Alberta Education ECS-Gr4 TechnologyResearch Community of Practice

St. Paul Education Region – language acquisition & early literacyRocky View Schools – enrich & accessibility Edmonton Catholic (17 sites)- assistive technologiesCalgary Catholic - engagement

Designing Digitally Rich, Knowledge Building,

Inclusive Learning Environments for the Early Grades

RCOP Overall Goals

To cultivate, document and assess engaged teaching, learning and assessment practices with technology

To collaborate on research that contributes new understandings and empirical evidence of effective implementation of emerging technologies with elementary students

Research That Informs Action

The Learning Sciences◦ Bransford, Brown & Cocking, Schank

The Challenge for Teaching◦ Davidson, Exley,

Teaching for Today’s Learners◦ Friesen, Darling-Hammond et al, Wiske et al Collective

Act of Knowledge Building

Collective Act of Knowledge Building◦ Thomas et al, Wenger

Young Students and Technology Use◦ Barron et al, Resnick, Bers, Wang et al, Clements

“Technology is most productive in young children’s lives when it enhances their engagement in the rich activities of childhood — talking, interacting, manipulating, pretending, reading, constructing, exploring — as well as in children’s reactions on their actions and experiences. “

Take a Giant Step: A Blueprint for Teaching Young Children in a Digital Age. Barron, B., Bofferding, L., Cayton-Hodges, G., Copple, C., Darling-Hammond, L., Levine, M. (2011). Stanford Educational Leadership Institute

An extensive report that examines current preschool and primary grade teaching practices, detailing an action plan to improve teaching young students using digital technologies.

Technology is viewed as most productive in young children’s lives where it is used to: • Thoughtfully and strategically enhance children’s

social interactions with peers and adults

• Foster exploration, the manipulation of objects and the social construction of knowledge.

• Create representations, listen to and read books, engage in play, conversation, form relationships, and reflect upon their experiences.

• Enable and enhance vital childhood experiences rather than attempt to replace them.

“We have found that children become most engaged with new technologies, and learn the most in playing with these technologies, when they work on projects growing out of their own personal interests. When children care deeply about the projects they are working on, they are not only more motivated but they also develop deeper understandings and richer connections to knowledge. “

Computer as Paint Brush: Technology, Play, and the Creative SocietyResnick, M., in Singer, D., Golinkoff, R. M., & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (Eds.) Play=Learning: How play motivates and enhances children’s cognitive and social-emotional growth. New York, NY: Oxford University Press(2009).

MIT Media Lab researcher Mitchel Resnick proposes that:

The learning potential of personal computers for young students will not be realized until they are utilized more for creative than informational purposes.

Powerful learning experiences for children can be realized when they move beyond simply interacting with informational materials to using them to design, create, and invent (Papert, 1980; Resnick, 2002).

Similar to a paint brush, digital technologies can be employed as tools for creative design and expression, offering a clear alternative to the passive consumption of digital information

Young students can use technology to engage in playful exploration, experimentation, design, invention and robust learning.

“Little children have big ideas.”

Blocks to Robots; Learning with Technology in the Early Childhood Classroom. Bers, M., New York: Teachers College Press, 2008

• Young learners require frequent and sustained opportunities to develop their ideas and to develop foundational understandings in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics

• Robotic digital manipulatives enable young children to concretely explore complex concepts, while also fostering the development of sensorimotor and social/emotional skills.

• Digital technologies can be successfully integrated into the early childhood classroom and promote positive attitudes toward the study of science and mathematics.

• Robotics provides young students with physical and creative opportunities to build and manipulate objects, as well as to engage in problem-solving and collaborative learning.

Technology-Enhanced, Problem-Based Inquiry Learning in Early Childhood Education: A Theoretical Basis. Wang, F., Kinzie, M., McGuire, P. & Pan, E. In K. McFerrin et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2008 (pp. 2266-2271). Curry School of Education University of Virginia, Chesapeake, VA: AACE.

• Digital technology is increasingly accessible in early childhood classrooms and is an effective medium to foster early childhood learning (Clements & Sarama, 2007; Li & Atkins, 2004).

• Young children are naturally inquisitive about their environment and can effectively use technology to anchor an inquiry to authentic problems.

• Technology can be strategically deployed in support of early childhood inquiry learning to enable:

a) enriched problem contextsb) structuring of complex problems, and c) support of cognitive and metacognitive

processes.

“The bottom line regarding computers in education is this: We know materials and media are frequently misused or used ineffectively in education. Let us not call for a technological prohibition, especially one built on a specious foundation that ignores the hundreds of studies and reviews that contradict such a position. Instead, let us work together to use technology well.”

Strip Mining for Gold: Research and Policy in Educational Technology - A Response to "Fool's Gold.", Clements, D., Sarama, J., Educational Technology Review, v11 n1 2003

Fool’s Gold (Cordes & Miller, 2000), argued that computers are detrimental to young children physically, emotionally, intellectually, and developmentally. It stated that computers interfere with young children’s needs for exercise, personal interaction with the natural world, and developing personal bonds with caring adults.

• Technology can be both misused by some and overzealously promoted by others

• Fools’ Gold ignores and/or misrepresents a large body of research as well as the work of expert practitioners who employ computers and technology in ways that are developmentally appropriate and beneficial to young students.

• 259 research references are provided that counter with

social and emotional development; types of software; motivation; social and cognitive interactions; cognitive development; creativity; language and literacy; writing and word processing; mathematics and reasoning; and science and simulations

Characteristics of Engaging Tasks

AuthenticFosters Deep UnderstandingBuilds and/or Requires Multiple

Forms of Communication and Expression

Builds and/or Requires Real-World competencies

Appropriate use of Technology

Engaging Tasks

iPad music Compositions

Digital Postcards

http://galileonetwork.ca/earlylearning/content/video-collection

Engaging Tasks – First Year Preschool and Kindergarten

◦ Creating a video depicting proper social skills◦ Using video to capture and explain the growing of their garden◦ Creating a video of council meetings solving problems in their

“community” Grade 1s & 2s

◦ Creating an opera◦ Capturing their own stories of their childhood memories◦ Using a motion detector to capture the animal path through

their playground – possible fish pond ◦ Creating their own Creative Place◦ Exploring an animal’s world through photographs at the Zoo &

the study of Polar Bears◦ Storytelling – childhood memories

Grade 3s & 4s◦ Global Citizenship – Bengal Tigers◦ History and stories of their community◦ Storytelling – Immigrant stories

Purpose of the Research

Identify and Share Promising PracticesCapture Student Learning and

EngagementCapture Teacher Learning and

EngagementDocument Appropriate Use of

Technology for LearningIdentify & Address System Affordances

and constraints for using technology with Young Learners

Ongoing, Continuous Improvement

Primary Research Questions

What is the appropriate role for technology in teaching and learning for young learners?

In what ways can schools best support engaged teaching and engaged learning with technology in pre-Kindergarten to Grade 4?

1. Secondary Research Questions

How can technology be used to demonstrate and amplify student understanding?◦Impact of technology on: Student Learning & Understanding Student Engagement & Agency Student Competencies

2. Secondary Research Questions

What is the appropriate role of technology in the assessment of learning by the very young?◦Use of technology To document students’ learning By students to demonstrate

mastery or understanding To make learning & teaching visible

3. Secondary Research Questions

In what ways does technology support a shift from teacher-centered to student-centered practice?◦Impact of technology

On the design of learning environments On enabling student learning,

especially those with complex needs On teacher engagement On changed teaching practices

4. Secondary Research QuestionsWhat are the affordances,

barriers / challenges to technology use with the very young?◦What affordances need to be in place

to support technology use?◦What barriers or obstacles need to be

overcome?◦What are the challenges to engaged

teaching and learning with technology?

5. Secondary Research Questions

What innovations in teaching and learning were made possible with technology?◦What were the innovative studies

(learning experiences) that were carried out with young learners that would not have been possible without the technology?

◦What new ways of engaging learners and assessments of learning were made possible by access to technology?

Mixed Methods Case Study

Data Collection - Two Years of the Research◦Needs Assessment, Spring 2012◦Online / In-class Surveys, Year 1 & 2 Project Leads, Teachers and

Students◦Jurisdiction / School Site Visits, Year 1

& 2 Interviews / Focus Groups

Project Leads, Teachers and Students Classroom Observation Field Notes

Impact of Learning with TechnologyObservations and Conversations from our first year

Student EngagementIntellectual, Academic, Social, FLOW ZONE

Student AgencyChoice, Empowerment, Worthwhile work

Student CompetenciesProblem solving, creativity, collaboration, constructing meaning, problem posing etc

Research Plan

Research QuestionsMixed methods case study

◦Different Forms of Data Collection◦Who is involved◦Timeline

Purpose of Research

Student EngagementIntellectual, Academic, Social, FLOW ZONE

◦ Self-starters◦ Collaboration◦ On task, engrossed in their work, motivated to do

their work, ◦ Fierce conversations◦ Maybe very quiet, or very loud◦ Excited to share with each other, with home, others◦ Exploration, not just following information from the

teacher◦ Investigating personal interests◦ Intellectual curiosity, is alive and encouraged◦ Can’t get enough, time flies by, want to share what

you know◦ Don’t want to leave

Student AgencyChoice, Empowerment, Worthwhile work

◦ Empowering students, having choice/ownership

◦ Self-directed learning◦ Authentic tasks, their work has somewhere to

go where others will see it◦ Elements of negotiation and teamwork,

building on each other’s knowledge◦ Brain storming in groups◦ Self-confidence◦ Student leadership, helping others ◦ Students speaking to their own learning◦ Making decisions, defending their own

decisions◦ Students accountable for their own work

quality

Student CompetenciesProblem solving, creativity, collaboration, constructing meaning, problem posing etc

◦ Teacher co-learner with the students, students teaching others

◦ Open endedness, more than one answer to a problem

◦ Student voice in developing the study as it progresses

◦ Questions that do not have answers on google, multi-faceted, complex issues and problems

◦ Cite your sources, and explain how that changed your understanding of the content/issue or problem

◦ Students are required to do something with the information they gather

◦ It is OK that teachers do not know the answers, or have the information

◦ Open up learning to the world, collaborate, seek opinions and justifications from others

Year One 2011-2012

Onsite PD 3 days St Paul Edmonton Catholic Calgary/RVSD

RCOP May 6th Research visitsNeeds assessment

Learning from todayWhat have you learned today?What questions do you still have?What supports do you need to

foster this work in your context?http://tinyurl.com/bmzs5bw

http://www.galileonetwork.ca/earlylearning/

Or www.galileo.org