EDUC_6772_MODULE 5

EDUC 6772 MODULE 2 -Discussion

Is Solution Fluency Alive and Well in Your Classroom?

I teach my students how to solve-real world problems, by teaching them problem solving skills and the steps in solving a problem.  A strategy that I might be able to implement within my classroom to allow students to solve real-world problems is to allow then to be involved in activity based learning.

My students know how to design and ask essential questions. The essential questions are asked during and at the end of my lesson. In helping my students to ask essential question, I would present students with a scenario on the topic and then stimulate a discussion for students to share their views and solve problems based on the scenario given. In using the six D’s (define, discover, dream, design, deliver and debrief), my students will be given the opportunity to formulate essentials questions so as to solve given problem.

I consider the ability to debrief as most important. This is because, it allows students to re-evaluate and question the process in completing or solving the problem. Also, as Lee crochet stated, debriefing allows one to, take time and go back and look at the product and ask ourselves how could this product be made better now or next time. Global Digital Citizen Foundation. (n.d.-f)

The most difficult of the 6 D’s would be deliver, as at this stage, students must be able to solve the problem and then be required to produce and publish the solution. According to Crockett et. al (2011), students must go all the way to deliver the solution, as without fully implementing the solution, they will never know if it will work (Crockett et. al, 2011).

A benefit of solution frequency is that it provides students with a step by step approach to solving a problem, as Crockett et. al stated, solution frequency will help students navigate through complex problems within the classroom and in their personal lives” (Crockett et. al, 2011). Solution frequency also allows the teacher’s role to be shifted from the distributor of knowledge but a “facilitator of learning within the classroom” (Crockett et. al, 2011). A benefit of essential questions are that they promote inquiry based learning and allows students to be fully involved and engaged during learning. McTighe and Wiggins stated that essential questions “stimulate thought, to provoke inquiry, and to spark more questions (McTighe & Wiggins, 2013). It also allows students be “engaged in uncovering the depth and richness of a topic” (McTighe & Wiggins, 2013).

Reference

McTighe, J., & Wiggins, G. (2013). Chapter 1, What makes a question essential? In McTighe, J. & Wiggins, G., Essential Questions: Opening Doors to Student Understanding (pp. 1–16). Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/109004/chapters/What-Makes-a-Question-Essential%A2.aspx

Crockett, L., Jukes, I., & Churches, A. (2011). Literacy is not enough: 21st–century fluencies for the digital age. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Global Digital Citizen Foundation. (n.d.-f). Solution fluency [Video file]. Retrieved from https://globaldigitalcitizen.org/solution-fluency-video 

Learning, Unlearning, and Relearning EDUC_6772

Learning, Unlearning, and Relearning 

Within my learning environment by students are taught how to learn, unlearn and relearn through various activities and task given to them as well as the strategies and tools within teaching and learning.  “The illiterate of the 21^st century will be those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn” (Crockett & Churches, 2011, p.17).  The advancement in technology in the 21^st century allows students to learn in varied ways. Hence in teaching my students how to learn, unlearn and relearn, as an educator I must “shift the responsibility of learning from the teacher to the students” (Crockett & Churches, 2011, p.18).  Therefore, the benefits of teaching my students to learn, unlearn and relearn, allows me to create a learning environment that fosters inquiry-based learning as well as student centered and active learning, where students are fully engaged and are given the opportunity to learn at their own pace using technology.  In teaching my students to learn, unlearn and relearn, online digital tools for e.g. voicethread can used to promote 21^st century skills such as collaboration and communication.  

Additionally, in teaching my students to unlearn and relearn, I am able to allow them to explore the new technological advancements and use them to think critically and solve problems.  In being aware of technological changes and ensuring that they are effectively implemented within my lessons allows me to fulfill the ISTE standards for teachers by using technology to foster students learning and facilitate independent learners (ISTE, 2008).

However, a challenge is reconstructing curriculum to ensure that it fosters the concept of teaching students how to learn, unlearn and relearn. According to Dede et. al (2013) the implementation of 21st century competencies requires a restructuring of the curriculum (Dede et. al, 2013). Another challenge that I may face is using effective strategies to meet the learning needs of all my students. 

References

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). (2008). Standards for teachers. Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/standards/for-educators 

Crockett, L., Jukes, I., & Churches, A. (2011). Literacy is not enough: 21st–century fluencies for the digital age. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Voogt, J., Erstad, O., Dede, C., & Mishra, P. (2013). Challenges to learning and schooling in the digital networked world of the 21st century. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 29(5), 403–413.