Throughout the process of working on my inquiry project, I have a daily struggle with how to characterize this journey I am taking with my students.  I’ve referred to the project using the descriptors:  play, project based learning, and inquiry.  While preparing for this entry, I coined a new term, Interest Driven Learning, only to find I’d stolen it from many other sources far more intelligent than I.  From a teacher perspective, this is certainly a constructivist endeavor.  Most of the readings I’ve done on PBL have included examples of projects larger in scope and which required more research than our little project.  I do feel that our game-making unit is a great learning laboratory from which to leap into a truer form of PBL in the future, but for now we’ll characterize it as Interest Driven Learning.

It’s funny.  Weeks ago, as my team and I created the inquiry questions that would help lead us into this unit of study, the questions seemed to be directed at us, the teachers.  Now that our students have begun their work, it seems that the questions apply to them, not the “educators.”

In my class, we finished up the teacher modeling process by creating Excel graphs of individual performance over six “play” sessions.  Student graphs included “trend” lines so it would easily show whether they generally improved over the six sessions.  After modeling, students were able to work independently to create the graphs.  Based on the information provided, I was able to create a “seeding” chart, much like the NCAA March Madness basketball field of 64 teams.  As PSSA testing began, we were able to use “down time” after testing as a space to play “best of five” series based on the seedings, and eventually crown a class champion.  This became a popular spectator event as nearly every child wanted to witness 3-2-1 history!

Throughout the experience, students have been blogging about the game and blogging about ways to persuade teachers to allow their students to play.  These seed ideas are now being used by students to write persuasive essays.

Next . . . to begin the next phase of our journey.  The first question of our inquiry projects was:  How can teachers create a meaningful unit based on play?  The first answer was now clear.  Model the process of taking an idea through to a more refined finished product.  The initial game idea presented to students was bouncing a ball into a cup.  The teachers allowed student experimentation and acquired feedback.  It was determined that average scores were low, so we added ways to facilitate improvement including backboards, practice, and peer feedback on technique.  The result was higher average scores and high student interest and engagement, related to collaboration, social skills, and math computation and analysis.  Additionally, students saw that some decisions, regarding performance and changes to the game, were informed by data.

From the first inquiry question, the word “meaningful” strikes me on two levels.  Anecdotal evidence shows a very high level of student interest and engagement, both in playing and math use.  Additionally, students immediately expressed an interest in being able to create their own games, even after discovering they would have to incorporate math and writing.  All indications are that what we were doing, and about to do, was meaningful to students and created a feeling of shared purpose.

How can we support the students and facilitate continual improvement?  The teachers on my team agreed that in the next phase the work should be done by small groups, not individuals.  Our first consideration was how to organize students.  We wanted to do better than just randomly assign groups.  Keeping in mind Adam Gates’s idea that brainstorming should first be done individually, we asked students to submit diagrams showing and describing their ideas for arcade style games.  Identifying similar characteristics, we created groups of roughly four students.  In my class, several students created basketball type games, field goal type games, as well as bowling, skeeball, and a maze-like game.  Based on these diagrams, groups were assembled based on common characteristics.  I asked the students to meet their partners, share their original ideas, and identify similarities that would help them see why they were grouped together.  I was initially nervous about this, but they seemed to be able to generally find common ground from which to proceed.

How can we incorporate the use of fourth grade principles of math?  As we wrapped up the teacher-modeling phase, I asked the class to brainstorm all of the math that was used with 3-2-1.  They were easily able to identify statistical landmarks, measurement, and geometry, including the fact that I’d chosen cylinders to receive the ping pong balls.  As students began to collaborate on their game, they included thinking about scoring and making to incorporate mathematical concepts, much like their teacher had.

How can we support the students and facilitate continual improvement?/How can we provide formative feedback?  Before beginning phase two, I was concerned about how much to formalize this portion of the project.  I thought about creating rubrics and session-guiding objectives, because this is how I’ve been trained.  Not knowing how things would proceed, I decided that the only thing I wanted to have some control or influence over would be how they worked with one another.  Working together is not a new concept in my class, and I trusted that this would work well, but I wanted to be sure to encourage a high level of on-task, respectful behavior, so, as a starting point, I wanted to create a basic rubric, mostly as a reminder.  We now begin each working session with a review of this basic rubric to guide their interactions.  As they gain more experience working with each other in the present context, I plan to have them create their own “collaboration rubric.”

As students entered the prototype stage of development, I walked around the room, checking in with groups, answering questions, and sharing ideas.  As facilitator, my goals are to have a presence, make sure I understand the status of each group’s progress, keep their work moving forward, and give support when challenges arrive.  One example of this is the group that is creating a hand-held maze type game, which I discovered from their diagram model.  I wondered if they had considered how to erect the walls out of cardboard.  I demonstrated some ideas for how this could be accomplished.  From their reaction, I don’t believe they realized the challenge they had created for themselves, and I was able to identify and facilitate progress by showing them some ways to approach.

How can we measure success?  As we consider this question, I acknowledge two perspectives, that of student and educator.  Looking through the lens of “student driven,” we will ask students to consider what it means to be successful in this endeavor.  Doing this will give teachers guidance and information that will help us plan and evaluate in the future, allow students to be reflective and consider how they’ve grown, enable students to explain the math they used to create and play their games, and provide an opportunity for them to write.  From an educator point of view, we will consider all of the above and ask some questions.  What elements of connected learning and equity were achieved?  Was the activity meaningful to students?  Did students collaborate effectively?  Were students able to meet enough curricular objectives to justify the cost in classroom time?

Speaking from the point of view of a teacher who has not formally collected data from students, there is no question that this activity is student driven, interest driven, and creates a condition of shared purpose.  There is no question that students are being creative, collaborative, and communicative.  Doing our work or play sessions, students are highly engaged, on-task, and enthusiastic.  One satisfying moment came during our class “Final Four” when a highly athletic and competitive student, who is often not highly engaged, had just beaten a young female student, who seemed disappointed, and the young man promptly walked over to her and offered a handshake and a, “Good game!”  I noticed he did the same thing with his opponent when, this time, he lost in the final.

As I was rereading excerpts from “Teaching in a Connected Learning Classroom,” and considering how our project connects to Connected Learning, the following quote made an impression on me,

“In their 2013 report, Connected Learning: An Agenda for Research and Design, Ito et al. write that connected learning is: socially embedded, interest-driven, and oriented toward educational, economic, or political opportunity. Connected learning is realized when a young person pursues a personal interest or passion with the support of friends and caring adults, and is in turn able to link this learning and interest to academic achievement, career possibilities, or civic engagement.”

I feel the bolded words strongly apply to the work in which my grade level partners and I have engaged.  As a teacher, I don’t think I’ve ever attempted a learning activity that is so social.  Students are now making original creations that were born from commonly shared ideas!  I especially love the term “oriented toward educational opportunity” because it allows for so much freedom for teachers to be creative and use their professional judgement, while allowing students to experiment.

As I consider equity, I keep coming back to a resource identified in an earlier post, Shane Safir’s edutopia.org blog entry “Equity v. Equality:  6 Steps Toward Equity,” in which she identifies “6 ways to walk toward equity…”  They are: Know every child, become a warm demander, practice lean-in assessment, flex your routines, make it safe to fail, and view culture as a resource.  Additionally, in my own earlier post I said, “I can create an equitable situation if I can motivate, engage, inspire, and facilitate learning for each student, no matter their present level of development.  If that can be defined as equity, sign me up!”  These points remind me of a small moment I observed this week as the kids began preparing to build their prototypes.  One group, which contains a student with emotional, interpersonal, and many academic needs, was working on a goal post for their paper football type game, which they were able to create.  The problem they were wrestling with was how to get it to stand up on its own.  This student with low confidence and limited academic success suggested sticking the bottom end of the goalpost through the bottom of a cup.  It worked!  His group members were able, even if briefly, to see him as an intelligent, helpful contributor.  His satisfaction was easily visible.

STUDENT FEEDBACK AND WHERE WE GO FROM HERE

There are many benefits to creating a novel activity and including other educators.  Normally, with a project like this, I’d initially want to keep it to myself in case it failed miserably.  However, when creating a project as a result of taking a course on Connected Learning, you simply have to…connect with others!  As a team, it has been interesting and helpful to be able to share our experiences and find out the subtle differences with which others have approached certain activities.  I’ve marveled at their enthusiasm to tackle something new together.

One of my partners created a survey which has yielded some interesting insights.  In my career, there are not many lessons that have ended with students saying things like,

• “I enjoy creating things with others.”
• “I think this project offers collaboration and creativity.”
• “It helps students be able to challenge themselves in a fun way.”
• “The students are more engaged in the work and are still having fun.”
• “It gives you the opportunity to work with other people.”
• “You can learn about teamwork and learn how to become more creative.”

Most of the student comments focus on collaboration, which has caused me to ask the question:  Is an activity rigorous enough if facilitating successful collaboration is the greatest outcome?  When one considers that this project does that, plus some math, writing, and oral communication practice, I have a hard time saying, “No.”  Additionally, isn’t collaboration considered a 21^st century skill?

Currently, students are working diligently, with near 100% engagement, on their prototypes.  Soon, student groups will introduce their game creations to the class, allow others to play, get feedback, analyze, and create final, aesthetically pleasing versions.  Eventually, our three classes will mix so that every student in the grade level will have access to everyone else’s creations.  This “Arcade Day” will allow students to approach each new game as a kind of expert, since they will have done so much work perfecting their own games.  We will discuss how their own experience as game makers impacts the way they look at the arcade games of others.  Additionally, students will complete in persuasive essays associated with game playing/making.

 

 

Connected teachers and learners search for any and all means of facilitating learning.  Though I’ve had a smart phone for several years, my app use has centered on global positioning and little else.  Until recently, I never played a game on my phone.  My personal prejudice against apps put them in the category of “time wasting.”  As you might imagine, this is not the first time my ignorance caused a misunderstanding!  A few entries ago, I described my change of attitude toward Twitter and its usefulness in connecting to others for all sorts of things, though I mostly stick to connecting to educational professionals.  I’m now beginning a journey that’s making me realize the utility of the app store!

As many, or all of you, may already know, there are oodles of education related app activities, from learning a new language to math and science games to “brain development” to history, music, and geography.  It really is an enticing array of content related to education.  For older students, I found apps on politics, including the 2016 election, chemistry, biology, geometry, calculus and MUCH, MUCH MORE!  Regarding equity, all of the apps I’ve mentioned are free!

As more educators see the educational benefits of utilizing mobile devices with connectivity, the question is, are we taking full advantage of the availability and the high interest of students in using these resources to improve learning?  One issue in school is sometimes the lack of time to practice the basics and, at a minimum, apps can help with that, especially considering their ease of use for students of all ages.

Similar to Lacey, I set my fourth graders off on the task of inventing a school related app.  @Seecantrill posed some questions regarding student interest this week, and it was…well, interesting how my students incorporated their personal interests into their app ideas.  About 45% of the students created school help or subject specific apps, often incorporating their enjoyment of a sport, such as “Soccer Fun,” which was actually a math practice app.  About 20% incorporated an interest is something specific, beyond a school subject.  For example, two people created apps that allowed them to follow their love of minerals, “Crystal Heaven” and “Mining Minerals.”  Another created a wordy app called, “Get Better at Baseball, NOW!” which combined the coaching of baseball fundamentals and the promotion of learning about the history of baseball.  Another, from a student who enjoys travel with his family, was called “Globe It!!!” and facilitated learning about “anyware in the world and write an awesome story about (fiction or nonfiction) and take a picture from where you are.”  Two other apps helped users learn to play the recorder, a connection to what they are actually doing this year at my school through the music program.  Finally, two more apps turned my inquiry project game, “3-2-1, 1-2-3” into an app.  My ego took this as a great complement!  The apps were called, “3-2-1, FUN!” and 3-2-1, Let’s Have Fun!”

The enthusiasm of the students for their app creation task reminded me, once again, that when they see learning as following their interests or play, students become invested at an incredibly high level.  Combine this with novelty and the energy in the room skyrockets, off-task behavior disappears, and engagement is achieved.

During this political season, and considering voter apathy among young adults, I’ve been thinking of apps that would somehow connect teenagers to local political issues and local politicians at the township and borough levels.  Kids often get passionate about local issues they judge as unfair or ones that will improve their lives.  What if teachers had an easy way to make kids aware of local issues and connected them to local politicians and bureaucrats?  Would this increase young people’s feeling of connectedness?  Would it allow them to access the democratic process in a meaningful way at a young age?  Would this create a situation that resulted in higher voter turnout among the younger demographic?  It’s clear that a high number of young adults, and an alarming number of older adults, don’t participate fully in the democratic process, especially when there is no presidential election.

My personal preference for an app?  The one that will tell me every scheduled live musical performance within 30 miles of Center City Philadelphia.  I always seem to find out about concerts after they’re sold out!

My other idea is an app that creates a cheesesteak out of thin air…

 

In my classroom, math is organized into three stations.  Generally, one is captained by me (A) and is the focus lesson for the day, another (B) is based on pencil and paper review/games/problem solving, and the third (C) is computer based using various websites designed for practice or review, such as www.xtramath.org, www.tenmarks.com, and www.everydaymathonline.com.  This week, station “B” centered on the next phase of our inquiry project.  Over the past couple of weeks, students have played the game we “invented,” given me feedback through their performance and conversation, and the game has been modified.  Our conversations centered on making the game more fun, even though they seemed to be having a pretty good time already!  Based on their input, we discussed the attributes of a “good” game.  According to them, games need to seem like a challenge, yet players also need to feel like they can be highly successful.  Based on student feedback, I decided to increase the height of each backboard to allow a greater possibility of success.

Throughout this activity, students have been experimenting with different score sheets.  I asked what math we could practice along with our game that might give us feedback on how each player is performing.  We decided to record each individual score and, from this information, identify the maximum score for each person for each day, along with the minimum, range, median, mode, and mean.  Not surprisingly, these are all math concepts we’ve studied this year!

With the understanding that modifications were made to increase scores, which initially averaged 1.5, I asked students how we would know if their suggestions resulted in greater success.  Table groups agreed that we’d know if average scores increased.  Over several modifications suggested by students, our average scores did increase from 1.5 to 2.5 to 4.4 over several days of testing!

Along the way, I experimented with different versions of score sheets and have settled on this one for the final phase:

If you examine this one close enough, you’ll see that the student failed to identify the median score, and for one game the mode should be 7 and 5.  This happened with several students and allowed me to identify a misunderstanding on their part and address.  As you can see, this student is currently scoring above the class average.  I was able to identify several above average players and several below average players.  High scorers were then asked how we could help improve the class average.  They agreed to tutor other students, watch other players play, and give constructive feedback on technique.  Before setting pairs off to work, I coached the high scorers on how they could be “constructive” in their approach to helping others.  Through their dialogue, they realized they needed to point out positive things they saw in the approach of their classmates, and offer gentle suggestions for improvement.

Yesterday, Station A had pairs of students exploring fractional parts using pattern blocks, Station B was electric with kids playing 3-2-1, 1-2-3, and station C featured pairs exploring customary units of measurement as they collaborated on an online activity.  I worked between the three groups, identifying issues, checking in with students who needed support, and monitoring progress online.  I smiled noticing the extreme level of engagement.  After students rotated through all three stations, we had less than five minutes to prepare for Friday dismissal.  As I organized materials and got a final check on their online performance, a hush fell over the room.  I looked over the table groups and noticed children feverishly calculating the statistical landmarks for the day . . . without prompting!  This made me think of Constance Steinkuehler’s “Big Thinkers” video.  In her talk, she mentions the epiphany of realizing games are a “Trojan Horse” for studying interest driven learning.  Her remark that, “In schools, we have the luxury of ignoring interest.  We simply say, ‘you must’” made me realize we should actively avoid this type of thinking.  She discusses the fact that games promote engagement, are captivating, and motivating as a vehicle to advance learning.  “Interest Driven Learning?”  Who’da thought?

Next week, students will finish their final three sessions of playing, record keeping, and calculating.  Each student will graph their results.  We may also configure data to compare the results based on gender, birthdates, etc.  I’ve also invited students to blog about the game on our class blog and I’m looking forward to learning from their conversations in this space.

The next phase will be turning the kids loose to create their own games.  My team and I have some preliminary thoughts, but answers to the following questions will have to be formulated:

* How can we incorporate the use of fourth grade principles of math?  Statistical landmarks are easy and will be expected.  Other concepts in math will be investigated by brainstorming with students and consulting with the other teachers on my team.

* How can we support the students and facilitate continual improvement?  Informal monitoring will occur, but what else?  We anticipate this will be a group project, as opposed to individual.  We need to identify the steps students will follow, with their help, then offer benchmarks and incorporate their ideas on basic rubrics for cooperation, group work, and final products.

* How can we measure success?  See above related to rubrics to guide expectations and achievement.

* How can we provide formative feedback?  See above.

* How can connections to writing, reading, science, or social studies be accomplished?  Students will be expected, at a minimum to write out directions for playing their game.  Other ideas include directions for reproducing their game and/or persuasive or opinion essays related to their game, games in general, or our overall project.

* How can elements of art, music, research, and physical movement be incorporated?  This was always a reach, but if time allows, we’d like to get advice from the art teacher on how to make the games attractive and possibly the music teacher on choosing theme music to go with each game.  We have other ideas, but time will be a factor here.  There’s always next year!

3-2-1, 1-2-3 is in its final version and, after this week, we expect the game to be retired and replaced with student creations.  Outcomes so far:

1. A very high level of engagement in play, record keeping, work with statistical landmarks, and effort to improve performance.
2. Lots of conversation about data, performance, and the qualities of games.
3. Opportunities for leaders to emerge and give feedback to peers.
4. Teacher modeling of the process students will follow when creating their own games.
5. Hopefully, the springboard we were hoping for to launch this project into its next phase.
6. Students are connected with a shared purpose.

I have to say, it feels nice to throw out the playbook and act on an idea that simply begins with high interest as a goal and trust that, as educational professionals, this will act as a catalyst for meaningful learning that we will craft/facilitate along the way.  After all, as stated on http://educatorinnovator.org/lrng2015/, “Connected Learning research and practice has demonstrated that all young people can achieve and learn when given opportunities to follow their interests, support from peers and mentors, and time and space to create work that is meaningful to them.”

We have liftoff!