Students who have ownership or choices in their learning, they perform better in their learning. When students get the option to choose what they are learning about they show greater interest in the subject. Think of a time when you were excited about a subject in school. You were eager to learn as much as you could as fast as you could. I would bet you watch videos and read books. We should apply think knowledge in our classroom. Now students wont be excited to learn about everything that is required of them but you can still provide them with options during these lesson. To ensure that the standards are being met in this style classroom a teacher can set the goals and have the students express how they want to show they have reached this goal. This aspect of student ownership allows for students to gain a better understanding of how they need to get to where they need to be. Another way to allow student ownership over learning is allowing them the opportunity to evaluate themselves. This also allows for teachers to gain new perspectives on how students can achieve goals/standards.
Virtual Environments
What is digital environment? Digital environment can be defined as the organization of information that leads to a artificial environment. It is Vital to understand that virtual environments add to the depth of experience and can provide users with a unique ability to communicate, collaborate and explore. People who use virtual environment's can learn through the use of playing games as they are presented with new knowledge to learn and apply the knowledge in a interactive way. Teachers can repurpose the original games intents for a educational use. Without repurposing a games intent there are still thousands of interesting games that can be used to reinforce formal education and training. Virtual environments are not limited to fun gamed, they can be used as digital classrooms and placeholders to hold lectures. Here's a list of some examples of virtual environments that you might want to examine: >Middle School STEM . http://www.stemcollaborative.org/ >All levels Computer Science https://studio.code.org/courses >All levels STEM https://www.msichicago.org/experiment/ >All levels: Predominantly math; some other subjects Khan Academy https://www.khanacademy.org >All Levels All subjects http://www.secretbuilders.com/
Fostering Student Computational Thinking
Model Creativity and Creative Expression:
Remember you ARE creative, even if you don't do so well expressing it with certain medias. There is a trend that causes us to lose the creative side of ourselves as soon as we step foot into a school building. Let's examine why this is. When we start out in preschool or kindergarten we have unlimited creative freedoms. As the years go by we are given restrictions in what is considered good. Instead of getting graded on the creative side of things, students are required to meet a certain standard of what their are SHOULD look like. This can cause a lack of confidence in our students. We, as teachers, need to model creative expression. We should allow for a environment where students enjoy doing what they are asked without fear of being told they aren't good enough. This concept isn't restricted to art. Think about creativeness in a science classroom. Students often participate in things like the science fair and have to come up with some sort of creative way to deliver their information. Teachers should provide their students with the confidence to put their own twist on their work.
Standard 6a
Standard 6b
Standard 6c
Standard 6b
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Foster a culture where students take ownership of their learning goals and outcomes in both independent and group settings.
Manage the use of technology and student learning strategies in digital platforms, virtual environments, hands-on makerspaces or in the field.
Create learning opportunities that challenge students to use a design process and computational thinking to innovate and solve problems.
Model and nurture creativity and creative expression to communicate ideas, knowledge or connections.