Of the four core academic subjects, science education suffers most from a lack of ambition about its own relevance. We explore how science education could become more relevant—and why it matters for all of us.
In education, critical thinking is a popular idea but an elusive reality. We discuss the steps we take to achieve critical thinking in our classrooms, including selecting powerful concepts and sources, making connections between the classroom and the world, using discussion to deepen thinking, and finally, moving from isolated concepts to the bigger picture.
Why are we learning this? It’s the most commonly asked question in classrooms.
When asked, teachers generally reach for an instrumental answer. There isn’t always one in easy grasp, but it’s the reflex.
Today we consider a different, deeper ‘why’ thanks to help from Margaret Atwood. In the 2004 Kesterton Lecture at the Carleton School of Journalism, Atwood does what great writers do best: reveals a deep truth that both makes me feel something and makes me want to be a better person.
We discuss the missing middle layer in many high school classes: powerful concepts. When it comes to learning, concepts do the hard work of “middle management”; they give structure to facts that might otherwise seem discrete and unrelated and bring abstract enduring understandings into concrete focus. Learn how we build them into our classes to enable deeper, lasting learning.
A typical two-hour online workshop is just that: a single two-hour session. There may be breakout rooms or a bit of reading for pre-work, but not a lot of actual work gets done. We discuss what we do instead to create half a dozen learning opportunities from a single workshop, including pre-work, multiple rounds of iteration on work products, feedback from peers and instructors, and “extension sessions.”
We’ve found that although it takes work to create rigorous, engaging, community-building classes online, it’s entirely possible if you intentionally design for it. We discuss the three holy grail components we include in our classes to make the most of class time: community, conversation, and collaborative critique.
As part of a new partnership with the Rise Fellowship, we’ve recently gone from running classes with a maximum of 10 students to classes four or five times that size. At these sizes, we had to create new ways of interacting, which, honestly, is fun for us! We love innovating on online pedagogy. Today we’re sharing five things that have worked for us as we've supersized our classes:
