Bits and Bytes

Howard Gardner is the John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Professor in Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He also holds positions as adjunct professor of psychology at Harvard University, adjunct professor of neurology at the Boston University School of Medicine, and chairman of the steering committee of the graduate school’s Project Zero.

He has written twenty books and hundreds of articles and is best known for his theory of multiple intelligences, which holds that intelligence goes far beyond the traditional verbal/linguistic and logical/mathematical measurements. Here he discusses student-directed learning, multiple intelligences, and a different approach to assessment.

1. On the importance of engaging students actively in what they are studying.
2. On the characteristics of student-directed learning.
3. On the theory of multiple intelligences.
4. On technology and multiple intelligences.
5. On the need for fundamental change in the curriculum.
6. On how assessment in school differs from assessment in other arenas such as sports or music.
7. On the need for a new approach to assessment in schools.
8. On what needs to happen in order that long-standing change occurs in public education.

1. On the importance of engaging students actively in what they are studying.

We have schools because we hope that someday when children have left schools that they will still be able to use what it is that they’ve learned. And there is now a massive amount of evidence from all realms of science that unless individuals take a very active role in what it is that they’re studying, unless they learn to ask questions, to do things hands on, to essentially re-create things in their own mind and transform them as is needed, the ideas just disappear. The student may have a good grade on the exam, we may think that he or she is learning, but a year or two later there’s nothing left.

2. On the characteristics of student-directed learning.

If, on the other hand, somebody has carried out an experiment himself or herself, analyzed the data, made a prediction, and saw whether it came out correctly, if somebody is doing history and actually does some interviewing himself or herself — oral histories — then reads the documents, listens to it, goes back and asks further questions, writes up a paper. That’s the kind of thing that’s going to adhere, whereas if you simply memorize a bunch of names and a bunch of facts, even a bunch of definitions, there’s nothing to hold on to.

3. On the theory of multiple intelligences.

The idea of multiple intelligences comes out of psychology. It’s a theory that was developed to document the fact that human beings have very different kinds of intellectual strengths and that these strengths are very, very important in how kids learn and how people represent things in their minds, and then how people use them in order to show what it is that they’ve understood.

If we all had exactly the same kind of mind and there was only one kind of intelligence, then we could teach everybody the same thing in the same way and assess them in the same way and that would be fair. But once we realize that people have very different kinds of minds, different kinds of strengths — some people are good in thinking spatially, some in thinking language, others are very logical, other people need to be hands on and explore actively and try things out — then education, which treats everybody the same way, is actually the most unfair education. Because it picks out one kind of mind, which I call the law professor mind — somebody who’s very linguistic and logical — and says, if you think like that, great, if you don’t think like that, there’s no room on the train for you.

4. On technology and multiple intelligences.

If we know that one child has a very spatial or visual-spatial way of learning, another child has a very hands-on way of learning, a third child likes to ask deep philosophical questions, the fourth child likes stories, we don’t have to talk very fast as a teacher. We can actually provide software, we can provide materials, we can provide resources that present material to a child in a way in which the child will find interesting and will be able to use his or her intelligences productively and, to the extent that the technology is interactive, the child will actually be able to show his or her understanding in a way that’s comfortable to the child.

We have this myth that the only way to learn something is to read it in a textbook or hear a lecture on it. And the only way to show that we’ve understood something is to take a short-answer test or maybe occasionally with an essay question thrown in. But that’s nonsense. Everything can be taught in more than one way. And anything that’s understood can be shown in more than one way. I don’t believe because there are eight intelligences we have to teach things eight ways. I think that’s silly. But we always ought to be asking ourselves, “Are we reaching every child, and, if not, are there other ways in which we can do it?”

5. On the need for fundamental change in the curriculum.

I think that we teach way too many subjects and we cover way too much material and the end result is that students have a very superficial knowledge, as we often say, a mile wide and an inch deep. Then once they leave school, almost everything’s been forgotten. And I think that school needs to change to have a few priorities and to really go into those priorities very deeply.

Let’s take the area of science. I actually don’t care if a child studies physics or biology or geology or astronomy before he goes to college. There’s plenty of time to do that kind of detailed work. I think what’s really important is to begin to learn to think scientifically. To understand what a hypothesis is. How to test it out and see whether it’s working or not. If it’s not working, how to revise your theory about things. That takes time. There’s no way you can present that in a week or indeed even in a month. You have to learn about it from doing many different kinds of experiments, seeing when the results are like what you predicted, seeing when they’re different, and so on.

But if you really focus on science in that kind of way by the time you go to college — or, if you don’t go to college, by the time you go to the workplace — you’ll know the difference between a statement that is simply a matter of opinion or prejudice and one for which there’s solid evidence.

6. On how assessment in school differs from assessment in other arenas such as sports or music.

The most important thing about assessment is knowing what it is that you should be able to do. And the best way for me to think about it is a child learning a sport or a child learning an art form, because it is completely unmysterious what you have to be to be a quarterback or a figure skater or a violin player. You see it, you try it out, you’re coached, you know when you’re getting better, you know how you’re doing compared to other kids.

In school, assessment is mystifying. Nobody knows what’s going to be on the test, and when the test results go back, neither the teacher nor the student knows what to do. So what I favor is highlighting for kids from the day they walk into school the performances and exhibitions for which they’re going to be accountable.

7. On the need for a new approach to assessment in schools.

Let’s get real. Let’s look at the kinds of things that we really value in the world. Let’s be as explicit as we can. Let’s provide feedback to kids from as early as possible and then let them internalize the feedback so they themselves can say what’s going well, what’s not going so well.

I’m a writer and initially I had to have a lot of feedback from editors, including a lot of rejections, but over time I learned what was important. I learned to edit myself and now the feedback from editors is much less necessary. And I think anybody as an adult knows that as you get to be more expert in things you don’t have to do so much external critiquing, you can do what we call self-assessment. And in school, assessment shouldn’t be something that’s done to you, it should be something where you are the most active agent.

8. On what needs to happen in order that long-standing change occurs in public education.

I think for there to be long-standing change in American education that is widespread rather than just on the margins, first of all people have to see examples of places that are like their own places where the new kind of education really works, where students are learning deeply, where they can exhibit their knowledge publicly, and where everybody who looks at the kids says, “That’s the kind of kids I want to have.” So we need to have enough good examples.

Second of all, we need to have the individuals who are involved in education, primarily teachers and administrators, believe in this, really want to do it, and get the kind of help that they need in order to be able to switch, so to speak, from a teacher-centered, let’s-stuff-it-into-the-kid’s-mind kind of education to one where the preparation is behind the scenes and the child himself or herself is at the center of learning.

Third of all, I think we need to have assessment schemes that really convince everybody that this kind of education is working. And it’s no good to have child-centered learning and then have the same, old multiple-choice tests that were used fifty or a one-hundred years ago.

Finally, I think there has to be a political commitment that says this is the kind of education that we want to have in our country, and maybe outside this country, for the foreseeable future. And as long as people are busy bashing teachers or saying that we can’t try anything new because it might fail then reform will be stifled as it has been in the past.

We recently opened up Skype to teachers and in the process of creating a useful manual to distribute I came across “the best Skype resource EVER!

Brought to you from the masters at EduBlog:

skype_guide-23lp0qv

Skype Status

Best part of Skype is you can tell when another user is online and what their status is so you know if they are available.

by Sandra Wozniak - ISTE SIGMS Group

Election time is the perfect time to put critical thinking skills to work.  What a great way to demonstrate how to organize your thinking around a complex issue.  There are lots of resources out there to help you get students thinking and writing around Election Day.

Technology will also affect our experience at the voting booth.  In the not-to-distant future, our students may soon be voting from their phones. Students can read this article from Science Daily and write a response including benefits and drawbacks of mobile voting.  Have them practice using short constructed responses to SCAN questions (What are the issues?  Clarify the issues.  Assess what is most important.  Name next steps-what should be done?).

When it comes to using technology in education, the future is now: from kindergarten to college teachers are using laptops, iPads and tablets, and social media platforms to engage students. The Internet has also become an integral part of teaching and learning, and advancements in web browsers have made it easy to use the Internet in fresh and innovative ways.
Google’s Chrome web browser has changed the way users can access and interact with the Internet: with their web store, users can find extensions that allow them to play games, shop, create art and share data. Chrome also has a comprehensive collection of education extensions that can be used by college students to help them do everything from find information to study for tests. Each of the extensions listed below serves a particular purpose, but they can all be used in different ways by a variety of students .

1. Graph.tk

Graph.tk allows users to type out mathematical equations. In addition to its functionality as a graphic calculator, it can also be used for simpler equations, and the screen is printable for students who want to be more hands-on. The extension can very useful for science and engineering students. Instructors can project their computer screens and use Graph.tk to work equations with their classes.

2. Quizlet

Quizlet is tool for creating flash cards, and their flash card library has more than two million sets. Use your Quizlet cards to study vocab terms for a foreign language class or to study for entrance exams like the GRE and the LSAT. Quizlet can also be a great tool for students enrolled in distance learning courses or for teachers who want to encourage a little competition between their students for review sessions.

3. Wikihood

Wikihood extension lets teachers and students find detailed, up-to-date information about locations all over the world. Teachers can use it to show students about the history of a city, cultural information, and the dozens of other subjects covered in Wikipedia. It’s important that both students and teachers use Wikipedia as a guide, however, rather than an authoritative source.

4. Planetarium

The sky maps on Planetarium are incredibly detailed: students and teachers can explore constellations, planets, and up-close views of stars from any location in the world. This extension can be useful to teachers and students of astronomy, as well as for amateur stargazers who want a better idea of what to look for with their telescopes.

5. Academic Earth

Featuring free lectures from some of the country’s most venerable colleges and universities, Academic Earth gives students and teachers the opportunity to use an open-source library of information. This can also be useful for people who are interested in receiving an introduction to online education and distance learning.

Google’s Chrome browser is a great choice for education, and their selection of education extensions opens a new world of possibilities for online education. By giving students the chance to explore learning tools on their own and by giving teachers tools to engage their students, Chrome’s extension and improve and enhance teaching and learning.

To install an extension:

1. Open Google Chrome
2. Click on the wrench in the upper right corner
3. Choose Tools, the Extensions
4. Click the Get More Extensions link

Google Calendar has become indispensable for organizing my own time and sharing my schedule and training classes with colleagues. But what about letting others know about my preferred availability? Likewise, when I look at scheduling for Parent-Teacher conferences, I wonder why I can’t just let parents book the open slots on my calendar instead of remembering to call and schedule each parent individually. Now, with appointment slots in Google Calendar, I can manage my appointment availability online for parent teacher conferences.

Creating appointment slots

To get started, set up blocks of time you’d like to offer as appointment slots. Simply click anywhere on your calendar and then on “Appointment slots.” From there, create a single block of time or automatically split a larger block of time into smaller appointment slots.

Every Google Calendar has its own personal appointments sign up page; you can embed it on your website or give the URL directly to parents. You can find the URL for your appointment page at the top of the set-up page, which you can access via the Edit details link.

Signing up for an appointment slot

When a parent visits your sign up page via your blog for example, their calendar is overlaid for convenience and they can sign up directly for any available appointment slot. When they sign up, Google Calendar conveniently creates a new shared event on both of your calendars.

Recently moving to Google Docs has shifted my focus a bit towards Google tips and training. I recently ran across this one that will come in handy for those obsessed with Google forms!

Google forms are fabulous for gathering information, but sometimes, the data in the spreadsheet can be difficult to view. In this post, I’ll share a simple-to-implement formula and a bonus tip that will make it much easier to deal with (and even print) form-fed data!
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The Original Data:
When you collect data into a Google spreadsheet from a form, it will look something like this:

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If you have a large amount of questions (and especially if some of them are essay questions), it requires a lot of scrolling to view the data.

The Transpose Formula:
By using the “Transpose” formula, you can easily make the data look like this:

Notice that the information is now vertical instead of horizontal, making it much easier to view individual responses.

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How to do it:
Transpose Formula
Changes data from rows to columns

1.Create a new sheet.

2.Enter the following formula in cell A1 of Sheet2:
=Transpose(Sheet1!A:H)

Note: Adjust A:H to the desired range of columns. If you don’t want the timestamp to show, enter B:H.

3.Press the enter key and watch the data fill the sheet!

—————————————————————

Inserting Rows (optional)

•If you want, you can insert rows (use the “Insert” menu) within the data to add labels, notes, or formulas.

•Once you’ve entered a label or formula, grab the square in the bottom-right corner of the cell and drag across to the right to fill the label/formula across.

•For printing purposes (see bonus tip below) select all cells and change the alignment to “left” and “top.” (Use the “alignment” icon in the toolbar at the top of the page.)

•Resize the rows to change the spacing within the data.

•Change fonts, colors, styles, and sizes, as desired.

Example:

Bonus Tip:
Printing All Records (One per page)

1.Follow the directions above to transpose the data.

2.Follow the directions above to insert rows and add labels (optional).

3.Click the triangle at the top of Column A and choose “Hide Column.”

4.Select all columns with data.

5.Click a triangle in the column header area and “resize” the column widths to 725.
Note – The number 725 may need to be adjusted for different printers.

6.Choose the print options shown in the screen shot below.

If all goes well, each “record” will print on a separate page:

I have created example forms for each of the different topics, follow the links in each of the ten sections.

1 ) Get to know your class

Use this form

2) Emotion graph

An emotion graph is a simple line graph comparing a range of happiness to sadness against different points (time) in a story or film. This technique of graphing the emotional ups and down within a story really helps children to visualise the whole story in a different way. Use a Google Form to gather the children’s responses to different parts of any type of linear narrative, written or visual. We used it here in a film narrative literacy unit. You can read a more detailed explanation of how to generate the line graph from the form here. Get your own copy.

3) Spelling test

For your weekly spelling test use simple 1-10 or 1-20 numbered form(with a name question too of course) and ask the children to type in their answers as you read out the list of words. Once these are submitted apply formula to judge if they are correct or not and it becomes self marking. Steve Kirkpatrick had this brainwave a while backso check out his excellent post for more information about setting up the spreadsheet. Danny also added in his comment about using the fontWingdings for smiley faces which is a nice idea although this font is not available in Google Spreadsheets. Get your own copy.

4) Comprehension questions

I spent quite a bit of time last year looking for some reading comprehension resources that could be used on a class set of laptops. A Google Form could be created as a way to collate the children’s comprehension answers in one place for any given text. You could also share the answers with the class so that they can review what their peers are doing. This could be a formalised assessment of their understanding of a text or something more informal to start class discussions. Again Steve has grabbed this idea by the horns and tried it with his kids – well worth a look, especially at his reflective comments and lessons learned. Get your own copy.

5) Weekly reading record

The children in our school have a reading diary that they use to record information about times that they read during the week. They take it home as well as using it at school. A form could be created by the children as a place to enter data about their reading. I hear “I haven’t got my reading diary,” so many times during the year, this way they have no excuses and can access it from any computer. Alternatively a class form could also be setup to gather together everyone’s record. Get your own copy.

6) Maths data handling

Perhaps the easiest to pick up and run with, the idea of using a form to gather together maths data handling information. The form could be a simple way of collecting information about the class – shoe size, eye colour etc. It is obviously about what you do with the data that counts but their is no reason why children couldn’t design and implement their own forms – with the attached spreadsheet for analysis – as part of independent data investigations. Get your own copy.

7) Guided reading record

As part of the old literacy hour in England we take part in small focused group reading sessions. They are guided sessions usually 15-20 minutes long and we talk and work on a piece of text that is relevant to the work going on in that unit. Sometimes small written tasks are completed or it may just be a speaking and listening activity. It is widely practiced in English primary schools and this form could act as a class record for those sessions. Get your own copy.

Prior learning assessment

Use a form to assess what the children already know about any given topic that you are beginning. The form could be a formalised assessment with specific questions about the topic or it could be more general and open for the children to explain what they know. Either way such an assessment would allow you to have a better understanding of the current level of knowledge the children have about a topic. This same form could be returned to at the end of the unit of work to help review what they have learned. Get your own copy.

9) Library book review

We have a little corner of our classroom dedicated to our library. There is a broad range of fiction and non-fiction books for the children to enjoy whenever they want. This form could be a simple way of collecting the children’s thoughts about what they read. The children in the class could use it as a reference to help them choose a book to read. A simple and easy way to collate book reviews. Get your own copy.

10) Learning success

This is one of the ten ideas I would most like to explore this year as we continue to use Google Docs as part of our tech toolbox. Use a form to assess the relative success of the learning that has taken place during a single lesson or after a series of lessons on a topic. Invite the children to assess their own confidence after practice of something – such as a lesson on one of the written multiplication methods. The form would collate the views of all of the class very quickly and allow you to make a quick judgement in terms of pupil feedback, about whether to consolidate what has taken place, to start afresh or in fact to move on. We make our learning targets for the lesson so clear these days, along with work scrutiny, dialogue with the students, a generic student response form would allow you to further judge the lesson’s success.

This is very much dependant on the quick and easy availability of a computer in the classroom – this after all should be a small 2 minute task as part of a plenary. If the lesson involves the use of the computers then that is easier – but if it does not then perhaps a handful scattered at the side of the room for students to go to at the end of the task or as directed. Of course the students completing such a form as if it were second nature to them, would be what you aim for – so the laptop, form and technology disappear and you are left with a lucid evaluation from your students. Get your own copy.

I hope that you have found something to inspire you here or perhaps you can use these straight away. If you have not had time to explore Google Forms it is most definitely worth a look.

With help for JRochelle I have included a link so that you can get your own copy of the form – click on the appropriate link and it should open in your docs home.to gather some indication from your new class about their likes and dislikes, their favourite lessons or after school clubs they enjoy. It will help you to build your relationships with children as you quickly learn more about them. Get your own copy.

When using technology it is inevitable that one is going to need help. A lot of valuable time can be wasted trying to search online or find someone that can help meet your technological needs. So I’ve created a Top 10 list that will help teachers and students become their own tech. These sites focus on all aspects of technology (OS, hardware, software, etc) and will help users find what they are looking for quickly.

1. Atomic Learning – Probably the most popular educational solution for self-help tutorials on a variety of technology areas.
2. Woopid- A excellent site for 1000s of free video tutorials on technology. Also, a person can request a tutorial that is not found on the site.
3. Learn That – A great site for free tutorials on a variety of subjects included technology.
4. Lynda – A paid site similar to Atomic Learning that focuses on software training.
5. Tech University – A wonderful site for the Mac user/enthusiast.
6. Internet 4 Classrooms – A very nice site with tutorials for Mac and Windows users and lots of links for the K-12 classroom.
7. Explania- A fun site with animated tutorials similar to Brainpop. Also, a user can create their own channel for videos and embed videos into their blog/site as well.
8. Total Training - A great site with lots of tutorials for a monthly fee, similar to Lynda.
9. VTC – 1000s of video tutorials that can be viewed online or purchased as a CD; does require a monthly fee.
10. Say it Visually- An interesting site where they create/design videos to meet your needs. They specialize in taking complex topics and making them easy to understand.