Design Experiment #1: Using SketchUp to Re-Imagine the Learning Space

In the last 40 years, technology has drastically improved and changed everyday life. It has changed how we approach almost every task and has led to fantastic improvements and speed in accomplishing tasks. We experience things much differently and it has allowed for collaboration projects with people from all around the world. We have the ability to communicate with someone across the world in a personal face-to-face dynamic that used to be only possible in our futuristic imaginations via Skype. Overall, technology is a tool that has provided an unbelievable opportunity and potential for improvements to education.

In order for this technology to be useful, though, we have to have the ability to create unique new experiences. This week in CEP 811, we examined the concept of Experience Design. IDEO CEO David Kelley describes this concept in technological advancement products in his TED Talk “Human Centered Design”. David explains that his company is trying to examine behaviors and personalities of their users and infuse those concepts into the products.

This principle of Experience Design can be applied to technologies used in the classroom. The users of the technology are the students; the products in which we should infuse behaviors & personalities in are the lesson plans; the designers of the products are the teachers; and the space to experience the products are the classrooms.

There is one thing, however, that has not changed in the midst of all this technological change. That is the classroom. Although, there have been some different styles of learning with a hybrid approach or online instruction, the standard “face-to-face classroom” has remained boring and unchanged. I am guilty of this as a teacher. My current classroom is set-up in rows and columns with the teacher (me) at the front.

A little background on my classroom: I teach high school seniors economics and government. This is my first year at my current school. The set-up is your typical model. The teacher is in front of the room leading instruction. It is very structured and a basic classroom. Desks and chairs are connected and it does not necessarily promote participatory learning, as much as it does “watch, write, listen to the lecture” approach.

Not to say that this is always bad, but I think there are different ways to re-think this space to better utilize it for learning of all students. A different approach also might encourage students to take charge of the learning in a discovery-based approach. From an outsider looking in, I can’t help be see the current model (the same model for hundreds of years), as somewhat of a stage and the teacher is the show. This approach is much different from a discovery based and experimental learning approach as the TPACK model encourages.

While my pedagogy includes many different approaches including: kinesthetic activities, cooperative learning, collaboration, supplemental reading & lecture, and discovery-based techniques, my classroom lacks this encouraging collaborative space. Trung Le, from Cannon Design, talks about a “school without walls” and writes about promoting learning by changing our learning space. In his article, “Wanna Improve Education? Demolish the Classrooms” he writes educational progress can be changed with “design that promotes reflective, collaborative learning that mimics the way teenagers think, learn and socialize” (Le, 2010). This is a student-centered approach that can change the way we set-up our classrooms.

This may seem like a pretty radical concept, but in fact it has been proven to improve learning for all students. The traditional model provides many challenges to moving in the classroom. In my own classroom, I notice that I do not get around to formatively check-in with students that sit in the back of the room as much as I do with those who are in the front. It is not always the case that the weaker students sit in the back. Maybe it is not the student that is weak, but the model of classroom.

So how can we accomplish this?

This may seem like it would be a long process and you would have to call in a professional to get this shift in the structure of the learning space. This could cost a lot of money that schools simply do not have. However, on the design process, CannonDesign describes the mindset for change is so much more important than the financial concerns with developing a new classroom model. The change should happen through a process and they describe the process in an article by The Third Teacher called “Inside the Inspired Learning Environment”.

“As we’re designing, we’re building capacity within the faculty to tinker, collaborate, and evaluate” (CannonDesign, p.91 paragraph II)

The task for my CEP 811 class this week was to redesign our learning spaces and to make a prototype using “SketchUp Make”. I have just described the current classroom and learning space. I have also given you reasons why a change is necessary to improve engagement, participation, and collaboration. My designed space looks like this:

 

Students will have space to collaborate and work in groups. There is no distinct “front of the room” because the learning is not passed down from the teacher to the student. The learning happens in the space designed to be participatory and engaging.

The yellow seats in the corner are a station that will include: discussion, reflection, video, and creativity. Students are no longer in desks. They are sitting at tables. The tables are round so that it is inviting for discussion and collaboration. Students will be using laptops or tablets at the tables and will have different stations that they will visit throughout the week. The tabletops will be dry-erase material to promote complete freedom and creativity when learning and collaborating.

These Five stations are:

1. Video/Music analysis
2. Article/primary source/Critical readings/ document analysis
3. Games/virtual-quizes
4. Blog Post/Reflections on content
5. Discussion or Kinesthetic Activity (corner yellow beanbags)

The different groups and stations would represent a different part of the learning process. Each station would focus on using the content. One station would be focused on information and content. Another station would be a space to experiment and explore the content in new ways building research skills. A different station would be a formative check and competitive gaming station. Another station would allow students to reflect on their learning and create a blog post. And the last station would be a spot to discuss and share their findings with peers. This sharing would allow for collaboration and give a deeper understanding for the content learned. This discovery based and interactive learning puts the student in control of their learning and changes the learning space to something that invites discussion.

The teacher’s role would be designing engaging lessons and different activities that would scaffold learning and encourage participation. Lessons in this setting would have to be student driven because if the students did not buy in to this approach learning could suffer. Classroom management in a setting like this could become a problem on days when all students were focused on one task. This change in learning space would have to be implemented at the beginning of the school year so that students could have a normal understanding of expectations and accountability. As a teacher I would have two different ways to group students. Each would be used during different times: one group of students on similar academic levels to differentiate learning; another to encourage participation and discussion for stronger academic students to work with low-achieving students.

Students will be placed in groupings of 5 students (two types of groups):

1. With similar learners on similar academic levels
2. With different types of learners on different academic levels

Additional Resources needed and potential costs:

Resources needed would be laptops (or tablets), bean bag chairs, round tables, dry-erase tabletops, and ideally, a Smartboard at the beanbag workstation. To make this a reality, you would need to raise some funds and get some fundraising. The benefits would certainly outweigh the costs.

30 laptops (or tablets): $9,000 – $12,000

5 Bean Bags chairs: $250-500

Smartboard: $3,000

Whiteboard Desktops: $600-$2,000

Interactive and participatory learning space: priceless.

 This design could be implemented in segments or all together. The ideas about the workstation could be accomplished with minimal economic costs or time. The change would be in the learning approach that would come with this “station” based approach. It would be an interesting experiment to see how engagement would change: whether more students would be engaged in the content and involved in their own learning or if the change in environment would cause a distraction to the learning process.

The theory behind this change makes sense and offers a structural change that would go hand in hand with the discovery-based learning. I also see a positive unintended consequence that would undoubtedly happen and that is the classroom community. Students would get to know each other and feel much more comfortable with asking questions and helping others.

 

REFERENCES: 

Kelley, D.  (2002, February).  Human-centered design [Video file].  Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/david_kelley_on_human_centered_design

The Third Teacher+. (2010)“Inside the Inspired Learning Environment”. Common Design, p.91 paragraph II Retrieved from: http://digital.turn-page.com/issue/134932/91

Le, Trung. CannonDesign. (2010). Wanna Improve Education? Demolish the Classrooms” Retrieved from: http://www.fastcodesign.com/1662178/wanna-improve-education-demolish-the-classrooms

Maker Experiment #1 – Participatory and Experimental Learning

This week, in my CEP811 class, I had the challenging task of re-imagining my instruction and creating a lesson plan using my “makers kit”. In my previous blog post I gave an outline of how I would use the “MaKey MaKey” in the classroom in a high school Economics lesson plan about entrepreneurship. This week I will give you another activity/lesson (used as an extension to the previous lesson) using the MaKey MaKey and I will connect it to one of the learning theories that we have studied throughout the masters program.

There are dozens of learning theories that exist in the education world today. The concept that resonates most strongly with me is experimental learning. This concept allows the scholars to be involved in their learning and take charge of the process. Our environment is constantly changing and teaching with environmental learning strategies allow learners to attain adaptive skills that are beneficial in all areas of life. There is a biological connection between a physical “hands-on” experimental learning approach that allows us to remember and recall the content learned. In John Ratey’s book “Spark”, he talks about this principle of connecting movement to a discipline helps our memory (Ratey, 2008, p. 42).

Bransford, Brown & Cocking describe experimental learning or teaching using “hands-on” projects as a successful tool to give students opportunities to experiment, create, and share the knowledge obtained in their book “How People Learn: bran, mind, experience, and school” (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000, p.13).

This tool can increase retention and help students take control of their learning. It also makes teaching concepts a lot more enjoyable and interactive for both teacher and student. The learner and educator can come together to create the content and still meet the state standards.

“David Kolb and Roger Fry (1975: 35-6) argue that effective learning entails the possession of four different abilities: concrete experience abilities, reflective observation abilities, abstract conceptualization abilities and active experimentation abilities” (David Kolb on learning styles). Students can retain and use the content when they are actively engaging in it. The learning model they presented implies that learning is a continuous action and does not begin or end with the teacher (in a classroom). Teachers that can facilitate learning and hit  on all four abilities allow students to take charge of their learning and become better creative thinkers.

Experimental and participatory learning is such an effective way of facilitating learning. It is a very desirable approach in teaching in my discipline. In economics, many concepts need to be shown. It is a social science, so there are rules and laws that may be tested. This makes experimental learning an excellent method to use in the classroom. According to Project New Media Literacies, this approach will provide “heightened motivation and new forms of engagement through meaningful play and experimentation” and will lead to authentic and meaningful learning experiences.

 

The participatory culture allows students to create, collaborate, and share the learning that they have experienced. By combining my Entrepreneurship lesson (project) and the extension activity below, students are participating and experimenting these economic concepts and discovering the objectives independently (without a textbook or teacher-lecture). New Media Literacies described this method of teaching as a “participatory culture” in this video:

 So what are the results like when using participatory and experimental learning?

Henry Jenkins described a scenario in which he provided a participatory framework of instruction and used many methods that allowed students to experiment and collaborate with each other. In his blog post, “Shall We Play (Part II)”, he describes the results as “a rich array of imaginative ideas which showed a deep understanding of the core concepts and information running through the class. Students listened with the idea that they would be applying what they learned in this creative and playful process”. This method of learning gives students a voice and a space to learn and create. It spurs creativity and encourages collaboration.

In my task, I will use these strategies to apply them to my high school economics class. In the previous lesson, I gave students a time to create a product using the “MaKey MaKey”. Students acted as entrepreneurs and had to discuss the different factors of production they needed to produce the product. Then, they had to create a commercial in order to create a demand for their product and present it to the class.

In this extension of the activity, students will look at the “costs: fixed and variable” in order to determine output. Students will experiment with how to maximize output and how to analyze the data using “marginal analysis”. Lastly, students will work together to create a production schedule, act out the labor function in an assembly line (using their made product with the MaKey MaKey), and discover the “Law of Diminishing Marginal Returns”.

LESSON PLAN FOR ECONOMICS CLASS:

• This lesson is created as a follow up to the previous Entrepreneurship lesson, but may be used on its own to facilitate learning of these concepts.

Objectives:

Students will experiment to discover economic concepts of the Law of Diminishing Marginal Returns, Marginal Analysis, and production methods – assembly line – that go into suppliers/business’ decision making. Students will experiment with MaKey MaKey kits to focus on marginal analysis: How many workers should we hire to maximize production?

HSCE(s):

• 4.1.2 Marginal Benefit and Cost – Use examples and case studies to explain and evaluate the impact of marginal benefit and marginal cost of an activity on choices and decisions
• 1.2.3 Investment, Productivity and Growth – Analyze the role investments in physical (e.g., technology) and human capital (e.g., education) play in increasing productivity and how these influence the market

Materials Needed:

• Laptop cart (classroom set of computers)
• 6 MaKey MaKey kits
• Items from the thrift shop (From previous entrepreneurship project lesson plan)
• Play-dough, bananas, aluminum foil, forks/spoons, etc. (conductive material)

o   OR if you did NOT do the previous entrepreneurship lesson you could try something interactive such as:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQuVCB6WzOo – Human Piano
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ6uv-FhyTY   – Human Drums

Time Needed: 1 class period

Procedure:

Bellringer: As students enter the classroom ask the: How do you know how many workers to hire? Does more workers always mean more output? (Students should write their answers in their notebooks before the class activity starts.)

1. Students are in Inventors groups (5 students per group)
2. Each student must have a role in production/Conducting the charge
3. Students experiment to decide how many workers would be the best to maximize output.
4. Students start graphing:

• In the beginning we have our fixed costs (before we hire any workers).

• i.     With 0 (zero) workers we get 0 (zero) output
• ii.     Add one worker (labor)– Record data of output
• iii.     Add another worker (labor) – record data of additional output
• iv.     Add another worker (labor) – record data etc.
• v.     Continue until all group members are laborers

• At this time, the addition of the 4^th and 5^th worker should be decreasing Marginal Returns and possibly NEGATIVE Marginal Returns (If not – continue adding workers with the entire class to show this principle)
  • If not doing the “Extension/Entrepreneurship project”, provide the HUMAN DRUMS simulation. Students must complete a simple beat in 1 minute (as many times as possible)
  • You might even try this activity with something like “Banana Bongos” or “Banana Space bar” and have each student have to add their hands on the banana.

MAIN IDEA: Eventually adding workers will decrease output because there is limited space and “Workers will be in the way of each other”.

5. Students work with group to discover what the ideal number of workers would be to maximize output.
6. Draw Graph and reflect on how we could hire more workers and keep the marginal benefits

• Only way is to add more resources (more bananas, wires, connections, ect.)

5. Discuss findings and share results with class (include graph and chart)

ASSESSMENT/Debrief

• Students should discover the three stages of production: Increasing Marginal Returns, Diminishing Marginal Returns, and Negative Marginal Returns.
• Students should make a chart, graph and reflection on their experiment. In the chart it should look something like this: (The X-Axis will be # of workers, the Y-axis would be output/efficiency)

 

REFERENCES:

• Ratey, John J. (2008) Spark: The revolutionary new science of exercise and the brain. (page 42) Little, Brown & Company. New York.
  • John Ratey, MD. is an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and has studied neuroscience, learning, and physical activity in his practice.

• Bransford, J., Brown, A., & Cocking, R. (Eds.). (2000). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school: Expanded edition (pp. 1-78). Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. Retrieved January 17, 2014, from:  http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=0309070368

• Tangient LLC. (Project New Media Literacies).Participatory Learning And You (P.L.A.Y.), (2014) “The 5 Characteristics of Participatory Learning (CPLs)” [Web Resource] Retrieved from:  http://playnml.wikispaces.com/PLAY!+Framework

• Jenkins, Henry. Shall We Play (Part II). (2011). Confessions of an Aca-Fan- the official web-blog of Henry Jenkins. University of Southern California [Web Resource] Retrieved from: http://henryjenkins.org/2011/05/shall_we_play_part_two.html#sthash.bZvCXFt1.dpuf

• Kolb, David A. & Fry, Roger. ‘Toward an applied theory of experiential learning;, in C. Cooper (ed.) Theories of Group Process, London: John Wiley  [Web Resource] Retrieved from: http://infed.org/mobi/david-a-kolb-on-experiential-learning/