literacy & learning

Helping students learn through• Literacy,• Technology, and• Authentic projects.

Eric Brunsell University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh

Why literacy in the

content areas?

How do students learn?

Why literacy in the

content areas?

How do students learn?

Playingwith a

Purpose*

*Props to @MrTRice_Science

Image Source: Duke Yearlook’s Flickr Photostream

Image Source: Duke Yearlook’s Flickr Photostream

Stoopid!

Literacy is an active phenomenon. Its power lies not in a received ability to read and write, but rather in an individual’s capacity to put those skills to work in shaping the course of his or her own life.

—Paulo Freire

Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Kamkwamba’s Story

”..on average, scientists read 23% of total work time. When the activities of speaking and writing are included as well, the scientists in the study spent on average of 58% of their total working time… scientists and engineers were found to consider reading as essential to their work and as their primary source of creative simulation.

Thus the dominant practice in science and engineering is not “hands-on” manipulation of the material world but rather a “minds-on” social and cognitive engagement with ideas, evidence and argument.

Reading for instance is an act of inquiry into meaning – an attempt to construct sense from multiple forms of representation used in science – words, symbols, mathematics, charts, graphs and visualizations..”

National Academies of Science: Framework for New Science Education Standards

As a mathematician, literacy skills are very important. I think one of the most important of these skills is critical reading. It is very possible for us to spend a day or more on one page in a paper we are reading. When we read papers, we do so with pencil in hand and frequently pause in our reading to verify the mathematics and check our own understanding. Often this involves reading other sources and creating examples.

--Dr. Amy Parrott

Department of Mathematics

University of Wisconsin Oshkosh

Image Source: See-ming Lee’s Flickr photostream

Top 521st Century Skill

ACT National Curriculum Survey 2009 Results

College professors don’t tech it. High School teachers

don’t teach it.

ACT National Curriculum Survey 2009 Results

ACT National Curriculum Survey 2009 Results

Image Source: tjuck_el's Flickr photostream

Why literacy in the

content areas?

How do students learn?

Donavan & Bransford (2005) How students learn history, mathematics and science in the classroom, National Academies Press, Washington D.C.

Fish is Fish by Leo Lionni

Fish is Fish, by Leo Lionni

Donavan & Bransford (2005) How students learn history, mathematics and science in the classroom, National Academies Press, Washington D.C.

Principles of Learning

1. Preconceptions2. Context & Organization3. Metacognition

Fish is Fish, by Leo Lionni

Brown, Collings, and Duguid. (1989)

Knowledge, we suggest, similarly indexes the situation in which it arises and is used. The embedding circumstances efficiently provide essential parts of its structure and meaning. So knowledge, which comes coded by and connected to the activity and environment in which it is developed, is spread across its component parts, some of which are in the mind and some in the world much as the final picture on a jigsaw is spread across its component pieces.

Brown, Collings, and Duguid. (1989)

Knowledge, we suggest, similarly indexes the situation in which it arises and is used. The embedding circumstances efficiently provide essential parts of its structure and meaning. So knowledge, which comes coded by and connected to the activity and environment in which it is developed, is spread across its component parts, some of which are in the mind and some in the world much as the final picture on a jigsaw is spread across its component pieces.

CONTE TCONTE TXN

Brown, Collings, and Duguid. (1989)

Knowledge, we suggest, similarly indexes the situation in which it arises and is used. The embedding circumstances efficiently provide essential parts of its structure and meaning. So knowledge, which comes coded by and connected to the activity and environment in which it is developed, is spread across its component parts, some of which are in the mind and some in the world much as the final picture on a jigsaw is spread across its component pieces.

Authenticityproblem…process...audience

Brown, Collings, and Duguid. (1989)

Knowledge, we suggest, similarly indexes the situation in which it arises and is used. The embedding circumstances efficiently provide essential parts of its structure and meaning. So knowledge, which comes coded by and connected to the activity and environment in which it is developed, is spread across its component parts, some of which are in the mind and some in the world much as the final picture on a jigsaw is spread across its component pieces.

Empowermenttrust & risk-taking

Brown, Collings, and Duguid. (1989)

Knowledge, we suggest, similarly indexes the situation in which it arises and is used. The embedding circumstances efficiently provide essential parts of its structure and meaning. So knowledge, which comes coded by and connected to the activity and environment in which it is developed, is spread across its component parts, some of which are in the mind and some in the world much as the final picture on a jigsaw is spread across its component pieces.

Content Rich

Why literacy in the

content areas?

How do students learn?

Playingwith a

Purpose*

*Props to @MrTRice_Science

Flickr: jepoirrier's photostream

Brunsell, E. and Cimino, C. (2009) Investigating the impact of a weekly weblog assignment on the learning environment in a secondary biology course. In Education, 15(2)

Flickr: jepoirrier's photostream

In the initial survey, only 33% of students had a positive outlook on classroom

blogging.

More than a Shiny Object?

JayRazz’s Flickr photostream

Flickr: jepoirrier's photostreamFlickr: jepoirrier's photostream

Flickr: jepoirrier's photostream

“94% of students used resources NOT provided by the teacher as they participated in blog

assignments

Mr_Stein's photostream

Week 117%

Week 872%

Face-to-Face Participation

Whiskeygonebad’s Flickr photostream

“After getting used to talking to everyone on the

blog it didn’t seem like such a big deal to give an

answer in class.”

Week 117%

Week 872%

Face-to-Face Participation

“In the beginning of the class I was afraid to raise my hand

and look stupid. The blog assignments made me feel

more confident each week so I was no longer afraid to look

stupid.” Whiskeygonebad’s Flickr photostream

By the fifth week of completing blog assignments, all but one student (97%)

had positive perceptions of the project and that one was indifferent.

More than a Shiny Object?

JayRazz’s Flickr photostream

Image Source: hekeinjapan’s Flickr photostream

Image Source: hekeinjapan’s Flickr photostream

Science in Plain English…

TALONS Socials Wiki 2009 – 2010

This living record of the TALONS' study of history

The QuestionWhat happens when 80 10th grade students watch, analyze, and reflect upon

640+ TED Talks in pursuit of the answer to the question, "What Matters (To Us)"?

CHRISTIAN LONG

Students:• Watch, listen and analyze• Reflect and write• Present their ideas in

multiple ways

Authenticity Empowerment Content Rich

Image Source: Old Shoe Woman’s Flickr photostream

Playing with Purpose

What questions do you have?

I tried…and I made it.--

William Kamkwamba