What if school could be more play-based, more project-based, more passion-based? What if school could look more like Caine’s Arcade? [WATCH the 10 minutes! You won’t regret it.]
A boy, a dad, and a stranger share the roles of “teacher” and “student.” There’s math, engineering, communications, design, sociology, social media, economics, marketing, ethics,…
[Many thanks to @occam98 for making me aware of Caine’s Arcade! My boys are saving boxes now!]
Enhanced information technology and advanced understanding of human learning make it strange that schools retain many methodologies geared for “filling heads.” Additionally, society faces challenges demanding “grabbed hearts.”
At yesterday’s MVPS Design Thinking Summit (#dtsummit12), we immersed ourselves in “Design = Utility + Significance.” At design’s core beats EMPATHY. Through design, doing-learners engage human experience to improve that experience. Insight into others’ needs grabs hearts. Grabbed hearts inspire active hands and feet…and wise minds. Isn’t that what we want need?
First 1/2 Highlights: [View the story “#DTSummit 2012 10:15 Storify” on Storify]
Second 1/2 Highlights: [View the story “#dtsummit12 Design Challenge (pm) Highlights” on Storify]
Most schools offer “History,” and many provide “Study Hall.” What if we offered “News?” Various points of entry for current events and modern journalism could be explored. By nature, the topic is transdisciplinary and PBL-rich. I can imagine weaving in every discipline. In “Studio Hall,” learners of all ages could use time to create, not just to complete (Study Hall’s focus).
Because I work a lot in the domain of Project-Based Learning (PBL), I participate in a number of conversations and ideations about great, future PBL ideas. I never cease to be amazed, though, at how quickly many adults see the PBL-design process as adult-centric. We neaten the mess of education-industry learning too much, and we too often exclude systemic inclusion of students in these early design stages. What if we expected and empowered students to co-design curriculum?
* Screenshot of just two related tweets summarizing some of Pat Bassett’s comments
in a plenary session at 2012 NAIS Annual Conference.
I find a number of amazing educators struggle with the concept/implementation of PBL (high-quality, transdisciplinary Project-Based Learning). I believe some of that struggle is related to habit. I believe some is related to saying, “I teach English” (or math, science, etc.), instead of “I teach children,” or “I lead learning.” If you teach, how do you answer, “What do you teach?”
it's about learning 