'Tis the season for road trips! Whether it be a spring camping trip with students, a summer road trip with your own children, or a cross country trip with just you and your dog, take full advantage of learning opportunities along the way. Learning is powerful beyond the walls of a classroom. Hitting the road opens doors to learning experiences that couldn't be achieved from a classroom. There are many gears working to make a road trip possible from the planning stages, to packing, navigating, financing, and more. Involving students in these steps gives them the chance to apply skills and knowledge in real-world contexts. Travel gives students the wherewithal to figure things out regardless of the situation or changing circumstances. If you get lost, you have no choice but to find your way. It might put a wrench in your plans, but this is a learning experience in itself. Learning naturally happens all the time, especially when traveling. But you can still encourage students to plan PBL projects, reflect on their experiences in a way that is intentional, collaborate with locals along the way, do the trip planning, fundraise, and more. I used to take students on road trips for summer school credit. When leading an educational travel experience, having purpose, expectations, structure, and guidance is important. I require my high school student travelers to complete student-directed PBL projects that are relevant to the trip at hand. I have also done this with my own young children. You might recall a past post on a family trip to Denmark where my four-year-old documented the trip with my camera and edited the photos using a photo app. I am a champion of learning, particularly when it is student-led and promotes lifelong learning. It doesn't matter if it's summer. It doesn't matter if it's not in a traditional learning environment. Parents and homeschoolers, this post is especially pertinent to you because you have more flexibility when it comes to using the world as a resource. The following is a list of learning activity ideas to do for or on a road trip. They are intended to be adaptable, modifiable, and work across the board with all skill levels, age groups, backgrounds, and more. They are just ideas to bring learning and travel together. Project-based learning is one of the easier ways to incorporate intentional learning into travel experiences. Check out my project-based learning toolkit to help guide students through the process of student-directed project-based learning from the design stage through to the reflection and assessment. Good luck! I'd love you to add any ideas not listed here. This list is certainly not exhaustive. If you have your students or children do any of these learning activities this spring or summer I'd l'd love for you to share the experience! 20 Learning Activities To Do On Road Trips1. Create a tour using Google Maps - I wrote a blog post a while back about using Google Maps in project-based learning. Check that out for more specific ideas. Learners could plot points and narrate a tour on Google Maps of just about anything from restaurants to overlooks to birding spots along the way. 2. Scientific inquiry experiments - students could ask a question about their route and collect data as they go. For example a student may want to conduct biodiversity sampling from a variety of different habitats. I took students to California a few years ago to study the starkly contrasting ecosystems in the state. We traveled by car around the state collecting climate and biodiversity data. I also drove students through Florida studying the diverse marine ecosystems along the way. These are just examples. There is an infinite number of questions your learners could ask and test on the road. If you're interested in inquiry-based learning but would like some guiding materials, check out the toolkit offered in my store. 3. Scrapbooking - Students could create a physical scrapbook by adding photos with captions and collecting and adding artifacts from the trip such as museum stubs or souvenirs. They could also find a digital scrapbooking program such as Shutterfly. Shutterfly is a photo program where you can create photo books. They can be costly. Students could use any number of free programs as simple as Google Slides or the free version of Canva. 4. Photojournalism - Have students document some relevant current event using photography as their medium. This could be on any number of topics in politics, art, culture, humanities, etc. An example would be documenting evidence of an upcoming election. There may be events taking place in towns along the way, campaign signs littering yards or billboard advertisements splattered along freeways. 5. Budgeting - Have your students create a trip budget that includes lodging, gas, food, activities or tours, etc. I have many travel products in my TpT store, most of which are free. One of these products, free, includes budgeting guidance. Challenge students by encouraging them to keep the trip under a certain amount of money. It might also be cool to have students create a blog post on tips and tricks to pinching pennies on the road. 6. Design and create a road trip game - Road trips can get long. Ask your students to create a game before the trip begins that they can play in the car. The challenge is making sure the game is road trip appropriate such as keeping it compact, limiting small pieces, and making sure it can be played while seated. You could also have students create a game that is inspired by the trip such as gathering information about small towns on their route and writing trivia questions about their stops. 7. Journaling - Students could also keep a written journal. I have done this on every trip I've ever taken, even as an adult. It's fun to look back on them years later. I have had students do doodle journals instead of written journals as well where they articulate their experience through pictures, or doodles in this case. 8. Make a cookbook - All cities have cuisine unique to their region, or types of food they are known for. Determine food staples in different towns/cities along your trip, learn how to make those dishes, and create a cookbook. For example, if I did a road trip through the midwest I might learn how to make deep dish pizza (Illinois), pasties (Michigan), hot dish (Minnesota), and cheese curds (Wisconsin). 9. Photography - Capturing the travel experience with photos is an obvious road trip learning activity. Just because it is obvious doesn't make it any less valuable. When taking pictures you see things differently than you would if you weren't trying to get the perfect shot. You notice more, learn to ask questions, and go to greater lengths (such as climbing this hill just a little bit higher) to get that perfect shot. Students would experience the trip from a unique perspective. Try landscape photography, wildlife photography, environmental portraits, etc. 10. Create a trip inspired playlist - This is more of a trip reflection as it encourages students to look back on the trip and connect music to meaningful experiences had on the trip. Click here for a free travel reflection. 11. Creative writing - Students could write a book of poetry, a short story, a children's book, a graphic novel, a song(s), a comic, etc. inspired by trip experiences. 12. Make postcards - Students can make their own postcards of stops along the way with any number of art mediums such as photography, drawing, painting, charcoal, etc. They can then send their postcards to friends and family as they travel. 13. Social media documentation - The great thing about technology today is that students can share their experiences in real time. Students can document their trips as they are on them and post updates for friends and family to follow along on their journey. I had my students do this on school trips with me. We published a blog post at the end of each day of the trip. My students have mostly blogged in the past, but they could have also vlogged, made a podcast, a documentary, or simply provided updates on their own social media sites. I took students on a bio trip to Costa Rica a few years ago and we blogged about the experience right here on Experiential Learning Depot - check it out. 14. Volunteering/community involvement - Before students take the trip, ask them to contact organizations along the route that reflects their interests. For example, students interested in environmental science or nature may be interested in cleaning up road litter along the way or plastics washed up along beaches. 15. History projects - Have students do PBL projects on the history of places they stop on their trip. They might want to know how the infrastructure of towns has changed over the past 100 years, the history of the people and changing demographics, the history of specific monuments located in each town they stop, or even the history of particular buildings such as lighthouses, factories, schools, or abandoned buildings. 16. Economics projects - Have students explore certain aspects of the economy along the route. One example is to investigate the unemployment rates in different towns along the way and mapping the rates. Another option is exploring major markets or industries in the cities that they visit such as tech startups, logging companies, hospitality, tourism, etc. They could visit some of these companies, tour factories, interview employees, etc. 17. Art portfolio - Students can create a portfolio of art pieces inspired by trip experiences such as drawings, watercolor paintings, a collage, etc. The portfolio could be art pieces based around a theme such as landscapes, water towers, lighthouses, bridges, barns, etc. or the portfolio could just represent the trip in general. One of my students created an adult coloring book, her coloring pages inspired by experiences or things she saw on her trip. 18. Journalism - Interview people along way on any number of topics and write a "news article". I took some of my students to the Big Island of Hawaii last year, and as we circumnavigated the island over the course of the week, several of my students interviewed locals, farmers, business owners, and more on whether they've felt any impacts of climate change or expect to in the foreseeable future. The students then wrote an article summarizing their findings. Again, this is just one example. I am a science teacher, so many of my examples will be science related. It doesn't mean they have to be. Let your students get creative! 19. Collecting and analyzing artifacts - Have students collect and catalogue any number of artifacts they find during their travels such as insects, leaves, shells, soil, rocks, flower petals, etc. They can even map their findings and examine how environmental factors might play a role in what artifacts were found where. For example, they may find very different rocks at one stop than they do at another. Students can research and analyze why this might be. 20. Maker projects/ STEM - Have students observe a problem associated with car travel, such sore backs from sitting too long, and design and create a solution to the problem. I saw a video on Pinterest a while back of students games that could fit in the side pocket of their backpack to bring on an airplane. The pieces had to be small, they had to have three games in one, and the whole game needed to fit in an Altoids tin. The final products were astounding. This is an example of a product engineered to make travel easier. Thanks for stopping by! Follow Experiential Learning Depot on Pinterest and Instagram for more on experiential education. Check out my TpT store - Experiential Learning Depot - for student-directed resources. Most of the educational travel resources are free.
Again, follow up if your students have done any of these learning activities on road trips or if you have any learning activity ideas. Feel free to contact me through email at experientiallearningdepot@gmail.com. Parents and students, if spring or summer travel is unrealistic because of time, money, or any other obstacle, check out some of these creative ways to get your kids traveling this summer! Happy road tripping!
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I'm so excited to introduce Eliot Kersgaard from Myra Makes as my guest blogger this week! I've been interested in STEAM for a long time, but do not feel at all equipped at this point to write about it. I'm lucky to have connected with Eliot, a STEAM rockstar, who was kind enough to share his thoughts and expertise with us.
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Eliot Kersgaard is the cofounder and director of Myra Makes. He was born and raised in Colorado and has a degree in Engineering Physics from the University of Colorado. He has experience in nonprofit management, urban agriculture, STEAM education, physics, metaphysics, design thinking, permaculture and multimedia art.
5 Ways STEAM Can Improve Learning Outcomes
STEAM is one of the new buzzwords on the block in the experiential education movement. But what does it mean, and why should we care?
In most circles, STEAM education is a modification to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math), which includes the A for the Arts. Some organizations, like Maker Bolder in Colorado, switch out a couple of the STEM letters and call STEAM Science, Technology, Entrepreneurship, Arts and Making. To avoid confusion, we’ll think about STEAM in this article as the traditional STEM subjects plus the Arts. The idea behind STEM and STEAM is not merely that these subjects are important, but that they are best taught together, as complementary subjects. And while STEM might conjure a picture of kids making robots or learning to code, the aim isn’t about getting more kids to build robots and make video games. And adding the “A” isn’t about making those robots prettier. The inclusion of Arts in the mix is a recognition that creative, divergent, and aesthetic thinking are key ingredients to success, innovation, and communication in STEM and life in general. The fundamental objective of STEAM in my mind is to help create a more technically literate society that better understands how science works and is able to think creatively to adapt to these changes and leverage them for the best. STEAM is part of a growing movement of integrated education, and most in the STEAM movement also recognize the importance of other educational philosophies and tools into their approaches. These include problem-based learning, making, experiential learning, nature-based education, and social-emotional learning. Just as STEAM subjects are strengthened when considered together, these lenses and tools are strengthened when combined.
A collaborative brainstorming session focused on generating ideas to make a difference in our communities.
STEAM education is one way to frame learning during an impact-oriented project.
STEAM, along with other educational philosophies in the dialogue today, can seem intimidating to teachers, kids, and parents because it seems to demand more of everyone involved. This uncertainty and fear is valid, and the STEAM approach is fundamentally different from the educational system that has been developed in the West since the mid 1800’s. However, before that time, STEAM, Making, and problem-based learning, while not called by these names, were the standard for learning and learning environments. Prior to the industrial revolution, it was common for thought leaders in many disciplines to cross disciplinary bridges. Think Benjamin Franklin, Leonardo da Vinci, and Hypatia. In many ways, the STEAM and aligned movements are a rekindling of how education has been conducted for most of human civilization.
, OK, but what does STEAM education actually look like? I’ll explain through an example of a STEAM project. Imagine that a homeschool family has decided to construct a small greenhouse and outdoor garden. They decide to use this project as a STEAM learning opportunity. The project is broken into five different elements, one for each of the STEAM letters. Note that while the project described is a lengthy project, STEAM learning can take place over shorter times and with less planning as well. See Myra Makes (and a future post here!) for some ideas of quick STEAM activities to do at home.
A garden project, real or imagined, can introduce STEAM topics (pictured: Journey to Cloud City by Myra Makes)
For science, the students will study garden and greenhouse ecology to decide what species to include and what they will need to thrive. For technology, the students will create automated systems of light, heat and water to ensure everything runs smoothly and to reduce the workload during operation. For engineering, the students will design and build the infrastructure needed. For art, the students will design the overall arrangement of all of the elements, create a mural on the side of the garden beds to represent their visions for the project, and write a summary of the project so others can learn from the experience. Finally, for math, the students will create a budget for the project and decide on the various purchases needed. The key factor that makes this project a STEAM project is that learning in one of the areas is connected to learning in all of the other areas. The technology element draws from biology to determine the appropriate light and water requirements for the plants. The engineering element must consider the technology that will be included as well as the ecology. The artistic element brings all of the other elements together to determine how to represent the project to the outside world and create an overarching design.
The results are improved learning outcomes across the board, beginning with: Number Five: Increasing content relevance In work, entrepreneurial, or home contexts, the STEAM fields rarely live in isolation from one another. The construction of a garden and greenhouse is one example of how they are likely to be found together. By teaching these subjects together, we are able to more closely mimic how students are likely to encounter them later in life. This strengthens the mental pathways that connect these subjects so that students will be better equipped to understand, analyze and design in situations they will encounter later in life. This increased relevance is the foundation for the other improvements in learning outcomes coming later on this list. Number Four: Engaging a greater diversity of learners In the normalized academic structure of having each subject taught separately, students can easily become alienated from specific subjects. Students can lose interest in a class and have a difficult time becoming engaged again as the content grows more difficult and they struggle to play catch-up. If a student is disengaged in math, it is unlikely that more difficult math in the context of another math class will be a gateway to interest. On the other hand, teaching multiple subjects together provides more avenues for learners to become interested in the material. If math is taught alongside art or biology, there are now routes for students interested in art or biology to become interested in math as well. Number Three: Building creative, problem-solving and design skills While it is true that careers in science and technology are becoming more plentiful, the most sought-after skills in the workforce are more abstract: problem-solving and creativity. These skills are fundamentally a blend between artistic thinking and scientific thinking. Artistic thinking is divergent, on-the-fly thinking, identifying many approaches to a problem, and connecting disparate elements together. Scientific thinking emphasizes analysis, optimization, and experimentation. As a simplification, the arts are the beginning, highly creative stages of a design process, while the sciences are later stages of analysis and optimization. By teaching them together, problem solving and design are embedded throughout the curriculum.
Problem-solving games can encourage kids to draw on their knowledge of STEAM subjects
to bring their imaginations to life (pictured: Inventure by Myra Makes (prototype))
Number Two: Increasing learner agency
As discussed in our Number Four, STEAM education increases the number of pathways to learning subject material. By mixing and matching subject matter, there are many entry points to the material and there are many ways of thinking about it. Just as this allows STEAM to engage a more diverse array of learners, it allows learners to explore their own personal learning style, connect the subject matter with their interests, and find new learning approaches that work best for them. These combine to increase the agency, or freedom, of a learner. This deepened agency is key to fostering lifelong learning, one of the fundamental aims of integrated education. Number One: Improving content mastery While each element on this list is valuable in itself, they also work together to increase students’ content mastery. In other words, their testable outcomes will improve. This is an emergent, almost accidental result of engaging more learners, increasing content relevance, and increasing learner agency.
About Myra Makes:
Myra Makes is a grassroots startup based in Colorado. We believe that every person has the innate capacity to contribute to a brighter future for all while meeting their needs and developing their passions. Our mission is to create a more playful and just society by enriching the lives of kids, teachers and families. To achieve this, we create books, games, and programs to engage the whole child in creative pursuits. Find Us: MyraMakes.com TeachersPayTeachers - Myra Makes 303-304-4659 or MyraMakes.com Follow Myra Makes @MyraMakes on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter Join our email list for a $2 off coupon on any Myra Makes product
Follow Experiential Learning Depot on Pinterest and Instagram for more on experiential education, and check out my TpT store for experiential learning resources.
Getting Started with Student-Directed Inquiry-Based Learning
I have a two-year-old and a four-year-old. These two little ones are at prime ages for questioning. I get 1,000 questions per day, at least. Yesterday I was baking a cake and my son asked me why I was putting eggs in the batter. I turned this simple question into an inquiry-based learning activity.
Rather than tell my son why cakes need eggs, he investigated his own question. I guided him through a simple experiment. We made one cake with all of the listed ingredients (control) and another cake with all of the same ingredients except for eggs. He observed raw eggs before using them by moving the yolk and whites around with a fork. He noticed the consistency; that it was slimy and stretchy. He commented on the color. I asked him to tell me about his experience eating eggs. What do cooked eggs taste like? Feel like in your mouth? Do scrambled egg fall apart when handled? Based on what you're seeing here, what differences do you think you will see between the baked cakes? His prediction was that the cake with eggs would taste like, look like, feel like, and smell like scrambled eggs and the cake without eggs would taste like cake ;) And why wouldn't it? My four-year-old is drawing on his observations and previous experiences. We then made the two versions of the cake and observed the final products in the same way that we observed the raw eggs. I asked if they looked how he expected and to observe the differences in taste, color, smell, texture, etc. My son thought that the one with eggs tasted better than the one without. The one without eggs fell apart when handled. The one with eggs was brighter yellow. So we determined (with open ended questions from me) that adding eggs to cake batter is probably important for structure, color, and taste. This is an example of inquiry-based learning. What is inquiry-based Learning? Inquiry is simply finding information through questioning. Inquiry-based learning then is a constructivist approach to learning where students develop knowledge by investigating a question rather than through direct instruction (lecture.) Students ask a question based on an observation or are given a question by the instructor. Students then thoroughly investigate that question. The investigation could include experimentation, interviews with community experts, digging through literature such as books, publications and journals, experiential activities, PBL, PrBL, etc. What are the different approaches to inquiry-based learning? Inquiry-based teaching spans a broad spectrum from teacher-directed structured inquiry where the instructor gives students the driving question to investigate and designs the investigation, to student-directed open inquiry where students ask their own questions and plan their investigations. Varying levels of guided inquiry lie between the two extremes. An instructor might give students the driving question, for example, but the students plan their own investigations. You might guess, if you are an avid reader of my blog, which end of the inquiry spectrum my learning activities lie.
For more information on student-directed learning, go back to some of my previous posts. I am in the middle of a series on student-directed learning. All of my posts in this series so far can be found by clicking here.
How can I shift to student-directed open-inquiry?
The bulk of my teaching career has been at an experiential learning, student-directed school. I often had students come into my classes mid-year, some 18 years old, that had up until that point experienced a very different kind of learning environment, one where direct instruction was the norm, worksheets were handed out in abundance, and a lot of value was placed on having the correct answers. Throwing students directly into student-directed open inquiry, especially those that are accustomed to being handed "answers", may feel uncomfortable at first. This is especially true with high school students, as there is a shift in mindset that needs to happen. You can tackle this problem one of three ways: 1) Start at the teacher-directed end of the spectrum and gradually move to the student-directed end of the spectrum. As much as I advocate for student-directed everything, I also understand that there is a learning curve. Making the transition gradually might work best for you and your students. 2) Another way to shift that thinking is to dive right into open inquiry. Be patient and forgiving with students at first, and watch their struggle and confusion transform into a profound learning experience. This is what I usually do. Student-directed open inquiry is where it's at. 3) If I have a population of students that are floundering with open-inquiry after diving right in, I might take a baby step toward the other end of the inquiry spectrum temporarily, providing guided inquiry experiences. This is what I did with my son and the egg experiment. He asked the question. I designed the experiment because, hey, he's 4. Benefits of student-directed inquiry-based learning? Why not just Google the answer? If I want to answer a question like why eggs are used in baked goods, I could look it up and find the answer in seconds. The purpose of inquiry-based learning, however, is not finding the correct answer, or finding an answer at all for that matter. The benefits of inquiry-based learning come out of the process, not the results. A lot of teachers struggle to implement inquiry-based learning because it takes time. What's cool about student-directed inquiry-based learning is that it's multidisciplinary. Many concepts and skills are rolled into one activity vs. direct instruction where ideas are split up into discrete units. Take the egg/cake experiment for example. We practiced counting, colors, and for older students, fractions. We practiced a variety of skills such as communication, problem-solving, critical thinking, and even fine-motor skills. We covered a variety concepts in chemistry and math. The idea is to get students asking questions and finding information as one would in the real-world. Inquiry-based learning experiences provide students with opportunities to use higher order thinking skills such as making observations, asking their own questions, designing experiments, analyzing ambiguities of conflicting information or unexpected results, working through obstacles and coming to solutions to overcome those challenges. Those are skills that are important in life. Inquiry-based learning is a slam dunk when it comes to practicing the 6 C's as well - collaboration, communication, critical thinking, creativity, citizenship and character development. Student-directed open inquiry teaches students the skills necessary for lifelong learning. What do you need to start student-directed open inquiry? Teacher-directed structured inquiry is easy. Pull out a recipe lab and ask students to do it. Open inquiry, however, requires that you provide input. If you want your students to ask their own questions and design their own investigation, you need to set a stage that stimulates the flow of observations, questions, and ideas. You also need to be prepared to scaffold NOT give answers. Scroll to the bottom for a list of great go-to questions when facilitating a student-directed open inquiry activity. Finally, student-directed open inquiry does not have to be and should not be chaotic. Structure is allowed and encouraged, especially for beginners. Students should have clear expectations and guiding materials. For example, I personally think it's important for students to reflect on their inquiry experience. Providing reflection questions doesn't dilute the learning experience for your students, it just adds an element of structure that some students need or desire.
Where can I find student-directed open inquiry resources?
I recently added a student-directed inquiry product line to my TpT store, Experiential Learning Depot. I currently have two high school level open inquiry projects in that line on water pollution in lieu of upcoming Earth Day. One is an investigation of water pollutants and their sources and the other is the impact pollutants have on aquatic life. Students will ask their own questions based on materials laid out and what they already know, design an experiment to test their questions, analyze results, and draw conclusions. These resources provide structure and guiding materials for students and teachers in what could otherwise be an overwhelming experience, especially beginners.
I hope to add more inquiry-based learning resources in the near future, including a student-directed open inquiry toolkit that would provide the guiding materials for any open inquiry project that is experimental in nature.
What questions can I ask to guide students through the inquiry process? 1) What do you think? 2) Why do you think that? 3) What do you predict will happen if...? 4) Why do you predict this will happen? 5) What would happen if you tried this instead? 6) How could you find out about this? 7) Who might know the answer to that question? 8) Is this source of information credible? How do you know? What source could you use that would be credible? 9) What does this information mean to you? 10) What does this remind you of? 11) Where have you seen this before? 12) What if you tried this? 13) What did you observe then? What do you observe now? 14) What else does this make you wonder? 15) How does this connect to that? 16) How is this different from that? How are they the same? 17) Tell me about what you're doing here and why you're doing it. 18) What could you do next? 19) What is another way you could ask that question? 20) What could you do next?
Who can implement inquiry-based learning?
My inquiry-based learning resources primarily focus on life science, as that is my licensure and background. Inquiry-based learning can be applied across the board, however. If students are asking questions, doing investigations to answer those questions, and constructing knowledge based on the experience, it's inquiry. You can even see that people of all ages can do inquiry-based learning activities. My resources are geared toward high school students, but I do inquiry all the time with my toddler and preschooler at home. I would love to hear how educators are using inquiry-based learning across disciplines and age groups. How can you apply inquiry in a high school social studies class, reading class, or math class? How do you use inquiry-based learning in early childhood learning environments? Follow Experiential Learning Depot on Pinterest and Instagram for more on experiential education, and check out my TpT store for experiential learning resources including project-based learning, maker resources, and now inquiry. I have a few problem-based learning resources in the works, and am excited to get that product line out in the next couple of weeks. Thanks for following! If you are an avid follower of my blog, you know by now that content isn't something that I talk about often, if ever. It's not because I don't believe content is important. Students should be able to add fractions, know what a plant requires for growth and survival, and be able to locate China on a map. These things come up in real-life. But all a 21st-century student has to do to find out where China is located is pull out their phone and look it up. They don't need me for that. What students need from teachers, in my experience, is guidance in developing 21st-century skills. I am an experiential learning and project-based learning educator. These approaches to learning are built around the idea that you acquire content knowledge by using these important 21st-century skills. It is the process of acquiring content knowledge that makes an impact, not the content itself. You learn about plant physiology by making observations, asking questions, problem-solving, making mistakes, trying again, accepting feedback and reflecting. Students discover the content by communicating and collaborating with community members, creating, and sharing using the latest technology, etc. Applying this philosophy of learning to math is where I have always struggled. Let's put it out there right now. I'm not a math teacher. I have had to teach math because I'm a PBL advisor. It's part of the job description. Math is so content heavy and much of what we're required to teach, I feel, is irrelevant to the real-world. Not long ago a vlog series on Instagram caught my eye. A high school math teacher was posting videos on all of the ways he considers 21st-century learners in his classroom. He is hugely talented at incorporating the latest technology into his curriculum, and his students seem to love it. Math!!! Right?! Who knew. So, I tracked him down and asked him to give us some pointers. Check out his thoughts below and head to his Instagram page (@geraciedu) for more videos and insights from a 21st-century math teacher. ![]() Tony Geraci Bio: I am a fifth-year high school math teacher. I work at Lewis Mills High School in Burlington, CT. I currently teach 3 sections of Algebra 2 Honors, one section of Foundations of Geometry, and one section of Foundations of Algebra. While finishing my degree and getting certified to teach, I worked in elementary schools as a paraprofessional and a substitute teacher. Until this year, I also coached baseball for 5 years and girls’ basketball for 10 years at the high school level. Disclaimer: My perspective is as a secondary education teacher. The elementary and middle school classes, I think, are moving in the right direction. By nature, they deal with the whole child and not just the academic version. For some reason when they get to high school, teachers tend to turn to ranking students rather than developing human beings. I do not want to do the dirty work for colleges. I want to improve the child sitting in front of me. If that is not your cup of tea, then that is also ok. I just want everyone to reflect, and make sure that they feel what they are doing is what is best for their students. What can you do as a math teacher to BEST serve 21st-century learners?1. Don’t hide behind your content. Past: Teachers used to be the sole gatekeepers of all information. Before the internet, if a student did not pay attention in class they would have to deal with the natural consequences of their choices. Present Observations: Fortunately, that is not the case anymore. The advancements in technology has made information readily available and at our fingertips. It is not fair to judge students solely on their retention of facts and procedures. As teachers, we get upset when students don’t ‘get’ what we are teaching, when in fact, it could be the least interesting thing happening in their lives. Whether we like it or not, there are many more things happening in their lives now than ever before. If the only value that you are bringing your students is your content knowledge do not be surprised if they tune you out. Only students who are compliant will be the ones that engage. I would rather have students who are empowered than compliant. What I do: On day 1 of the school year I tell my students two things that usually grabs their attention. One, I don’t care about the math I am teaching. Two, I don’t care about their grades. Heads that are down looking at cell phones or staring out the window usually perk up fast. Now that I have their attention, and hopefully yours, let me explain. I tell them that I am not naive, and I have checked my ego at the door. I understand the reality is that 95% of the students I teach Algebra II will never use what I teach other than in an academic setting. It is just a fact. I am not sure how many jobs require students to use the quadratic formula to find imaginary numbers. Be transparent with your students. They see through the bullshit and your ‘real world’ problems. By being upfront they respect you much more. 2. Create lessons and activities with the human in mind, not content objectives. Past: As recently as 5 years ago, I saw curriculum stored in binders in the math office. When I asked what I will be teaching they gave me a binder and said follow the worksheets. If you were lucky to have enough textbooks, then teachers would follow textbook content in the order they found most effective. Then teachers would focus on how to best teach the kids content. When test time rolls around, students perform poorly and teachers say, “They should know this. I taught them how to do it." Present Observations: It is more of the same. Content standards have become the big focus. They have given teachers a macro outlook on what students will be taught and when. “I can” statements or lesson objectives have also been the flavor of the time. Everything is focused on the content and not the student. There are “lessons” online that teachers can borrow or pay for, and many of these lessons focus on teaching the content, not the human that is learning the content. What I do: Conceptually, I try to think of how I can engage the students by changing the focus of the activity from the content to the skill. I take traditional, unengaging class time and flip it on its head. Rather than practice mathematical skills with a partner all the time I have a couple of go to activities.
Don’t try to be like anyone else, just be yourself. I am not saying don’t borrow ideas from other teachers, but everything should have your own flair added to it. It should be based on what your kids need and what they enjoy. These ideas are meant to give you a framework. Tailor them to your content, but don't forget about the needs of your students! 3. Be in the present but keep your eye on the future. The past: It is well known that school was designed to produce factory workers. Listening to the teacher translated into listening to a boss. Following directions and being compliant in school translated into being compliant on the job. It was great for what it was designed for. Unfortunately, the world has changed exponentially, and education hasn't followed suit. Present observations: While changes and improvements have been made, it is still not enough. The world is changing too fast. We are at a crucial transition period. There is a younger generation of teachers that have new, fresh ideas that engage students in different ways, but there are still many veteran teachers that don’t want to let go of the power or change the way things have always been done. Additionally, the overall structure of education focuses too much on test scores. We test on material that is irrelevant to the success of students as people. The SAT does not test work ethic, creativity, collaboration skills, or most skills that are needed in the workforce. What I do: Be aware of what is happening in the world. We are in the prime of a technology revolution, very similar to the industrial revolution that education was designed for so many years ago. Technology is making our lives more convenient. Convenience is KING/QUEEN!! It is going to be a race to make our lives as convenient as possible through technology. Things we don’t even know we need will be created and introduced in our lives, just like current technology. Who knew we needed apps where you can order almost anything and get it in two days. Rather than focus on teaching students academic skills that will never be applied to their actually lives (example: factoring quadratics), change that focus to life and personal skills that can be applied to all aspects of life. 4. Don’t be so hard on yourself. If you try something and it flops, then it flops. If you can reflect at the end of the day and feel comfortable with your effort and execution, then you should be proud of yourself. I have tried many activities to try to engage my students that they thought was terrible. It is what it is. Do not let anyone judge what you are trying to do. The only people that matter are the students in front of you. A couple times a year I give my students a survey to get a feel for what they like and don’t like about my teaching style. They are brutally honest. Those surveys remind me that I work for them, they don’t work for me. I need to keep them happy and engaged if I want my message to be delivered effectively. 5. Do things that aren’t in the curriculum that you know are important. Regardless of the class I am teaching, I always find time to fit in financial lessons. With my Algebra II students it is usually during our exponential growth unit. We talk about saving money with compound interest vs. saving, mortgage interest rates, car depreciation rates, the stock market, taxes and anything else they ask about. At times, the concepts are well above their heads, but they appreciate that fact that I am teaching them something ‘real’. I hope this post makes you reflect on your practices. Please don’t think I am here trying to tell you what to do. This is what works for me, my personality, and my students. If you can ask yourself a couple questions to get this reflection process going, ask: Why am I a teacher? What do I want students to take away from my class? If I saw a student ten years after they were in my class, what is one thing I would want them to say they learned from my class? I wouldn’t want them to say, “Yah Mr. Geraci, I never forgot how you taught me how to find the vertex of a quadratic”. I don’t think many of you would want responses to involve your content. Don’t we all want to have a lasting impact on the person? Then why don’t we teach like it? Thank for reading! Check out @geraciedu on Instagram, and @GMath_LSM on Twitter. Click on any of the links below go directly to Tony's videos on Twitter and Instagram.
Video: Probability that we can hit the shapes on the board. Video: Student Input Video: Why I started vlogging What do you do to serve 21st-century students in your math classes? Follow Experiential Learning Depot on Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook for more on experiential education, and check out my TpT store for experiential learning resources. I was recently interviewed on the podcast, A Teacher's Shoes, on experiential learning and the profound impact I have seen it have on my students. I have seen learning through experience transform lives. Listen to the episode by clicking on the link below.
A Teacher's Shoes - Experiential Learning with Sara Segar |
Blog IntentTo provide innovative educational resources for educators, parents, and students, that go beyond lecture and worksheets. AuthorSara Segar, experiential life-science educator and advisor, curriculum writer, and mother of two. Categories
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