How do I establish a classroom environment that promotes a growth mindset and encourages students to become engaged in critical thinking behaviors such as making deeper learning connections, applying previously acquired skills to novel situations, and engaging in metacognition with respect to the learning process?
I have been doing a lot of thinking about how to answer my problem of practice. Originally, I intended to focus on increasing critical thinking during my language arts block. However, as I began to go through the design thinking process, a new idea emerged. To answer my problem of practice, I am proposing that my students apply the knowledge that they learn about sound in our science unit to design something useful for our classroom. All year, we have been wondering if there is a way to reduce the background noise of a busy classroom from our recordings on the iPad. The students love to talk about what we are learning and often this is the most authentic form of assessment for a first-grader. However, our recordings can be difficult to hear due to surrounding noise from the classroom. To answer this problem, the students will be using Inquiry Based Learning and the Design Thinking process to develop solutions that will result in better sound when recording.Click the link below to view my prototype.
Problem of Practice Prototype
Hi Mae,
ReplyDeleteI love this project idea for your students. I really do think that this real world problem that they experience will get them diving in deeper to solve the problem and connecting with the topic! It is interesting that the groups will present to the PTA for money to build the prototype. How will the students present to the PTA? What will they need to create? I think that teaching them a lesson on promoting a product/advertising would also be a great real world lesson to include since they will need to showcase it to the PTA for money!
^^- Christy Chen
DeleteHi Christy!
DeleteGreat questions! The kids will create a keynote presentation (based on a template I have created) as well as physical models of the prototypes to present to the PTA. Our PTA has $200 for each class to spend this year so I thought it would be fun to have the kids tell what they wanted to use the money for. I am not totally sure what materials they will need yet as they have not yet completed the ideate phase. However, I have been researching online and have found some great options that I will show them with inexpensive items like cardboard boxes, foam, metal crates, etc. I am excited to see how this works out!
Mae, I love how the process led you to a new solution and focus! Your prototype made me think about the readings about culturally responsive instruction. I believe your project will engage learners in a real-world situation. What kind of supplies do you anticipate needing for students to create their prototypes?
ReplyDeleteHi Amy!
ReplyDeleteI am not totally sure what materials the kids will come up with. However, I have been poking around online and found some great inexpensive ideas. Others have used things like cardboard boxes, foam, towels, pop-up tents, and crates. I even found some cheap-ish microphones (under $15) to test out in the recording space. It will be interesting to see what the kids come up with to design their spaces.
There is a really great connection between emphasizing a growth mindset and designing a solution to your problem. I'm sure you will have many iterations of a design in which you will see improvement throughout the process. If students had a fixed mindset, they would try one solution and live with whatever performance measures resulted. However, your class has a growth mindset. They will use everything they've learned through the trial and error process to continue to grow and improve upon the solution. If you emphasize this point throughout the process, maybe kids will begin to see other ways they can establish a growth mindset while learning. Cool idea!
ReplyDeleteMae. you problem of practice and your solution to this issue was very well thought out. I can see that you really but a lot of consideration into what your students will be learning and how to go about making sure they learn it. I was wondering if there was a certain time frame in which this project will take place over? Other than that I think that this prototype is pretty solid and makes uses of interesting resources.
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