Eclectic Technology

Deeper Learning. Is this something new? This post explores deeper learning, sharing what it is, and what it is not. Two definitions of the term will make it clear that deeper learning is a goal of educators, but one that may not be reached.

There is an in-depth discussion of deeper learning followed by suggestions on how to put deeper learning into your practice. Five principles are shared.

1. The three competencies - cognitive, intrapersonal and interpersonal

2. Test format - learning study strategies that allow students to learn the difference between surface learning and deep learning, which requires that they be "cognitively active learning behaviors" (as opposed to "cognitively passive learning behaviors)

3. Predicting and retrieving

4. Source diversity

5. Curriculum wide adoption

Additional information is found for all the principles in the post. Click through to learn more.

How do we get our students to do deeper learning? One way it to find our what our students are passionate about, allowing them to connect their personal life to their academic life.

The post discusses challenges that of English language learners, yet the ideas apply to all of our students. Three sections provide suggestions:

* Creating Structures for Success

* Teacher Grouping

* School Structures to Promote Success

There are many quotes I could choose to share. This is the one I have chosen:

'“The first thing that comes to mind for me is changing students’ perceptions of themselves so they don’t see themselves as unable to learn...If they are thinking about themselves as students who are exercising that muscle, the brain, then it changes their perception of themselves.”

Why would we want to use next gen tools in our classroom? One reason is they provide a richer experience for our students, richer content, potentially richer discussions, and more as well as the fact that these tools are often multi-disciplinary and multi-sensory.

The 25 tools listed here address large parts of the curriculum as well as grade levels. Five are listed below. Click through to the post to learn more about them and twenty more.

* PBS for Educators has many resources available. This post highlights three specifically: Point of View (which is geared to older students); SCI Girls (think STEM); and Daily News Story (as you probably guessed we are talking current events).

* Big History Project goal is to develop a full curriculum for high school. At this point they have four key areas: the universe, or solar system and Earth, Life and Humans, with a total of seven "threshholds."

* Do you want your students to publish work online? Consider checking out EduBlog, KidBlog and Blogger?

Have fun exploring and teach your students (and yourself) some next gen tools!

Who better to ask students what motivates them to learn but students, specifically students whom are part of the "deeper learning" movement (and a link to an article on "deeper learning" is in this post). This post shares ideas from seven students. The short hand version is below but much more detail is in the post.

* Integrated projects

* Interest-based and relevant

* Make it hands on

* Knowing teachers care

* Learning from failure

* Evaluating work

Check out this infographic which focuses on scaffolding for deeper understanding. Mia MacMeekin has provided a nine step process.

1. Ask a question.

2. Present a mystery for students to solve.

3. Ask students to draw what they know.

4. Give students ample time to research the mystery.

5. Ask students to draw the mystery and the solution again.

6. Ask students to share their drawings with other students.

7. Ask students to pull their ideas together in one drawing.

8. Teacher patiently asks what if questions.

9. If students needs more information, send them back to step #4, and start over again until the outcome or objective is reached.

MacMeekin notes that her students were engaged in the drawing/scaffolding phase of this and reached a deeper understanding than other classes had. It is also important to note that the ant is actually an analogy. To learn more click through to the post.

Educational transfer is a key component of teaching. What can we do as teachers to help our students be able to take what they have been taught and apply it in new situations? This post explores this issue with a focus on how to use digital media to enhance the transfer. 

It discusses recent research that has been published by the National Academies Press, "Education for Life and Work: Developing Transferable Knowledge and Skills in the 21st Century".

Learn about the three processes that take place when a student learns a new idea. "Check out (the) awesome chart from National Academies Press that summarizes twelve simple, research-based strategies for multimedia design." 
This post provides a glimpse of what you will find in the book. To go directly to the book (which you can download as a pdf for free) go to http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13398.

This infographic is one resource found at this site, which also provides a detailed planning guide for Deeper Learning. Click through to the site and you will find a section on:

* The DL Learning Guide which provides a series of exercises and a set of resources that demonstrate how you can create conditions necessary for Deeper Learning.

* The User Guide an overview and framework. You will also find a Table of Contents.

* You can access each phase from this section or you can move to the  section called DL Phases.

   Phase 1 helps you Establish a Vision for Students.

   Phase 2 focuses on Understanding and Assessing the Conditions for Deeper Learning.

   Phase 3 guides you on Planning for Deeper Learning.

   Phase 4 is on Monitoring Your Plan for Deeper Learning.

If your district or school is considering Deeper Learning this is a great resource to share, or to create a focus group to explore the concept and decide if it is the right time for your building.

This radio documentary focuses on current research on how we learn. You may listen to the documentary, or you may read the transcripts. There are three programs that discuss:

* This is Your Brain on Language - This portion focuses on raising a bilingual child. It turns out that children whom are bilingual have higher executive functioning skills.

* Learning to Love Tests - That's right, we can teach students to love tests, but only if we use them correctly!

* Variation is Key to Deeper Learning - Trial and error is one way to learn, but it turns out that if you "build a level of desirable difficulty" into the learning process (and tests) students may retain more knowledge and skills.

Choose to listen to the interviews with experts in these areas, or read through the transcripts to learn more about this new research and how it may impact your teaching and your students.

So how would one go about reinterpreting project-based learning? This post explores this idea in depth, providing five key areas where change must occur, and detailing one to five additional ideas that will help move project-based learning to a "philosophy of inquiry."
What are the five key areas?

1. Put PBL on a continuum of inquiry.

2. Blend surface knowledge and deeper learning.

3. Start with a sophisticated student-centered culture.

4. Make collaboration as important in school as it is in life.

5. Understand that PBL cannot be done alone.

If you are using project-based learning, or are considering implementing project-based learning next year take the time to check out this post. There are many great ideas that will lead our students to "deeper learning, creative inquiry, and a better fit with a collaborative world in which doing and knowing are one thing."

What is deeper learning? This post defines it as the following six competencies:

* mastering content

* critical thinking

* effective written and oral communication

* collaboration

* learning how to learn

* developing academic mindset

The post shares an example from one school that uses deeper learning, provides additional resources on how to cultivate academic mindset, and deeper learning and the common core, educators and deeper learning, and getting started with deeper learning.

Getting Smart has published an infographic that not only looks at deeper learning and provides an overview but also provides links to 20 schools across the US which have put deeper learning into practice. Learn about strategies that promote deeper learning, deeper learning competencies and click through to the schools (located in 13 states) to learn more from their websites. To access these sites you must download the pdf version of this infographic, available on the site or by at this address: http://gettingsmart.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/FINAL-Deeper-Learning-Infographic.pdf