learntolearn

Learn: what…why…how…you and…

More than Content: Concepts Plus Process

From an earlier post about Erickson’s Concept-Based Curriculum by By Anna Murphy, Rubicon International

https://www.rubicon.com/concept-based-learning-curriculum/

Concept-based curriculum (CBC) is an approach to curriculum design that moves away from subject-specific content and instead emphasizes “big ideas” that span multiple subject areas or disciplines. For example, in a CBC classroom, students may study the big idea of “change” in a variety of areas, from patterns in mathematics, to civilizations in social studies, to life cycles in science.”…

” “Conceptual thinking requires the ability to critically examine factual information; relate to prior knowledge; see patterns and connections; draw out significant understandings at the conceptual level; evaluate the truth of the understandings across time or situations; and, often, use the conceptual understanding to creatively solve a problem or create a new product, process, or idea.”…….  , CBC is a 3-dimensional approach that melds what students will KNOW, DO, and UNDERSTAND.”…

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In a more recent text in 2014, H. Lynn Erickson collaborated with Lois A. Lanning:  Transitioning to Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction:  How to Bring Content and Process Together.

In the Foreword by Malcolm Nicolson, Head of Diploma Programme Development International Baccalaurate, He says:

…..”They have helped me to see how we can help students to “get it” to be engaged in their learning and to understand how to transfer and apply their knowledge, understanding and skills in meeting complex global challenges.”…

 

“Erickson and Lanning write: “The purpose of this book is to present the case for needed changes in the traditional model of curriculum and instruction—a content coverage model that has critical flaws:….”

“The Introduction: Chapter Overview. Chapter 2 contrasts the traditional two-dimensional curriculum mode….with the three dimensional, concept-based model, which focuses on deeper-conceptual understanding supported by related facts and skills.  This chapter also brings together Erickson’s Structure of Knowledge  with Lois Lanning’s Structure of Process, so that educators now have the complementary models for both content-driven and process-driven subjects.” (Bold print mine)

 

Chapter 2, pages 24-27 describes the Structure of Process in more detail.  The authors describe the interplay of process and knowledge, saying:

“Knowledge by itself is quite inert and of little use until it is put into action through a process that includes strategies and skills.  And processes like reading, writing, thinking, analyzing, producing or creating cannot operate meaningfully without content.”

 Here are 2 examples:         

1…”if I am working on the topic of “Climate Change,” I may choose to apply any of the following processes, strategies or skills when learning about the topic.”

^Analyze scientific data using multiple sources of text including verbal, visual, and electronic.

^Create mathematical models to represent statistical data.

^Develop economic predictions based on the analysis of statistical data.

^Write a position paper for a specific audience that addresses a problem and supports a position with personal argument.” (page 26)

2…”Traditionally mathematics has been viewed as a distinct set of procedures to be memorized and carried out.  However, most ideas in mathematics that can be solved procedurally, also lend themselves to exploration, reasoning and pattern seeking.  In fact, the US. Common Core Sate Standards for Mathematics highlight the importance of connecting content standard with the Standards for Mathematically Practice (CCSS Initiative, 2010b, which includes:

1 Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.

2 Reason abstractly and quantitatively.

3 Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.

….

7 Look for and make use of structure.

8 Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning. (page 27)

 

 

 

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Developing Student Voice

Oracy

From the Reading Sage

http://reading-sage.blogspot.com/2017/02/developing-oracy-with-daily-dialogue.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ReadingSageReviews+%28Reading+Sage+Reviews%29

Just one of many links on oracy

School 21

GRADES PRE-K TO 13 | LONDON, U.K.

Oracy in the Classroom: Strategies for Effective Talk

A short excerpt:

“School 21 develops confident students who can articulate their thoughts and learning with strategies like discussion guidelines and roles and structured talk tasks.”

SEPTEMBER 15, 2016

 

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Accountable Talk: An Important Skill for Becoming Metacognition

“Lauren Resnick (1995) introduced the concept of accountable talk as a means of raising the level of academic discourse among students. Accountable talk governs the norms of academic discourse and requires that students ask for and furnish evidence to support their statements (Michaels, O’Conner, Hall, & Resnick, 2002). This ensures rigor and moves the conversation from task-oriented to concept-oriented learning…..”    excerpt from

Content-Area Conversations by Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey and Carol Rothenberg

Table of Contents

Chapter 5. Procedures for Classroom Talk

http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/108035/chapters/Procedures-for-Classroom-Talk.aspx

and from my Pinterest site….scroll down and see “related pins”….on accountable talk

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/461830136759075295/?utm_campaign=activity&e_t=4d06f96933c64de1a6f1c895f3f60c38&utm_medium=2003&utm_source=31&e_t_s=pin-liked

 

Many of these are by Michelle Steger.  Here’s her board

http://www.pinterest.com/michteach101/accountable-talk/

Others are by Angie Thunker.  Here’s her board

http://www.pinterest.com/dnathunker/accountable-talk/

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Learning to Learn: Teaching? Generalizing?

Here is a post from…Darlene M. Bassett

I am an educational consultant, specializing in literacy/thinking strategies and school change. My experience is K-12. If you are interested in contacting me, I can be reached at bestpracticesintl@gmail.com or by calling 207-377-3628.

http://dbassett.blogspot.com/2015/01/producing-lifelong-learners-is-approach.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ReflectionsOnMeta-cognition-ForEducatorsByEducators+%28Reflections+on+Meta-cognition+-+For+Educators+by+Educators%29

Taken From a post on ASCD By Kelly Morgan Dempewolf, PhD

How to Move from Teaching Content to Teaching Learning
“Lifelong learners. It’s a phrase that appears in mission statements of schools, districts, and state agencies across the country. It’s a worthy goal—to produce people that continue to learn and value learning throughout their adult lives….”

One suggestion Dempewolf offers is “the ability to try again.” Here are a few of her comments:

“Student-paced mastery learning also allows students to develop perhaps the most necessary skill for independent lifelong learning: the ability to try again. Traditional classrooms teach students that they have one opportunity to learn something and demonstrate their understanding. They are not taught to pick themselves up, think about what they could do differently, and attack the problem from a new angle….”

Dempewolf suggests that “teaching” learn to learn skills takes time! She notes a difference in these skills from the beginning to the end of the school year in her classroom.

Teaching Content and Teaching Learning

While a teacher can emphasize, support, or “teach” these meta skills, I believe that learning to learn skills DO need to be learned in the context of specific content. It is not clear, yet, whether learning to learn skills generalize across content areas. Ideally, new research will address this question. Perhaps middle school teachers, who often teach two subject areas, are in a good position to address this question of generalization of meta skills across content areas.

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Seeing Kids as Individuals

Common Problem Based Learning Mistakes

>https://gingerlewman.wordpress.com/2014/12/02/15-common-pbl-mistakes-mistake-6-treat-all-kids-the-same/

“Problem: Currently, we feel that in order to be “fair,” all students need to be treated the same, when in actuality, there are very few students who have the same ability, experiences, or skills as others in the class. Everyone is traveling their own journey many of us know nothing about and children and teens are no different.”

Check the link for the suggested answer.

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