Open Source Learning (Find Your Passion fueled Inquiry)

How to Fuel Students’ Learning Through Their Interests

February 14, 2013

Erin Scott

For David Preston, the term “open source learning” — a variation on inquiry learning or passion-based learning –  is about helping students choose their own learning path, an approach that already has some well-known champions among educators.

“When I think of ‘open source,’ it isn’t about software, but thermodynamic systems,” said Preston, who currently teaches at Ernest Righetti High School in Santa Maria, Calif. “You’re not just exchanging heat, but you’re switching environment and structure.”

Preston’s current classroom centers around the publication and maintenance of students’ personal blogs. The blogs themselves are a requirement, but the content and medium used in many student responses—be it text, video, audio, or some combination—are often the result of students’ own creative vision. Preston also pushes students to think critically about the implications of their digital actions through virtual discussions with collaborators, such as digital renaissance man Howard Rheingold, Canadian blogger, journalist, activist and author Cory Doctorow, and the National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education’s Bryan Alexander, among others.

“I still teach with standards in mind. I just teach inductively from the standards instead of using them as the ceiling.”

But when Preston began teaching at Los Angeles’ James Madison High School in the pre-social-media world of 2005, he accomplished many of the same goals by assigning pen-and-paper, open-ended journal entries and holding class-wide debates driven by research from honest-to-goodness, hard-bound books. He also says there’s still room in open source teaching for academic standards, and that the common standards movement is important in terms of creating benchmarks for students nationwide.

“I still teach with standards in mind,” he said. “I just teach inductively from the standards instead of using them as the ceiling.”

What is the ceiling? That’s up to each individual teacher. But here’s a look inside the tools andmethods Preston, who currently teaches three Advanced Placement English and Composition courses, finds essential to his open source learning pursuit:

BLOGGING: Blogs are the centerpiece of student work in Preston’s classroom. Students not only publish most of their work here, but also use blogs to share feedback, collaborate for group assignments, and even hold chat discussions with authors or other subject experts.

VIDEO-CONFERENCING: Students use video both to visit with authors whose work they’ve read, and occasionally to offer insight to outsiders during conferences or interviews.

BIG QUESTIONS: In a twist on the traditional term paper, students tackle a research project in which they try to answer a self-chosen question that both interests them and crosses boundaries of the core secondary academic subjects. For example, this year, Beka Castillo asked, “Why do we, in our advanced society, use sex in such a demeaning and dehumanizing way to sell useless products?” Her classmate Ryan Nguyen asked, “What is the future of space travel?”

COLLABORATIVE WORKING GROUPS: Like-minded students convene around an interest or idea of their choosing, such as creative writing, fitness, graphic design, etc. Using their classes’ blog community, they try to share the idea or interest with others for the purpose of boosting performance on the AP Literature and Composition exam.

SMART GOALS: In another twist on an old theme, students state their personal goals for the rest of the term. Those goals, and mapping and executing a path toward them, evolve into a senior project.

NEXT STEPS

In order to unite other teachers who have already found a similar path, Preston is now considering helping to launch a national organization devoted to open-source learning.

“There are literally thousands of teachers quietly pursuing similar agendas all over the place,” said Preston, now in his eighth year as a high school teacher, after spending two decades as a university professor and a learning and organizational development consultant. “Everyone needs a sense of community, and to feel like they’re not doing this alone.”

Discussions with colleagues about the launch of an open-source learning association appear to be at a preliminary phase. But when it does launch, the organization would forward an approach that, at its core, is about students choosing their own learning path.

Ideas that Work

Should I teach problem-, project- or inquiry-based learning?

By Lauren Davis on February 14th, 2013

Lately, there have been a bunch of buzzwords floating around the education world that all seem to mean the same thing. You’ve probably heard them: problem-based learning, project-based learning and inquiry-based learning. Is there a difference? How will you know which one to do in your classroom?

First, let’s start with what they have in common. All of these methods place an emphasis on teaching process, not just content. They require students to make discoveries for authentic audiences and purposes. Using these methods will help you meet the Common Core State Standards, which are all about helping students become independent thinkers who can gather information on their own and use knowledge for real-world tasks.

So you know you want to try one of these teaching methods, but how do you decide which one? Here’s a cheat sheet to understanding the subtle differences and deciding which one is right for you.

Project-based learning

• Definition: Students create a written, oral, visual or multimedia project with an authentic audience and purpose. Project-based learning is usually done in English, social studies or foreign-language class.
• Example: Teacher Heather Wolpert-Gawron’s ELA students wanted to fix the broken bell at their school. They developed a thesis, organized a petition, wrote letters and prepared an oral statement that was read to the principal.
• Teaching Tip: Make sure your project doesn’t just have students regurgitate knowledge. For example, don’t have students make a map that displays information from a textbook. Have students discover their own findings for their projects.
• For More Info: Edutopia’s Project-Based Learning Professional Development Guide includes a variety of student examples.

Problem-based learning

• Definition: Students investigate and solve a real-world problem. To do so, students must identify what they already know and what they need to learn, and then they find and apply knowledge. Problem-based learning often takes place in math and science class. It doesn’t necessarily include a project at the end so it doesn’t always take as long as project-based learning.
• Example: Nancy Sulla, author of “Students Taking Charge: Inside the Learner-Active, Technology-Infused Classroom,” gives this science example: Researchers are conflicted on whether we can use certain types of bacteria to clean up radioactive pollution in water. Have students use the scientific method, evaluate data on bacteria, and decide how one bacteria or a combination of them would work effectively as microscopic radioactive pollution eaters.
• Teaching Tip: Make sure you choose a problem that is open-ended and has no one right answer.
• For More Info: This site from the University of Delaware offers a variety of problems from which teachers can choose.

Inquiry-based learning

• Definition: Students explore a question in-depth and ask further questions to gather knowledge. This method is often done in science but can be done in any subject area. The term “inquiry” has been around for years; some people say that problem-based learning is just the new term for the same thing.
• Example: Teacher Winnifred Bolinsky used inquiry-based learning to help students understand the physics principle of inertia.
• Teaching Tip: Give students a variety of ways to gather knowledge — not just on the computer but through hands-on learning.
• For More Info: Examples and video clips of inquiry-based learning can be found onThirteen’s Edonline site

How are you doing these types of learning experiences in your classroom? Leave a comment.

Lauren Davis is a former English teacher. She is the senior editor at Eye On Education. She recently edited a three-book series, “Common Core Literacy Lesson Plans”: Ready-to-Use Resources (K–5, 6–8 and 9–12). She also writes a blog series,Comments on the Common Core.