STEAM

Term 1 2018 Professional Development For Teachers In NZ

Posted by: Mike

For our New Zealand School Teachers, welcome to term 1!

We are so excited for this year. There are so many cool updates and new tools to look at 😊

When I named the company (Using Technology Better), I really wanted to help teachers focus on the BETTER – so often we get stuck on the using technology part.

Below is a range of training options available to you and your school.

Looking forward to working with you this year!

Free Professional Development for your school:

This year, we are really busy working long term with schools, helping them develop successful technology plans that cater for the needs of staff and students. We LOVE this model because we can provide mentoring and support at the level you need it, when you need it.

If your school isn’t tapping into this FREE PD provided by the Ministry, let me know and we can talk you through the application process.

Regional events:

We have the following events planned for different locations around NZ. If you don’t see an event you’d like, or would like to bring a training day to your region, just let me know HERE.

STEAM / Digital Technologies days:

We have six free STEAM days planned. These days will look at how your school can easily incorporate Minecraft, design thinking, 3D painting and mixed reality, and coding into your curriculum. Have a look at what this reluctant teacher had to say about the day.

All the details can be found here

Google level 1 bootcamp Auckland:

The Google level 1 bootcamp is coming back to Auckland on the 5-6 April 😊

If you are using Google and want to make sure you are across the full suite of google tools AND using them to their best potential in the classroom, this is the course for you.

You can watch a short 20 minute presentation I delivered at the Google EDU on air conference on the certification process and the benefits of being certified.

Register here for Google Level 1 bootcamp in Auckland

How to use Google to effectively teach maths:

This stimulating course has been developed by Donna Golightly and will show you what Donna was doing to engage students in maths learning. In this practical, hands on day, you will experience a range of easy to use tools including G Suite as well as a range of STEAM tools.

Other school staff development day options:

Keep your eye out for a notification about our upcoming literacy, and developing student agency training sessions. These sessions will be released as soon as our school PLD calendar (see free section above) is confirmed.

Want to host a day in your region or organise a fun and engaging training day just for your team? Contact us

3 ways technology impacts students ability to think

Posted by: Mike

I have been working with some maths and science teachers in the Philippines this week around Inquiry Based Learning and STEM learning. One of the things we have been focussing on is how do we teach and encourage our students to think better.

Often educators talk about enhancing learning, which we should do, but what about thinking? Thinking shouldn’t be confused with learning. Just because you think, it doesn’t mean that you learn, but this does not mean thinking is subservient to learning.

With the focus on learning, we often talk about raising achievement and assessment scores. Finding the correct answer, following the procedure, remembering the concept or formula seems to take precedence. The problem with this outcomes based focus is that technology can do ALL of this better and faster than we can.

Stacey Barr in her book, Prove it! How to create high performance culture and measurable success, makes the following observation.

If we fix our organisational performance problems with the same level of thinking that created them, the problems will simply resurface later.

There are many books now that make comment on the type of students the education system is producing, and the way in which they are not prepared for a modern workplace. If you are considering how you can prepare students for the workplace you need to know that in business, we don’t need people who can solve a problem, we need people who can think differently about the problem.

Typically in education, we would celebrate the fact that we developed an answer, yet in reality what is more important than the answer is a new level of thinking that will develop new answers.

So as educators we need to be thinking about how we can improve the thinking skills of our students.

3 ways technology can make our students dumber (and impact their ability to think).

1. Apps such as PhotoMath, can show students an answer to a maths problems and the steps to solve that problem. They simply need to take a photo of the equation and click solve.

This feature is also built into OneNote, where the students can write the equation, select it and then simply click the ‘Maths’ button. With the availability of this technology, the onus is on us as teachers to find ways to ask questions that causes our students to think.

The video below shows you how to solve maths questions in OneNote.

2. Ok Google. At the risk of sounding old fashioned, I’ve got to say that most research tasks don’t encourage the students to think. It used to be that when we did research, we would read from multiple sources, collate information, have to process and synthesise that information and them put it together in a response. Now students just type in random search terms, click on the first few search results, copy and paste some text, change it a bit so it isn’t picked up by plagiarism tools and then hand it in.

Did you know there is a whole research process you can use with your students that requires them to think about the task, process the information and submit evidence of their thought process? The recording on how to do this is in our Online Professional Learning Network.

3. Are computer keyboards making our students dumber?

Type the following Google search “the pen is mightier than the keyboard” and take a look at the research that suggests the answer is yes! Here’s the link to the results for those of you who don’t want to type that 😉

Research is showing that cognitive ability of students is inhibited when those students use a keyboard to input information into a computer during a lesson.

It’s not all bad news. Whilst the students ability to comprehend the lesson, retain and recall information is reduced, it is enhanced when they are using a digital pen (digital inking). This whitepaper has some interesting insights and this book by Sharon Oviatt will provide some great food for thought.

When the goal is simply to get facts, figures and content into the students laps, the keyboard is fine. However if you want your students to THINK while they work, then they should be using a pen.

if you want your students to THINK while they work, then they should be using a pen. Click To Tweet

The answer is the question.

I love this quote by David Geurin

RT @DavidGeurin We arrive at better thinking by asking more interesting questions, not by seeking right answers. #edchat " pic.twitter.com/F506klOyxE

— Mike Reading (@MikeReading) October 30, 2017

This tweet really sums up the inquiry process. It’s not about the destination but the journey of discovery that happens along the way.

While technology can help our students find the answer, as teachers we also need to consider how technology can help our students THINK not just solve and find.

How do you encourage your students in the inquiry process? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below.

How to choose the right STEM / STEAM tools for your school

Posted by: Mark Herring

Is your school looking at developing a STEAM Learning program? This could be either a stand alone course or class, or perhaps an integrated program that aims to help you meet the requirements for all your curriculum goals in a hands-on, inspiring way.

No matter what type of program you choose, it’s critical to make wise decisions about the tools you buy for your learners to choose. We support schools to develop their strategic goals using our ‘9 Building Blocks of a STEAM Ready School.’ One of those blocks involves your equipment. (If you’d like to find out more about our STEAM Ready Program, see our online flyer here for more information.) It’s crucial that schools are very intentional about which tools they invest in and choose those which are right for their students. Here are 4 things we suggest you do to help make those important decisions.

1.Start with your vision in mind.
2.Always trial the product where possible – with your students!
3.Use our STEAM Web tool to help you make the decision.
4.Don’t be afraid to make some mistakes and refine your purchases over time.

Here are 4 things you should do before you spend any money on STEAM tools for your school. Click To Tweet

1. Start with your vision in mind.

We always encourage school leadership teams to develop a strong understanding of what their vision is: What are they trying to achieve? Where do they want to end up/ What would it look like when they get there? This is a key driver of your decision making processes, both at the start and as your vision develops over time – as it always does.

If we had a dollar for every time we heard a school say that they bought this device or piece of equipment because the salesman sounded convincing, or ‘…the school down the road has some.’ It’s critical for you to know what your STEAM tools need to do for you and your students before you spend a cent. Every school is different and what will help one school achieve their vision is different from another.

2. Always trial the product and, where possible, with your students!

This sounds like an obvious step, but one which few schools take. Most re-sellers are open to you having a few demo models to trial for a few weeks. I’d recommend that you give these to both a competent ‘tech’ teacher, and also ones who are less confident, to trial with a group of students.

Having the STEM / STEAM equipment trialled with a range of ages and abilities is also a great idea. You’ll have a good idea at the end of the trial period about all the factors that need to be considered to make a solid decision. This canpotentially helpi you save making an expensive mistake.

3. Use our STEAM Web tool to help you make the decision.

At a STEAM workshop a while ago I spent some time with some teachers taking a closer look at the pros and cons of some of the equipment we were using. We decided to use a ‘web’ or comparison chart to plot our thinking. We compared the robotics against five criteria and graphed the results visually. This proved to be a great way to see which tools were going to suit their specific needs.

The criteria we chose were;

Cost (were we going to get our money’s worth?)
Durability (how sturdy and robust were the parts, in children’s hands?)
Scalability (what range of student abilities could this tool facilitate?)
Modularity (how well did it allow the user to be creative and adapt, add to, change, invent with?)
Reliability (did it work most times without too many ‘gliches’)

This process can be an effective way to make a decision and feel comfortable with your future investment. We know that every school will have a range of different needs and requirements so we think it’s best for schools to complete this web tool for themselves. Click this link to download a free PDF version for you to use with your school.

This ‘STEAM Web Tool’ will make sure that your decision about which equipment to buy for your school is the right one! Click To Tweet

4. Don’t be afraid to make some mistakes and refine your purchases over time.

Once you’ve gone through some of these steps and made a choice that you think is right for your school, it’s very common for technology to progress, your vision to develop further and your awareness of what tools are available to grow.

We’d suggest that this is just a normal part of the innovation process and that schools shouldn’t be too concerned about changing track and going in a different direction. Our first steps in developing new things are usually not the greatest in hindsight. We encourage schools to appreciate that looking back and regretting a purchase is actually a positive sign of growth and development. It’s also a chance to learn what to do next and continue on your journey towards developing engaging, inspiring learning opportunities for your students.

I hope this gives you a few tips that could help you make some great decisions about your growing STEAM programs.

If you’d like to talk with us about how we could further support your school with your STEAM learning program, get in touch by emailing us at this link. We’d love to partner with you and be a part of your STEAM journey.

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Term 1 2018 Professional Development For Teachers In NZ

STEAM

Term 1 2018 Professional Development For Teachers In NZ