by Andrew K. Miller | Mar 30, 2012 | ASCD, Blog, Whole Child Blog
This post originally appeared on The Whole Child blog, an ASCD initiative to call on educators, policymakers, business leaders, families, and community members to work together on a whole child approach to education. View Original >
Game-based learning (GBL) is a current trend in education reform and, as it becomes more widely implemented, we must make sure we are not simply focusing on the tools. Using games for learning is a great tool, but only if the use is intentional and aligned to best practices for student learning. GBL can, in fact, be aligned to the Whole Child Tenets—healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged—further leveraging it as a legitimate instructional model to reach all students.
HEALTHY
Each student enters school healthy and learns about and practices a healthy lifestyle.
There are many games for learning out there that promote health and well-being. Superbetter was just released and it includes a learning platform with quests and challenges targeted toward various physical fitness and mental well-being goals. Another fun mobile example is Run, Zombies!, an app that turns running into a zombie apocalypse story. There are plenty more games to choose from out there, and again, the games can help engage students in healthy activities in a fun way.
SAFE
Each student learns in an environment that is physically and emotionally safe for students and adults.
One of the essential design principles of GBL (and games in general) is the safety to fail. Often in education, whether through punishing students by grading formative assessments (or not replacing earlier failures with successful summative assessments) or lack of multiple drafts, we teach students that they only have one shot to get the right answer. Games on the other hand make trial and error a safe norm. We can use GBL to foster a safe space for learning in our classrooms.
ENGAGED
Each student is actively engaged in learning and is connected to the school and broader community.
GBL’s intent is to create an engaging environment where students learn both content and 21st century skills. Games engage our students through careful creation. From leader boards and avatars, to freedom to fail and immediate feedback, games and game mechanics can provide another learning model to engage our students.
SUPPORTED
Each student has access to personalized learning and is supported by qualified, caring adults.
GBL aligns specifically to the “personalized” aspect of this tenet. Although games are often collaborative, all games have important, individualized quests and missions. In a game that requires learning of content, the game is highly personalized. Success is only achieved through the individual’s play and learning.
CHALLENGED
Each graduate is challenged academically and prepared for success in college or further study and for employment and participation in a global environment.
Games are often quite challenging. Game designers spend time making the “flow” of the game perfect, where there is just enough challenge, but not so much that the game is impossible. We can use GBL to create an appropriate challenge to learn and practice content.
Through intentional and careful implementation, educators can use GBL and various games to address and meet the needs of the whole child.
by Andrew K. Miller | Mar 26, 2012 | Blog
I was fortunate enough to present on Game-Based Learning at Follett’s New Leaf in Learning Conference, an annual practice that arms educators with tools and best practices to increase student engagement and achievement. Many sessions pushed the thinking of participants, but most inspiring were the key note speaking. One particular talk resonating with me and drew connections with the materials I present on Game-Based Learning.
Ian Jukes provided a “swift kick in the assumptions” to participants about the way schools operate and their evolving purpose. After many comical examples on the challenges of change, including the size of two horses assess dictating the size of the road, Jukes provide examples of disruptive innovations. Kodak going bankrupt, postal service centers closing – all are examples of disruptive innovation. “It isn’t personal,” Jukes said, it’s just what happens. In terms of education, Jukes elaborated on the way technology and other forces are causing disruptive innovation. Information is being distorted to our students in different ways, and because of that, we can no longer tinker with the “information delivery business,” that many schools still hold on to. Schools with change or die.
GBL is a paradigm shift in how information is presented to and applied by our students. Games create situated learning, where content knowledge is seamlessly pushed out, applied, and assessed. Instead of games viewing the learner as a receptacle to fill, games are created to draw learners into wrestling with content in manageable ways that are assessed and reassessed in safe ways. Games allow for trial and error in a safe space, where mistakes are overcome in an ongoing basis. In addition, games not only value content knowledge, but also 21st century skills such as collaboration, critical thinking, and technology literacy. GBL helps us reframe how students learn, how content is learned, and more importantly what is valued in terms of learning. GBL is critical player in disruptive innovation for education.
by Andrew K. Miller | Mar 20, 2012 | Blog
This post originally appeared on the Gamification Blog, one stop for the latest news, insight, research and commentary on gamification.View Original >
As an educator and a person who struggles with regular physical fitness, I’m excited about the current rise of gamification of physical fitness, mental well-being, and overall self improvement. For me personally, I am bored by a lot of physical fitness and wellness activities, and struggle to find activities and routines that continue to motivate me. I also see this in many students. Physical Education is often antiquated, with little emphasis giving to engagement and relevance, not to mention personalization and self-motivation. Yes, the overall objective of physical education is to human beings who take care of their bodies and remain healthy, but for some students, getting them to that point may take a variety of instructional strategies.
Jane McGonigal, guru of gaming has recently released SuperBetter, a game committed to helping people reach personalized health goals. What is truly unique about this gamification of health and wellness, is is variety of goals. Participants can pick from a variety of goals including regular workouts to injury recovery. The game leverages and builds personal resilience through normal gamification methods, but allows the user to customize the ends and even the means. Participants can utilize power packs of quests or create their own, and even gain allies. I can see this being used in the Physical Education Classroom, to increase motivation for students to participant. In Physical Education, failure is often view publicly, which can sometimes lead to students losing motivation, depending on the climate of the classroom. With Superbetter, students could be given options to fail and given further motivation to continue their quests towards health and wellness, and provided a personalize option.
There are a couple more targeted games that have been released that also leverage gamification to engage people in physical fitness. Zombies, Run! is a new game, with app for the smart phone, that turns running into quests, collection of items, and building of fortress to protect participants from zombies. As a kickstarter project, it has yet to be fully released, but will be this spring. When participants run, stories are narrated, punctuated by personal music playlists, item collection, and random sprinting to avoid zombies. As running is a regular part of Physical Education, this game could provide and interesting way to engage students in regular cardiovascular workouts. Fitocracy is also garnering attention as a way gamification can increase exercise goals. Participants work in teams and in a community on exercise goals, with easy documentation of workouts and instant motivation and feedback to improve. A class could use this platform to reinforce not only exercise and fitness, but teamwork and collaboration on these goals.
Physical Educators can leverage gamification as a viable option to engage the non-engaged in the classroom. Teachers can align quest achievements and quests to physical education content standards. They can also couple lessons with other traditional forms of assessment. As these games are often collaborative, teamwork can be fostered as well as health and wellness.
by Andrew K. Miller | Mar 7, 2012 | Blog, Edutopia
This post originally appeared on Edutopia, a site created by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, dedicated to improving the K-12 learning process by using digital media to document, disseminate, and advocate for innovative, replicable strategies that prepare students. View Original >
Happy Music in Our Schools Month! I wrote in a previous blog, Visual Arts as Critical Thinking, that I was a vocal jazz nerd (and still am to some extent). Music was crucial to my growth. When I was going through some rough times as a high school student, it kept me in school. It was an outlet. We’ve heard or experienced similar stories. Music is crucial to a student’s education as a whole child, as it aligns to principles of social and emotional learning.
But I believe we can up the practice of music education a notch with project-based learning (PBL). PBL can further champion music education and continue to legitimize it as critical content, even as it is under attack by naysayers and budget cuts. In addition, music educators deal with the same concerns as core teachers, including student engagement, assessment and standards. Utilize PBL to address these concerns and embrace new possibilities for the music classroom.
PBL and Standards
It is important to know what you are assessing, as it drives what the assessment and project will look like. Music standards are quite targeted and quite rich. From music theory notation to understanding cultural connections of music, there is much that can be targeted in the music classroom. Unpack the standards by starting to look at the skills as well as the concepts that are contained within them. You might be surprised that the standards ask for more than you thought. Consider Standard 6 from MENC’s National Standards for Music Education: “Listening to, analyzing and describing music.” How are you teaching students all the skills embedded in this standard? In addition, you may have specific state standards that break these power standards in to smaller, unpacked standards. Regardless, examining the standards can make sure you create a PBL project that is targeted with in-depth inquiry.
Engagement
PBL projects create the need to know critical content through an authentic purpose. After examining your standards, consider creating an engaging context to learn a power standard or multiple smaller standards. Let’s be honest. Not every kid you get in your class may want to be there initially. Therefore, you must create engaging contexts for learning — which is the essence of PBL. Perhaps to learn Standard 8, “Understanding relationships between music, the other arts and disciplines outside the arts,” students will engage in a project where they advocate for music education to their local school board by showcasing it as crucial to the curriculum in all disciplines.
Assessment
Performance is the essence of the music classroom. However, these performances can have a variety of focuses, depending on what is being targeted. In addition, not every assessment for a PBL project in the music classroom needs to be a performance. In fact, if you were assessing Standard 6 above, you might create a project where students write music recommendations to people with heart problems. This fulfills an innovative and authentic purpose, and creates a relevance for learning the skills of listening, analyzing and describing music.
Music educators, please continue to do what you do, but consider taking it up a notch from time to time with a PBL project. There is much more to PBL than I have highlighted here. I recommend watching the Buck Institute for Education’s webinar on the Essential Elements of PBL to learn more. PBL can help focus your instruction, build authenticity and create purpose and relevance for reluctant students in your classroom. Look at their learning targets and consider new possibilities for assessing those needs and creating a PBL project that will engage them.
by Andrew K. Miller | Feb 24, 2012 | Blog, Edutopia
This post originally appeared on Edutopia, a site created by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, dedicated to improving the K-12 learning process by using digital media to document, disseminate, and advocate for innovative, replicable strategies that prepare students. View Original >
Ok, I’ll be honest. I get very nervous when I hear education reformists and politicians tout how “incredible” the flipped classroom model, or how it will “solve” many of the problems of education. It doesn’t solve anything. It is a great first step in reframing the role of the teacher in the classroom. It fosters the “guide on the side” mentality and role, rather than that of the “sage of the stage.” It helps move a classroom culture towards student construction of knowledge rather than the teacher having to tell the knowledge to students. Even Salman Khan says that the teacher is now “liberated to communicate with [their students].”
It also creates the opportunity for differentiated roles to meet the needs of students through a variety of instructional activities. But again, just because I “free” someone, doesn’t mean that he/she will know what to do next, nor how to do it effectively. This is where the work must occur as the conversation of the flipped classroom moves forward and becomes more mainstream in public and private education. We must first focus on creating the engagement and then look at structures, like the flipped classroom, that can support. So educators, here are some things to think about and consider if you are thinking about or already using the flipped classroom model.
1) Need to Know
How are you creating a need to know the content that is recorded? Just because I record something, or use a recorded material, does not mean that my students will want to watch, nor see the relevance in watching it. I mean, it is still a lecture. Also, this “need to know” is not “because it is on the test,” or “because it will help you when you graduate.” While that may be a reality, these reasons do not engage the students who are already struggling to find meaning and relevance in school. If the flipped classroom is truly to become innovative, then it must be paired with transparent and/or embedded reason to know the content.
2) Engaging Models
One of the best way to create the “need to know” is to use a pedagogical model that demands this. Whether project-based learning (PBL), game-based learning (GBL), Understanding by Design (UbD), or authentic literacy, find an effective model to institute in your classroom. Become a master of those models first, and then use the flipped classroom to support the learning. Example: Master design, assessment, and management of PBL; and then look at how you can use the flipped classroom to support the process. Perhaps it is a great way to differentiate instruction, or support students who need another lesson in a different mode. Perhaps students present you with a “need to know,” and you answer with a recorded piece to support them. This will help you master your role as “guide on the side.”
3) Technology
What technology do you have to support the flipped classroom? What technology gaps exist that might hinder it? Since the flipped classroom is about recorded video, then obviously students would need the technology to do this. There are many things to consider here. Will you demand that all students watch the video, or is it a way to differentiate and allow choice? Will you allow or rely on mobile learning for students to watch it? Again, these are just some of the questions to consider in terms of technology. Lack of technology doesn’t necessarily close the door to the flipped classroom model, but it might require some intentional planning and differentiation.
4) Reflection
Every time you have students watch a video, just like you would with any instructional activity, you must build in reflective activities to have students think about what they learned, how it will help them, its relevance, and more. If reflection is not a regular part of your classroom culture, then implementing the flipped classroom will not be as effective. Students need metacognition to connect content to objectives, whether that is progress in a GBL unit, or work towards an authentic product in at PBL project.
5) Time and Place
Do you have structures to support this? When and where will the learning occur? I believe it unfair to demand that students watch the video outside of the class time for various reasons. If you have a blended learning environment, that of course provides a natural time and place to watch the videos, but it will be difficult to ensure all students watch a video as homework. In addition, do not make epic videos that last hours. Keep the learning within the videos manageable for students. This will help you formatively assess to ensure learning, and it will feel doable to students.
I know I may have “upset the apple cart” for those who love the flipped classroom. My intent is not to say that the flipped classroom is bad. Rather, it is only a start. The focus should be on teacher practice, then tools and structures. The flipped classroom is one way to help move teachers toward better teaching but does not ensure it. Like the ideas above, focus on ways to improve your instruction before choosing to use the “flipped classroom.”
by Andrew K. Miller | Feb 16, 2012 | ASCD, Blog, Whole Child Blog
This post originally appeared on The Whole Child blog, an ASCD initiative to call on educators, policymakers, business leaders, families, and community members to work together on a whole child approach to education. View Original >
PBL can create engaging learning for all students, but that depth of learning requires careful, specific design. Part of this engagement is the element of critical thinking. Complex problem solving and higher-order thinking skills, coupled with other elements such as authenticity, voice, and choice, create an engaging context for learning.
One of the essential elements of a PBL project is the teaching and assessing of 21st century skills, including collaboration, communication, and critical thinking. The key takeaway here is teaching AND assessing. You cannot assess something you do not teach. How do we teach critical thinking? Through intentional instruction and intentional experiences. Therefore we need to make sure that the overall PBL journey is one that has both. Here are some elements of a PBL project that you can double- and triple-check to make sure your students are critically thinking
Driving Question: Through repeated practice, you can create a rigorous driving question that is open-ended, complex, and at the same time kid-friendly. A driving question is not “Google-able” but may contain many “on-the-surface” questions. By creating a driving question that requires higher-order thinking skills, the overall project will be infused with critical thinking, as it is present and used throughout the entire project. If you need help with a driving question, please check out these posts in which I go into more detail.
Audience and Purpose: One of the pitfalls that teachers can run into when designing their projects is picking a mediocre purpose and audience. When that happens, the product often becomes a regurgitation of knowledge. If the audience of the project is just the teacher, then the product may or may not have a rigorous purpose that requires critical thinking. If the project is for an outside audience, the purpose may become more complex, because that audience’s lens and needs are unique and challenging. If you pick an audience outside of the classroom and a purpose that is rigorous and challenging, then the project will require some critical thinking.
In-Depth Inquiry: Inquiry is a process that requires investigation, questioning, interpreting, and creating. This process is repeated over and over, because the inquiry itself cannot be finished in cycle. When creating a project, ask yourself if the project will require repeated cycles through the inquiry process. In-depth inquiry leads to repeated moments of critical thinking
Don’t forget that when you demand critical thinking skills, then you must scaffold these thinking skills with lessons, modeling, etc. If you are demanding that students evaluate, you must teach them how. This ensures success on the project and, more importantly, that students are learning how to critically think. The Buck Institute for Education has a great project design rubric that can help you refine your PBL projects to ensure the highest quality learning environment and includes the elements above. This rubric, coupled with the lens of critical thinking as part of the design, can ensure both engagement and deeper learning.
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