Discover, through this workshop, first, a process for reflecting on making through creating circuits and hacked toys, and second, through a self-assessment, the mindset characteristics of an educator who is embracing making education. This workshop is designed for educators who are and want to integrate maker education into their instructional settings.
Goals
By the end of this workshop, participants will learn and be able to apply:
- new maker activities that can be brought to their own educational environments
- a process for reflecting on making for the purposes of increasing learning following each make
- the characteristics and qualities of an educator as a maker educator: (lead learner, safe environment manager, relationship builder and enabler, process facilitator, resource suggester and provider, normalizer of ambiguous problem finding and solving, technology tutor, feedback facilitator, tour guide of learning possibilities)
- an assessment tool for evaluating the maker mindset of educators,
- a process for identifying goals to increase one’s potential to be a maker educator.
Outline
- Short Introduction to Maker Education – Video
- Frontloading and Framing the Maker Activity
- 1st Make – Paper Circuits and LED projects
- Reflect on the Making Process
- Develop Personal Goals for Next Make
- Introduction to 2nd Make: Maker Education and Social Emotional Learning
- 2nd Make – Toy Hack or Soldering Project
- 2nd Reflection on the Making Process
- Personal Assessment of Mindset of a Maker Educator
- Review Characteristics of the Mindset of a Maker Educator
- Group Drawing with LEDs – The Maker Educator
- Develop Goals for Making in One’s Own Instructional Setting
Workshop Activities
Introducing Maker Education
- Watch Adam Savage Maker Fair Talk for 10 minutes starting at 6:05 and ending at 16:55 https://youtu.be/kdLky-YkOVw?t=6m5s
- Visit The Perfect Storm for Maker Education Thinglink
- Visit Make STEAM Thinglink
Frontloading the Maker Activity
Making Paper Circuits and LED Projects
Reflecting on the Making Process Through Playing “A Maker Reflection Board Game” & Developing Personal Goals for Next Make
Documenting Learning and Developing Personal Goals – Participants will document, reflect on their learning, and develop goals for their next make either through a shared Google Presentation or a Shared Wikispace.
Introducing the Second Make: Maker Education and Social Emotional Learning
Doing a Second Make: Toy Hacking and/or Soldering and/or Sew Electrics
Reflecting and Documenting a Second Time
Exploring the Characteristics of the Maker Educator
Creating a LED Enhanced Educator a a Maker Educator Poster
Developing Goals and Strategies for Bringing It Back to One’s Work Setting
Resources
- Maker Education Website – http://www.makereducation.com/
- The Educators as a Maker Educator ebook – http://www.amazon.com/The-Educator-as-Maker-ebook/dp/B016Z5NZ6O
Workshop Slide Deck
Jackie Gerstein, Ed.D.
User Generated Education 