Reinventing Project-Based Learning

Chatting about PBL

2012-01-30T09:05:00.000-08:00

Have you joined PBL Chat yet? Launched in December, it's a weekly online conversation about all things project-related. More than that, it's a growing community where project-based learning advocates are sharing experiences and addressing the hard questions that come with projects.
Recent chats have attracted students, parents, and PBL experts along with teachers from across the U.S. and even beyond.
In this blog post for Edutopia, I talk with event co-founder Theresa Shafer and share a few takeaways from recent chats.
The next PBL Chat happens Tuesday, Jan. 31, 6 p.m. PST/9 p.m. EST. Join (or follow) the conversation by following the hashtag #pblchat.
See you there!

Connecting PBL+STEM

2012-01-29T13:37:00.000-08:00

We've all seen students whose interest in a subject takes off as the result of an engaging project. These experiences can set the course for future studies or careers if students get a sense of their potential as skilled problem-solvers.
That's why I was happy to hear that project-based learning would be showcased as an effective strategy for STEM education in a new video, "The Future of Science Education: STEM and Workforce Readiness."
The video airs Thursday (2/2), 4 p.m. PST/7 p.m. EST, as the kickoff for a virtual conference. I'm delighted to be one of 25 speakers weighing in on this important topic and taking part in an online chat on Twitter afterwards.
Join the conversation by registering at www.futurewecreate.com. Follow the tweets with the hashtag #futurewecreate. And please share your stories about projects that have ignited your students' interest in STEM careers.

Contrasts Galore

2011-11-30T22:20:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving 2011 will be one I always remember—and not because of the turkey and trimmings. Instead of the usual family feast, I shared a delicious meal of chapati, curry, and rice with students and teachers at a boarding school outside the city of Faridabad, not far from Delhi.
Arriving at Vidya Sanskar International School was like reaching a garden oasis. It’s lush, green, and well-appointed with extensive sports facilities and plenty of fresh, clean air. (After a few days in Delhi, blanketed by pollution, this was especially welcome.) About a third of the students and half the faculty live on campus, and our digs were a comfortable faculty apartment. Getting there involved a bumpy, three-hour cab ride from Agra, where my husband (who joined me a week ago) and I spent a couple days marveling at the Taj and other historic sites.
I spent the first morning at Vidya Sanskar (which translates, roughly, to “holistic learning”) sitting in on classes, and saw everything from 3-year-olds doing ambitious literacy work in Hindi and English to 16-year-olds studying environmental science. Then it was time for two half-days of workshops on project-based learning. By the end of the second day, one team was planning to have kids design and plant a medicine garden (after interviewing family members and health experts about various herbs) and another was imagining a student-designed rainwater harvesting system to water it. At the upper grades, teachers were talking about having students analyze the pros/cons of privatizing railroads and doing a marketing project on cell phones.
Not surprisingly, the question of covering the syllabus came up in our conversations. This school follows the University of Cambridge model, which culminates in challenging tests. Just as teachers in the U.S. worry about high-stakes testing, teachers here are accountable for student results on exams. At the same time, many teachers in India are recognizing that the traditional, test-heavy education system isn’t preparing their students to be critical thinkers. Hence, their keen interest in PBL—along with tough questions about how to make sure it works well.

Next stop: Mumbai
Then it was on to Mumbai, where I spent a day with a high-energy group of teachers at American School of Bombay. This IB school was a contrast to others I’ve visited in many ways, but the most dramatic difference here was the prevalence of technology. ASB was one of the first international schools to adopt the 1:1 model, and teachers (and students) have a familiarity with tech tools that I haven’t encountered anywhere else yet in India. Sitting in on one class, I saw students sharing Glosters, Prezis, blogs, and other products in a project that had them interpret Indian culture for different audiences, such as filmmakers, journalists, or police officers.
(Hat tip @solomonsenrick)
With technology well-integrated, ASB is now focusing on strategies to further expand students’ 21st-century skills. An action research team has been investigating project-based learning, and several teachers have already taken the plunge into projects. Given this context, we turned the day into a mini-project. A highlight was listening to teacher teams share out their ideas about making sure essential elements of good projects are addressed. I’m eager to hear where they go next on their PBL journey.

Village Contrast
Next on the itinerary: Pune, a quick flight from Mumbai, and home to two schools operated by Gyanankur English School. I started with a visit to a school in Kesnand, where nearly 500 children from seven surrounding villages come to learn. It was a stark contrast to the high-tech environment of ASB (although there is a computer lab at the village school, with donated equipment that allows students to learn basics like how to use a mouse and save files). The school vision is to offer children a joyful learning environment, and that was evident as I made my way from one classroom to the next. It’s also a place for hands-on learning, and students were eager to share their recent creations.

I spent the next day working with teachers from Kesnand along with their colleagues from Gyanankur English School in Pune. Our focus what how to shift from activities—which they’re already doing—to authentic projects. It might seem like a stretch for low-resourced schools to even try PBL, but these teachers were game. By the end of the day, they told me they were eager to build inquiry into projects and find more opportunities to give students a voice about their learning. And because both schools are anticipating new construction in the near future to accommodate demand, teachers are also excited about involving students in school design. (Video Courtyard Redesign was a great conversation-starter.)

End in Mind
Just one more workshop in Mumbai on my Indian adventure, and then I’ll face the challenge of packing up my many memories and mementos for the long trip home.

Forward Thinking in Rajasthan

2011-11-22T07:25:00.000-08:00

I've just wrapped up two energizing days of workshops at Alwar Public School, located in the state of Rajasthan. In the first photo, I've just been warmly welcomed by students and teachers. The good vibes were a constant feature of this stop on my whirlwind tour of India.
Alwar is a school with a strong collaborative culture, where considerable effort has gone into laying a foundation for project-based learning. Under the gentle but forward-thinking leadership of academic coordinator Anshu Beniwal, teachers are well on their way to adopting new strategies for the classroom. They have developed rubrics that cut across grade levels and subject areas, creating a common language for talking about quality student work. They regularly team up on interdisciplinary projects. And they go about their work with good humor and a caring spirit. I came away inspired and eager to see what they accomplish next.

In this photo, Alwar teachers are busy preparing posters about their projects for a gallery walk. They had some great ideas--connecting with experts at a nearby tiger preserve, designing rainwater harvesting for a nearby village, and having students advise travelers about what's worth seeing in India. (Hint: Stop in Alwar and stay at the historic Burja Haveli!)

Islands of Progress

2011-11-14T02:42:00.000-08:00

Picture a school with an average class size of 15 students, where attention is paid to individual learning needs, and where teachers are willing to devote a full Saturday to building their toolkit with new instructional strategies. In broad strokes, this describes APL Global, a relatively new school in Chennai, India, where I’ve just spent a full day working with teachers interested in project-based learning.
Right off the bat, I noticed that the school design sends a welcoming message. Colorful graphics, big windows, and lush greenery provide the backdrop for learning. Modular classroom furniture is designed to be rearranged in an instant for small group work or individual study. Students and teachers share South Indian vegetarian lunch in an open-air cafeteria.
But it’s the student-centered philosophy that most distinguishes this school. The majority of government schools in India stick closely to the traditional model, where it’s all about covering the curriculum and preparing students for the big tests that rely on memorization. At APL Global, a private institution, the vision is personalized learning through a varied instructional approach. It’s an island of progress in a sea of conformity.
In this morning’s Hindustan Times, the perils of tradition were spelled out in an op-ed piece by Abhijit Banerjee, Ford Foundation international professor of economics and director, Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab at MIT. Citing a recent report on the status of education, he bemoaned the fact that about half of students in government schools lag years behind grade level in reading and fare even worse in math. Results are only slightly better at private schools, where even poor families struggle to send their children to help them gain an edge.
Why? Here’s Banerjee’s theory: “The goal of education is to permit the most successful students to get through the difficult exams that get thrown at them and hit the jackpot of a government job or a place in an engineering school. The rest, unavoidably, will just drop out.”
But then you find islands of progress. It’s mostly in private schools where innovative teaching and learning is taking root in India. This is where you find teachers determined to do the hard work of learning to teach in new ways—very different from the way they were taught. The teachers I worked with at APL Global seemed eager to get started on their journey with PBL and ready for the challenges ahead.
Like many teachers who are new to the project approach, they wrestled with the difference between engaging activities—which they do already—and project-based learning. But by the end of our day together, they were seeing how they could remodel activities into academically rich projects. And they had no shortage of good ideas for real-world projects that I’m certain will engage their diverse learners. A business teacher got excited about a project idea she called “It’s My Business,” in which students will develop business plans for their own enterprises. A primary teacher was keen to find a partner school somewhere else in the world for a collaborative project. I fully expect to read someday about Indian students who have helped eradicate mosquito breeding grounds, who have addressed a difficult social issue, or who have designed an eco-friendly car engine. It won’t surprise me a bit if they come from Chennai or one of the other islands of progress in this vast country.
Photo: Teachers in PBL workshop, APL Global School, Chennai

Glimpse of Village Life

2011-11-10T03:11:00.000-08:00

These lovely children are from the village of Ladhra, about 60 kilometers and several centuries removed from the planned and very modern city of Chandigarh, where I've been staying. I'll have more to share about school life after I do a workshop this weekend in Chennai.

Arriving in India

2011-11-07T19:26:00.000-08:00

My first stop in India is Chandigarh, known as the "city beautiful." It's India's only planned city, with wide streets, beautiful architecture, and many parks. Photo above is at an intriguing rock garden--a local treasure. I'm enjoying a few days at the home of my hosts from The Achievers Programme. I'll depart from here to Chennai later in the week for teacher workshops. Stay tuned!

Greetings from Nepal

2011-11-05T21:06:00.000-07:00

I’ve just spent an invigorating two days with about 50 passionate educators from India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh, gathered in Kathmandu for the South Asia International Baccalaureate Schools Association conference. The event, hosted at Ullens School in Kathmandu, was my first stop on a month-long journey to work with schools across India.
In my sessions on collaborative learning and 21st century skills, participants offered keen insights about the challenges and opportunities in their schools. SAIBSA represents the progressive end of the educational spectrum here, with schools emphasizing deep learning through inquiry, critical thinking, and service learning.
I was struck by some of the day-to-day challenges: A teacher from India said she sometimes has to encourage parents to cut back on family socializing so that students will have time for studies. A team from Pakistan told me what it’s like to work in a school building that’s guarded by rooftop snipers and where many students have their own bodyguards.
Project-based learning is a relatively new term here, although a few schools are embracing the approach. One administrator from India said PBL may be a new term, but it describes many of the practices already in place at her school. She was excited to continue the conversation and build a common way of talking about this approach to teaching and learning. And that’s exactly what I’ll be doing for the next four weeks.
More impressions to follow as my adventure continues.
Top photo: Peaceful oasis of Ullens School. Bottom photo: Bustling Thamel district of Kathmandu.

Think I'm Goin'!

2011-10-31T07:15:00.000-07:00

For the coming month, I'll be blogging about my adventures in Nepal and India. First stop: Kathmandu! I'll meet educators from across South Asia gathered for the South Asia International Baccalaureate Schools Association. Host for the meeting is Ullens School, the first IB school in Nepal. I'm eager to hear what 21st century learning means to educators from Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and elsewhere across the region.
From there, it's off to India for a series of workshops with teachers interested in project-based learning. Stops on the itinerary--so far--include Delhi, Chennai, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Alwar and more.
Updates to follow!

Comics to Cure Bullying

2011-10-07T12:17:00.000-07:00

October is Bullying Prevention Month, a good time for projects that prompt students to think critically about what they can do about this issue. The Stand Up: Stop Bullying Comic Challenge offers a way to engage students' creativity along with their problem-solving skills. It's also a chance for teachers to test-drive Bitstrips for Schools, a comic-creation platform. Learn more here.
Illustration courtesy Bitstrips for Schools

No Citizens Left? NCLB Takes a Toll on Social Studies Part 1

2011-09-02T13:48:00.000-07:00

This last week I've been writing about ways to make social studies projects really count. This is especially important today as social studies subjects are given less time in the school program in favor of other subjects. I wondered, how much time do we have for social studies?

Since No Child Left Behind (NCLB) mandates that schools increase student performance on tests of reading and math, it's not surprising that increased instructional time is being spent on reading and math. The corollary is, of course, less time time for art, physical education, science, and social studies.

In 2008, Year 5 of NCLB, the Center on Education Policy published a report that describes shifts in time in instruction as school districts respond to NCLB. If you want to drill down to the particulars, here is the report: From the Capital to the Classroom: Year 5 of the No Child Left Behind Act

Self-contained K-5 classrooms and middle and high schools report differently, so I'll break them out here.

Grades K-5 Among districts that reported increasing time for English/language arts and math, i.e., most of them, 72% indicated that their elementary schools reduced time by a total of at least 75 minutes per week for one or more other subjects. Of these, more than half (53%) cut instructional time in social studies from 239 to 164 minutes, or exactly 75 minutes.

Grades 6-12 Middle and high school programs have increased credit requirements for math and science, and in low-performing schools, increased the number of reading/language arts credits students must take. Reporting for these grade bands isn't as tidy as for K-5, but any way you look at it, for most of their school career, today's students are spending less time learning social studies.

Why is this a problem? Diminished time for social studies is unfortunate because competence in these subjects has a benefit that goes beyond the individual. The ideals embodied in the study of culture, history, economics, government, geography, and global issues are central to a functioning society. Quality learning experiences help students develop character, a sense of connectedness, and civic responsibility.

So, returning to my central thesis, it's important that the social studies experiences students do have be rigorous and meaningful. To that end, I've identified three principles to guide social studies project design. I'll share these in my next post.

A Grand Experiment in Twitter Collaboration

2011-08-06T13:54:00.001-07:00

Since I'm not in any schools right now, I've been looking for a way to get to teacher's smart ideas. I've recently mined a whole new Twitter vein-- teacher hash groups. For any one not aware, these are topical hash tag "umbrellas" under which users organize their tweets. This allows for organized discussion. These hash tags are proving to be invaluable to me: # sschat (social studies), # engchat (english/language arts) # mathchat, # realmath, and # pbl. (rrr blogger dn allow hashtags-- you probably know there's no space between the hash mark and the tag) Your twitter client should let you sort incoming tweets by hash tag, which filters them from the entire twitterverse (not just tweets of folks you follow). Chrome's Silverbird has a field at top right for hash tags. A picture might explain better. In my tweet I asked people to review, improve and add project sketches to a growing collection. Several followers of #pbl have retweeted since I posted a few minutes ago. I've used hash posting and sorting for events (# ISTE11) and such, but I'm coming late to the game on this functionality. Very cool! What hash groups do you recommend?

Oh, and here's a link to the Google doc Project Sketches I've asked folks to contribute to. Have some ideas you'd like to add? Have at it!

Buuhindo Joan

2011-07-28T13:21:00.001-07:00

Buuhindo Joan
Originally uploaded by cowyeow

This little miss has some opinions, I can tell! Joan is a student at Kilembe Valley Humanist Primary School in western Uganda. The photo was posted by one of the 66 contributors to the Flickr group I moderate called Schools Around the World. Please post yours!

Trendspotting at ISTE

2011-07-08T10:12:00.000-07:00

Who else is still catching their breath after the whirlwind of ISTE11?
I just shared a few post-ISTE reflections at Edutopia.
Thanks to those who took part in my Ripped from the Headlines session, especially my three great guests--Paul Allison, Matt Van Kouwenberg, and Katherine Schulten. Details from the session, including links to resources and a guide to using the New York Times Learning Network, are available on the ISTE Ning. And if you're interested in working with colleagues to plan a newsy project for the upcoming school year, be sure to check out the Edutopia wiki. It's bare-bones now, but will grow as we begin brainstorming and adding resources.
Finally, if you didn't get a chance to come to Philadelphia, take a few minutes to listen to the closing keynote by Chris Lehmann, principal of Science Leadership Academy. Guaranteed to inspire!

Infographics, Headlines, and More at ISTE

2011-06-09T18:50:00.000-07:00

ISTE 2011 is just around the corner, and Jane and I are looking forward to connecting with PBL colleagues and new friends in Philadelphia.
Hope you'll join us at these sessions:

Tuesday: Jane facilitates Beyond Words: Using Infographics to Help Kids Grapple with Complexity. This is a BYO Laptop session (sign-up required) from 10:30-11:30 a.m. Room: PACC 118C.
Wednesday: Suzie facilitates Ripped from the Headlines: Real Events Yield Relevant Projects. It's from 11:45 a.m.-12:45 p.m., Room PACC 113B. No advance registration necessary.

We've each invited some special guests to join us and look forward to productive conversations.
Hope to see you there!

Drawing on Student Experts

2011-05-05T10:08:00.000-07:00

A classroom visit from a guest speaker is a time-honored way to kick off a project. Ideally, the guest will spark curiosity about the subject in which he or she has expertise. Sometimes, guests are so passionate about their topic that students are similarly infected, in a good way, and ready to dive into an inquiry project.
But how often do we invite students to fill the role of guest expert?
A program called eXpressions, designed and funded by the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, taps student expertise with powerful results. The goal of this ambitious effort is to expand the pipeline of students preparing for careers across the health services spectrum, from nursing to research to medicine. A cornerstone of the project is a student research internship during the summer. But that's just the start. What makes eXpressions stand out from other STEM initiatives is the addition of arts and creative writing to the equation. Once summer scholars complete their research, they present their findings to art students--who then take up the challenge of interpreting science through the arts.
I go into more detail in this Edutopia post, but the two images above offer a hint of the creativity that this project is unleashing. At right is summer scholar Charles Hayes's project about patients' experiences with blood transfusions. At left is artist Kate Humphrey's interpretation of that research in an intricately woven piece of wearable art. As she explains in her artist statement, "I almost wanted my dress to seem pained and exhausted from giving and receiving blood so often, like it had been pricked by a cold medical syringe one too many times and was wary from the whole experience."
I'm willing to bet that both students came away with a deep understanding of the related science content, as well as a new appreciation for each other's ways of understanding the world.

Choose Your Own (PBL) Adventure

2011-04-15T16:52:00.000-07:00

Jane recently described the travel metaphors we like to use in professional development settings where we’re introducing teachers to project-based learning. We advise travelers who are new to PBL that they may encounter some turbulence and occasional detours ahead, but also unanticipated wonders.

This week I happened to read two dispatches from thoughtful teachers who are on quite different journeys with project-based learning. One is moving full-steam-ahead, teaching core content through challenging projects. She seems to have good support from colleagues and coaches. The other, restricted by a test-prep school culture, is making side trips into PBL—but only with only some students, and only some of the time.

Shelley Wright, high school teacher in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, writes a series of posts to describe how an ambitious Holocaust museum project has unfolded. Part 1 describes her decision to “take the plunge” and part company with familiar teaching practices. (Spoiler alert: There’s no yellow brick road. Doubts emerge. But courage and patience win the day.) In Part 2, initially wary students warm up to their new role as creators; our traveler gets more comfortable in her new role as co-learner. She reports, “To be honest, this project is so interesting, I want to be part of it. I want to help make and design it, and I’ve never had that impulse while teaching before.” In Part 3, empowered students race the clock to prepare their museum exhibits for a showcase event. Shelley comes up for air long enough to offer three nuggets of wisdom that are guiding her PBL journey: improvise, learn the hard way, and don’t regret.

Steven Davis is in his tenth year teaching high school English in an urban setting in northern California. In a guest post on Larry Cuban’s blog, Steven describes the learning that is happening not during regular class time, but instead through less formal experiences before school and during lunch. That’s when he invites a group of students who are English language learners to take part in hands-on activities. These aren’t full-blown projects, but they give students time and opportunity to experience things like curiosity and persistence. As he considers what students are gaining from learning to use a soldering iron or assemble electronic kits, Steven reflects, “The project has been less about teaching than it has been about providing students with mentoring, tools, and the setting in which they can learn for themselves.” He ends by considering, “Who knows where project-based learning experiences will lead?”

Sounds like more PBL adventures await. More postcards, please!

New Guide to Assessing Projects

2011-03-17T19:18:00.000-07:00

Just published by Edutopia, this new classroom guide focuses on strategies and tools for assessing projects. Download a free copy here and then help grow the conversation by sharing your own favorite suggestions for making assessment meaningful in PBL.
And, thanks to colleagues who shared resources and suggestions!

Our Journeys

2011-03-14T14:40:00.001-07:00

Before taking a trip each of us considers what we want to experience. If only subconsciously, we also filter our choices based on the kinds of travelers we are. What kind are you? Do you prefer the certainty of a detailed itinerary and guided tour? Or, are you an experienced through-the-back-door wanderer? Let’s think about professional learning as a journey and see how getting oriented can affect the success of anyone’s “trip.”

I do quite a bit of professional development around project-based learning (PBL) and technology. Whether learning groups are focused on PBL, technology integration or any other change effort, most are comprised of folks with a range of abilities, from novice to expert. Over the past few years I’ve found it helpful to start workshops by asking folks what kind of traveler they are in relation to the learning journey ahead. My colleague and coauthor Suzie Boss came up with the traveler metaphor and a range of descriptors. Think about a topic of your current professional learning. What kind of traveler are you?

Armchair tourist: Curious from afar, need to know more

Tenderfoot: Setting out on that first journey, ready to try new things

Explorer: Used to stepping out, ready for new frontiers

Scout: A seasoned traveler who can show others the way

These identifiers, in contrast to “novice” or “expert” imply movement, or growth. A tenderfoot traveling even a short distance may be taking a more profound journey than a seasoned explorer or scout.

Once I ask folks to self-identify and we establish the composition of the group, I can begin to differentiate instruction for the learning ahead. Participants benefit from knowing the composition of the group, too. It’s comforting for any learner to know he is one of an acknowledged group whose needs will be addressed.

During a workshop, just as you do in your classroom every day, I form small groups, assign peer teachers, and customize activities based on individual needs or strengths of the group.

At the end of our time together we revisit the “traveler” types and I recommend differentiated steps to take beyond the workshop. I’ll leave you with an example from a recent project-based learning workshop in San Francisco.

Armchair Tourist

Keep reading and observing

– Reinventing Project-Based Learning: Your Field Guide to Real-World Projects in the Digital Age, authors Jane Krauss, Suzie Boss

– PBL Handbook, Buck Institute for Education

– Edutopia Project-based Learning site: www.edutopia.org/project-based-learning

– Understanding by Design, authors Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe

Tenderfoot

Join a well-designed project

– Cornell Labs Citizen Science www.birds.cornell.edu/citsci

– Pennies for Peace, an international service-learning project www.penniesforpeace.org

– iEARN global network of projects www.iearn.org

– The My Hero Project – http://www.myhero.com

Explorer

Expand beyond your classroom, find partners

– Classroom 2.0 www.classroom20.com

– Edutopia PBL Group www.edutopia.org/groups/project-based-learning

– ePals www.epals.com

– Global Education Collaborative http://globaleducation.ning.com

– Global SchoolNet www.globalschoolnet.org

Scout

Build buzz and go to scale

– Buzz-builders: Twitter, blogs, Facebook

– Alert the media!

– Invite others to join your projects

– Share your wisdom through webinars, conferences, formal or ad hoc PLCs

You and your colleagues might not be studying PBL, but try the “traveler” metaphor on for size with any learning initiative of which you are part. How might you use it to look for differentiated learning opportunities?

If It's January...

2011-02-07T08:06:00.000-08:00

...it must be time for a trip to Philly.
Jane and I have been regulars at EduCon for the past three years. What makes it worth the cross-country trip, during an especially harsh winter, are equal parts conversation and camaraderie. It all takes place under the welcoming tent of the Science Leadership Academy, a remarkable public high school that embraces inquiry and project-based learning. I blog about a few session highlights in this post for Edutopia.
One evening during this year's visit to Philly, we walked past an imposing landmark. Eastern State Penitentiary, a hulking Gothic fortress, doesn't look very hospitable, especially at night. But it revolutionized the prison system when it opened in 1829. With central heating, an exercise yard, and separate cells for individual inmates, it offered a more humane model of incarceration that emphasized reform over punishment. Visitors from around the world apparently came to Philly to see it in action, and hundreds exported the model to their communities.
I couldn't help thinking that Philadelphia now offers the world another institution that inspires imitation. This time around, it's a school instead of a prison. Can the successful model of SLA be replicated in other states, or even in other neighborhoods in Philadelphia? How can other communities learn from SLA's example but still create a school that's uniquely theirs? That's a conversation worth having--and not just once a year.

Echos of the Past

2011-01-07T11:22:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I enjoyed a virtual tour of Rainbow Bridge National Monument, led by Ranger Doug Crispin. Through the magic of repeat photography we "walked" in the footsteps of the Cummings-Douglas discovery party and their native guides Nasja Begay and Jim Mike.

Repeat photography is a method by which an older photo is photographed in the scene it originally captured. An example explains it better than words.

1955 Flood and present day - Maitland, NWS Australia

used with limited rights - Nomad Tales/Flickr

In honor of the centennial of the RBNM, an adventurous group (including the grandson of one of that earliest party) attempted to trace the original route to Natural Bridges, a 19-mile excursion through treacherous Utah scrubland. How could they find the long-lost route the party took when they "discovered" the monument? The answer lay in the photographs the Cummings-Douglas party took to document their travels in 1909. As they ventured out, the 2009 travelers examined the old photos for clues. A gap in a rock, the alignment of a canyon with the peak of a distant mountain, all kinds of physical evidence guided their way. The centennial party documented their own travels, photographing the old photos against the landscape, capturing pictures in pictures. That's repeat photography!

Imagine the investigations kids could make into natural and human environments! Causal relationships, physical landmarks and perspective, photography, human impact, change over time... Imagine how seeking answers to questions about our dynamic world could be more meaningful with repeat photography.

Interested in seeing more, learning tips for repeat photography? My web scan for photos-in-photos and methods didn't yield much. The best examples I've seen so far are Ranger Doug's. The best advice for repeat photography comes from University of Texas instructor Craig Campbell's photography course.

I found some photos I'd like to rephotograph here in my hometown. I look forward to investigating the possibilities. Stay tuned!

Designing for Change

2011-01-04T08:46:00.000-08:00

In this TED talk, designer and innovator Emily Pilloton shares her big ideas about using design thinking to transform a rural school and the surrounding community of Bertie County, North Carolina. Pilloton does more than talk about the power of good design. She has moved her nonprofit design shop, Studio H, from San Francisco to Bertie County and become a certified teacher so that she can work directly with high school students. During the coming year, they will begin building student-designed projects--such as bus shelters or a farmer's market site--to improve their impoverished community.
The video is worth a watch for many reasons, not least of which is Pilloton's passion for this initiative. It's also a good conversation-starter about how schools work--and how they could work better, especially in places that are short on creative capital.
If the video leaves you eager to learn more about design thinking and the role it can play in K-12 education, take a look at the K-12 Laboratory at Stanford University's Hasso Plattner Institute of Design. This Edutopia article offers more information about learning through active problem-solving.

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Computational Thinking in Real-Life Projects

2010-11-29T13:08:00.000-08:00

Isn't it surprising that with all the technology available to our students, fewer and fewer of them are pursuing education and careers that will have them inventing technologies? The U.S. talent pool from which the next innovations spring is shrinking and NCWIT By the Numbers (pdf) tells the story.
In the interest of changing this trend, Computer Science Education Week was born. From December 5-11 folks around the country are mobilizing to:

Eliminate misperceptions about computer science and computing careers
Communicate the endless opportunities for which computer science education prepares students within K-12, and into their higher education and careers
Provide information and activities for students, educators, parents, and IT professionals to advocate for computer science education at all levels

Visit the site and make a pledge to raise awareness of the role computing plays in all our lives and to promote computer science education for all students.

Here's where PBL comes in. All teachers (not just CS teachers!) have a role in developing the computational thinking patterns that are foundational to computer science.

"Computational thinking is a way of solving problems, designing systems, and understanding human behavior that draws on concepts fundamental to computer science. To flourish in today's world, computational thinking has to be a fundamental part of the way people think and understand the world."

-Carnegie Mellon University Center for Computational Thinking

The right learning opportunity combined with accessible technologies -from spreadsheets to Scratch to modeling software- can encourage the exploration of computational concepts during real-life problem solving. With more "computational thinking" experiences under their belts, it's likely more kids will see how harnessing the power of computer science can help them invent and improve their world.

One example? Middle school students in Ohio became concerned about broken city sidewalks that hampered mobility for senior and disabled citizens. By making an inventory of sidewalk quality and studying foot traffic patterns students were able to create a model that they presented to the city council in support of their recommendations for sidewalk repair. Identifying the problem so it could be studied through data inventory and analysis was just the start of the computational thinking involved in the sidewalk project. Determining how to associate foot traffic patterns and sidewalk quality was another computational challenge, as was how to best represent the problem in an infographic.

What aspects of your projects could be amped up to draw on and develop computational thinking?

Learn more about CT from Jeanette Wing:

Take a World Tour of Education

2010-11-17T17:53:00.000-08:00

It's been a busy week, with stops in Turkmenistan, India, Australia, and the Mentawai Islands. And that was just Monday.
The first-ever Global Education Conference is underway from Nov. 15-19. This free virtual event has unleashed a world of learning opportunities for anyone with an Internet connection and a sense of curiosity. Sessions are running around the clock, with 400+ presenters eager to share their insights. Many are talking about global collaborative projects, which should be of particular interest to anyone who's involved in project-based learning.
This post for Edutopia covers all the basics, including links to recordings.
There's still plenty of time to take your own world tour. Where do you want to go next?

Today's News, Tomorrow's Projects?

2010-11-13T08:09:00.000-08:00

In a post for Edutopia this week, I talked about developing "ripped from the headlines" projects, using the news as a launching pad for in-depth learning. The idea is to go beyond current-events discussions and bring students into the the role of problem-solver, analyst, or perhaps even advocate for change.
Conversations with teachers about this idea have me thinking about both opportunities and challenges. In a follow-up discussion on Teachers Teaching Teachers, for instance, Kevin Hodgson brought up the issue of how to fit in such projects, given the real constraints of time and curriculum. Matt Montagne emphasized the need for teachers (and students) to own a project idea if it's going to take hold. Chris Sloan cited the recent election season as an opportunity to use a real event to get students involved in a critical study of language.
In the comments to my Edutopia post, there were several inspiring examples of real-world projects--countered by a writer who argued for teaching basics first before launching into more contemporary topics in the classroom.
I'm eager to keep gathering examples of "ripped from the headlines" projects. What have you tried with your students? What were the pitfalls? The benefits? Let me know, and I'll share your wisdom in a follow-up post.

Put Out the Welcome Mat

2010-10-18T07:59:00.000-07:00

More than a decade ago, experts took a look at the reasons why parents become involved—or not—in their children’s education. Researchers Kathleen Hoover-Dempsey and Howard Sandler narrowed their focus to these three key factors:

· How parents view their “job description,” including their responsibility for their children’s learning
· How confident parents feel about their ability to help their kids
· Whether parents feel invited and welcome at school.

That third factor is the one that educators have the greatest opportunity to influence. How welcoming does your school feel to parents? (Have you ever asked them?) When you communicate with families, do you tend to pass along announcements and due dates, or invite parents to be real partners in their children’s education?

I had a chance to discover some of the creative ways schools are connecting with families while researching new publication for Edutopia. Home-to-School Connections Guide: Tips, Tech Tools, and Strategies for Improving Family-to-School Communication is just out, and you can download a free copy here.

Many of the tips you’ll find here come from colleagues and other Edutopia community members who responded to my inquiries with a host of good ideas in blogs, online discussion groups, and on Twitter. (Tip #10 includes a nifty idea from Jane Krauss about how to connect parents with their kids’ learning.)

Clearly, schools are getting more creative about connecting with parents. The guide includes examples of how they’re using Facebook and other social media to open conversations with families. Some tips offer new takes on old-fashioned ideas, such as making reading a family affair. And, of course, many ideas come from the reporting that Edutopia has done about what works in public education.

How do you forge stronger partnerships with your parents? Please share your ideas, and we’ll keep growing this conversation.

Crying for Solutions

2010-10-11T19:46:00.000-07:00

Several years back, when I was an editor at an educational research organization, we produced materials for a federal initiative to promote school safety. Among our most popular publications was a fact sheet on strategies to prevent bullying. The solutions seemed so straightforward: Don't ignore it. Create a climate of respect. Make it safe to ask for help.
Fast forward a decade or more, and bullying persists as an issue that just won't go away. Indeed, it continues to mutate as new technologies are harnessed for the hideous cause of attacking another person's humanity.
October is National Bullying Prevention Month. Scarcely a week in, we've seen headlines about a gang in New York that viciously attacked two teens and an adult male because they happen to be gay. We've heard a candidate for governor of the same state describe gay people as "disgusting." And then refuse to apologize for his bigotry. We've heard more reports about a New Jersey college student named Tyler Clementi who jumped off a bridge after his classmates used Twitter, a webcam, and YouTube to torment him by broadcasting details of his intimate life. (OK, that happened in September.)
Clearly, this is a problem that's still crying for solutions.
What can we do to make sure we don't continue to face the same problem in another decade? For starters, take a look at a project called Not In Our School. It grew out of an anti-hate campaign called Not In Our Town, which itself grew out of a documentary by the same name. (My recent Edutopia post includes more background.) Resources for schools include no-nonsense classroom materials and a social media campaign that encourages kids to create and share their own anti-bullying messages.
Can a campaign make a difference? Take a look at the Not in Our School videos from Gunn High in Palo Alto or Shaw High School in East Cleveland, Ohio, and see for yourself. Better yet, share them with your students. And get the conversation started.

Tools for Infographics

2010-09-30T09:01:00.000-07:00

The other day Suzie and I participated in an author talk with a special interest group for media specialists, ISTE's SIGMS. We touched on the topic of infographics and folks wanted to know what tools people use to make them.

Wouldn't you know it, Flowing Data, the infographics site I recommended to the group, just polled their readers about their design tools and the results are here!

In addition to these I know student Michael Greenberg uses InDesign, and others recommend these:

Google Spreadsheets: http://www.google.com/googlespreadsheets/try_out.html

Science Pipes(for biodiversity data) http://sciencepipes.org/beta/home

Tableau Public: http://www.tableausoftware.com/public

Inkscape: http://inkscape.org

Glogster (for interactive poster-making): http://www.glogster.com

Have fun with infographics and tell us about your experiences with them!

PBL, Information Literacy & Infographics

2010-09-09T11:19:00.001-07:00

I just drafted a book chapter that includes a big treatment of infographics. I'm excited to share what I've learned and get your

<= (awesome)

thoughts on infographics and other means for building information literacy. What are your favorite resources, methods, and tips?

PBL, Information Literacy & Infographics

Please join me on September 16 at 5:00 p/6:00m/7:00c/8:00e on Elluminate. Here is the Learn Central link to the event.

This is an infographic and a puzzle

2010-09-07T16:38:00.000-07:00

Is it possible to determine where this signpost is situated in the world?

...click for a close look...

Wouldn't this be a fun project? Share four of five photos of signposts from around the world and have groups of kids try to figure out where they are situated. You'd have to pick photos where the signs' locations are not identified!

from the Flickr Creative Commons, #signpost

...more thinking...
This might be a "jump off" activity for a community project. Find something distinctive about your town, relate it to others around the world, put up signs. (The little town of Florence, OR has sign posts to all the Florences in the world.) More ideas:

Origins: 1) Relate local settler or military hero statues to others, 2) Relate local commerce (mint growing in small towns in Oregon) to other regions with same commercial interest, 3) Get demographics of the area and make signs pointing to nations of origin.
Events: 1) Notable disasters: big flood, tornado, and so on, 2) Birthplaces (your town spawned Jay Leno, signposts point to birthplaces of other TV figures), 3) Your annual Berry Festival or Summer Jazz Jam isn't likely the only one going...
What would you add?

Jump-Start Your School Year

2010-08-17T16:16:00.000-07:00

Just published and free to download, Edutopia's Back-to-School Guide is full of suggestions for incorporating new media into learning during the first weeks of school.
Thanks to all who shared suggestions, and please let me know about tools and tips to keep in mind for next year. Never too soon to plan ahead!

The Futures Channel

2010-08-16T10:35:00.000-07:00

I just learned about The Futures Channel and am excited to share their films with teachers wanting to introduce their students to "Real Math, Real Science, Real Careers." Start with Aquarium Makers (click on pic) and see how passion, science and math combine to make the world more beautiful.

I can imagine using this video as a launching pad for a project where kids design an aquarium to fit a space in their school and actually have one built. What else would happen along the way? Lots of math and physics, design rendering (blue prints, sketchup), meetings with engineers, architects, expert aquarists and fabricators, charette protocols, pitches to the school board or parent group, a fund raising campaign and creation of a media kit. Think ninth or tenth graders could carry this off?

PBL Camp: Now the Real Fun Begins

2010-08-11T17:06:00.000-07:00

(Cross-posted from Edutopia)

Back in July, we kicked off Edutopia’s first-ever Project-Based Learning Camp by posing a big question: How can educators turn the Gulf oil disaster into meaningful learning for students?

Four weeks of brainstorming and collaboration later, participants have emerged from this online experience with some inspired ideas. Our final webinar turned into a celebration as teacher teams shared their innovative projects and reflected on their process.
What’s ahead for these teachers—and for their students? Here are just a few examples.

Fight for Your Life: In Georgia, Mike Reilly’s ninth-graders will be exploring what happens when human demand for life-sustaining water outstrips supply. Student investigations into water wars may lead them to create movies, presentations, computer games, or even physical demonstrations of their understanding. Giving students a choice is intentional, Reilly says, so that they will “own” the project—and their own learning. He plans to start with a school-based project (in collaboration with a language arts teacher), and then eventually connect with the other four PBL Campers who collaborated on this project, titled “Fight for Your Life.”
The Pandora Project: What does it mean to be human? And how can we take better care of the planet we share? Those are among the intriguing questions students will be exploring in “The Pandora Project.” Developed by Jennifer Duann from Lima, Ohio, and Zahra Belyea from Massachusetts, “Pandora” uses James Cameron’s film Avatar as the springboard for learning. By the end of the project, students will be designing their own worlds—and human-like inhabitants. Duann comes at the project as a biology teacher and Belyea as a language arts teacher currently working in an alternative high school setting. They hope the project not only takes students deep into understanding life science, but also builds empathy.
It Affects Us All: A huge team—16 elementary teachers—came together to develop yet another project, called “It Affects Us All.” They will be connecting their classes throughout the year—reading and discussing environmental novels, reporting on their local ecology, and collaborating on service projects. Jennifer Ower from San Bernardino, Calif., and Kristin Hoins from Telluride, Colo., shared their insights about planning this ambitious project during the webinar. For Ower, this is her first “full-blown PBL. It’s how I’ve always wanted to teach,” she says. Hoins, who is moving into a new role as technology coordinator for her intermediate school, sees the project as an opportunity “for our students to have an authentic audience for their ideas.” Technology tools will be infused throughout the project, enabling students to accomplish a variety of important learning goals.

As I listened to teachers describe their plans, I could hear the excitement in their voices. They can’t wait to launch these projects. By designing projects that connect students with real-life issues, they have set the stage for relevant, meaningful learning. You can’t get this from a textbook. At the same time, they have thought long and hard about the content standards that they plan to address. Their plans should lead to rigorous learning and genuine problem-solving.

Best of all, the good thinking and creative resources that came out of PBL Camp are now available for any other teacher to borrow or learn from. All the webinars and weekly learning activities from PBL Camp are now archived at Edutopia. The project plans are available to borrow in the PBL Camp wiki. If you want to brainstorm with teachers who have taken the lead on developing these project plans, you can connect with them in Edutopia’s PBL community.

So, back to that initial question: How can teachers help turn the Gulf disaster into meaningful learning for students? Like any good driving question in PBL, this can’t be solved with one “right” answer. It’s deliberately open-ended and focuses on a messy, real-life problem. And as PBL Campers quickly discovered, one good question naturally leads to others.
But answers are on the way. In the months ahead, look for more news about PBL Camp as we provide updates on projects from across the country. Voices on the Gulf, a new online community for student publishing, is another place to watch students tackle hard questions and make meaning about one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history.

It’s been a privilege to work with PBL Campers and watch them dive deeply into project planning together. As one participant told me after our final webinar, “The results today demonstrate how powerful this is, and how quickly people figure it out and jump in swimming. It has been an excellent proof-of-concept for social invention.”
And it’s going to get even more interesting when students enter the picture. So stay tuned!

Whose Stories Get Told?

2010-08-10T16:21:00.000-07:00

A/V Geeks is amazing! This video on immigration would be a great jumping off point, causing kids to ask "Whose stories get told?" I think they'd be driven to improve and update this narrative. I apologize for the ad that precedes it.

Watch Immigration (1946) in Educational | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

I'm always on the hunt for "entry events," kick off events that will engage and focus kids. Send me yours!

“When are we ever going to use this?”

2010-08-09T17:24:00.000-07:00

Wouldn’t it be nice if no student ever felt compelled to ask that question again? Project teachers should rarely have to answer it. When a project makes math a necessity, the question becomes, “How could we have ever done this without math?”

Imagine an interdisciplinary middle school project that has a lot of math in it. It unfolds across many classrooms and throughout each day.

Our Golden Year
Our Golden Year taps into the fascinating world of gold across many projects and kids learn lots through these subjects and topics:

Social Studies –History of gold and world cultures, symbolism and rites, alchemy, gold and conflict, history of gold as legal tender
Earth Science/Geography –Gold -a mineral that exists the earth in different forms and is distributed across the earth, prospecting and mining
Engineering –Mining, extraction, and refining, gold in medicine, industry, and electronics
Chemistry/Physics –Elemental properties, refining gold, alchemy
Economics –Gold as a trade commodity, as a monetary standard, the relationship of scarcity and value
Language Arts –Historical narratives, symbolism across cultures, in the forms of fairytales, folklore, poetry, playwriting, philosophy of worth and value, journalism about gold
Fine Arts –Ornamentation, jewelry making, gilding, gold in art, poetry, theatre, dance and music

Wouldn't this be fun? It would be interesting to have the math teacher take on a new role, helping teachers teach math in the contexts of their projects. What do you think?

Help the Unicorns

2010-08-07T12:26:00.000-07:00

Jane here. I worked with the staff of a fine arts magnet middle school in Tucson this week (Go Unicorns!) that was grappling with the difference between activity-based learning and project-based learning. Through discussion we came close to an operational definition of each, which could help them sort and improve their project ideas. They would like to be able to say, for example, "No, I think that's more of an activity, it's not really a project. A project would be/have..."

Would you throw in your two cents? Utterback MS (amazing place) and I thank you!

The Project Brief - On not hard-wiring a PBL too soon

2010-08-03T12:29:00.000-07:00

Suzie and I have been working with teachers on pbl design for a while and we've hit on a new strategy. I'd like your opinion! As with many approaches, we start by having folks determine the Big Ideas of the disciplines they teach. They select several interrelated objectives and talk with others about real-life applications and interdisciplinary connections. In classic PBL design folks would now start planning assessment, determining what students would demonstrate to show attainment of new knowledge and skills. We skip over this momentarily to add an intermediate, iterative step we call the "project brief."

The project brief is the germ of an idea presented in a short paragraph (think 'elevator speech'). It gives critical friends just enough information to understand what kids will do and learn. It's intentionally brief so 1) the teacher doesn't get overly invested in a 'hard-wired' plan, 2) it's not overladen with procedural detail and is easy for a reader to digest, and 3) it's still malleable and can be improved or chucked altogether in favor of a better idea. If a teacher presents a brief that isn't clear he answers questions, gets feedback and advice, and works on it some more. Critical friends plump up a plan, advising on ways to strengthen the project.
Here are some project ideas we've helped shape . Some still need work. What would you advise?

We've used a simplified National School Reform Faculty Constructivist Tuning Protocol (pdf) for reviewing project briefs. Here's our version:

Project brief protocol

View more presentations from jkrauss.

The next stages, determining evidence of learning and designing the project more comprehensively, go along easier once a solid idea takes shape!

Roger Ebert Gets Me Thinking

2010-07-22T12:20:00.000-07:00

There are so many good reasons to follow Roger Ebert on Twitter. Here's just one post.

I could never reason out how a sewing machine worked. On Twitpic

Click for a bigger view.

I'm thinking how I'd introduce a 4/5 grade physics motion, design, and mechanics unit with this illustration.
First I'd ask kids to imagine how a sewing machine works. I might give them a needle and thread and scraps of cloth. I'd ask them to draw a diagram or act out what they think happens in the machine. I'd ask them to share their theories and speculate some more. Then I'd show them thread components, (the bobbin and the thread coming off the spindle and through the needle) and have them fuss some more. Then I'd show the machine in action and open the little door that holds the bobbin while the machine is running. Surmise, surmise, surmise. Ultimately I'd show them RE's fabulous illustration.
There are so many key concepts are in play here! Things you could return to, too, like tensile strength. It would make a better entree into physics than the Rube Goldberg approach I've seen too many times. That's funny but too explicit-- lots of what goes on in machines is covert, which is a great reason to use them to get kids theorizing.

PBL Camp: A Community Comes Together

2010-07-18T16:52:00.000-07:00

Edutopia’s first-ever PBL Camp is in now high gear, with campers jumping into active discussions about project ideas relating to the Gulf disaster. Tomorrow is the start of Week Two.
It’s still early, but already several themes are emerging.
PBL Campers are a generous group. We’ve had experienced teachers volunteer to mentor newcomers, and three PBL pros—Jane Krauss, Tristan de Frondeville, and Telannia Norfar—on call to dispense timely advice as PBL Camp Counselors. Karen McMillan (@McTeach) has gone out of her way to help teachers get comfortable using the various tech tools we are introducing throughout this four-week adventure.
Teachers are eager to collaborate. This week, we’re encouraging Campers to buddy up with a colleague or two (or more) on a project planning team. Collaboration has already started in the discussions at Edutopia, where teachers are quick to recognize the value of working together.
We’re all learning in plain sight. PBL Camp is unfolding publicly, with planning conversations taking place online at Edutopia, on Twitter, and on a planning wiki. Unlike most PBL resources, which typically showcase finished projects, PBL Camp opens a window on the planning and brainstorming stage. All the resources, webinars, and discussions are being archived here.
Opportunity keeps knocking. PBL Campers are part of a bigger community of educators who are looking to turn the Gulf disaster into meaningful learning. We have made wonderful connections with Teachers Teaching Teachers (thanks to co-hosts Paul Allison and Susan Ettenheim). Eric Brunsell, assistant professor of science education from Wisconsin, is sharing his ideas and resources for engaging science projects. And more connections are in the works.
Of course, we'll find ways to stay connected as a community once camp ends and teachers start implementing these amazing projects with students. Till then, let's camp!

Let's Camp!

2010-07-12T14:59:00.001-07:00

Today was the kickoff for Edutopia's PBL Camp. The big goal is to turn the Gulf disaster into meaningful learning opportunities for students. We had excellent turnout for the webinar (which will be recorded and available online soon), and that leaves me hopeful about where this group is heading.
The Wordle image above captures campers' reflections on this question: What do you hope your students will remember most about the project you plan this summer? (We used Wallwisher for brainstorming--check out the PBL Camp Wall here.)
In many ways, we're using PBL methods to plan and implement PBL Camp. It's a team effort all the way. As facilitator, I'm collaborating with Betty Ray, Edutopia's Community Manager. Many more colleagues have agreed to play a role in the weeks ahead.
Like most worthwhile projects, this one has involved considerable advance planning so that participants can hit the ground running. And, we're using technology tools where we need them to do important work (including a wiki for project planning, online discussion groups and Twitter for conversations, and Delicious for tracking resources).
The four weeks of PBL Camp will follow the arc of a project, starting with an open-ended question (How will you make the Gulf oil disaster relevant for your students?), and ending with a celebration of learning. In between, of course, comes the fun of getting hundreds of teachers working together to plan engaging projects.
So as Betty proclaimed at the end of our kickoff today, "Let's camp!"

Tinkering Under the Hood

2010-07-11T13:02:00.001-07:00

At ISTE we got smart and crowd-sourced thinking routines, methods and tools that support inquiry in PBL. Take a look and add your ideas to the Wallwisher walls and Google Doc. (All links show in one place on the final slide.)

Tinkering final

View more presentations from jkrauss.

It matters what you call it.

2010-07-09T15:16:00.000-07:00

It matters what you call it.
Many of us will be studying the BP Deep Horizon oil well disaster with students when school starts again. As you begin, how will you refer to it? I've been ruminating on this because I think it's important that we frame the study by naming it precisely. I hear "Gulf oil spill" tossed around but that's inert. "Gulf" says where, "oil spill" says what, but how about greater specificity? Who was responsible? What failed? What is the scale of the thing? I propose we call it what it is: the BP Deep Horizon Oil Well Disaster. Do you have a better idea? I'd like to hear it.

It matters how you see it.

How will you help kids visualize the scope of the oil well disaster? Here's a terrific visualization tool by If It Was My Home, a Google Map overlay you can place right over your town to get a sense of the sheer size of the oily mess. Notice that If It Was My Home cares about how we talk about this too - It's not a spill, it's a disaster.

In his blog Teaching Science 2.0, Eric Brunsell, Asst. Professor, University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh presents infographics links and plenty of other resources you'll find useful for studying the BPDHOWD. He starts off with a video and prompt to get viewers thinking (I'd press students' media literacy into service to figure out point of view) and follows with advice on how to center in on a project by "messing about" first.

Meet Camp Sergeant Suzie and the Edutopia Campers
Suzie Boss is heading up Edutopia's PBL Summer Camp where all "campers" will work together to whittle out projects relating to the oil well disaster. A thousand campers signed up in just two and a half days so you can't join, but you can certainly see everything going on, including the discussions and weekly webinars. Learn more here.

Let's Meet at ISTE

2010-06-23T07:42:00.001-07:00

With ISTE just around the corner, we're looking forward to the chance to connect with fellow PBL advocates. We've met many of you in the virtual world. Now's our chance to meet face to face. Here are a few events we hope you'll attend:

Birds of a Feather: Join us for a PBL Birds of a Feather event on Monday (6/28), 4:45-6:15 pm, room CCC 205/207

Hands-on Session: Tinkering Under the Hood: Strategies to Enhance Critical Thinking, Tuesday (6/29), 3:30-4:30 pm, CCC Korbel Ballroom 2A.
Plan on an engaging conversation about the role of inquiry in PBL.

Book Signing: We'll be signing copies of Reinventing Project-Based
Learning and answering questions, Tuesday (6/29), 5-6 p.m., CCC, Lobby D

Poster Session: The Innovator's Toolkit, Wednesday (6/30), 8-10 am, CCC Lobby A.

Hope to see you there!

SLA- Franklin Institute Graduation Ceremony 2010 127

2010-06-16T16:45:00.001-07:00

SLA- Franklin Institute Graduation Ceremony 2010 127
Originally uploaded by Darryl W. Moran

Here they are, the first graduates of Science Leadership Academy. Read Principal Chris Lehmann's speech to students here. He says it all. Congratulations to Chris, the dedicated staff of SLA and to the graduating class of 2010!

What Projects Ask of Us

2010-06-10T11:05:00.000-07:00

Jane and I just wrapped up two days of PBL planning with a wonderful group of teachers at the Laptop Leaders Academy in Mitchell, South Dakota. By the end of our session, they all had at least one project plan in draft stage, incorporating appropriate technology tools to meet essential learning goals. Better yet, they made new connections with one another which will continue to support them as they integrate the project approach into teaching and learning.
This Wordle image captures their brainstorming about the qualities that real-world projects ask of us (and our students). It's a pretty compelling list of traits. (Anything you'd add?)
We'll be checking back to see how the ideas that were sparked this week grow into authentic projects during the coming school year. Can't wait to hear more about projects that involve incorporating geometry into playground design, or challenging students to develop wellness plans for community members, or documenting the stories of World War II veterans.
Good luck and thanks to our new friends in South Dakota!

Projects for Earth Day--and Every Day

2010-04-22T07:43:00.000-07:00

Just in time for Earth Day, Edutopia has released Think Green: Tips and Resources for Earth-Friendly Learning Projects. You can download a free copy here.
Each project idea includes supporting resources and classroom examples to help you get started. Some projects will take advance planning to launch with your students, but here's one idea you can adopt today: Pledge to Teach Paperless.
The paperless pledge is the brainchild of Shelly Blake-Plock, a Maryland high school teacher (find him on Twitter @TeachPaperless). As I explain in the Edutopia guide, he used to be a paper junkie. He got over it when his school adopted laptops, and that prompted him to blog about his transformation to paperless teaching. One thing led to another, and before long he was spearheading a campaign to break the paper habit in schools worldwide. As of today, Earth Day, nearly 1,500 teachers have signed on.
But that's just the beginning. Going to a paperless classroom turns out to be a golden opportunity to rethink teaching habits. Steve Katz has started collecting paper alternatives. Naturally, he's created a collaborative online doc to capture the collective wisdom.

Power of One (x Many)

2010-04-21T07:06:00.000-07:00

A recording of last week's webinar with Greg Mortenson is now available at Edutopia.
On this page, you'll find a collection of links to service-learning resources. And here, you'll find a story about one girl who was inspired by his story and started her own Pennies for Peace project.
As Greg explained during our conversation, many students begin with Pennies for Peace--and then go on to take part in other service projects. He sees evidence of a growing movement of youth engaged in improving their communities--and the larger world. This can only be good news.
I'd love to hear from teachers who are seeing this happen in their schools. How have your students stepped up to make a difference? How are they changed by the experience?

Showtime!

2010-04-16T09:08:00.000-07:00

Does it get any better than this?
That's what I asked myself as I sat across a conference table from Greg Mortenson yesterday morning, waiting to start hosting a webinar for Edutopia. We found out just before showtime that 1,000 attendees were signed in to hear from the author of Three Cups of Tea--and I'd heard through the grapevine that many teachers would be sharing the experience with their students.
Greg took a moment to savor the Marin County scenery just outside the windows, and I could imagine him enjoying a hike across those rolling hills. But as he told us about his crazy speaking schedule--presenting to audiences in the thousands and then catching a night flight to his next gig--it was clear he wouldn't have time for even a quick stroll.
What is it about this man's story that has so captivated audiences? Once the webinar started and he described his 17 years of school-building efforts in Pakistan and Afghanistan, a few things stood out. His passion for bringing education to the farthest corners of the globe burns brighter than ever. He has seen firsthand what happens when a school opens to those who have been left out of learning--girls, especially. In his words, "Education is the most powerful weapon we have in the world today."
His family tree is full of teachers--including his parents, grandparents, and great-grands. No surprise, then, that he sent a big shout-out to teachers for the work that they do. (I couldn't hear our audience, but could imagine the cheering.) This was right in keeping with his message about respect as a way of engaging with others--whether they're people in your own community or those living in a village in Afghanistan.
Not surprising, then, that he emphasizes what American kids can learn from children in Central Asia. Although most are growing up without electricity or creature comforts, they enjoy close relationships with their elders. Storytelling remains a big part of their lives. Many are multilingual. And, Greg adds, they love to receive email from American students.
But what really captures audiences' imagination is Greg's humble way of telling his story. He's a living, breathing example of what one motivated person can do. His successes are monumental, but they have taken him years to achieve--one small step at a time, and often after heartbreaking setbacks. At one point, he held up a copy of Three Cups of Tea and pointed to the title of the first chapter: "Failure." His editors gave him grief for that, he says, but he insisted on keeping it. And then he mentioned that in Balti, the language spoken in northern Pakistan, there's no word for failure. "It's just a fork in the road." (I imagined more wild cheering from the audience here.) And success, in Balti, "means you've reached your destination."
As soon as the webinar ended, Greg was racing off to his next destination. But I know that the conversation he started will continue in the education world. From looking at the Twitter comments during the event, I know that many of you came away inspired. I know that I'm going to remember this phrase that Greg has pasted to his bathroom mirror: "When your heart speaks, take good notes."
If you missed the webinar, Edutopia plans to rebroadcast the recording soon. So stayed tuned for details. Meanwhile, you can join other educators in the Edutopia groups to talk about your own ideas for service-learning programs like Pennies for Peace, global education, or the power of good old-fashioned storytelling. See you there!

Essential Conditions for PBL

2010-04-06T10:19:00.000-07:00

Jane here! Suzie Boss and I both contribute to this blog and from responses from family and friends I get more credit than I deserve so I'm going to announce myself from now on.

I have been doing some curriculum work around project-based learning recently and I need your advice. We all know PBL works best when certain conditions are in place to support it. What would you say the essential conditions are? I know teacher characteristics, intentions and methods are key, but outside the teacher and students, what else? I'm starting a list and I wonder if you might add to it. Additionally, sometimes the removal of barriers is important, too, so reflect on that, too. Swing for the fences, folks!

Essential Conditions for effective PBL implementation

A school culture that tolerates, even encourages, the sometimes messy chaos of student-directed learning.
Access to any technologies that support the teaching and learning enterprise
A system of accountability that causes a teacher to demonstrate --and parents and administrators to understand-- that rigorous learning aims are met though the PBL.
and?

Remove barriers

Reconsider when and where learning takes place. Structure some flexibility (oxymoron!) into the school program so spaces and time are less of a limiting factor.
and?

Thanks, all. I look forward to your replies.

Tea and Conversation

2010-03-31T14:28:00.000-07:00

There's a memorable scene in Three Cups of Tea where Greg Mortenson tucks his 6-foot, 4-inch frame into a tiny cable car and pulls himself across a river gorge in northern Pakistan. Reflecting later on the creaky cable that he entrusted to hold him aloft, he said, "If it broke, you'd fall. And if you fell, you were dead."
Overcoming one obstacle after another, Mortenson has helped to build 131 schools in some of the most remote regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan. His is a remarkable story of courage, persistence, and cross-cultural understanding. It's also an ideal tale for launching students on their own quest to make a difference in the world through a service-learning program called Pennies for Peace.
I'm delighted to be hosting a webinar for Edutopia on April 15, when Mortenson will talk about his own journey and the examples of youth leadership that he encounters wherever he goes. (This new article from Edutopia introduces one such student from San Diego.)
Are there questions you or your students would like to ask Mortenson? Post them here in the comments, and I'll do my best to pass them along in person. Hope you can join us!
Photo by David Oliver Relin

Teach Like a Champion

2010-03-23T16:45:00.000-07:00

I just read the March 2 NYT Magazine article Building a Better Teacher that looks at the "hidden game" of accomplished teaching. Doug Lemov, teacher, principal, charter-school founder and consultant, decided to study the methods of champion teachers who, working under the most challenging circumstances, are able to reach and teach kids and ultimately, significantly, increase their achievement. His findings, referred to as Lemov's Taxonomy, isolate 49 instructional strategies that make a difference. From "cold call" questioning where every kid gets ready to answer to the "strong voice" technique that ensures a teacher's words are heard, Lemov digs into seemingly small but significant communication and management methods that increase a teacher's effectiveness. The "Taxonomy" is presented in a new book due in April:
Teach Like a Champion: The 49 Techniques That Put Students on the Path to College. (Amazon offers a discount if you preorder!)
I look forward to reading about the strategies and imagining how they apply to the PBL classroom. I wonder, if we were to drill down into the methods of exemplary PBL teachers, would we identify techniques that are unique to the PBL-constructivist setting? I look forward to reading with my PBL lenses on.

PBL Goes Global

2010-03-15T15:22:00.000-07:00

Excited to learn from our friends at ISTE that Reinventing Project-Based Learning will soon be published in German. And here's more evidence that PBL is generating interest around the world: Eduteka, a Spanish language website for educators, has just translated "Appendix A: Essential Learning with Digital Tools, the Internet, and Web 2.0," from our book. Spanish-speaking colleagues can find the full text here.
And for our English-speaking colleagues, we have just updated Appendix A to include a few new Web 2.0 tools. See link at top right of this page to download a copy.

Keeping Your Project on the Rails

2010-02-25T09:46:00.000-08:00

Next up in our PBL~Better with Practice webinar series is a March 4 discussion about project management. Or, as we're calling it, "Keeping Your Project on the Rails." We'll meet in our Learn Central Elluminate Room at 2:00 and 5:00 pst. Please join us!
Experienced teachers will be sharing their advice, tips, and resources for keeping projects on track. For instance, Sue Boudreau will explain how she has adapted project management processes from industry to work with middle-schoolers. Neil Stephenson will dig deeper into questioning, explaining how inquiry evolves during a complex project. Lisa Parisi will offer well-honed advice for managing PBL with elementary students. Nichole Kotasek will get into the nitty-gritty of managing teams and the other issues that arise during the implementation phase of projects. Nichole's school uses Project Foundry, and we'll hear more about how that PBL platform works, too.
Thanks in advance to these practitioners, who are generously sharing their time and strategies. Can't wait to hear where the discussion goes!
Meanwhile, please join the PBL~Better with Practice group in Classroom 2.0, where more than 70 folks are shaping this conversation and expanding their professional network.
Photo by Rachel Cowan, Creative Commons

Better with Practice - A Webinar Discussion Series

2010-02-01T21:01:00.000-08:00

Once a project launches there's a lot to attend to. Let's look beyond project design to the implementation phase of projects and share our challenges and best ideas.

Join us for our webinar series
Better with Practice: PBL Implementation Tips from the Field

How to Create a Culture of Inquiry - February 18 event login
Keeping Your Project on the Rails - March 4
It’s Not Over When It’s Over: The Project Spiral - March 11

To accommodate time zone differences, sessions are offered twice at 2:00 and at 5:00 pacific. Each session lasts an hour. Series sponsor is Project Foundry.

Help shape the series in an unconference-y way. Join the Classroom 2.0 group Better with Practice and help us decide what we should be attending to.

Let's Talk About You for a Change

2010-01-19T16:07:00.000-08:00

Try this exercise, please! It's easy and fun and will only take you a minute (OK three). Send your response by email (don't comment here) to jkrauss(at)mahonia(dot)us. Subject line: exercise.

Let's Talk about You for a Change

Directions: Forget about kids and teaching for a moment and recall a project you did recently away from school. Maybe it was planning a wedding, tracking your family genealogy, building a shed, organizing a community campaign or learning to knit. Choose one big or small that taxed you to a degree or took you into unfamiliar territory.

Now, open an email and put "exercise" in the subject line. In the body write a descriptive title for the project, then jot notes -single words or short phrases- that describe the personal capabilities the project called for or caused you to develop. An example statement might be persistence or budgeting time. Think through every phase of the project as you go. Write as many capabilities as you can in three minutes. Send them by email to jkrauss(at)mahonia(dot)com. I'll post a wordle with the combined results soon. I'll also share the facilitation that goes with this group exercise and we can discuss the AHA moment that results.

The Dirt on School Gardens

2010-01-13T16:20:00.000-08:00

In the current Atlantic Monthly, Caitlin Flanagan takes a good, hard look at the shortcomings of public education and comes up with a surprising fall guy. The blame for the academic woes of our current generation, she concludes, rests squarely on the shoulders of...Alice Waters. Waters, the California chef who introduced millions of foodies to the joys of eating locally, is also the godmother of school gardens (starting with The Edible Schoolyard in Berkeley). To listen to Flanagan, those campus garden beds spell nothin' but Trouble.

In "Cultivating Failure," Flanagan reveals the dirty trick perpetrated by "an agglomeration of foodies and educational reformers who are propelled by a vacuous if well-meaning ideology that is responsible for robbing an increasing number of American schoolchildren of hours they might other wise have spent reading important books or learning higher math."

Flanagan's basic beef is that school gardens are glorified time-wasters, depriving kids of a chance to learn serious stuff. Apparently, she's never seen the rigorous projects that use gardens as a place to grow scientific inquiry skills along with vegetables, or to give budding naturalists a place to hone their powers of observation. (For just a few examples, check out this issue of Northwest Teacher. It's a little dated but still relevant.)

Flanagan really goes off the rails when she tries to blame the burgeoning school gardening movement for the achievement gap. Children of Hispanic immigrants deserve better, she suggests, than becoming "our state's new child farm laborers."

Sounds like a load of organic steer manure to me.

Photo by Michael LoRusso, Creative Commons.

The Cigar Box Project - And More Immersive Learning Experiences

2010-01-06T10:59:00.000-08:00

This week I'm compiling a set of projects I can have teacher teams examine and "unpack" against the ISTE NETS for Students and Teachers. I thought I'd share some of these rich, rigorous exemplars of PBL with you.

I've gone on project searches before and in the Web 2.0 era the hunt is more rewarding than ever. Before the emergence of social tools I'd typically find an instructional plan of some sort and possibly some samples of student work, but *wow* what a difference a few years make. Videos, blogs, wikis, digital artifacts, recorded Skype calls, podcasts-- there's no limit to the creative ways teachers and students are sharing what goes on in their project-focused classrooms. Enjoy!

In a Duck with a Blog K-2 grade students in California chronicle their science studies when a mallard family nests on campus. Read chronologically from the bottom and ignore advertising banners. (Edublogs what were you thinking?)

In the Machinto Project Alberta and Ontario primary students join students in Hiroshima, Japan and from around the world to study war through children's eyes. This project is hosted by iEARN. View a 7-minute Flash video of the Canada Machinto Project and then dig into artifacts of learning.

In the Write On! project ten classes of third, fourth, and fifth grade students around the U.S. contribute to a collaborative story.

Eighth graders in Calgary, Canada mash up all sorts of technologies to reinterpret events from Canadian History. And they stump historians in the process. See the Cigar Box Project.

After three terms studying African American history 9th graders in Philadelphia launch inquiries and create 30-second commercials. Read the teacher's summary of the project, view the student wiki and examine commercials.

Texas teacher Christian Long developed the Alice Project, where 9-10 grade literature students analyze Alice in Wonderland and present their blogs for scrutiny by "jurors" from around the world. Please see "The Big Picture" section.

High school "citizen scientists" in Los Angeles investigate air quality -indoors and outdoors- and propose remedial action in The Black Cloud project.

ISTE 2010

2010-01-03T11:51:00.000-08:00

I look forward to seeing old friends and making new ones at ISTE 2010 in Denver. I have two sessions I hope you'll consider participating in: Tinkering Under the Hood: Strategies to enhance critical thinking and Computational Thinking for Everyone where we explore how computing develops logic, systems thinking and other capabilities. What are you looking forward to at ISTE 2010?

Critical Thinking: Not Just an Exercise

2009-12-15T15:35:00.000-08:00

Los Angeles Times writer Sandy Banks recently wrote about a turnaround at Manual Arts High, the oldest high school in the sprawling—and struggling—L.A. Unified District. According to Banks, the school is starting to rebound with help from MLA Partner Schools, a nonprofit that works to “improve schools and empower neighborhoods.” MLA’s approach is to partner with schools serving disenfranchised neighborhoods rather than going the more heavy-handed route of taking them over.

This wasn’t the first I’d heard of Manual Arts. Last year, I got acquainted with an English teacher there named Antero Garcia. He had gotten his students to participate in something called the Black Cloud Project, an interactive, innovative game that prompted them to ask hard questions about the health of their local environment. In the process, many students got energized about what they could do to change their school and their neighborhood. Garcia shared some highlights of that experience, via Skype, during our session at EduCon last year. (He also shared some of the frustrations of trying to teach from behind a firewall in this story for Edutopia.)

So when I saw Manual Art High in the news, I went straight to Garcia’s blog for a reaction. I wasn’t disappointed. In this post on The American Crawl, he shares his students’ responses to the L.A. Times story. Their comments are not quite so glowing as the story Banks tells. Even Garcia admits he was “surprised by the vitriol.”

But they’re well worth a read. This is the kind of real-world writing assignment that encourages students to be critical consumers of media. Did the reporter get to the essence of what's happening at Manual Arts High, or miss the main point? Responding to that prompt invites students to think critically—about the media, as well as about their own lives.

What seems to have infuriated many students wasn’t the way that Banks described them and their South Central neighborhood (“Forty percent of its students are still learning English, and 20% live in foster homes. Even its name and mascot -- the Manual Arts Toilers -- suggest that ceaseless struggle is its legacy.”) It’s the lack of student voice in school improvement efforts.

I hope the partners at MLA are listening.

Growing Your School Garden

2009-11-09T10:09:00.000-08:00

As school gardens gain popularity nationwide, it's a good time to consider how to make the most of these outdoor learning spaces. Lewis Elementary in Portland, Ore., has been expanding its garden gradually for the past several years. The Lewis Outdoor Education Center now includes raised garden beds, greenhouses, an outdoor classroom, composting bins, and more, as this Spiral Notebook post explains.
When I visited recently, natural builder James Thompson was helping kids construct a cob bench. Every student in the school participated in this wonderfully messy activity, and the finished project will no doubt be the launching pad for even more engaged learning in the months ahead.
Successful campus greenspaces require ongoing care. To exchange ideas with like-minded educators, check out the new group at Edutopia devoted to Green Schools. See you there!

Ready for Prime TIme

2009-10-26T09:00:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite nonprofits made it to prime time last week. KaBOOM! rallies communities to build playgrounds. "Parks and Recreation," the NBC sitcom starring Amy Poheler of Saturday Night Live fame, wove the nonprofit with the funny name into last week's episode. If you like the idea of rallying your community to build a new playground, check out the wealth of real-life planning resources at KaBOOM!

Thinking Like an Innovator

2009-10-13T11:14:00.000-07:00

Imagine a straw that purifies drinking water, preventing the spread of cholera or typhoid. Or a solar-powered satellite uplink mounted on a motorbike that gives rural villagers access to the information highway. Or a prefabricated emergency shelter that biodegrades after use.
These aren't just wild ideas. They're practical, low-cost solutions already in use around the world, and part of an eye-opening exhibit called Design for the Other 90 Percent. The exhibit just came to Portland, part of the grand opening of the new Mercy Corps headquarters here.
The show is fascinating, but I came away from it wanting to know more about the innovators who come up with these inspired ideas. Do they typically collaborate, or work solo? Does inspiration come in a flash, or through extended trial-and-error? What can we learn from their examples and apply to our own problem-solving challenges?
Learning how to innovate may seem like a tall order. In this post for Edutopia, I take a closer look at the topic and invite teachers to share their strategies for encouraging innovation in the classroom. Please join the conversation.

What's on your top-10 list?

2009-09-21T12:33:00.000-07:00

The start of a new school year is an ideal time to introduce new tools for teaching and learning. In assembling this back-to-school tipsheet for Edutopia, I highlighted newer tools, like Edmodo for microblogging, along with tried-and-true resources for collaboration, such as ePals. The tipsheet's available as a free download, and I've enjoyed hearing from educators around the world who are using it as a conversation-starter with colleagues.
Now, what would you add to the list?

The Future? Find It Here

2009-08-27T13:22:00.000-07:00

In latest issue of Educational Leadership, focusing on 21st-century learning, I argue that teachers need to update their own skills if they're going to help students prepare for the challenges at hand. "Managing Messy Learning" features advice from classroom experts who use real-world projects, along with the appropriate tech tools, on a regular basis. Check out practical strategies from Terry Smith, Antero Garcia, and others who understand why we can't afford to wait to introduce 21st-century approaches to our students. In their classes, the future's already arrived.

Teachers Tackle Their Own Summer Project

2009-08-04T15:40:00.000-07:00

I recently had the pleasure of joining an online conversation with several teachers participating in a summer institute of the New York City Writing Project. Paul Allison and Shantanu Saha facilitated the 12-day NYC institute in which teachers were offered that all-too-rare opportunity: to be learners themselves.
By the time I caught up with them for a Skype conversation on Teachers Teaching Teachers, these teachers had spent several intense days learning alongside colleagues, exploring the potential of Web 2.0 tools to enhance writing instruction. Many work in New York's new, small high schools, designed to better engage diverse learners. One teacher, for instance, described his students as "overage and under-credited." Others teach in schools where the focus ranges from American studies to engineering to the construction trades.
What did teachers take away from the institute? One participant said the experience had caused him to rethink what "projects" are all about. Before taking part in the institute, he considered projects to be something that happened only at the end of a unit. Now, as a result of his own learning, he was getting hip to the idea that projects can be--and maybe should be--the centerpiece of instruction. Another had some fresh ideas for bringing graphic novels into literature studies, but worried that his request for a class set of Watchmen would never be approved by the more tradition-bound folks who oversee budget requests. I'm rooting for him--and for his students.
Thanks to Paul Allison for inviting me into this conversation, and a hat tip to all of the National Writing Project participants who dove into similarly challenging learning experiences this summer. What new ideas will you bring into your classroom this fall?

Kindergarten kids from NZ, Germany, Canada and Turkey tell their stories

2009-07-29T10:49:00.000-07:00

Click on the chess piece to hear the storytellers.

Mary Ellen Lynch posted this Voicethread of tiny kids from New Zealand, Canada, Germany and Turkey telling stories together.

I had the pleasure of working with Mary Ellen last year when her school in Montreal and a school I coached in Eugene shared their experience raising painted lady butterflies in distinctly different climates.

Enjoy the lively reading of "Little Elephant"!

Open Your Eyes and Look

2009-07-08T10:43:00.000-07:00

Think of the Reinventing PBL photos on Flickr as primary source material. Each picture is documentary evidence of what happens during project-based learning. Please explore, comment, join, post and caption, share and enjoy!

flickr.com/groups/reinventingpbl

Including Students in the Equation

2009-06-02T14:38:00.000-07:00

Discussions about school change often leave out the perspective of those who should be at the center of the story: students. That's why I'm excited about a special event that Steve Hargadon has planned for The Future of Education. This Wednesday, June 3, at 5 p.m. Pacific/8 p.m. Eastern, Jane and I will be joining the conversation about "Student Participation in Building the Learning Environment." Among the student participants will be Justin Blau from The Meadows School in Las Vegas. He's the founder of one of the first high school microlending programs in the country. (Read more about The Meadows School MicroBank here.) It's a great example of what can happen when students pursue their passions. Please join us.

Start a Conversation

2009-05-29T08:31:00.000-07:00

Meet Luis. At 18, he has a mature appreciation for what technology can do. The son of Mexican immigrants, Luis sees technology as "a better way to connect with families, connect with friends, a better way to help me improve my studies and find out information and use it for the community, not just for myself."
Luis shares his story in Edutopia's Digital Generation Project, a rich collection of content that was just released this week. Ten youth portraits are the heart of the project (although we adults get plenty of opportunities to weigh in, too).
This content is freely available for you to reuse--on your blog or school website, in class, at a parent or staff meeting, or wherever else you might want to take the conversation about today's digital youth.

PBL Buzz

2009-05-04T09:55:00.000-07:00

Wayne D'Orio's article ("The Power of Project Learning") in the May issue of Scholastic Administrator takes a good look at the current PBL landscape and pushes readers to consider why more educators aren't using this real-world approach. One theory: PBL may be too hard for teachers to tackle without support. In a Q&A at the end, Chris Lehmann of Science Leadership Academy explains how schoolwide systems (for everything from planning to assessment to technology integration) set the stage for project success at his Philadelphia school. No arguing with that, but I continue to be impressed by creative types like Terry Smith (also quoted) who are determined to make PBL work, despite the obstacles. Seems to be a mixed landscape at the moment, with some excellent schoolwide models and some islands of innovation.
I'd be eager to hear more reflections from PBL advocates. What helps you move forward with this approach? What gets in your way? What more can we do as a community to advocate for what you need to succeed?

Students, Meet Aquaman

2009-04-09T08:10:00.000-07:00

The first time I met Christopher Swain, he had just completed swimming the length of the Columbia River, becoming the first swimmer to cover all 1,243 miles of this great waterway. Throughout his treacherous journey, he climbed ashore to raise awareness of the Columbia's fragile health and the dislocated peoples whose culture is centered on the river.
This year, Swain is giving himself a new challenge: swimming 1,000 miles along the Atlantic shore. He jumps into the cold saltwater on Earth Day, April 22, at Marblehead, Mass., and estimates it will take 200 "swim days" to reach the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C. He'll spread out those days in the water so that he'll have time to visit as many as 2,000 schools along the way. At each school, Swain--a father of two--will challenge students to come up with their own projects "to improve the health of our ocean planet." After years of environmental activism, Swain says, "I'm done telling kids what to do." Getting them to challenge themselves is all part of the deal.
If you want to bring Swain's dramatic story into your classroom, you can request a school visit at his Web site, Swim for a Healthy World. Or, follow his unfolding adventure on Changents, where he'll be uploading videos and updating a blog. He'll be using Skype and other tools, too, to connect with students who live far from the coast.
I'll be updating Swain's journey with occasional posts in Spiral Notebook (starting with this one). Let me know if your students take up his challenge.
Photo by Basil Childers

I Promised So Here Goes, Mom

2009-03-24T16:03:00.000-07:00

"I, Suw Charman-Anderson, will publish a blog post on Tuesday 24th March about a woman in technology whom I admire but only if 1,000 other people do the same."
Suw met her challenge honoring Ada Lovelace's birthday today, and I'm helping take it over the top with my pledge to honor a woman in technology who I admire. She's my Mom, Kathy Krauss. Those who know her admire Kathy for everything but technology, so let me explain (save your eye rolls, siblings!) Mom is a scholar, mostly retired now, who she teaches one perennially sold-out course each spring called World Religions. Today we met for lunch and she asked me how to set up a community space on the Web where she, her students and guests could continue their conversations beyond the weekly class. After figuring out the functions they might require, I agreed to set up a wiki for them. (PBWiki has a new "comments" function that makes any page more blog-like; I think that's the wiki platform I'll use.) I told her to poll her class for the wikiliterate and to put someone in touch with me who could be point person, populating the site and helping students familiarize themselves with its functions.

I kind of bent the rules with this post-- Among the 1,000 women celebrated today, my Mom isn't likely to come in in the top tier of female technology innovators, yet she deserves a shout out for being solidly in the game. I'm impressed that Mom constantly wants to improve her teaching, and sees the value of connecting her students in new, significant ways. I'm impressed that she isn't daunted by the specter of new technology (but you'll notice I did a work around on having HER manage the site.) This is going to be a lot of fun.

Happy Spring

2009-03-21T09:10:00.000-07:00

When First Lady Michelle Obama spent her Friday (the first day of spring) turning over soil for a new White House garden, I could imagine the smile lighting up Michael Pollan’s face. Author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma and point man for eating locally, Pollan has been an outspoken advocate for converting some of that South Lawn to garden beds.

But best of all was the news that fifth-graders from Bancroft Elementary in the District were on hand to help. They’re already green thumbs, thanks to their school gardening program. Their trip to the White House sounded like more than a photo opp. The students will be invited back to help with planting, and again to harvest and cook with fresh produce. Lots of learning opportunities ahead.

The Edible Schoolyard concept has spread far and wide since California chef Alice Waters got things growing at a middle school in Berkeley, Calif. Developing and sustaining a strong outdoor education program, including gardening—that’s takes ongoing effort. In my hometown of Portland, Ore., Lewis Elementary School has engaged the community in developing a multifaceted outdoor learning program that makes use of gardens, greenhouse, rain barrels, and even a covered outdoor classroom. (Hat tip to Principal Tim Lauer.)

Garden season has me thinking about what Pollan said during a lecture stop in Portland earlier this year. Convincing the new president to be an advocate for sustainable agriculture will require a strong push from the people, Pollan said, adding, “He needs to feel the wind at his back.” Maybe he just felt a little breeze from the South Lawn.
Photo by Tim Lauer

Reinventing PBL Flickr Group Reaches 100 Contributors!

2009-02-27T14:27:00.000-08:00

Midnight Chickadee at Kang Chaio Bilingual School, Taipei (hat tip to Terry Smith)

I posted a query to Classroom 2.0 two weeks ago about computing environments and Greg Tracy contributed several helpful ideas. Several days later I announced that the Reinventing PBL Flickr Group was one member shy of 100. Greg was paying attention and now I'd like to give a hearty welcome to Mr. 100, Greg Tracy!
If you want to see and show others what PBL looks like in action, take advantage of this Group.
What ways can it be useful?

Look for projects to emulate or join.
Talk to contributing teachers about their projects.
Ask kids: What three photos would best tell the world what we're about?
Think about the stories projects tell, and how documenting them on the Web transmits their power to others.
Start a discussion with other pbl-minded folks in the group forum.
Set the pool pictures on "slideshow" and project the images as participants gather at your next staff meeting or workshop.

In what other ways can pictures of PBL inform, persuade and celebrate? I'm all ears. Please join the Reinventing PBL Flickr Group!

The Art of Community Change

2009-02-12T09:36:00.000-08:00

In "Passing Empowerment Down through the Arts," in the current issue of Edutopia, Bill Strickland tells me about the journey he began 40 years ago when an art teacher changed his life. He's been changing lives ever since, first in his hometown of Pittsburgh, Pa., and now in other communities across the country (and beyond). His unique vision combines arts and mentoring to keep young people engaged in learning, plus high-powered job training so adults can lift their families out of poverty. It's a potent formula for creating hope in the neighborhoods that need it most. Strickland also tells his story in this remarkable TED presentation, where jazz legend Herbie Hancock accompanies the artful storyteller. And if you want more details on how this all unfolded, check out Strickland's recent autobiography, Make the Impossible Possible.

Learning with Care

2009-02-05T11:41:00.000-08:00

I came away from the recent Educon2.1 conference in Philadelphia with a kaleidoscope of impressions that make me hopeful about where education is heading (and I’ll be sharing some highlights in an upcoming Spiral Notebook post). But as I’ve been reflecting on what I saw and heard during those three days at the Science Leadership Academy, I find myself yearning for an update.

So, Principal Lehmann, what’s up with the prom bear?

This takes a little explaining. When colleague Jane Krauss and I arrived at SLA, we were greeted by two student tour guides. We couldn’t have asked for better narrators than Freda and Brett. They were drawn to this magnet school by the promise of challenging academics, energetic teachers, pervasive technology, and a world of possibilities. Both had the chance to travel to Liverpool, England, last year as part of a student exchange.

In this hothouse environment, SLA students expect to work hard. But their academic life is not just an exercise or simulation. Real-world projects get them accustomed to investigating their environment, thinking critically, and addressing perceived wrongs.

So when Freda noticed that a fundraiser for the school prom involved selling small stuffed bears, she got curious. Turns out the bears were manufactured in China. Knowledgeable about fair trade, she questioned whether a bear that might have come from a sweatshop was a good mascot for her school to be promoting.

And here’s where the prom story gets really interesting. Freda told us she fully intends to start a fair-trade initiative at SLA. But she decided to wait a few weeks to get started because she didn’t want to raise a ruckus on the eve of Educon2.1. “I think it might have stressed out our principal,” she said. Learning is serious business at SLA, but so is caring.

A couple days later, Jane and I led an Educon conversation about meaningful projects, the kind that prepare students to make a real difference in their communities. (Video and materials from the session are posted here.) That’s what SLA seems to be doing every day, across the curriculum—and beyond.

Ideas Worth Borrowing, cont.

2009-01-16T09:00:00.000-08:00

Here's another great idea that's free for the taking: In my hometown of Portland, Ore., ordinary folks with a passing interest in spider venom, say, or nanotechnology are gathering in our local brewpubs to talk science. Science pub nights, for the 21-and-over crowd, are the focus of this recent Oregonian article. Expert speakers guide the conversation, but the tone is strictly informal. As coordinator Nancy Lapotin explains, "It brings science to the people." Portland Public Schools is also hosting informal science cafes where teens can talk about science with experts. It adds up to a citywide conversation about all things scientific. Francis Eberle, executive director of the National Science Teachers Association, hasn't heard of any other communities where this is happening--yet.
Photo by Nic McPhee, Creative Commons

Ideas Worth Borrowing

2009-01-13T08:24:00.000-08:00

Charlie Roy, blogging at Souly Catholic, describes how teachers and administrators have rallied to dramatically cut the rate of students failing courses at his Illinois high school. Their goal was an ambitious 50 percent reduction, but they're on track to do much better. So far, they have reduced course failures by 75 percent compared to last year.
The successful game plan starts with student support teams that include an administrator, counselor, and two teachers. As soon as a student starts slipping academically, the team responds with a fast plan of action that includes strategic interventions, measurable goals, and regular follow up. The individualized, student-centered approach seems key to success. As Roy explains, "The effectiveness of the interventions was tied to the strength of the relationship created between the team and their students."
Not only are students achieving positive results, but staff are experiencing the benefits of collaboration. Regular team meeting times and online collaboration (via Google docs) support ongoing conversations. They've shifted from worrying about kids to putting their collective energy into designing ideas that work, from mini-courses to peer tutoring. When you see staff members making friendly side wagers about their ideas, you know they're invested.

Lessons from Chicago

2008-12-17T11:29:00.000-08:00

President-elect Barack Obama’s announcement this week of Arne Duncan as his pick for Secretary of Education has me reflecting on my own visits to Chicago Public Schools, where Duncan has been CEO for the past seven years. Chicago is a mandatory stop for anyone interested in education reform. In 1995, when the Illinois legislature gave Mayor Richard Daley control of the nation’s third-largest district, CPS became ground zero in the battle to fix the nation’s public schools.

Chicago already had a long history of failed school reform efforts by the time the mayor took charge. A previous Secretary of Education, Bill Bennett, breezed through the Windy City in 1988 and declared the city’s school system “worst in the nation.” Bennett even singled out one school—Goudy Elementary—as the worst of the worst. (Note to Duncan: That’s the kind of negative publicity stunt that doesn’t help schools or kids.)

When I was researching urban school reform in 1999, I made a bee-line for Goudy Elementary. I wanted to find out if anything had changed from a few years earlier, when a somber Chicago Tribune series began, “Welcome to Goudy, where the future dies early.” I was greeted by Patrick Durkin, the no-nonsense principal brought in to fix the mess. Education wasn’t Durkin’s first love. This fast-talking father of eight was a former fire captain who shifted careers after being badly burned. But from the purposeful way he walked through that building, greeting teachers, students, and parents by name, it was clear he’d found his passion.

Durkin found a way to make school work in the high-poverty Uptown neighborhood, where immigrants were accustomed to being served poorly by public institutions. He introduced a schoolwide focus on reading (including the use of the Reading Recovery program to boost literacy), and was ingenious at finding space for personalized instruction in an overcrowded building. I remember him showing off one cubbyhole used for one-on-one tutoring; it used to be a walk-in safe. And he had zero tolerance for what he called “foolishness.” His first day on the job, he was waiting outside to greet his new students when rival gang members from a nearby housing project got into a fight. Durkin jumped in to break it up himself.

Clearly, leadership was something Durkin understood. But he also knew this: “When a place is failing, you can do anything you want.” That’s what he told me when I asked him about the support he had received from headquarters to turn around this one-failing school. Goudy didn’t get any attention, he said, until its students began to thrive. (Eventually, the story of Goudy’s turnaround became the opening chapter in Making Schools Work.)

A few years later, I made a return trip to Chicago to interview some exemplary teachers about how they were integrating technology into instruction. I was staying at a downtown hotel and needed to grab a cab to get to my interviews. I remember asking the doorman, a young African American man, for help with directions. He took a look at the address, took another look at me, and said, “What are you doin’ going to that neighborhood?” I explained that there was a school there I wanted to visit. “I know,” he said. “I went to that high school.”

At the doorman’s alma mater, I met a smart social studies teacher who had ideas galore about how technology could help her students. Only problem was, her kids had virtually no access to computers. The district was rolling out ambitious plans for professional development around technology use. But decisions about hardware were being made by local committees. So access varied widely from one neighborhood to the next. At her school, she had a principal who didn’t much like computers and few colleagues who shared her vision of 21st-century learning. And her students? They shared the doorman’s sense of the place: Why in the world would anyone choose to go there?

As our incoming Secretary of Education prepares for his challenging new role, I’m thinking again about those Chicago schools. I heard through the grapevine that Principal Durkin passed away a few years ago, but Goudy Elementary continues to serve its diverse children well. It’s now a technology magnet school. Not sure what’s become of the doorman’s alma mater. I’m willing to bet, however, that CPS remains a mixed bag, with some pockets of excellence and some places where no kid should have to spend time. That’s not unlike what Duncan will find if he looks closely at the state of public education across the country today. His challenge—the nation’s challenge—is figuring out how to make excellence the new norm.

Join Us for Educon 2.1

2008-12-02T09:46:00.000-08:00

Learning that Sticks: Make It Memorable with Projects that Matter
Join the Conversation at Educon 2.1 with Suzie, Jane and guests

If you can't join us in person we'll have a way you can participate at a distance.
Here's our session:
What do you hope students will remember—years from now—about what they learned with you? This conversation is about real-world projects that push beyond traditional PBL practices to engage students as community leaders and change agents. We plan to use a variety of media to share powerful examples and facilitate a discussion that will include students as well as teachers. For example: What happened when students in South Central Los Angeles took on the role of citizen scientists to investigate—and publicize—local pollution levels in their own neighborhood? Why do students in rural Kentucky care so much about preserving the memories of their coal-mining families? What’s changed in the lives of Seattle teens since they collaborated with youth from South Africa to make videos about the meaning of compassion? After participants hear about these projects, we will invite them to talk about: --Why are projects like these still the exception? --What barriers stand in the way of real-world learning? --How can we maximize technology to overcome challenges and leverage opportunities? --What can we do collectively to make sure every student has opportunities for this kind of engaged, meaningful learning?

Unlocking the Toolkit

2008-11-06T07:24:00.000-08:00

How often does this happen? You learn about a Web 2.0 tool and start imagining how you could integrate it into classroom activities. Then you remember: Oh yeah, my school (or district) blocks these tools. And that's too bad--for teachers whose creativity is limited, but even more so for students who miss out on opportunities to learn.
In this Edutopia article, Los Angeles high school teacher Antero Garcia goes beyond the arguments I usually hear about why the toolkit needs to be unlocked. He argues that keeping technology away from low-income students is a social justice issue: "Sooner or later someone is going to expect my students to be able to quickly and effortlessly post to a blog, add to a wiki, or collaborate via some sort of social-networking protocol. And once again, my school will have failed to prepare them for such a task."
That's what motivates Garcia to find ways around the barriers. What works for you? Please share your strategies for unlocking the toolkit.
Illustration by Adriano Gasparri, Creative Commons

Star Light, Star Bright...

2008-10-29T16:17:00.000-07:00

...How many stars can you see tonight?
There's still time to take part in the Great Worldwide Star Count, continuing until Nov. 3. This is an opportunity for your students (and their families) to contribute their night sky observations to a global database. By adding their findings, citizens scientists from around the world are helping scientists understand the effects of light pollution. Check out the Great Worldwide Star Count web site for details, along with more information you can use for further investigations of astronomy, geography, mythology, and more.
Photo by Ben McLeod, Creative Commons

School of Everything

2008-10-22T16:37:00.000-07:00

From "active retired people, to teenage whiz kids, to hobbyists in their garden sheds", the UK's School of Everything imagines removing the space between those who know and those who want to know.

"At School of Everything, we believe that learning is personal, and starts not with what you 'should' learn but with what you're interested in. So we're building a tool to help anyone in the world learn what they want, when, where and in a way which suits them. Putting people in touch with each other, not with institutions. Our goal is to do for education what YouTube has done for television, or what eBay did for retail: to open up a huge and fertile space between the professional and the amateur. A space where people teach what they know and learn what they don't."

The School of Everything launched in September. It is the work of the Young Foundation, a charitable trust which carries on the work of Michael Young, founder of Which Magazine and the Open University. Imagine how this might play out!

I think I'll seek a tatting coach.

Project Resources to Chew On

2008-10-02T08:07:00.000-07:00

Looking for a project idea that integrates math, science, and global awareness with the added benefit of real-world service learning? Consider focusing a project on hunger, an issue with local as well as global implications. In the U.S., one in 10 families faces food shortages. Around the world, hunger kills every 3.6 seconds. What can kids do about this big problem? Plenty. This recent Spiral Notebook post pulls together a list of classroom resources for tackling hunger. Comments from teachers offer more ideas. A teacher in Washington, D.C., for instance, describes how her seventh-graders responded when they took on hunger as a policy issue: "It exposes my students to the idea that they can communicate with officials and the media and that their ideas and opinions matter." Seems like a lesson worth repeating.
Photo by Michael Glasgow, Creative Commons

Yeah, but...what?

2008-09-10T10:46:00.001-07:00

In a recent Edutopia article called "Put to the Test," writer Bernice Yeung tackles some of the concerns that keep teachers from taking a project approach with their students. Yeah, but what about meeting standards? Yeah, but what about time? Yeah, but what if I lose control of my kids? She calls these the "Yeah, buts," and then sets about knocking them down with answers from practitioners who swear by project-based learning.

One of the strongest endorsements for PBL comes from Carla Williamson who heads the Office of Instruction in West Virginia. It's one of the first states to encourage PBL in every classroom. Williamson explains in the article why students deserve this kind of learning experience: "The end result is that their learning is so much deeper...That's something they carry with them for the rest of their life." I'm eager to know more about the support West Virginia teachers are getting to make this shift in practice.

As the new school year gets underway, are you wrestling with any "yeah, buts" in your own classroom or school? If you've already overcome similar concerns, what helped you move forward?

From Local to Global

2008-08-13T13:33:00.000-07:00

We've blogged before about Telannia Norfar, the innovative Oklahoma math teacher who tracked her first collaborative project experience on PBL Birdside View. Now, she's taking it up a notch and jumping into her first global collaboration with a math teacher from Australia. Once again, Telannia will be using her blog to reflect on the experience--giving us all a window for watching the project unfold. Hers is a story worth following. Although she has an eye on the big picture (i.e., what her high school students need to learn), she pays attention to the nitty-gritty of project-based learning and doesn't hesitate to write about challenges. She's also adept at making projects work with the tools already at hand, as she explains in this Edutopia article. Will be fun watching what unfolds when Oklahoma meets Australia.

Not the Slammer!

2008-08-11T08:17:00.000-07:00

Brad Moon, who blogs as Geekdad over at Wired, has picked up on the ongoing Flat Stanley controversy. In a post called "Flat Stanley Gets a Lawyer," he shares a shot of the little guy behind bars. Moon's take on the trademark kerfuffle: "This doesn’t sit right with me and I shudder to think of what Hollywood, corporate branding and a marketing blitz could do to a grass-roots, classroom-friendly effort like the Flat Stanley Project."
Meanwhile, Flat Stanley Project founder Dale Hubert tells me he's still trying to work out a way for the project to continue. And--teacher to the core--he's mulling over ideas for educating kids about patents, trademarks, and media awareness.

Visualizing Migration

2008-08-05T11:10:00.000-07:00

click on the image to see a larger view of the Minard Map

After a lot of hard thinking Jamie, a student in my PBL course, has focused her class project on US migration stories. After examining the Oregon Common Curriculum Goals and NCSS standards it was clear that 'regions' was a big topic for grade 5 social studies. But she had to ask hard questions-- What is essential about the study of regions? Is that a way to talk about diversity so we understand the complex fabric of our country? How are regions defined? Might my hometown in E. Oregon be more like Winnemucca, NV (another region) than Seattle, WA ('same' region)? Jamie overlaid geography standards relating to human movement onto this examination of regions and came away with this: I would like students to work together to look at the movement of people throughout time, why they migrate to our Northwest region, and specifically our community. These imprints on a region include its ethnic make-up, spoken languages, religious institutions, traditions, architectural styles, local food, music, clothes, and other cultural markers—all clues to the past, present, and future of that area and generations of its people. Thus, an essential part of understanding a region is its migration story.
Her plan is to engage schools across the country in shared study-- so they teach each other about (what they must operationally define as) their regions. Understandably, lots of technology may be employed, from Skype conference calls to ePals collaborations to Google shared spreadsheets to multimedia reports. I get carried away and wonder, what might we put in virtual time capsules? What would a population flipbook look like?
One more wrinkle I'm ironing out (hoping it helps Jamie and her teaching partner): Could kids mine population and demographic data to see waves of migration? Could they visually display data in an annotated timeline to show population change and also ethnicity or emigrant employment? My inspiration, my vision for this comes from the famous Minard Map showing Napoleon's failed march on Moscow. I've admired it in Edward Tufte's Visual Displays of Quantitative Information, and then in real life (OK maybe a copy) at the Finding Our Place in History exhibit at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore in May. Now I'm no geographer, but through a single degree of separation, I know a geographer! I just asked Jim Meacham, director of the University of Oregon InfoGraphics Lab, if he might lend a few brain cells to this problem.

Flat Stanley Saga Continues

2008-08-01T09:43:00.000-07:00

Since I started tracking the troubles of the Flat Stanley Project, the controversy has been picked up by those in the tech world who think hard about issues like trademark and "infinite good." TechDirt's Mike Masnick has generated a lively discussion with his post, "Flat Stanley Learns How Ownership Of Infinite Goods Hurts Everyone." Meanwhile, Canadian teacher Dale Hubert, creator of the Flat Stanley Project, says hearing all this chatter is a little like "attending one's own funeral and overhearing the comments of the mourners." We can only hope that rumors of the project's demise have been greatly exaggerated.

Getting It Done in Hannibal, MO

2008-07-23T22:11:00.001-07:00

Please meet us in Elluminate at 10:00 Pacific on July 24 for a tour of project teacher Terry Smith's classroom. This event is held in conjunction with the Reinventing Project-Based Learning Summer Course at University of Oregon, instructor, Jane Krauss. Find the event here and click on "event" to join the session. We look forward to meeting you there! Links to Terry's window on the world are found here on the course wiki.

Getting Off the Starting Blocks

2008-07-23T10:06:00.000-07:00

During a poster session in the Global Gallery at NECC, I met a teacher who said she was eager to get her students involved in collaborative global projects. I talked up a few spectacular examples, describing just how far students can go when given the opportunity. But she was stuck on the starting blocks. “How do you find partners on the other side of the world?” she wanted to know. I told her about the Flat Classroom Project and several other wonderful collaborations that have grown out of the edublogging world, where like-minded teachers frequently connect. “I don’t have time to read blogs,” she said, then launched into a list of the many other demands on her day.

Making global collaboration easier for busy teachers is one of the goals of ePals, a free communications platform that includes classroom blogs, email, and other tools to foster connections. It’s the largest online community in K-12 education, with some 13 million students and teachers participating in 200 countries. Ed Fish, CEO of ePals, describes his strategies for getting barriers out of the way in this Spiral Notebook interview. By making it faster and easier for teachers to find partner classrooms, Fish says he hopes to release educators to focus their energy on the creative side of project design and implementation.

What I find especially powerful about ePals is the translation tool that allows communication among learners who don’t speak the same language. The tool translates text to and from Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, French, German, Japanese, English, and Chinese. Users pick the language pair that meets their needs. Rita Oates, ePals vice president and a longtime educator, told me that the tool was developed to answer requests from teachers who wanted to be able to overcome language barriers. And it works: ePals participants speak more than 130 languages.

I can’t help wondering why more teachers aren’t taking part in these kinds of online projects. Have you steered clear of global projects because you don’t know how to get started? What help or support do you need to start bringing the world to your classroom?

Trouble in the Flatlands

2008-07-09T15:51:00.000-07:00

A decade before Tom Friedman wrote The World is Flat, Canadian teacher Dale Hubert was connecting children around the world through his Flat Stanley Project. “I was building a social network before YouTube or MySpace,” Hubert told me recently as he reminisced about his years in a virtual place he calls "the flatlands."

Through Hubert's grassroots online project, thousands of children from more than 40 countries have made connections—to each other, to literature, and sometimes even to world leaders, astronauts, and movie stars—by exchanging their own paper versions of Stanley Lambchop, the boy squashed by a falling bulletin board in the 1964 book, Flat Stanley.

And now the popular project may be coming to a close due to legal troubles with the estate of Jeff Brown, the late author. I explain the situation in more detail in this story for Edutopia.

It’s too soon to know how the controversy will end, but Hubert is determined to find a way to continue connecting children with the wider world. Already, Flat Stanley is a popular guy on YouTube, Flickr, and countless classroom blogs. Hubert imagines incorporating more Web 2.0 tools to expand the global conversation. And he already has a back-up plan if he can’t keep the current project alive. His goal, as always in the flatlands, will be “authentic and meaningful communication.” Stay tuned.

And So We Begin

2008-07-09T14:58:00.000-07:00

I just launched a university course yesterday called (naturally) Reinventing Project-Based Learning. We've had a wonderful start with deep discussion (why projects?) and happy tech adventuring (our own Ning and wiki).
I'm of a mind that people will best understand PBL by experiencing PBL so off we go on a learning adventure that starts with the study of postage stamps and dives straightaway into the ways we transmit ideas over a distance- we'll analyze systems, civics, history, communications, commerce, geography and more.
Think about it (students are)-- Where might a study of postage stamps lead us?

Tech Girls to the Rescue

2008-06-26T08:06:00.001-07:00

In a post at Spiral Notebook, I interview the creator of a new resource to combat cyberbullying. Debbie Heimowitz developed Adina's Deck, a 30-minute film geared to middle-schoolers plus online resources for teachers, while she was a graduate student in education at Stanford University. To make sure the story would resonate with her intended audience, she brought in middle-school girls as script consultants. While confronting the dangers of cyberbullying, the film also shows how technology can be a force for good. And it casts girls as geeks. Says Heimowitz, "We wanted to show an example of girls who can navigate their way around the Internet like any expert in Silicon Valley." Girl Scouts of the USA and an increasing number of schools are using the film to jump-start discussions about cyberbullying and online safety.

Stanley—Squashed Again!

2008-06-21T11:27:00.001-07:00

The adventures of Flat Stanley began with a crash. In the 1964 children’s book by Jeff Brown, a falling bulletin board squashed a boy named Stanley Lambchop. On the bright side, he was so flat that he could be slipped into an envelope and mailed off to distant places.

A Canadian elementary teacher named Dale Hubert added the power of the Internet to the story and, in 1995, launched a global phenomenon known as the Flat Stanley Project. Hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren in more than 40 countries have since exchanged their own “flat people,” or sent them off to famous people. Flat Stanley has been photographed on Oscar night with Clint Eastwood, traveled aboard the Space Shuttle, journeyed to Antarctica, and visited heads of state around the world. And kids around the world have learned more about everything from geography to culture to storytelling.

Now, Hubert’s wildly successful, grassroots education project is at risk of being squashed. Flat.

A long-simmering legal battle with the estate of Jeff Brown led Hubert to post this message earlier this week:

“Sadly, the Flat Stanley Project may be forced to end.”

Hubert invites letters of support for his project. (Email to savefsp@gmail.com)

I don’t know about you, but I hear a whopper of an adventure story in the making. Stay tuned for updates.

See You at NECC!

2008-06-20T08:15:00.000-07:00

Here's our NECC planner-- Can't make it sharable but if you see times that are open and want to get together, please post a comment.
Some places we may cross paths:
*EduBloggerCon, Saturday
*Reinventing PBL poster session, Global Gallery Sunday night
*Author visit, ISTE bookstore Monday and Tuesday at 11:00
*Blogger Cafe lightning demo Tuesday at 10:00 (My Friend Flickr- new mashups)
*Jane in NETS*T Implementation panel Monday at 3:30

Learning in a Messy Environment

2008-06-18T08:18:00.000-07:00

Elise Mueller is a Bellingham, Wash., teacher who seems to be in an ideal setting for project-based learning to thrive. She and two fellow elementary teachers share teaching responsibilities for grades 3-5. Students come to Mueller's room for social studies and language arts; her colleagues teach science and math. All three teachers integrate technology, and they regularly plan projects that cut across disciplines. But as Mueller told me recently in an interview for Northwest Education magazine, there's still one remaining challenge: getting students on board.

"This is a shift for kids who are not used to driving their own learning," she admits. The project approach often involves "learning in a messy environment." Students are asked to make choices, to work in teams, to tackle problems that may have more than one right solution. "If students are used to just following directions," Mueller admits, "it can be frustrating. It's a new arena for them."

The story goes on to describe what happened with one group of students who took initiative on a project--with fantastic results. But I can't help wondering how many more students never get that opportunity. How well are we preparing them for the "messy environment" of life beyond the classroom?

CyberCamp Update

2008-06-10T12:31:00.001-07:00

Here's more information about our upcoming chat with the Colorado CyberCampers. Bud the Teacher has opened the conversation to all-comers. Please join us in Elluminate, 9:15 a.m. Pacific, Wednesday, June 11.

Our Slide Deck

| View | Upload your own

Visitors' Day at CyberCamp

2008-06-08T11:13:00.000-07:00

Looking forward to a Wednesday morning conversation with the reflective group of educators taking part in CyberCamp, a summer institute currently underway in Colorado. CyberCamp is about integrating technology into project planning--and so much more. Participants are blogging away about their learning experience, capturing what it's like to sometimes stretch beyond the comfort zone. Organizer Bud Hunt (aka Bud the Teacher) has opened a window on the whole experience, using a variety of digital tools to show the world what it looks like when educators take risks, provide each other with constructive criticism, and strengthen their professional network. (Check out the Cybercamp blog, wiki, and Ustream channel, or listen to Bud's podcast about planning the institute.) Jane and I will be joining CyberCampers virtually on Wednesday to talk about using digital tools with PBL. Naturally, it will be an open forum. Stay tuned for details.

A Galaxy of Projects

2008-05-31T12:08:00.000-07:00

What does project-based learning look
like in your corner of the universe?

Join the Flickr group Reinventing Project-Based Learning ( 70 contributors to date) and share your images. Please tag your photos 'rpbl'.

This sphere, created with api Tag Galaxy, represents all flickr photos tagged rpbl. In the Tag Galaxy environment you can spin the globe and pop out individual photos for a closer look. See what you get when you put in tags 'flower' and 'macro'. Beautiful.

Thanks to Ewan McIntosh for sharing this great tool!