Action Research in Education.

John Elliott (1991) defines action research as:

“Action research is the process through which teachers collaborate in evaluating their

practice jointly; raise awareness of their personal theory; articulate a shared conception of

values; try out new strategies to render the values expressed in their practice more

consistent with educational values they espouse; record their work in a form which is

readily available to and understandable by other teachers; and thus develop a shared

theory of teaching by research practice.”

   

About Active Learning

What is active learning?

• Active learning is "anything that involves students in doing things and thinking about the things they are doing" (Bonwell & Eison, 1991, p. 2).
• Felder & Brent (2009) define active learning as "anything course-related that all students in a class session are called upon to do other than simply watching, listening and taking notes" (p. 2).
• Active learning strategies can be as short as a few minutes long.
• Active learning techniques can be integrated into a lecture or any other classroom setting relatively easily. Even large classrooms can involve learning activities beyond the traditional lecture format.

Hair "Aquarius" AND "Let The Sunshine In" (the original Broadway cast)

Lyrics to Aquarius
When the moon is in the Seventh House
And Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
And love, will steer the stars
This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius
The age of Aquarius
Aquarius!
Aquarius!
Harmony and understanding
Sympathy and trust abounding
No more falsehoods or derisions
Golden living dreams of visions
Mystic crystal revelation
And the mind's true liberation
Aquarius!
Aquarius!
When the moon is in the Seventh House
And Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
And love, will steer the stars
This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius
The age of Aquarius
Aquarius!
Aquarius!
Aquarius!
Aquarius!

[ These are Aquarius Lyrics on http://www.lyricsmania.com/ ]

Teaching in the 21st Century

 

 

 

 

I cannot comprehend questions like "Should I rent or buy?" or "Which credit card is the best for me?" if I have no knowledge of the basic facts of mathematics (ie. addition, multiplication, percentages, interest rates). How can you ask a student to find out the number of grains of sand on an average beach? Open-ended questions like this seem wonderful to ask, but create anxiety in our students since they usually aren't given the proper tools to answer the question and their short-term memories cannot hold all of the relevant information.

I do think that modelling appropriate behaviour and teaching certain skills is OK to do, but NOT as a substitution of basic facts and working knowledge. The more a student can commit to long-term memory, the more we empower our students to be able to answer the difficult questions they will face later in life.

Music Lessons Make You Smarter Infographic

Music Lessons Make You Smarter Infographic - e-Learning Infographicse-Learning Infographics

Writing – Solutions to Mistakes | Halina's Thoughts

Writing – Solutions to Mistakes | Halina's Thoughts

About Future Learning

Spring Blog Festival: Future Learning | Mini Documentary:

 Students are the future, but what's the future for students? To arm them with the relevant, timeless skills for our rapidly changing w...

What is the future of education? Maybe this time we can consider how tech enhances - not replaces - traditional learning. 

• How can education prepare students for living in the 21st century?
• How can schooling change to meet meet the opportunities and challenges of the 21st century?
• How can we prepare students to address "future-focused" issues such as sustainability, globalisation, citizenship, and enterprise?

Literature suggests we need to be future-oriented and adaptable, adopting a more complex view of knowledge, that incorporates knowing, doing, and being. Alongside this we need to rethink our ideas about how our learning systems are organised, resourced, and supported.