constructivism Archives : Innovative Education in Vermont

August 26, 2015August 25, 2015

E is for e-books …or are they “C-books”?

Why create and use e-books in the classroom?

Resources like e-books are a common “first step” when we think about integrating technology into the classroom. However, simply substituting an e-book for a traditional book ignores the opportunity to shift towards more student-centered practices. In a recent article, Chronis Kynigos reported on a joint effort between teachers and programmers to develop a “C-book;” an e-book that implements elements of constructionism.
Continue reading “E is for e-books …or are they “C-books”?”

June 13, 2015April 19, 2018

Making even more of “Beyond Bling”

A couple of weeks ago, Lucie deLaBruere of Learning with Lucie shared a post considering how we can embrace the emerging interest in Makerspace learning to move “Beyond Bling.” This post ignited my thinking about this type of learning in a number of different ways. I thought I’d take today to explore some of those thoughts in a commentary about the ideas in the post. If you haven’t read it yet, I encourage you to go back and check it out. Once you have done that, I think you might be interested in further considerations of complex problems, project-based learning, and constructionism as a learning philosophy. Continue reading “Making even more of “Beyond Bling””

January 31, 2015April 15, 2022

Robotics, PBL, and collaboration

At TechJam this past autumn I was fortunate to run into a number of student groups who were there to show off projects. That forum, and others like it, gives learners a space to share, interact, and learn from each other. One group I met was from Big Picture South Burlington (@BigPictureSB), a community of learners working in the Big Picture model within South Burlington High School. Big Picture is all about authentic real-world learning, and this group of students had chosen to enter the ChampBot Challenge at the Champlain Mini Maker Faire. Talking with the students and their advisor Jim Shields during and after got me thinking about a number of issues related to collaboration, constructivism, and student choice in STEM education. Continue reading “Robotics, PBL, and collaboration”

January 10, 2015April 15, 2022

Thinking about flipped science classrooms

Here at the beginning of the year, many people make resolutions. A new year can mean new opportunities, and offer chances to implement large changes. One change that we see teachers take on is the idea of implementing the flipped classroom. Shifting direct instruction to video in order to clear up more class time for individual and small group supported worktime sounds like both a great idea and a lot of prep work. Today I would like to dig into what it would mean to flip a science class, from both a practical and philosophical viewpoint. If it is a change that you are considering in the new year, I hope that you will find this useful. Continue reading “Thinking about flipped science classrooms”