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What my board would look like today…

What my board would look like today…. Big Idea: Meaningful learning Big Idea Question: How can Big Ideas and Questions make my class more meaningful to students? Guiding Questions: What are Big Idea Questions? How can they be used? How can they promote knowledge transfer?

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What my board would look like today…

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  1. What my board would look like today… • Big Idea: Meaningful learning • Big Idea Question: How can Big Ideas and Questions make my class more meaningful to students? • Guiding Questions: • What are Big Idea Questions? • How can they be used? • How can they promote knowledge transfer? • How can I implement and assess this kind of learning?

  2. What would your ideal graduate look like? • What do you want them to learn? • How do you want them to approach our subject?

  3. Developing Global Thinkers Question ignited, Big Idea fueled Robb Virgin Farmington Area Schools, MN University of Minnesota – Twin Cities

  4. NCSS says the aim of social studies is: • The promotion of civic competence – “knowledge, intellectual processes, and democratic dispositions required of students to be active and engaged participants in public life”

  5. AMLE says: • “To become a full functioning, self-actualized person, each young adolescent should: • Become actively aware of the larger world, asking significant questions about that world and wrestling with big ideas and questions for which there may not be one right answer.”

  6. Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe say: • It’s not about covering content • It’s about thinking and producing within content and applying learning to issues and problems students will face

  7. Global Thinkers • Investigate the world • Are knowledge-thirsty and ask questions • Recognize problems • Communicate ideas • Collaborate • Take action (newglobalcitizen.org)

  8. Mickey Kolis (2011) says: • for information to be relevant, the individual must believe it will answer a question they have • questions are the start of any learning journey

  9. C3 Framework Now more than ever students need to ask good questions and develop robust investigations into them!

  10. What do we want students to learn?How do we want them to approach our subject? • Big Ideas • Question – answer – question

  11. The Case for Big Ideas & Questions • This is the C & the I • The what and the how

  12. Big Idea vs. Essential Questions vs. Guiding Questions

  13. Big Idea vs. Essential Questions vs. Guiding Questions

  14. What my board would look like today… • Big Idea: Meaningful learning • Big Idea Question: How can Big Ideas and Questions make my class more meaningful to students? • Guiding Questions: • What are Big Idea Questions? • How can they be used? • How can they promote knowledge transfer? • How can I implement and assess this kind of learning?

  15. Your message is everything

  16. Common Department Big Ideas • Change – What causes change? What causes things to stay the same? • Citizenship – What are our responsibilities to our communities? • Conflict – What causes conflict? What is worth fighting for? Will there always be conflicts? • Culture – What is culture? Why should we study other cultures? • Global Connections – What causes people, ideas, and resources to move? How does this create interdependence? What impact does this have? • Power – What is power? How is it gained and used? • Progress – What is progress? What does it mean to be successful?

  17. It just makes sense to start with questions…

  18. The Case for Big Idea Questions • Pragmatic Reasoning • “The Futility of Trying to Teach Everything” • Consistency • Differentiation • Communication to stakeholders “Big Ideas and GQs help me know what to expect”

  19. How to use Big Idea Questions • 1. Carefully select a question that will bring to life the issue(s) to be studied • 2. Intro unit by building connections • 3. Investigate the topic • Secondary to primary • 4. Require regular reflection in light of new information and ideas (Lattimer, 2008)

  20. Student Survey

  21. Common Department Big Ideas • Change – What causes change? What causes things to stay the same? • Citizenship – What are our responsibilities to our communities? • Conflict – What causes conflict? What is worth fighting for? Will there always be conflicts? • Culture – What is culture? Why should we study other cultures? • Global Connections – What causes people, ideas, and resources to move? How does this create interdependence? What impact does this have? • Power – What is power? How is it gained and used? • Progress – What is progress? What does it mean to be successful?

  22. Year 2 with same Big Ideas • 8% making historical connection on first assessment of year  27% making historical connection on first assessment

  23. But, we also said we wanted students to: • Think and produce within content and apply learning to issues and problems they will face (Wiggins and McTighe)

  24. Personal Connections

  25. Student Survey

  26. Global Thinkers • Investigate the world • Are knowledge-thirsty and ask questions • Recognize problems • Communicate ideas • Collaborate • Take action

  27. C3 Framework Now more than ever students need to ask good questions and develop robust investigations into them!

  28. How to use Big Idea Questions • 1. Carefully select a question that will bring to life the issue(s) to be studied (Lattimer, 2008)

  29. Make Just One Change(Rothstein & Santana, 2011) 1. Question Focus A. Ex from Reconstruction Unit: The Civil War didn’t change much 2. Produce questions A. Ask as many questions as you can B. Don’t stop to discuss or judge C. Write exactly as stated D. Change statements to questions 3. Improve questions(closed  open) 4. Prioritize questions

  30. What did students come up with? • The first thing I hear…. “What new sports rules were there?” • We landed on: • What was life like for former slaves? • How did Southerners’ lifestyle change? • Did the North and South cooperate? • How did they physically rebuild and pay for it?

  31. What can we do with these questions? • Student-led standardized • Student-led customized • Groups investigate question together • Learning Teams

  32. How can I assess this kind of learning?

  33. “Big Idea Questions help me make connections to things we’ve already learned and my life.”

  34. Thank you -- Robb Virgin -- robb.virgin@gmail.com Thanks to the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities and Farmington Area Schools for supporting this work and presentation

  35. References and resources Kolis, M. Student Relevance Matters: Why do I Have to Know this Stuff? Lanham, MD: Rowman& Littlefield Education, 2011. National Council for the Social Studies. Essential Skills of a Social Studies Education. Washington, D.C.: National Council for the Social Studies, 1989. Rothstein, D. & Santana, L. Make Just One Change: Teach Students to Ask Their Own Questions. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press, 2011. Wiggins, G. and McTighe, J. Understanding by Design. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1998. Wiggins, G. The Futility of Trying to Teach Everything. Educational Leadership, 47(1989): 44-8, 57-9. This list is not exhaustive, please contact me for additional resources

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