padlet and qr
Cracking the QR Codes for Active Learning
Hello, friends...
This week I will be talking about how QR codes can be used as a tool to encourage
"ACTIVE LEARNING" in the classroom.
This Padlet can be accessed by
Before we get to the QR activity, we should start with the question...
Just what the heck is active learning?
According to the smart folks over at Cornell University, Active learning activies are those that...
ask students to fully participate in their learning by thinking, discussing, investigating, and creating. In active learning classrooms, students may be asked to practice skills, solve problems, struggle with complex questions, propose solutions, and explain ideas in their own words through writing and discussion. Research indicates that active learning methods are especially effective for student learning, when compared to classes that primarily consist of lecturing.
ask students to fully participate in their learning by thinking, discussing, investigating, and creating. In active learning classrooms, students may be asked to practice skills, solve problems, struggle with complex questions, propose solutions, and explain ideas in their own words through writing and discussion. Research indicates that active learning methods are especially effective for student learning, when compared to classes that primarily consist of lecturing.
So, should teachers consider ACTIVE LEARNING as the plan lessons and units? The answer to this is a resounding yes!
Active learning, like all best practices, has little chance of occurring accidentally. It requires a great deal of planning on the part of teachers and course teams. If we are to get to a situation where teachers are acting as facilitators for student learning in the classroom, then teachers MUST become master planners outside of the classroom.
Image from SDSU Construction Program
But why? We’ve all heard the arguments… “I learned by lecture, they can too”,
“They don’t have enough background knowledge to X”, and “I don’t like group work”.
In his book “iY Our Last Chance to Save Their Future”, Tim Elmore posits that the generation Y’ers run the risk of feeling overwhelmed based on a combination of outside stressors including:
parental pressure, self-imposed pressure, and the pressure created by technology.
"One, they push back and get lost in a virtual world of online fantasy video games or a social world of texting, Facebook, and Twitter. It's a coping mechanism.
They survive by escaping reality and becoming someone else.
Or option two, they respond by trying to measure up. They push themselves to be a super kid. They go online to perform. They strive for perfection."
that can providing challenging, rigorous learning experiences that are able to
support students who react in such different ways? Technology to the rescue!!!
Cue the Padlet!
“They don’t have enough background knowledge to X”, and “I don’t like group work”.
In his book “iY Our Last Chance to Save Their Future”, Tim Elmore posits that the generation Y’ers run the risk of feeling overwhelmed based on a combination of outside stressors including:
parental pressure, self-imposed pressure, and the pressure created by technology.
Elmore believes that "Young people tend to respond in one of two ways to being overwhelmed."
"One, they push back and get lost in a virtual world of online fantasy video games or a social world of texting, Facebook, and Twitter. It's a coping mechanism.
They survive by escaping reality and becoming someone else.
Or option two, they respond by trying to measure up. They push themselves to be a super kid. They go online to perform. They strive for perfection."
So the question becomes...
how do we, as teachers, create learning experiencesthat can providing challenging, rigorous learning experiences that are able to
support students who react in such different ways? Technology to the rescue!!!
Cue the Padlet!
Using QR Reader technology to encourage active learning
The Padlet above (or on your phone if you used the QR Reader) describes a lesson in which QR technology was used to encourage students to engage in active learning. Essentially students examine famous quotes from African-Americans for Black History month using QR Codes. The quotes are incomplete hence the QR Code that they scan provides the missing information to decipher the quote. Then students create their own QR Codes in order for their peers to decipher the incomplete quote via a QR Code link.
To revisit the smart folks over at Cornell University, this activity...
asks students to fully participate in their learning by thinking, discussing, investigating, and creating. In active learning classrooms, students may be asked to practice skills, solve problems, struggle with complex questions, propose solutions, and explain ideas in their own words through writing and discussion. Research indicates that active learning methods are especially effective for student learning, when compared to classes that primarily consist of lecturing.
and now for something completely different...
asks students to fully participate in their learning by thinking, discussing, investigating, and creating. In active learning classrooms, students may be asked to practice skills, solve problems, struggle with complex questions, propose solutions, and explain ideas in their own words through writing and discussion. Research indicates that active learning methods are especially effective for student learning, when compared to classes that primarily consist of lecturing.
and now for something completely different...
One Cool Experience I Would Love to Share Around Active Learning
Not to make this a commercial, but there is a product available for teachers and students that I have found to be an amazing starting point when teachers are planning for ACTIVE LEARNING activities. The name of the company is BREAKOUTEDU. BREAKOUT EDU is a educational platform that combines game-based learning with the concepts active learning. Each kit comes with all the items seem in the picture below.
Not to make this a commercial, but there is a product available for teachers and students that I have found to be an amazing starting point when teachers are planning for ACTIVE LEARNING activities. The name of the company is BREAKOUTEDU. BREAKOUT EDU is a educational platform that combines game-based learning with the concepts active learning. Each kit comes with all the items seem in the picture below.
The teacher then selects a pre-crafted puzzle set from the BreakoutEdu.com website or creates their own. Either way, the materials can be specifically tailored to meet the needs of the classroom. Most of the puzzle sets require the students to solve a series of puzzles to gain information to solve the overall puzzle. The games can be done digitally or using the kits pictured above. The physical kits allow students to use infra-red flashlights with “invisible” ink, QR codes, and a series of customizable locks.
I used my kits to introduce Gothic literature to my students by creating a "escape room" type mystery where they had to solve clues based on the elements of gothic literature. Each lock and puzzle got them closer to the final chest...which was filled with their copies of The Turn of the Screw (and the real treasure...mini chocolate bars).
The pre-made puzzle sets that are available on the platform cover a wide variety of topics/ disciplines, or you can create your own.
So go forth my friends...help your charges to learn actively!
The
I appreciate all the additional resources! I'll have to check out the Tim Elmore book and Breakoutedu.com. Creating a game to introduce gothic literature is a great way to engage the students in a topic that might seem out of reach. It goes to show that students of all ages appreciate activities that get them moving and excited to learn about the material. I was interested to see how active learning would look in junior high and high school settings. I was under the impression these grade levels would have less active learning activities compared to a second grade classroom, but it's great to see a teacher utilizing active learning for older students.
ReplyDeleteThanks!