STUDENTS AS EXPERTS IN INQUIRY Increasing Student Curiosity and Critical Thinking through Thematic Driving Questions and Project-Based Learning

CALIFORNIA ACCELERATION PROJECT Supporting California’s 112 Community Colleges To Redesign Developmental English and Math Curricula And Increase Student Completion An initiative of the California Community Colleges’ Success Network (3CSN), funded through the Basic Skills Initiative of the state Chancellor’s Office. Additional support from the Walter S. Johnson Foundation, LearningWorks, and “Scaling Innovation,” a project of the Community College Research Center funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Katie Hern, Director Myra Snell, Math Lead

OVERVIEW OF CCSF’S ACCELERATION PROGRAM  Spring 2013 is the fifth semester since implementation From Spring 2011 through Fall 2012:  1,142 students have enrolled in the Developmental Accelerated class  1,506 students have enrolled in the Transfer-level Accelerated class Distinctions of CCSF’s Accelerated model:  Partial credit option (3/6 units)  Transfer-level accelerated class  Thematic driving questions  Project-based learning

STUDENT SUCCESS IN THE ACCELERATED PATHWAY 1142 students tracked over a 24 month time frame:  2.25 times more likely to pass the course 2 levels below transfer  2.2 times more likely to pass the course 1 level below transfer  3 times more likely to pass freshman composition  African American students were 3.7 times more likely to complete freshman composition  Latino students were 1.6 times more likely to complete freshman composition

SOME REASONS FOR SUCCESS  Greater sense of peer community in a class that meets 6 hours per week.  Stronger instructor-student bonds  Intensity of instruction may lead to greater mastery for students and stronger senses of self-efficacy.  Thematic driving questions build schema and prior knowledge allowing developmental students to complete freshman composition level reading, writing, and thinking tasks with more ease and confidence.  Project-based learning leads to more student “buy-in”

CCSF’S ACCELERATED PEDAGOGY  Thematic driving questions  Inquiry-based learning  Backwards design  Project-based learning  Cumulative curriculum leading to a final project where students seek to answer the driving question of the course  Common assessments  Faculty collaboration

SAMPLE DRIVING QUESTIONS  Can we stop gang violence?  Is technology making our lives better?  Are we headed towards environmental collapse?  Why are we so attracted to monsters?  Who has a voice in society?  How does food shape our identity?  To what degree does justice exist in our society?

SAMPLE CURRICULUM  English 92/93 Caroline Minkowski: Can we stop gang violence? Spring 2013 Online zine: Spring 2013 Online zine:

SAMPLE CURRICULUM  English 92/93—Michelle Troen: Is technology making our lives better?

SAMPLE CURRICULUM  English 96/1A: Daniel Archer: Why are we so attracted to monsters?

SAMPLE CURRICULUM  English 96/1A: Kristen Hren: Are we headed towards environmental collapse?

STUDENTS AS EXPERTS  Curriculum addresses the lack of prior knowledge hindering the success of developmental readers and writers.  The prior knowledge builds confidence through building schema and allows students to tackle freshman composition-level tasks.  Students begin to see themselves as college students

STUDENT VOICES  Video clip

GROUP ACTIVITY  Brainstorm books that you have used successfully or that you would like to use in your classes.  Brainstorm driving questions that might naturally emerge from those texts.  Write your driving questions with the texts you have identified on the poster paper. ______________________________________________________ Driving questions should:  Be open-ended, leaving room for voice and choice.  Ask that the students engage with inquiry that is both rigorous and relevant.