Active Learning in an Interactive ClassroomKurt O’ConnorIDT 600Spring 2012

Argument:Would adding interactive technologies into a problem-based learning model promote and cultivate all 21st century skills as needed?

21st Century Skills?• Digital-Age Literacy skills• Inventive Thinking skills• Effective Communication

skills• High Productivity skills

Why 21st Century Skills?•We are now living in a knowledge-based,

highly globalized society all driven by advancements in technology.

•Students will need to know the necessary 21st century skills in order to live and thrive in this fast pace, highly competitive, globalized world and economy.

Problem-Based Learning• Can be defined "a curriculum development and

instructional system that simultaneously develops both problem solving strategies and disciplinary knowledge bases and skills by placing students in the active role of problem-solver confronted with an ill-structured problem that mirrors real-world problems (Barrows, 1996)."

• Based off of the Constructivist Pedagogies.

• Centered on teaching these 21st century skills .

Constructivism• The idea of constructivism

is that people learn by making sense out of the world, they make meaning out of what they encounter (Driscoll).

• Promotes learning to be an active process in which students are presented a real-world, problem-based learning activity that encourages collaboration and self-evaluation (Driscoll).

Hands on Learning!

Problem-Based Learning• There are six characteristics

of Problem-Based Learning:▫ learning is student-centered▫ learning occurs in small

groups▫ teachers are facilitators or

guides, no longer lecturing▫ problems form the

organizing focus and stimulus for learning

▫ problems are the vehicle for developing problem-solving skills

▫ new information is acquired through self-directed learning

Problem-Based Learning is proven-• Research shows PBL

improves student interest and motivation which generates a meaningful learning environment.

• A 2009 study concluded that “developmental research confirms the idea that curiosity drives intellectual development. . . . when a situation is designed to arouse curiosity, children display improved academic performance (Barrell, 2010).”

• While actively engaged in a PBL unit, students will ask:▫ good questions, ▫ conduct purposeful

investigations, ▫ think critically, draw

conclusions, ▫ reflect amongst themselves

and their group members until they arrive at meaningful solutions,

all of which are 21scenturyskills.

PBL improvement?•PBL being a newer learning model,

actually originating from a curriculum reform by medical faculty at Case Western Reserve University in the late 1950s, digital-age skills is not a necessity for effective problem-based learning.

Argument again,Would adding interactive technologies into a problem-based learning model promote and cultivate all 21st century skills as needed?

Interactive Technologies•The integration of digital media including

combinations of electronic text, graphics, moving images, and sound, into a structured digital computerized environment that allows people to interact with the data for appropriate purposes.

Types of Interactive Technologies

• Wiki’s• Blogs• Social Medias• Games• Mobile

technologies

Interactive Technology Relevance•As teachers today we are working with students

whose entire lives thus far have been immersed by the 21st century media culture.

•A survey by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation found that young people (ages 8-18) mainline

electronic media for more than six hours a day, on average

Advantages of Technology•Directly support the major themes or learning

outcomes, •Enable students to learn about a concept or a topic

in a different way rather than reading text or viewing a simple diagram.

•Engage the visual, kinesthetic, and audio learners as they are reviewing animations, manipulating graphics, and solving both computational and non-computational problems

Use of Technology in my Classroom• Synergistic Module’s

▫Based off of Problem-Solving Model

▫Student-Centered▫Teacher is a facilitator▫Promotes collaboration,

problem-solving, and critical-thinking.

▫Uses technology in a Multi-modal delivery approach

▫Hands- On Learning

I find students to be:• Interested• Engaged• Active• Motivated• Self-Directed• Collaborating with peers.• Excited• Curious

Conclusion• When used right, technology becomes an

accelerator of momentum, not a creator of it.

• Technology does not create learning, but can be used to accelerate learning given an effective pedagogical framework.