License to Ask

Questions by Oberazzi
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License

One message which came through strongly from the INSET session I mentioned in the last post was how much we need to stimulate a sense of curiosity by prodding, encouraging and cajoling students into asking questions … but asking the right questions and in the right ways. The significance of this in enhancing learning was emphasised just a day later when this Mind/Shift article was posted – For Students, Why the Question is More Important Than the Answer

Coming up with the right question involves vigorously thinking through the problem, investigating it from various angles, turning closed questions into open-ended ones and prioritizing which are the most important questions to get at the heart of the matter.

The article highlights that we need to give the students ‘license to ask’ questions and to enable this we should:

• provide sufficient time for them to think through what they want to ask
• enable it to be acceptable for some to ask many questions whilst others only come up with a few … but that it’s important for everyone to contribute
• not judge answers
• note each question as stated.

Now that all sounds like a rather time-consuming exercise if undertaken in class time. Nevertheless if it’s important enough we’ll make the time … though perhaps can’t afford to be so fastidious on a regular basis. Perhaps then ICT can offer an alternative way?

Typecast is an online application specifically geared towards facilitating student questions. The principle is that you pose a stimulus idea about which students could ask questions (maybe an image, news article, paragraph of text or short video). You then share a link to it with your students who can then begin posting their questions. What’s more, they can ‘vote’ questions up or down, so if they see someone has asked a question to which they would also like to know the answer, they can vote it up. Like many things this isn’t an activity you would just drop on the students and expect success, but with a little preparatory guidance, it offers an alternative way of soliciting questions and might provide a channel for those who would be reticent about asking questions in class.

Using Typecast offers the possibility of students preparing in advance for a new topic by encouraging them to formulate questions about the topic. This means that you’re already aware of what the misconceptions might be, what the students already know and therefore what might be the most effective route forward in starting the unit. You also have the possibility of providing certain answers which bring the whole class up to a common starting point. Typecast questioning could also be used for checking progress and understanding as a topic proceeds or towards the end of the topic as a way of checking whether concepts have been embedded.

How about taking things a step further? How about students (perhaps in pairs/groups) taking on the role of prviding the answers. Or why not make full use of the online aspect and invite participation from an external ‘expert’ from whom students can draw out information through their questions? Or even use Typecast as a way for connecting with parents and using it as a tool through which they can ask questions about a school strategy or initiative?

Typecast – not quite a discussion board … a Q&A board perhaps?

 

 

Mandala Maker

Yesterday during an INSET day, we were treated to an informative session from Jane Simister on active learning techniques we can employ with our students. As is my wont, when each activity was introduced, I couldn’t help thinking how ICT might be employed … not that that would always be appropriate or desirable.

One of the techniques helpful in drawing out the essential significant points in a topic is using a Mandala; a framework to scaffold students’ interrogation of what they know. These can be completed independently or in pairs/groups. Using a blank Mandala, the central topic is written in the core, then sub-topics in the next ring and so forth, gradually teasing out the important points which describe the topic as a whole. Useful as a revision technique; useful for planning extended writing activities.

On the fantastic Classtools website, Russell Tarr has an interactive Mandala creator, although described there as a Target diagram, and this completed version gives you an idea of what a finished product might look like:

Click here for larger version

Useful though that is, it has the drawback of a fixed number of sectors which might not be appropriate for all topics. Having been unsuccessful in finding anything which might address that, I wondered if it might be possible to create my own customisable Mandala creator. Since it look very similar to the doughnut charts found in Excel, it was to that that I turned. After a little mental huffing and puffing I got to something which works.

Mandala Template Generator

By inputting the number of sectors you want in each ring, a blank chart template is automatically created which can then be printed off for writing onto … or for the more adept, maybe even annotating on screen. What I couldn’t quite figure out was how to have different numbers of sub-sections in different segments, if you needed it. As it stands, the finished product will always be symmetrical.

So there’s your challenge: how might this be adapted to increase its flexibility? I’ve left the sheet which performs all the calculations visible if you want to interrogate and/or adapt that … or maybe you have a slicker method?

Am I now digitally literate?

I like pomegranates … but I rarely buy them. I see them on the counter in the shop, am tempted for a moment, but then remember the zen-like patience needed to extract the delicious little jewels at the rate of a few morsels per minute. Either that or take out chunks at at a time and endure the additional flavour of bitter pith. But what has all this to do with ICT? Well surely there has to be a better way of deseeding a pomegranate … we’ve sky-craned a vehicle onto the surface of a planet tens of millions of miles away for goodness sake! Now I didn’t expect there to be a technical solution necessarily, but I did hope that Google might know if it could be done.

In less than a minute I had the answer (on an iPod Touch), had watched a video and in no more than three more minutes was drooling over a perfectly juicy spoonful of pomegranate seeds … and then several more.

What a wonderful little learning episode in which a problem was posed, solution sought, alternative possibilities skimmed, single solution chosen, then executed. A known unknown to a known in under five minutes. It may only be a small change, but my life is now enriched and more enjoyable thanks to Google, YouTube, the producer of the video and the iPod Touch. Just think if you could do that every day … several times!

Pomegranate is back on the menu!

Unused word … play?

Spotted this tweet by Aki Puustinen the other night:

Unused Words – Discover a new word every day via @anacristinaprts | @scoopit sco.lt/6SCE77 #education

— Aki Puustinen (@apuustin) August 25, 2012

I’d been looking for a replacement for ‘Save the Words‘ which seems to have gone off the radar, so Unused Words seemed to fit the bill. I like the way that each word is associated with an image, perhaps providing that associative connection which helps lodge the word in memory.

Then I got to thinking there’s lots of scope here for using this as a springboard for some class activities:

1. Provide them with one of the words, then they have to create their own definition (assuming they’re not hooked up to the Web!)
2. Have them find an image (CC of course!) which suits either the correct definition, or their own.
3. Mash together word, definition & image using whatever application they feel is appropriate.
4. Post a bunch of their offerings, either physically in the classroom or online for another group to see if they can spot the red herrings.

Not sure where it would fit though …

Given that a definition ought to fit into 140 characters, perhaps there’s scope for a Twitter hashtag game here? Someone chooses a word (or maybe just use the daily word?), then players offer suggested definitions … a bit ‘Call My Bluff’ ish.

Anyone for #unusedword ?

Would Yorkshire *really* be that far up the medal table?

Yesterday morning I was looking at the medal table and wondering whether there was a ‘fairer’ way that it might be arranged, what with various discussions around who was the greatest Olympian and what the criteria ought to be. And then I thought that this might be an interesting investigation for our students. The base data is available in the medal table, then it would be up to them to find the supplementary data to support their argument.

Maybe each medal ought to have a value, then create a spreadsheet to calculate the ‘new’ results – would it change the order? How? So this might suit an ICT and/or Maths lesson at different levels with the spreadsheet including different elements of sophistication: multiplication or addition formulae, absolute and relative references, modelling through attempting different possible values for each medal and exploring the outcomes, graphing the results.

Although an initial thought came from looking at those nations above us and wondering whether their pool of talent was greater than ours, it follows naturally that there will be smaller nations than GB, so perhaps ‘medals per head of capita’ would be a fairer system. Here then students would need to find a source of population data, then process it to create a new medal table – Geography, Maths and ICT.

I also never fail to be moved when athletes from nations with far fewer resources at their disposal succeed. Could medals be organised according to GDP or some other metric perhaps? Again where might students find that data, how would they apply it and what effect would it have on the standings? So this time we might be adding Economics to the previous mix of subjects.

As ‘Super Saturday’ drew to a close, TeamGB’s place in the medal table had improved considerably and generated a few Tweets which offered even further lines of enquiry. Some people claimed that GB would top the table if it was medals per head of capita, but I could only wonder about the nations below GB in the table – had those people considered nations further down the table? Someone else suggested that if Yorkshire was a nation, it would be 11th in the medal table (7th by the end of Saturday!). Finding the data to back up, or refute that claim might introduce a higher level of demand from the search? Perhaps also a Tweet might be a great place to start the discussion, thereby bringing in the notion of ‘truth’ in claims made through social media and offering opportunities for broadening the discussion still further.

Whilst the medal table does indeed give a quick view of the results, might there be other more effective ways of displaying the new data arising from student investigations? An opportunity perhaps to bring in Design or Art by creating an infographic to display their findings?

Data processing needn’t be dry at all and the Olympics medal table could offer a topical and authentic cross-curricular opportunity.

A Digital Leader in the making?

Been busy launching our Digital Explorers Club and Digital Quests recently. One of the first to sign up was a Y7 student, aged 11/12 who quickly spotted she was likely to have problems creating accounts for herself with some of the online resource providers since she didn’t meet the lower age requirement of 13. We discussed this at length, beginning with COPPA, exploring the reasons why this age had been chosen and how we might attempt to address the issue through parental involvement.

She wasn’t happy! Her point wasn’t that young people might need some form of protection in online transactions, but that age itself oughtn’t to be the deciding factor. She pointed out that there may be some people younger than 13 who are perfectly able to weigh the risks versus benefits of giving personal data away online, whilst others who are older (and yes even adults!) might be poorly placed to make those decisions. She then went away, scrutinised Google’s T&C and emailed me pointing out two passages she thought worthy of particular note, commenting that whilst these rules may be all well and good for legal reasons and were in Google’s interests, they were actually of little help to a young person keen to make good use of the resources the Internet could offer her.

Naivety? Sure. But with that degree of tenacity, I can’t help feeling that that someone’s out to make a difference.

I also hope she signs up for the Crytography course on Coursera she says she’s interested in. It might distract her from pushing my enfeebled mind beyond its comfort zone!

Photo: cc licensed ( BY NC ND ) flickr photo by wiccked: http://flickr.com/photos/wiccked/124154857/

Science 140 … or [subject] 140?

Recently came across Science140, an interesting project using Twitter :

The idea is that anyone can submit Science definitions of 140 characters or less to the Science 140 Twitter stream.
 
An interesting spin on revision perhaps, but maybe not just from a consumption point of view? Putting a complex (or simple!) idea into 140 characters requires a sound understanding of the principles in the first place, then of course there’s the processing needed to ensure the message gets across without losing its meaning. Perhaps this could be built into a revision programme? Perhaps students might be encouraged to contribute to the live stream?
 
Or how about having the students confirm (or correct) the content of the tweets for clarity/accuracy?  A real test of understanding surely?
 
And whilst this resource centres on Science, how about starting something similar in other subjects? 140 character tweets on different topics in a second language? Tweets arguing the main points from a historical context? Tweets summarising the maind points illustrating a geographical principle? Plenty of scope for all subjects surely?

Digital Explorers

We’re piloting a club in school we’re calling Digital Explorers; more details can be found here, but this post represents the reflections from the initial session.

During the first Digital Explorers session, the students were to:

• Create an account in Edmodo.
• Identify some attributes of an explorer and post them to a Wallwisher wall.
• Choose then use an online tool to create an avatar (Clay Yourself or DoppelMe)
• Upload their avatar to their Edmodo profile.

A brief overview and initial instructions to create their Edmodo account were provided through a site within our SharePoint learning platform. The reasoning for this was to ensure that all activities delivered through Digital Explorers remain ‘live’ and thus are always available for students unable to attend the live sessions. An added benefit is that students unable to be in school for whatever reason, have a valuable and hopefully interesting set of activities to become involved with.

Given that the skills I hope Digital Explorers club can foster include that of independence, especially from the need for teacher guidance, and the capability to develop initiative, I tried to do as little as possible after greeting the students. It was simply a matter of pointing them at the instructions and letting them get on with it.

Observations:

One other issue arose when one of the Explorers was faced with the choice of avatar generator. Having asked me “Which one do we use?” and being advised that the choice was hers entirely, it was noteworthy that that elicited a further query “But which one is the best?” Inidicative perhaps of the degree to which teacher reassurance is needed, for that student at least.

We did encounter one technical issue where when Clay Yourself generates the final image, it tries to do so in a pop-up window. Our settings in IE cause a drop-down message bar asking whether to temporarily allow pop-ups for this site. Unfortunately choosing ‘yes’ then refreshes the page resulting in the created avatar being lost! One to remember.

A further activity was available in which  we were going to capture a webcam photo, then look at how we might use that, but manipulate it in such a way as to make it less identifiable (Textorizer & Photo2Text). Though we didn’t get that far, it will be interesting to see whether any of the Explorers find the time to do that. Although no-one managed to post their created avatar to their Edmodo profile, I suggested they might care to do that before the next session. As I write this, encouragingly, two of them have already done so.

(Photo – cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo by Gastev: http://flickr.com/photos/gastev/3600242127/)

>101 Questions?

Recently Dan Meyer kicked off a Math(s)-themed project which has gained considerable traction. There are two sides to the project, but both hinge on either a single photograph or 1 minutes worth of video which acts as stimulus material. The 101 Questions site is clean and uncluttered, encouraging the user to focus on the main conceit – ‘What’s the first question that comes to your mind?’ when you are presented randomly with one from a database of images and videos.

On the one side are the contributors – anyone challenged to present an image which ‘perplexes’ the viewer sufficiently to want to ask a question. On the other side are the viewers – those challenged to provide an answer to that simple question.

Which set me thinking how this idea could be introduced in any subject in the curriculum as a way of stimulating questioning in our students, questioning rather than answering. I wouldn’t want to put words in Dan’s keyboard, but I guess having students ask questions demands of them much greater metal processing than answeringquestions the teacher has asked, to which there are often a finite number (one?) possible responses.

So maybe a lesson starter might consist of a randomly generated image (or images) for which the students have to say/write ‘What’s the first question that comes to your mind?’ The 101 Questions site could be used to provide the images, or they could have been preselected (Flickr, Picasa) in order to set up activities to come later in the lesson. Reviewing the questions that students have suggested might initiate interesting discussions – they get to drive how the lesson starts. Are you up for that challenge?

Then there’s the flip-side. Once students are used to thinking of questions about images, make them the source of those images. Have them search for images they think would perplex others and challenge other people’s thinking. Gather the images by whatever means are open to you and present them to the class. How will they react to images chosen by their peers? What will their questions be like? How will those who submitted the images feel about the responses? Managed well, it could be a rich, metacognitive experience where students learn about their learning, about each other … and maybe a bit about your subject too!

Have you got good flow?

Worry, relaxation, control, boredom, anxiety, arousal, apathy. Wonder whether you’ve ever noticed any of these states of mind in your students? I know I have. What I didn’t fully appreciate however was that these factors can be brought into play as a result of the interplay of two elements:

1. the level of challenge in the task the students were facing and
2. their capability or level of skill.

This relationship was first proposed by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a Hungarian Psychology professor who noted that most people are happy when in a state of flow, the missing emotion from the opening list. Have you ever been so engrossed in and absorbed by a activity you chose to undertake that you missed the passing of time? All other needs fade into the background as your immersion in the task becomes complete. This is flow and is generated when the conditions are such that we experience a level of challenge at the limit of our capability, yet have sufficient confidence and ability to cope with changing demands. If the level of demand is too low, we may become bored with, or apathetic towards the task. If the level of challenge is too high, we may worry and experience anxiety.

Now think back to the students you encounter. What proportion of their time would you say they experience flow during their school/college day? An average school class, even one setted or streamed, will be composed of students of varying ability and that ‘ability’ will shift as they move from lesson to lesson; some are more capable musicians, some scientifically inclined and others have a facility with words. To enable all students in your class to achieve flow is consequently a real … challenge!

The next time a student says they’re bored or appears apathetic, perhaps it’s an opportunity to use the chart above to help explore possible causes with them? Or if they’re worried as exam season approaches, what does that tell you or them?

 

Thanks to Colin Maxwell for his post on Flow in Games which stimulated my thinking on this.

 

Images:

cc licensed ( BY SD ) flickr photo by streetslashphoto: flickr.com/photos/streetslashphoto/106684650/

Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Challenge_vs_skill.svg / CC BY-SA 3.0