All Blog Posts Tagged 'learning' (32)

The Ecosynergy Group carriers out a number of storytelling research projects in the Education sector. The aim is to identify the narrative elements that optimize impact on their audience. This methodology was developed in a foundational research project whose findings supported key reports, such as the 2011 Mayoral Taskforce on youth employment. These reports outlined that youth want to be exposed to and learn from diverse peer role models.…

Quite often, developing powerful and meaningful key understandings is an area that teachers struggle with as they create and plan authentic rich task units. This is a critical step that many teachers can gloss over in planning but can make a profound difference to having clear, powerful units that provide great learning opportunities.

What we have experienced…

We have been approached by a number of teachers over the past few months to discuss the value of streaming students in ability groupings as a way of improving performance. There is also a big push amongst education unions to lower class sizes as a way of again improving performance of students. The…

Most of the teachers I work with, in schools all over Australia, have for some time included Learning Goals or Learning Intentions in their planning and use these with their students. Some teachers use WALT (What Are we Learning Today?) or simply begin with the phrase ‘Today I am learning to...’ In some learning spaces, the Learning Goal has a designated space on a whiteboard or noticeboard so that the students can refer to it as they work. If the learning community is further along on their…

It's been awhile since I've visited here but am now wishing I had made the time to get back more regularly.

My participation in the ning began a few years ago now when I worked with a colleague on a research project using social networks to engage mathematicians across a school. Mathsbook (ne Facebook) was developed in a ning and was used to connect gifted mathematicians across a primary school. The results of the trial were…

I have this belief that the planning documents need to lead teachers through the thinking and behaviour you are trying to encourage in them. They are not just to capture information (although this is an important part of the process). How the teachers fill in the documents will tell you a lot about their current thinking.

So when you look at HOW the teachers fill in their current documents, their detail, their use of the current planning documents, and so on ...…

This week's blog comes from Narelle Wood. Narelle is our Australian Curriculum expert and has worked extensively across a range of schools in supporting powerful learning in the literacy and English domain.

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An indulgence of mine is jigsaw puzzles. I will sit for hours trying to complete a particular section and it has got to the stage where I have sat at the table for 2 days…

FableVision, the company who co-created Lure of the Labyrinth (LOTL) with MIT, have released a new online maths game called Villainy Inc. Like LOTL, the game is free and requires the latest Flashplayer download, meaning it can be played on all types of computers with internet access but not iPads/iPods.…

For those of you in the wider world who don't get a chance to catch all of our newsletters I thought I would include this quick blog post to capture some of the resources that have dropped off our web page which might be useful for you. We are consistently researching and developing ideas, resources, thinking, viewpoints, templates, workshops as we work with schools. We rarely have the time to make them available to everyone (although you can buy our Resource CD from the shop which make life…

The following is an except from my book Exceptional that will be published later this year. For those of you who are first time readers - welcome. For those of you who are constant readers - welcome back for 2012!

Everyone has an opinion about education. I do. You do. Kids do. Parents do. Grandparents do. Teachers do. Politicians do. The media…

9.40am

Here we are again, we've packed our suitcases (I had to sit on mine to close it, and while I am sure it now weighs more than I do, I am assured that it doesn't) so that we can go to the airport after the last presentation of the day.

Morning Session - 21st Century Learning

9.40am…

9.30am.

We've just filed into the Main Theatre here at the Olympia Conference Centre on Hammersmith Road in London, the same venue that hosted the BETT Conference 2 weeks ago. A different area of the venue is being used - instead of using the huge open area utilised for the BETT Expo, a narrower, longer space is being used to house big, white, inflatable domes with displays in them. I spotted a Nintendo Dome, and it's full of 3DSs set up for delegates to have a go on. I'll be going…

After seeing Dawn Hallybone speak about using Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS at Learning Without Frontiers 2011, I have followed her work through her blog From Dawn till Dusk where she writes about her experiences using Games-Based Learning in her classroom. When organising this trip I got in contact with Dawn, and she was more than happy to have myself and Adrian Camm visit her…

 This past week of visiting a range of schools has reinforced my perception about the critical importance of structures and non-negotiables in creating a powerful learning and working environment.

In everything we do as individuals we have habitual ways of operating, thinking, and organising ourselves. They are so habitual that we are unconscious to them. In fact, it is just part of how our brains operate efficiently - making…

Designing Secret Fortresses in 5/6B

More of Nintendo DS in Literacy

Today I was part of a DEECD Presentation at the Victorian Information Technology Teachers Association (VITTA) Conference in Melbourne. I presented on Lure of the Labyrinth, how we use it in the classroom and the effect it has had on teaching and learning. Here are the presentation slides and notes. This year we were selected to be part of the Innovating With Technologies Serious Games Trial. We are exploring the effects on teaching and learning of the game Lure of the Labyrinth as…

These holidays I have had the time to sit down and write out the VELS (Victorian Essential Learning Standards) Level 4  (grades 5 and 6) Writing unit based around Nintendo Wii Mario Kart, which has been in my head for over a year now.

The unit covers a variety of text types to be created before, during and after playing a 4-player tournament (The Mushroom Cup) as a whole grade. It can be adapted to suit the teaching styles and learning styles within any given…

Day 3 Notes

Keynote: 'Philanthropy, Movements & Making Media Matter" by Laura Pincus Hartman (Zynga.org) and Pierre Guillaume Wielezynski (UN World Food Program)

Perspectives from entrepreneurs, philanthropists, academics and business leaders who have invested in popular media as part of their platforms to address pressing social concerns or are using platforms such as social games to raise…

Day 2 of the Games for Change Festival had more of a social focus that aimed for the government, industry and business participants. For a more comprehensive look at my notes throughout the day, check out my twitter stream http://twitter.com/adrian_camm

My highlights of day 2 included:

Stakehold'em Conference Game

A social…