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SCALE(Student Centered Active Learning

Environment)Kelly Schermerhorn

August 24, 2010

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Recap from Monday

TPACKTell me one thing you will use from the

presentation on Monday.

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Essential Question of the Day

If a visitor came into your classroom, what does it look like now and how would you change it?

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SCALE is…

Student Centered Active Learning Environment

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It can be called…

SCALE, which we know TEAL-Technology-enabled active learning

environment SCALE UP-Student Centered Activities for

Large Enrollment undergraduate programs SCLE-Student Centered Learning

Environment SCALE-UP-Student Centered Activity

Learning Environment SCenTRLE-Student Centered Technology

Rich Learning Environment

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A general definition of SCALE

Student Centered Active Learning Environments- an attempt at teaching specific content within the context of broad conceptual themes.

Let’s break it down, shall we?

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Student-Centered

Wikipedia.org states, “..an approach to learning focusing on the needs of students rather than those others involved in the educational process, like teachers and administrators”.

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Active Learning Environment

“Active learning is anything short of just passively listening to a facilitator’s lecture”.

In active learning, "knowledge [is] directly experienced, constructed, acted upon, tested, or revised by the learner.” The question is, how can we design a creative learning environment that promotes active learning? Figure 1 provides some guidelines.

The definition for Constructivism is: ”The basic idea of constructivism is that knowledge must be constructed by the learner; it cannot be supplied by the teacher”.

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Let’s think about..

In an active learning environment, “less emphasis is placed on transmitting information (teacher-centered) and more on developing students’ skills (student-centered)”.

(Bonwell and Eison, 1991, p.2).

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Which means…

“The students are now in charge of their learning. They can each explore the topic that most interests them, customizing their educational experience. They can actively pursue information and learn independent thinking skills. The teacher no longer needs to be a subject expert–an impossible task in this age of so much information. Instead, the teacher now oversees the learning process.”

www.funderstanding.com from “ Effective Learning Environment”.

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Missouri School District example of “active learning”

http://schoolweb.missouri.edu/stoutland/elementary/active_learning.htm

Please read through this webpage from the Principal of Stoutland R-2 School district in Missouri

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In your own words

Roundtable discussion on what you just read.

Question to self: Am I doing this now? If not, why not? If so, can I share this with my

colleagues?

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Essential Question of the Day

If a visitor came into your classroom, what does it look like now and how would you change it?

Add on: Do you like how it looks? Is it comfortable?

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Common Concerns

The authors many of the common concerns about active learning, including:

If I spend time in class on active learning exercises, I'll never get through the syllabus.

If I don't lecture I'll lose control of the class. Some of my students just don't seem to get what I'm asking

them to do-they keep trying to find "the right answer" to open-ended problems, they still don't have a clue about what a critical question is, and the problems they make up are consistently trivial.

When I tried active learning in one of my classes, many of the students hated it. Some refused to cooperate and made their hostility to the approach and to me very clear.

I'm having a particularly hard time getting my students to work in teams. Many of them resent having to do it and a couple of them protested to my department head about it.

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More concerns…

If I assign homework, presentation, or projects to groups, some students will "hitchhike," getting credit for work in which they did not actively participate.

Many of the cooperative teams in my class are not working well-their assignments are superficial and incomplete and some team members keep complaining to me about others not participating.

Teams working together on quantitative problem assignments may always rely on one or two members to get the problem solutions started. The others may then have difficulties on individual tests, when they must begin the solutions themselves.

I teach a class containing students in minority populations that tend to be at risk academically. Does active, cooperative learning work in this kind of setting?

Even though I've done everything the experts recommend, some of my students still complain that they don't like the student-centered approach I'm using and they would have learned more if they had taken a "normal" class.

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Game Break

Give your self a 15 minute break to return with discussion for the next step.

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North Carolina State University

http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/Student-Centered.html

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So far…

Taking in all the information so far, is this a feasible process you could implement in your class?

If you are already teaching like this, can you share your successes?

What you need to work on?

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Technology & Information Literacy Instruction on

Slideshare.net

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Whatever you call it,…

How can you see this working in your classroom this year using the technology that you will be given?

Turn to your neighbor and share your answer. When called on, you will share your neighbor’s answer with the group.

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Review of today’s topic: SCALE

Define in your own words Do you see TPACK and SCALE

working together? If so, how? If not, why not?

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Resources

Texas collaborative: http://www.texascollaborative.org/activelearning.htm

Wikipedia.org: student centered definition Minnesota State colleges-active learning document:

http://ctlactiveteaching.project.mnscu.edu/vertical/Sites/%7B20894F01-3F69-43D6-997F-CD2A61168E80%7D/uploads/%7BF547413E-774D-4BD9-B14F-565972C1BEB2%7D.PDF

Active learning for the college classroom: http://www.calstatela.edu/dept/chem/chem2/Active/

index.htm