Unit Design for the 21 st Century Learner

1. Unit Design for the 21st Century Learner Kathy Boguszewski Coordinator Library Media & Instructional Technology 21st Century Skills Symposium

2. Typewriters and Scavenger Hunts The way we were What has changed? What do we need to do?

3. The way we were • Lecture or discussion, textbooks, library books, filmstrips, and tape recordings • Library Skills taught separatelynot21st Century Skills taught collaboratively • Students communicated facts they copied in reports, speeches, with artistic visuals to the teacher or class

4. What has changed? • Research on brain development • Research on how children and adults learn • Access to multiple and powerful technologies • Roles of teachers, library media specialists, technology coordinators

5. Brain Research • The brain “creates” information experiences through mental activities such as • comparing and contrasting, • inferencing, • interpreting and • categorizing.

6. Brain Research …. Cont. • Development is not only biological but an active process based on experiences • Critical or sensitive periods open the brain to new development (Healy 132-137 and National Research Council 126-127)

7. How We Learn - Adults and Children • Personal meaning is critical • Learn more with challenging goals • Prior knowledge is the base for new learning • Individuals learn differently • Immediate assessment feedback encourages growth

8. Design relevant learning experiences Use emotion to connect material Incorporate peer teaching Provide options for projects Use a variety of teaching strategies (UDL Principles & PBL) Use colors, mapping, and graphic organizers Provide social interaction Include active learning opportunities Provide immediate feedback What do we need to do?:

9. What is different about today’s learning environment? Model Collaboration • Designing • Implementing • Assessing

10. Collaborative Team Roles • Clarifier • Compromiser • Elaborator • Encourager • Gate-Keeper • Harmonizer • Initiator • Opinion Giver • Summarizer • Tension Reliever • Tester

11. Who are you? • What roles work best for your team and who plays them well

12. What is different about today’s learning environment? • Evolution of teaching roles • still the main impetus for motivating students to learn curriculum content • from sole information giver > co-learner and co-investigator • from being the fount of all knowledge > becoming the facilitator of active learning experiences • from evaluator of end products and tests > co-assessor of the learning processes

13. How has the Library Media Program evolved? • Library Media Specialist’s Role • From thegatekeeper of traditional print information > information specialist in all formats • Fromwarehouse manager > instructional partner of information literacy • From isolatedlibrary media specialist > collaborative unit planner and staff developer

14. Evolution of Technology Focus • Technology Coordinator’s Role • Fromnetwork manager > instructional partner of technology literacy • License - “Instructional Technology Coordinator” • teach how to access and use technological tools with confidence • From a behind the scenes administrator > collaborative teacher and staff developer

15. Again Collaboration is the Key • Research studies • Students achieve more on standardized tests • Robust library media program • Technology applications that involve higher order thinking

16. Collaborating - Problem-Based Learning (PBL) and 21st Century Skills

17. What Is PBL? • A teaching strategy • Meets the needs of all students • Is challenging and rigorous • Requires • Decision making • Collaborative learning • Use of real world tools • Higher order thinking

18. Based on Constructivist Learning Theory • An active building of knowledge based on prior knowledge • Students build knowledge based on what they currently understand • Dynamic interaction with information and experience

19. The major components of PBL (http://www.tweedmouthpriorpark.northumberland.sch.uk/industry.htm)

20. Marriage of content and skill development • Students learn content knowledge along with skills in • inquiry development • critical thinking • problem solving • collaborative learning • time management

21. PBL • Focuses on • “doing” something rather than learning “about” something • challenging real problems reflective of the content • learning 21st Century Skills • inquiry – higher level questions

22. Inquiry – “Thinking Like an Historian” • Cause and Effect • What were the causes • What were the effects? • Change on Continuity • What has changed? • What has remained the same? • Who has benefitted from the changes? • Who has not benefitted and why?

23. Inquiry – “Thinking Like an Historian” cont. • Using the Past • How does the past help us make sense of the present? • Turning Points • How did past decisions or actions affect future choices?

24. Sample Inquiry Questions • How does logging impact Wisconsin forests, jobs, and the environment? • How did the history of Janesville affect changes that are occurring today? • What if you did not have bones? • Are animals better off living in the rainforest or savanna in Africa or in a zoo? • Why was President Kennedy killed?

25. Authenticity • Has personal meaning to the student • Can be tackled by an adult at work or at home or in the community • Students believe they can make a difference and their ideas have value

28. Collaborative learning • Teachers model • ability to work smoothly with others • work together to achieve higher academic standards • assessment is critical

29. Think – Pair - Share • How does PBL relate to what you are already doing? • How is PBL different from “read your textbook” or lecture strategies? • At what age can students start problem solve?

30. Break – 10 min 

31. Framework: 21st Century Learning

32. Life and Career Skills • Flexibility & Adaptability • Initiative & Self-Direction • Social & Cross-Cultural Skills • Productivity & Accountability • Leadership & Responsibility www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=266&Itemid=120

33. Learning and Innovation Skills • Creativity and Innovation Skills • Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Skills • Communication and Collaboration Skills www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=60&Itemid=120

34. Information, Media, and Tech Skills • Information Literacy • Media Literacy • ICT (Information, Communications & Technology) Literacy www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=61&Itemid=120

35. Information, Media, and Tech Skills Information Literacy • Accessing information efficiently and effectively, evaluating information critically and competently and using information accurately and creatively for the issue or problem at hand • Possessing a fundamental understanding of the ethical/legal issues surrounding the access and use of information

36. Information, Media, and Tech Skills Media Literacy • Understanding how media messages are constructed, for what purposes and using which tools, characteristics and conventions. • Examining how individuals interpret messages differently, how values and points of view are included or excluded and how media can influence beliefs and behaviors.

37. Information, Media, and Tech Skills ICT (Information, Communications & Technology) Literacy • Using digital technology, communication tools and/or networks appropriately to access, manage, integrate, evaluate, and create information in order to function in a knowledge economy • Using technology as a tool to research, organize, evaluate and communicate information, and the possession of a fundamental understanding of the ethical/legal issues surrounding the access and use of information

38. Targeted 21st Century Skills • Collaboration • Inquiry • Critical Thinking • Problem Solving • Information Literacy • Communication Skills • Technology Skills

39. 21st Century Learning Unit Design Rubric

40. Why a rubric for unit plans? • Current quality of Internet lesson plans • Where is “Higher Order Thinking?” • Use as a tool to assess your current lesson or lessons you find from the Internet • Use as a guide to design a Collaborative Quality 21st Century Skills Unit

41. Introduction Glossary of Terms Critical Information Learning Environment Unit Focus Planning Process Problem/s & Scenarios Assessment Strategies Tools and Resources Reflections Rubric –

42. Continuum • Communicates various levels of complexity • No one unit will fall into the third column all of the time • Purpose: foster discussion and thinking before begin designing unit

43. Continuum … cont. • Categories vary • Objectives • Student expectations • Higher order thinking • Degrees of collaboration • Degrees of independence

45. 2. Learning Environment • Three columns • Teacher-Centered > Learner Centered • From 1 teacher > Teaching and Learning team • From modeling inquiry skills > student initiated questions • From needs of some students > needs of all students • From classroom setting with 1 computer > to mini labs or flexibly accessed lab > virtual

46. 3. Unit Focus - Title Questions What is the History of Wisconsin Native People? better How did the lives of Wisconsin’s native people change because of the fur trade? (Wisconsin Our State, Our Story: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 2008.)

47. 3. Unit Focus - Goals • Understand Universal Design Principles http://www.cast.org/research/udl/index.html • Incorporate 21st Century Skills • Communicate the curriculum content via problem solving and inquiry • Establish a student-centered learning environment • Model collaboration skills with professional staff

48. Examples of Goals • The collaborative team of teachers will design and evaluate assessment tools needed for successful completion of the unit • Students will examinehow the native Wisconsin people’s lives and traditions changed over time and how the communities are unique. • Students will work in collaborative groups to prioritize, define and solve problems related to their particular focus

49. 3. Unit Focus- Objectives examples • The student groups will brainstorm what they presently know about Wisconsin native people using a graphic organizer. • Students will brainstorm what they need to discover about the Wisconsin native people and add to graphic organizer • Students will use the Big 6 problem solving model to structure their research journey.