Let’s Make a Maker Space
https://hildakweisburg.com/2016/01/04/on-libraries-makerspace-magic/ Right up front I want to say that any school that has a Maker Space because that’s what great schools have, is missing the whole idea. I think playing with things and trying out things is really cool. I do. But if we haven’t thought through what we will have in our space then […]
Design Thinking or PBL, A Chicken/Egg Scenario? My journey.
http://www.science20.com/gerhard_adam/chicken_and_egg_problem_view_evolution-107927 Last night I missed a great conversation during a Twitter chat hosted by #MeritKCI and involving my friends who frequent the #dtk12chat. As I was scrolling through the tweets from the chat I noticed some discussion of PBL and how different Design Thinking (DT) is from PBL. A blog post that was referenced (and […]
Using An Old Challenge to Teach Project Management
http://goo.gl/AK0vs When I talk with teachers about getting started with PBL I often tell them to think of something they have seen done before and take the idea and make it their own. But I also caution them to think of their content first – what are the verbs and nouns in their standards? Unless […]
I Go From Project Idea to Project Launch (PBL with a DT Feel)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto/ I’ve just completed a pretty darn nice 2 weeks off for the holidays. Tomorrow I head back to 2 days of PD before the students come back to me on Wednesday. I’ve been spending the last couple of hours fine tuning my first design project of the year. This is my first year of […]
Building Empathy Through Interviews
www.floridamemory.com/items/show/32039 7th graders are all over the map when it comes to emotions. So, on one level, you might think that it isn’t hard to get them to develop empathy. But how many of your students, at any grade level, have conducted interviews to gain knowledge of their interviewee? My first semester at Meridian school […]
Early Forays Into Empathy (7th Grade)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/apelad/ Today my 7th graders created questions about “Empathy.” This was their first week of school and today was the second day of class for them (they are on an A/B Block schedule). As a Design class I want them understanding the idea of Empathy. As an International Baccalaureate (IB) school the students are expected […]
Putting Together a Design Class in a IB World School (Part 2)
Screen Capture from – https://goo.gl/VoUfRT [NOTE: Originally written a week ago] “So much time and so little to do. Wait a minute. Strike that. Reverse it. Thank you.” Willy Wonka. Right now I’m feeling like a cross between the Scarecrow ( giving directions in OZ) and Willy Wonka these days. One minute I’m heading one […]
Putting Together a Design Class in an IB World School (Part 1)
http://goo.gl/Tgxu4X Well, that title should get some good SEO Google Juice. But I didn’t write it for SEO reasons – it’s what I’ve been doing today, and yesterday…and the day before that…. In an earlier post I stated that I would be updating my preparations for the school year. Well, that didn’t happen. But now […]
So I’m Going to Teach This Computer Science Class
http://goo.gl/BL0lkk On Friday I had a chance to talk with my new principal. If you haven’t heard about that feel free to get caught up with my earlier post. During my initial interview (with The Head of School and the Secondary Principal) I was informed that they really wanted someone who was able to teach […]
Exploring Design Thinking as a PBL Guy
Via Eric White This week I will be meeting with other BIE National Faculty (NF) members at our annual Spring Summit. For the summit we have broken into Professional Learning Communities (PLC’s) and I am with the Design Thinking (dt) group. We will be sharing with the other NF and we are looking at how […]