Micheal Wesch poses the important question, how are we preparing our youth to tackle the essential questions of the world? Unfortunately, in many traditional classrooms the questions students are asking are non-essential and non-engaging and sound something like “will this be on the test? how much is this worth?” Rather than lecture based, multiple-choice exam style learning, we as teachers need to embrace real world problems in the classroom. We need to present questions that don’t have answers, and then together with our students explore relevant, digital tools to connect, find, sort, analyze, criticize and create knowledge. Media is not just a tool or means of communication, it’s a vast portal for connection. A two way conversation that easily can spark global movements. The key is in teaching students how to connect, collaborate, contribute and make a difference. I will bring this into my math classroom by continuing to learn and increase my own personal knowledge of the available technological resources for educators and ideas for classroom implementation. I will start real-world conversations by introducing my students to the many possible careers in the STEM field (check out The Ultimate STEM Guide for Kids: 239 Cool Sites About Science, Technology, Engineering and Math - I hope to start the "code for an hour challenge" next week :) Shifting the teaching dynamic from knowledgeable to knowledge-able is essential. Ultimately, our students will b e the ones to discover the cure for cancer, take the first steps on Mars, work on nuclear fusion and develop clean water for all. Let's give them the tools and skills to do so.
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Jennifer DuvallEducator. Math Enthusiast. Lover of Learning. Archives
May 2015
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