TEACHERS HAVE TO DESIGN CLASSROOMS WITH THE STUDENTS FRONT AND CENTER. WHAT DOES THAT LOOK LIKE IN THE 21 ST CENTURY? Strategies for Using Learning Styles

Let’s Pause and think about this quote from a teacher A fifth-grade teacher explains many reasons why she teaches, not the least of which is that …. her students are game changers and she wants a front-row seat when they change the world one day.

Game Changers…. What does that have to do with Learning styles? My supposition is that in order for teachers to be in the game, we need to look at Learning Styles differently from what we normally call “Learning Styles.”

Traditional Learning Styles

Teaching Students about their own preferred Learning Style Experience has taught us that students who understand the models are better to understand their own learning profile. Watch video clip

We need to move to this…

Let’s take a closer look and begin to define some strategies that will help you the teacher to develop some of these experiences

Travel to Mars Think-Pair-Share After watching the movie- answer the following question: “What would it take for you to be convinced to travel to Mars?”

In the first part of our presentation we spoke about our themes Lessons must be— 1. Relevant-an historical event can come to life if we ask the students to reenact an event- virtual simulation-i.e., travel to Mars 2. Challenging- have the students design the questions they want answered- first astronaut to land on Mars. 3. Engaging- have them produce a demonstration that addresses the question- create a video

Relevant-Challenging-Engaging 21st Century Skills – Validation- How do we authenticate what we know? – Synthesis-How do we combine information to create new information? – Leverage- How do we influence the outcome? – Communication- what’s the message we want our audience to leave with? – Collaboration- How do we ensure students work is collaborative? – Problem-solving- How to pose a questions that needs to be solved?

Telling is not enough We must move beyond telling and we must begin demonstrating, working along-side our students, learning by seeing-hearing- doing --- Our most beloved learning styles! Let’s go back to the beginning:

Don’t stay stuck on one preferred modality!

Watching is not enough! The second frame of the cycle is very much like our traditional learning style: visualization Kolb has added a new dimension: Reflection(think) Watch and Think Website resource:

Third Segment of Kolb’s Cycle Abstract learning When we asked our students to create a set of questions about what it would be like to “walk on Mars,” would they be thinking abstractly? We have no experience with anyone as yet walking on Mars; however, the walk on the moon experience could guide the kinds of questions students would ask.

Active Learning The fourth segment on the Kolb’s cycle: Doing!

Active Learning Examples Definition Students involved in activities requiring Higher Order Thinking Skills (BLOOM), they are engaged in problem solving and exploration. Example: Corners: Four places that you would want to travel, if money was no object Go to a corner- and talk with the group as to why you choose the destination and it’s significance to you

Disney World Paris Mars Greece Discuss with each other Share with group- Travel to Far off Places

We learn best when move thru each cycle

Student Centered We all learn differently We all learn from our experiences We design the classroom experience with students in mind

Jamaican Educational Symposium Blog maican-educational-symposium1 Tom Frank

How would students and teachers benefit from the use of project learning? How would this kind of project learning impact future teacher practice? What challenges might we encounter? What lessons would be learned?

21 st Century Tools Facebook, twitter, (Community Building) Google Docs (real time collaboration) Prezi.com (Presentation Software) Animoto.com (Video Software) Poll Everywhere.com (students give instant responses to questions)

Think-Pair-Share “A recent review of existing research asserts that scientists have failed to show conclusively that students learn better when they are taught according to their preferred modalities. The researchers claim that in dozens of studies reporting the success of teaching to different learning styles there is no conclusive evidence to support such claims.” --Learning Styles: Concepts and Evidence from Psychological Science