Sparks and Conduits for

Students Thinking Critically

Mighty Peace Teachers’ Convention 2014

For more conversation:Rick Wormeli703-620-2447

rwormeli@cox.netwww.rickwormeli.net

@rickwormeli (Twitter)

Handcuffs Puzzle [Downloaded from britton.disted.camosun.bc.ca/jbhandcuff]

Each person has a piece of rope with a loop tied in both ends, so it can be worn as handcuffs. The rope should be reasonably long, so that the person wearing it can easily step over it if they want. Each person puts on a complete set of handcuffs. Before putting them on, they loop their handcuffs around each other so they are tied together. Each person should wear a complete set of handcuffs. They then have to get themselves apart while following these rules:

The Handcuff Puzzle Rules

•The handcuffs cannot be removed.

•Do not break, cut, saw through, bite through or in any other way damage the rope. Damaging each other is probably a bad idea too.

•If you are doing this puzzle with a class, make certain you tell them they need to be able to show you their solution.

How might we increase the complexity of this activity?

“Haunker Hawser”

Supplies: 100-foot rope, two milk crates or two, round wood boards:

Consider: Rhodes Scholarship Candidate struggles

Is creative thinking the same as critical thinking?

Creative Thinking – generative, nonjudgmental and expansive. When you are thinking creatively, you are generating lists of new ideas.

Critical Thinking – analytical, judgmental and selective. When you are thinking critically, you are making choices.

http://ericbrown.com/critical-thinking-vs-creative-thinking.htmSeptember 5, 2008 By Eric D. Brown

Critical Thinking Creative Thinking analytic generative convergent divergent vertical lateral probability possibility judgment suspended judgment focused diffuse objective subjective answer an answer left brain right brain verbal visual linear associative reasoning richness, novelty yes but yes and

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‘Interesting overlap of definitions at http://eduscapes.com/tap/topic69.htm:

Critical thinking involves logical thinking and reasoning including skills such as comparison, classification, sequencing, cause/effect, patterning, webbing, analogies, deductive and inductive reasoning, forecasting, planning, hypothesizing, and critiquing.

Creative thinking involves creating something new or original. It involves the skills of flexibility, originality, fluency, elaboration, brainstorming, modification, imagery, associative thinking, attribute listing, metaphorical thinking, forced relationships. The aim of creative thinking is to stimulate curiosity and promote divergence.

Advanced Thinkers… Concede ignorance when they are ignorant. Find out what’s going on. Respect intellectuals and don’t deride them. Speak out after doing their homework. Examine superstitions. Play thinking games and amuse themselves

by trying to answer puzzle questions. Become more informed about history than

they are.

Advanced Thinkers…

Aren’t afraid to change their minds. Are aware that their opinions, assumptions,

and beliefs are often affected by peer-group pressure.

Are realistically skeptical – even of leaders. Recognize that they have personal prejudices. Do not to fall in love with their first answers.

[from Steve Allen’s book, Dumbth: The Lost Art of Thinking: with 101 Ways to Reason Better and Improve your Mind (Prometheus Books)]

Fixed Intelligence Mindset[Nov. 5, 2013 Webinar Ed Week with Dr. Carol Dweck]

•Talent/intelligence set at birth•‘Must look smart at all costs•Showing effort/struggle is seen as a negative, something to be avoided•When failing, these individuals blame circumstance or others. They feel helpless to change anything. •Fixed mindset is much more harmful for students laboring under a negative stereotype•When we praise talents, innate qualities, we create fixed mindsets in students. “I was never good at math, nor will I ever be good at math. Just give me the test and let me get my F.”

Growth Intelligence Mindset[Nov. 5, 2013 Webinar Ed Week with Dr. carol Dweck]

Check out Brainology.us!

•Talent/intelligence malleable, changeable•‘Must learn at all costs.•Effort/struggle seen as part of the process, normal, even virtuous•‘When failing, these individuals analyze their own decisions and actions, then revise efforts and try again. ‘Very resilient. •Colleges are looking for growth mindset quality in freshman candidates•Include, “yet” in any statement of content or skill not yet attained•Praise process/decisions made when work done well:

“Who had a terrific struggle today?” “Great persistence!” “You kept trying different things until it worked.” “Nice strategies.” “Who has an interesting mistake to share?”

Positive Culture for Failure Tenets

• Academic struggle is virtuous, not weakness.• To recover from failure teaches more than being

labeled for failure ever could teach.• Failure can teach us in ways consistent success

cannot. • Initial failure followed by responsive teaching that

helps students revise thinking results in greater long-term retention of content.

• “The expert in any field is the one who has made the most mistakes in that field.” (Neils Bohr)

Writer, Mark Bauerlein, speaking about today’s students surfing the Internet:

“Their choices are never limited, and the initial frustrations of richer experiences send them elsewhere within seconds. With so much abundance, variety, and speed, users key in to exactly what they already want. Companionship is only a click away….Why undergo the labor of revising values, why face an incongruent outlook, why cope with disconfirming evidence, why expand the sensibility…when you can find ample sustenance for present interests? Dense content, articulate diction and artistic images are too much....They remind them of their deficiencies, and who wants that? Confirmation soothes, rejections hurts. Great art is tough, mass art is easy. Dense arguments require concentration, adolescent visuals hit home instantly. “

Writer and educator, Margaret Wheatley, is correct:

“We can’t be creative unless we’re willing to be confused.”

Taking Positive Risks

“The fellow who never makes a mistake takes his orders from one who does.”

-- Herbert Prochnow

“If I had been a kid in my class today, would I want to come back tomorrow?”

-- Elsbeth Murphy

“Nothing ventured, something lost.” -- Roland Barth

Negating Students’ Incorrect Responses While Keeping Them in the Conversation

• Act interested, “Tell me more about that…”• Empathy and Sympathy: “I used to think that, too,” or “I

understand how you could conclude that…”• Alter the reality:

-- Change the question so that the answer is correct-- That’s the answer for the question I’m about to ask

-- When student claims he doesn’t know, ask, “If you DID know, what would you say?”

Negating Students’ Incorrect Responses and While Them in the Conversation

• Affirm risk-taking• Allow the student more time or to ask for

assistance• Focus on the portions that are correct

Video: When There is Only One Correct Answer

Discern the Pattern and Fill in the Last Row of

Numbers

11 12 11 2 1 11 1 1 2 2 13 1 2 2 1 1 1 3 1 1 2 2 2 11 1 1 3 2 1 3 2 1 1

- From, Creative Thinkering, 2011, Michael Michalko, p. 44

Practice Complex-ifying. ‘Really. ‘A lot.

Practice turning regular education objectives and tasks into advanced objectives and tasks.

What is Mastery?

“Tim was so learned, that he could name a horse in nine languages; so ignorant, that he bought a cow to ride on.”

Ben Franklin, 1750, Poor Richard’s Almanac

The better question is not, “What is the standard?” The better question is, “What evidence

will we tolerate?”

“The student understands fact versus opinion.”

IdentifyCreate

ReviseManipulate

There’s a big difference: What are we really trying to assess?

• “Explain the second law of thermodynamics” vs. “Which of the following situations shows the second law of thermodynamics in action?”

• “What is the function of a kidney?” vs. “Suppose we gave a frog a diet that no impurities – fresh organic flies, no pesticides, nothing impure. Would the frog still need a kidney?”

• “Explain Keynes’s economic theory” vs. “ Explain today’s downturn in the stock market in light of Keynes’s economic theory.”

From, Teaching the Large College Class, Frank Heppner, 2007, Wiley and Sons

One-Word Summaries

“The new government regulations for the meat-packing industry in the 1920’s could be seen as an opportunity…,”

“Picasso’s work is actually an argument for….,” “NASA’s battle with Rockwell industries over the

warnings about frozen temperatures and the O-rings on the space shuttle were trench warfare….”

Basic Idea: Argue for or against the word as a good description for the topic.

Summarization Pyramid

__________

______________

____________________

_________________________

______________________________

___________________________________

Great prompts for each line: Synonym, analogy, question, three attributes, alternative title, causes, effects, reasons, arguments, ingredients, opinion, larger category, formula/sequence, insight, tools, misinterpretation, sample, people, future of the topic

Some Elements of Challenging, Complex Experiences

• Illuminate more material during the course of the year,whether by moving more rapidly, by exploring concepts in greater depth, or by offering more breadth in the field of study.

• Students encounter higher order thinking skills(analysis, synthesis, evaluation, application, deduction, induction, justification) as standard operating procedures, not something newly introduced.

• Tangential thinking is invited. • Subjects are integrated to a larger extent. • Textbooks and novels are resources, not the curriculum. • Primary sources in research are more heavily valued.• We affirm effort and perseverance, not intelligent or capability.

We give feedback on decisions made.

• We expose students to a larger variety of language and literature. Non-traditional grammar, sentence structures, vocabulary words and writer’s voice are encouraged.

• We encourage increased student autonomy.• We intentionally provoke thinking and confront the status quo and invite students to do the same.• Independent studies

(orbitals), adjusted prompts, and learning contracts are used.

• Pose curveballs, novelty.

• Tolerate/encourage more ambiguity.

To Increase (or Decrease) a Task’s Complexity,

Add (or Remove) these Attributes:• Manipulate information, not just echo it • Extend the concept to other areas • Integrate more than one subject or skill• Increase the number of variables that must be considered;

incorporate more facets• Demonstrate higher level thinking, i.e. Bloom’s Taxonomy,

William’s Taxonomy• Use or apply content/skills in situations not yet experienced• Make choices among several substantive ones• Work with advanced resources• Add an unexpected element to the process or product• Work independently• Reframe a topic under a new theme• Share the backstory to a concept – how it was developed• Identify misconceptions within something

To Increase (or Decrease) a Task’s Complexity,

Add (or Remove) these Attributes:• Identify the bias or prejudice in something• Negotiate the evaluative criteria• Deal with ambiguity and multiple meanings or steps• Use more authentic applications to the real world• Analyze the action or object• Argue against something taken for granted or commonly

accepted• Synthesize (bring together) two or more unrelated concepts or

objects to create something new• Critique something against a set of standards• Work with the ethical side of the subject• Work in with more abstract concepts and models• Respond to more open-ended situations• Increase their automacity with the topic• Identify big picture patterns or connections• Defend their work

• Manipulate information, not just echo it: – “Once you’ve understood the motivations and viewpoints of the

two historical figures, identify how each one would respond to the three ethical issues provided.”

• Extend the concept to other areas: – “How does this idea apply to the expansion of the railroads in

1800’s?” or, “How is this portrayed in the Kingdom Protista?”

• Work with advanced resources: – “Using the latest schematics of the Space Shuttle flight deck and

real interviews with professionals at Jet Propulsion Laboratories in California, prepare a report that…”

• Add an unexpected element to the process or product: – “What could prevent meiosis from creating four haploid nuclei

(gametes) from a single haploid cell?”

• Reframe a topic under a new theme: – “Re-write the scene from the point of view of the

antagonist,” “Re-envision the country’s involvement in war in terms of insect behavior,” or, “Re-tell Goldilocks and the Three Bears so that it becomes a cautionary tale about McCarthyism.”

• Synthesize (bring together) two or more unrelated concepts or objects to create something new: – “How are grammar conventions like music?”

• Work with the ethical side of the subject: – “At what point is the Federal government justified in

subordinating an individual’s rights in the pursuit of safe-guarding its citizens?”

The Equalizer(Carol Ann Tomlinson)

Foundational ------------------ TransformationalConcrete ----------------------- AbstractSimple -------------------------- ComplexSingle Facet/fact ------------- Multi-Faceted/factsSmaller Leap ------------------ Greater LeapMore Structured -------------- More OpenClearly Defined --------------- Fuzzy ProblemsLess Independence ---------- Greater IndependenceSlower --------------------------- Quicker

R.A.F.T.S.

R = Role, A = Audience, F = Form, T = Time or Topic, S = Strong Adjective or Adverb

 

Students take on a role, work for a specific audience, use a particular form to express the content, and do it within a time reference, such as pre-Civil War, 2025, or ancient Greece.

Sample assignment chosen by a student:

A candidate for the Green Party (role), trying to convince election board members (audience) to let him be in a national debate with Democrats and the Republicans. The student writes a speech (form) to give to the Board during the Presidential election in 2004 (time). Within this assignment, students use arguments and information from this past election with third party concerns, as well as their knowledge of the election and debate process. Another student could be given a RAFT assignment in the same manner, but this time the student is a member of the election board who has just listened to the first student’s speech.

R.A.F.T.S.

Raise the complexity: Choose items for each category that are farther away from a natural fit for the topic . Example: When writing about Civil War Reconstruction, choices include a rap artist, a scientist from the future, and Captain Nemo.

Lower the complexity: Choose items for each category that are closer to a natural fit for the topic. Example: When writing about Civil War Reconstruction, choices include a member of the Freedmen’s Bureau, a southern colonel returning home to his burned plantation, and a northern business owner

William’s Taxonomy

FluencyFlexibility

OriginalityElaboration

Risk TakingComplexity

Curiosity

Imagination

Frank Williams’ Taxonomy of Creative Thinking

Fluency – We generate as many ideas and responses as we can

Example Task: Choose one of the simple machines we’ve studied (wheel and axle, screw, wedge, lever, pulley, and inclined plane), and list everything in your home that uses it to operate, then list as many items in your home as you can that use more than one simple machine in order to operate.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Flexibility – We categorize ideas, objects, and learning by thinking divergently about them

Example Task: Design a classification system for the items on your list.

Frank Williams’ Taxonomy of Creative Thinking

Originality – We create clever and often unique responses to a prompt

Example Task: Define life and non-life. -------------------------------------------------------------------Elaboration – We expand upon or stretch an idea

or thing, building on previous thinking

Example: What inferences about future algae growth can you make, given the three graphs of data from our experiment?

Frank Williams’ Taxonomy of Creative Thinking

Risk Taking – We take chances in our thinking, attempting tasks for which the outcome is unknown

Example: Write a position statement on whether or not genetic engineering of humans should be funded by the United States government.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Complexity – We create order from chaos, we explore the

logic of a situation, we integrate additional variables or aspects of a situation, contemplate connections

Example: Analyze how two different students changed their lab methodology to prevent data contamination.

Frank Williams’ Taxonomy of Creative Thinking

Curiosity – We pursue guesses, we wonder about varied elements, we question.

Example: What would you like to ask someone who has lived aboard the International Space Station for three months about living in zero-gravity?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Imagination – We visualize ideas and objects, we go

beyond just what we have in front of us

Example: Imagine building an undersea colony for 500 citizens, most of whom are scientists, a kilometer below the ocean’s surface. What factors would you have to consider when building and maintaining the colony and the happiness of its citizens?

Creativity and Critical Thinking involve patience, resilience, and interaction -- “Dan Meyer: Math Needs a Makeover”

http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_meyer_math_curriculum_makeover.html

CONSTRUCTIVISM

Traditional Learning Constructivist Learning

• Part to whole, emphasize skills

• Strict adherence to curriculum

• Rely on textbooks, workbooks

• Students are “blank slates”

• Teachers disseminate info

• Teachers seek correct answer to validate learning

• Assessment/Teaching separate

• Whole to part, emph. concepts

• Pursue student questions

• Rely on prim. sources, manip.

• Students are thinkers

• Teachers mediate, interact

• Teachers seek students’ knowledge to make decisions

• Assessment/Teaching are interwoven

Logical Fallacies

Ad Hominem (Argument To The Man) -- Attacking the person instead of attacking his argument: “Dr. Jones’ conclusions on ocean currents are incorrect because he once plagiarized an research article.”

Straw Man (Fallacy of Extension) -- Attacking an exaggerated version of your opponent's position. "Senator Jones says that we should not fund the attack submarine program. I disagree entirely. I can't understand why he wants to leave us defenseless like that." *

The Excluded Middle (False Dichotomy) -- Assuming there are only two alternatives when in fact there are more. For example, assuming Atheism is the only alternative to Fundamentalism, or being a traitor is the only alternative to being a loud patriot. *

From Jim Morton’s’ “Practical Skeptic” website http://members.aol.com/jimn469897/skeptic.htm)  

Be a Suspicious Reader

How does this fit with what I know? What evidence does he offer for his

claims? Where is he going next? Am I safe with where this is going –

How is it affecting me? What is he not saying? Why is he presenting it this way?

Ask Students to Look for Patterns

Add these numbers: 296, 302, 299, 320

Each is close to 300, so identify the relationship to 300: -4, +2, -1, +20 = -5 + 22 = +17

(300 x 4) + 17 = 1,217

Jamie's homework assignment requires her to write a short biography of five female Nobel Prize winners. Help her match each nobelist to her prize category, country of origin and the year in which she won her prize. Below are all categories and options used in this puzzle:

Years Names Categories Countries

1968 Ada Alvarez chemistry Australia1972 Fay Ferguson economics France1976 Glenda Glenn literature Germany1980 Hannah Hay medicine Poland1984 Patsy Pope physics Russia

Downloaded February 2013 from www.logic-puzzles.org

1. Fay Ferguson is from Australia.2. The person from Australia didn't win the prize in literature.3. The nobelist who won in 1968 didn't win the prize in

chemistry.4. Of the nobelist who won the prize in medicine and Ada

Alvarez, one won in 1984 and the other won in 1972.5. The winner from Poland won her prize 4 years after the

nobelist from Australia.6. Patsy Pope won her prize after the winner who won the prize

in chemistry.7. Neither Fay Ferguson nor the winner who won the prize in

economics is the winner who won in 1984.8. The nobelist from Germany won her prize 4 years after the

winner from France.9. Glenda Glenn isn't from France.10. The person who won in 1976 didn't win the prize in literature.11. The five nobelists are the nobelist from France, the winner

who won in 1972, Hannah Hay, the winner who won in 1968 and the winner who won in 1980.

Clues:

Remember, whoever does the editing, does the learning!

From Assessment/Grading Researcher, Doug Reeves, The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 18, 2009:

“The Class of 2013 grew up playing video games and received feedback that was immediate, specific, and brutal – they won or else died at the end of each game. For them, the purpose of feedback is not to calculate an average or score a final exam, but to inform them about how they can improve on their next attempt to rule the universe.”

Feedback vs Assessment

Feedback: Holding up a mirror to students, showing them what they did and comparing it what they should have done – There’s no evaluative component!

Assessment: Gathering data so we can make a decision

Greatest Impact on Student Success:

Formative feedback

Two Ways to Begin Using Descriptive Feedback:

• “Point and Describe” (from Teaching with Love & Logic, Jim Fay, David Funk)

• “Goal, Status, and Plan for the Goal”

1. Identify the objective/goal/standard/outcome2. Identify where the student is in relation to the goal

(Status)3. Identify what needs to happen in order to close the gap

Effective Protocol for Data Analysisand Descriptive Feeddback found in many Schools:

Here’s What, So What, Now What

1. Here’s What: (data, factual statements, no commentary)

2. So What: (Interpretation of data, what patterns/insights do we perceive, what does the data say to us?)

3. Now What: (Plan of action, including new questions, next steps)

Inquiry Method 1. Something arouses students’ curiosity. 2. Students identify questions regarding topic. There is usually one

main question with several sub-questions that help answer the main question. These questions are submitted to classmates for review.

3. Students determine the process of investigation into topic. Their proposal for how to conduct the investigation is submitted to classmates for review and revision as necessary.

4. Students conduct the investigation. 5. Students share their findings.

Socratic Seminar

Pre-Seminar:A.      Shared experiences, chosen for richness of ideas,

issues, ambiguity, “discussability”B.      Students reflect on material     Group dynamics, ground rules, and courtesy are

understood and accepted.  Seminar: A. Teacher asks a provocative question. Opening, Core, and

Closure QuestionsB. Students respond to the provocative question and each

other. C. Teacher offers core questions that help students interpret

and to re-direct, also evalutes and tries to keep mouth shut.

C. Closing – connect to the real world of the student

Post-SeminarWritings, Summations, Artwork, Reflection, Critique, Analysis

Debate Format

1.    Statement of the General Debate Topic and Why it’s

Important – 1 min.2.    Affirmative Position Opening Remarks – 3 min. 3.    Negative Position Opening Remarks – 3 min.4.    Affirmative Position Arguments – 5 min.5.    Negative Position Arguments – 5 min.6.    Caucus – Students on both teams consider their

arguments and rebuttals in light of what has been presented. – 3 min.

7.    Affirmative Rebuttal and Questioning of the Negative’s Case – 3 min.

8.    Negative Rebuttal and Questioning of the Affirmative’s Case – 3 min.

9.    Closing Arguments Affirmative Position – 2 min.10. Closing Arguments Negative Position – 2 min.

Meeting of Mindsat Rachel Carson Middle School

Portrayals of Dr. Sally Ride, Albert Einstein, Josef Stalin, Bob Dylan, Boss

Tweed, Dr. Robert Oppenheimer, Senator Joseph McCarthy, the

Unsinkable Molly Brown, Rosa Parks. In the background: Advisors for each

historical figure

Ropes Course Games

Ropes Course Games

Electric Fence (Getting over triangle fence without touching)

Spider Web (Pass bodies through “webbing” withot ringing the attached bells)

Group Balance (2’X2’ platform on which everyone stands and sings a short song)

Nitro-glycerin Relocation (previous slide)

Trust Falls (circle style or from a chair)

Line-up

• Groups of students line up according to criteria. Each student holds an index card identifying what he or she is portraying.

• Students discuss everyone’s position with one another -- posing questions, disagreeing, and explaining rationales.

Line-up

Students can line-up according to:chronology, sequences in math problems, components

of an essay, equations, sentences, verb tense, scientific process/cycle, patterns: alternating,

category/example, increasing/decreasing degree, chromatic scale, sequence of events, cause/effect,

components of a larger topic, opposites, synonyms

Statues (Body Sculpture)

Students work in small groups using every groupmember’s body to symbolically portray concepts

in frozen tableau.

Where does the learning occur?

Human Continuum

A

D

Human Continuum

Use a human continuum. Place a long strip of masking tape across the middle of the floor, with an "Agree" or “Yes” taped at one end, and "Disagree" or “No” at the other end. Put a notch in the middle for those unwilling to commit to either side. Read statements about the day’s concepts aloud while students literally stand where they believe along the continuum. Be pushy – ask students to defend their positions.

Components of Blood Content Matrix

Red Cells White Cells Plasma Platelets

Purpose

Amount

Size & Shape

Nucleus ?

Where formed

The student’s rough draft:

Red blood cells carry oxygen and nutrients around the body. They are small and indented in the middle, like little Cheerios. There are 5 million per cc of blood. There is no nucleus in mature red blood cells. They are formed in the bone marrow and spleen.

Narrowing the Topic

The Civil WarPeople

Battles InventionsReasons

Battles of the Civil War

Gettysburg

ManassasAntietam Vicksburg

Battles of Gettysburg

Statistics

GeographyFamous People

Strategies

What was the “Fish hook” strategy used at the

Battle of Gettysburg?

Yeah. That’s it.

Text Structures[Taking Notes with Compare/Contrast]

Concept 1 Concept 2

T-List or T-Chart: Wilson’s 14 Points

Reasons President Wilson Designed the Plan for Peace

Three Immediate Effects on U.S. Allies

Three Structures/Protocols created by the Plans

Main Ideas Details/Examples

1.

2.

3.

1.

2.

3.

1.

2.

3

Cornell Note-Taking FormatReduce Record

[Summarize inshort phrasesor essentialquestions next to each blockof notes.] Review -- Summarize (paragraph-style) your points or

responses to the questions. Reflect and comment on what you learned.

[Write your notes on this side.]

Somebody Wanted But So[Fiction]

Somebody (characters)…

wanted (plot-motivation)…,

but (conflict)…,

so (resolution)… .

Something HappenedAnd Then[Non-fiction]

 

Something (independent variable)…

happened (change in that independent variable)…,

and (effect on the dependent variable)…,

then (conclusion)… .

Build a Model• Abstract ideas can be expressed

through models. • Assign the model or give students a

choice to summarize via a model, but make sure there is time to plan, build/draw, and explain the model to classmates. Without these three features, we dilute the model’s effectiveness as a learning tool.

• As they work, don’t hesitate to ask guiding questions of your students. It’s a time to monitor closely, not let them fly solo. If we wait until the students present us with their models, we missed the prime learning windows.

• Ask students to defend their models as students’ critique their accuracy and effectiveness.

Metaphors Break Down

“You can’t think of feudalism as a ladder because you can climb up a ladder. The feudal structure is more like sedimentary rock: what’s on the bottom will always be on the bottom unless some cataclysmic event occurs.” -- Amy Benjamin, Writing in the Content Areas, p. 80

Creating and interpreting patterns of content, not just content itself, creates a marketable skill in today’s students. A look at data as indicating “peaks and valleys” of growth over time, noticing a trend runs parallel to another, or that a new advertising campaign for dietary supplements merges four distinct worlds -- Greco-Roman, retro-80’s, romance literature, and suburbia – is currency for tomorrow’s employees.

To see this in a math curriculum, for example, look at algebraic patterns. Frances Van Dyke’s A Visual Approach to Algebra (Dale Seymour Publications, 1998)

A submarine submerges, rises up to the surface, and submerges again. Its depth d is a function of time t. (p.44)

d

t

d

t

A submarine submerges, rises up to the surface, and submerges again. Its depth d is a function of time t. (continued)

d

t

d

t

Consider the following graphs. Describe a situation that could be appropriately represented by each graph. Give the quantity measured along the horizontal axis as well as the quantity measured along the vertical axis.

Study Executive Function!Late, Lost, and UnpreparedJoyce Cooper-Kohn, Laurie Dietzel

Smart but ScatteredPeg Dawson, Richard Guare

“Emotion drives attention, attention drives learning.”

-- Robert Sylwester, 1995, p. 119, Wolfe

Oxygen/Nutrient-Filled Bloodflow When the Body is in Survival Mode

Vital Organs

Areas associated with growth

Areas associated with social activity

Cognition

Neurotransmitters

Dopamine – activates pleasure centers, controls conscious motor activity, facilitates mental acuity

Serotonin – calming, mood enhancer, helps with memory, sleep, appetite control, and regulation of body temperature

Healthy diet, exercise, and sleep help production of both!

CELL BODY

AXON

Myelin sheath

Schwann cellNode of Ranvier

Synaptic terminals

Dendrites NucleusSynapses

Neuron

Priming means we show students:

1) What they will get out of the experience (the objectives)

2) What they will encounter as they go through the experience (itinerary, structure)

Prime the brain prior to asking students to do any learning experience.

Worthy they were,

Rafael, Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Donatello.

Theirs’ a chromatic and plumed rebirth,

‘A daring reflection upon man.

Beyond Hastings and a Wife’s tale in Canterbury,

Galileo thrust at more than Windmills,

He, Copernicus Gravitas.

And for the spectre of debate,

religion blinked then jailed,

errant no more,

thereby errant forever.

Cousin to Pericles, Son of Alexander,

The cosmology of Adam fanned for all,

feudal plains trampled by trumpeters,

man and woman lay awake --

calves on wobbly legs,

staring at new freedom

and Gutenberg’s promise.

Perception

What do you see? What number do you see? What letter do you see?

Perception is when we bring meaning to the information we receive, and it depends on prior knowledge and what we expect to see. (Wolfe, 2001)

Are we teaching so that students perceive, or just to present curriculum and leave it up to the student to perceive it?

Petals Around the Rose

The name of the game is, “Petals Around the Rose.” The name is

very important. For each roll of the game, there is one answer, and I

will tell you that answer.

Petals Around the Rose Answer:

6

10

0

Petals Around the Rose

Clues to give students if they struggle:

1. All the math you need to solve this problem you learn in kindergarten or before.

2. The sequence of the dice patterns has no bearing on the answer.

Creativity Reminder from a Mythbuster

• http://www.ted.com/talks/how_simple_ideas_lead_to_scientific_discoveries.html

Resources…• Mindware: www.mindwareonline.com (1-800-999-0398)• Fluegelman, Andrew, Editor. The New Games Book, Headlands

Press Book, Doubeday and Company, New York, 1976• Henton, Mary (1996) Adventure in the Classroom. Dubuque,

Iowa: Kendall Hunt• Lundberg, Elaine M.; Thurston, Cheryl Miller. (1997) If They’re

Laughing… Fort Collins, Colorado: Cottonwood Press, Inc.• Rohnke, K. (1984). Silver Bullets. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall Hunt.• Rohnke, K. & Butler, S. (1995). QuickSilver. Dubuque, Iowa:

Kendall Hunt• Rohnke, K. (1991). The Bottomless Bag Again. Dubuque, Iowa:

Kendall Hunt• Rohnke, K. (1991). Bottomless Baggie. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall

Hunt • Rohnke, K. (1989). Cowstail and Cobras II. Dubuque, Iowa:

Kendall Hunt