January 3, 2009

By: Viktoriya D. from Philadelphia, PA
Comments: 6

I have found that once I taught the initial lessons and fashioned experiences for my class to "mess around" with the design process that there have been many subsequent times to point out that design is everywhere around us - and that, in fact, we are at some level almost always involved in thinking connected to some aspect of design. I'd say that the concept of design comes up in classroom conversation every week now - and I have continued plans for various specific experiences throughout the winter and spring to continually reinforce this concept.

Posted By: Viktoriya D'Agostino
On: 12/30/2008 2:56:16 PM

I have been reading all the great comments and the conversations. I loved many parts of the fall workshop, but I am still struggling with defining design in terms of my classroom. I teach high school Algebra and I am trying to have more fun and make the class more hands on, but the curriculum keeps getting in the way. It seems like too much stuff is being taught in a small amount of time but none of it makes a lot of sense to the students unless it is easy to relate to their own lives. I am trying to convince Philadelphia students that math is relevant to their lives, but it isn't working when their lives are full of other things that never include math and for some not even school. If anyone has any suggestions of how to better fit the design component into my daily lessons.

Posted By: Ben zhao
On: 12/30/2008 6:44:02 PM

Too little time. Too much curriculum to cover. I think we can all agree to that. My take? The problem is our western notion of time. It seems that our government and our mandate to teach and learn and to compete globally make us lose sense of how "real" learning happens" Watch how kids learn how to swim well. We all can recall how we master something every complex and very hard. What's in common here? Two words: "SLOW DOWN" You can't swim well or fast until you learn to slow down and relax. Whether it's math or science, when things are too complex, slow down, re-trace the steps and master the small foundation parts first. There is a huge difference in testing well and real learning.

Posted By: Anna Bennett
On: 12/31/2008 1:31:09 PM

I was having a similar feeling when approaching a new unit in my Earth Science class. It was the natural resources and energy unit which occupies a smaller amount of time in the scope of our curriculum, yet is one of the units that I think students connect with the most because alternative energy is such a buzzword right now. I talked with my AP about my dilemma about spending so little time on a unit that I found to be so interesting and her response was that the students learn more when we, as teachers, are more engaged and if I felt like I could do more with the unit, then I should take the time and do it. The result of all this was that we spent a whole week working on a design project in the context of the unit instead of just breezing through the whole unit. Through the course of the lessons, though, I think the students walked away with much more because we just focused on a few topics over a longer time period. The projects came out great and the students really enjoyed working as design problem-solvers.

Posted By: Tiffany DeJaynes
On: 1/2/2009 12:10:17 AM

I have been learning a lot about "Deep Learning" these days and that's what I think we're talking about here. It's not about how much we cover but how well and how deeply students learn. For my part, I've been thinking about how that deep learning is often coupled with risk-taking on the part of the student. By risk, I don't mean physically risky, but emotionally and intellectually unfamiliar and even uncomfortable. I've most been learning these lessons by putting myself in the position of learner. My colleagues will laugh when they read this, but I've recently been taking dance lessons and I have 2 left feet. Writing is comfortable for me, dancing is a most humbling experience, it's new. To learn it well, I've had to step out and make a fool of myself at times. Sharing this experience (I talk about my dance classes) with my students when I'm asking them to think deeply, to push a research project beyond the usual limits, to make art when they don't consider themselves artistic, or to give a presentation when they hate speaking in class, has become a part of my thinking about deep learning. To continue to push our students to think more deeply, to ask hard questions, to make their thinking public, to create innovative solutions to problems is to ask them not only to think deeply but to take risks, to have their own ideas, to risk "being wrong" or to risk not having an answer at all. At its best learning is uncomfortable, but pushing through makes it super-rewarding.

Posted By: LeQuyen Tran
On: 1/2/2009 12:56:09 PM

I agree with Tiffany about the "deep learning" and everyone else about time we don't have. we seem to cover too many topics so superficially that students don't get anything from them. My students laugh too when I talk about my lack of sport skills, and it's good for them to know that we all have our weaknesses but that we always take risks to be lifelong learners.

Posted By: Kathleen Melville
On: 1/2/2009 2:43:53 PM

Victoriya - As you know, I've been struggling a bit too in integrating design into my classroom. I've been wondering how "designing" is different from just "doing" or "creating" or "problem-solving". I think design in education is meant to be open-ended and creative, but some of my frustrations with project-based learning are that it is sometimes too open-ended, too unstructured, leading perhaps to a celebration of creativity but not to the acquisition of necessary skills. Math seems particularly difficult because it is a set of skills (like some parts of English) that require continual practice. Often the practice and the "hands-on" fun of projects seem at odds. My sense is that a well-designed project requires a lot of deep thought, collaboration, and time for planning - things we're a bit short on. I'm coming around to the idea, though, that design-based ed or well-designed projects can provide the essential "why" (a purpose) that drives the "what" (content, skills, practice) in the classroom. I'm sure you've thought of this before, but maybe for our students the purpose in math could be money-related. You've done so much work with fundraisers and planning events at our school; maybe you could incorporate something similar in class? Have students design an event or a business and use algebra to make the necessary calculations? Just some thoughts! Good luck!

Posted By: Kathy Scoggin
On: 1/3/2009 11:47:00 AM

I have found that once I taught the initial lessons and fashioned experiences for my class to "mess around" with the design process that there have been many subsequent times to point out that design is everywhere around us - and that, in fact, we are at some level almost always involved in thinking connected to some aspect of design. I'd say that the concept of design comes up in classroom conversation every week now - and I have continued plans for various specific experiences throughout the winter and spring to continually reinforce this concept.