The Fresh Classroom by @PaulKelba

Our objective of using drones in the classroom, with help from a recent educational grant, is creating motivation for learning, stem fields in particular. The short list of learning content results was robotics, modelling and simulation as well as photography and connection with our natural world. An in-demand technology, with skills connecting to a variety of industries. Other factors that lead to some success were a loan program where students could work towards obtaining a school 'licence' where they were given the autonomy to sign out a drone a take it home to extend their skills, not surprisingly there was no problems with this. We rounded out the pilot with a mentorship program for the grade 8's and 9's with high school robotics/multimedia students to repair devices and design more sophisticated units, using Gimble's for a variety of projects this upcoming year. The lead students of our program documenting grade 9 grad was a highlight: ...

This is an updated version of an article of mine for parents during summer that originally appeared two years ago.  Wishing you a wonderful and safe yet adventurous summer 2014. Paul @paulkelba If summer memory loss exists, the students that I teach in a public school are more than capable of overcoming it. Students that return in September that demonstrate notable social and emotional growth are those best  equipped  to handle technical problem based learning in schools, not  necessarily  the students that master the latest math application, attend a typical summer school program or bring a textbook home for summer. As a teacher faced with questions from parents of: "How can my child avoid falling back during the summer break", many times have found myself steering students towards a summer of consumption. Last year I promoted terrific learning app's, and in previous years comprehensive websites, summer academic programs and such. It always seemed a reg...

Stepping outside of the classroom is an underrated way for a school to allow students to grow as a citizens. How do we do it with purpose? During the informal Jim Mathews video (below) on place-based education , he challenges us to embrace the current 'new localism' trend in local goods and produce, micro-enterprise, car sharing etc...a: "diverse act of resistance against homogenization and mass-consumerism." I appreciated the examples he uses, taking classes into the community, an edge into education, one of self-reliance. Mathews takes education researcher David A. Gruenewald's ground-breaking article    A Critical Pedagogy of Place  and gives tangible examples for students growth and well being. Moreover, he highlights student agency that is able to steer teachers away from pushing their own agenda, a common problem (mostly perceived) but so important to be mindful of. We all need reminders (myself especially), Gruenewald cal...

Place-based learning is a holistic approach to education, conservation and community development that uses the local community as an integrating context for learning at all ages. A main goal is to foster vibrant relationships between schools and communities to boost student achievement and to improve communtity health and vitality. Three parts for educators reference: 1-Guiding questions 2-A few examples 3-Ammunition... Guiding Questions What needs to be created in this place? What needs to be restored in this place? What needs to be transformed in this place? What needs to be conserved in this place? Jim Mathews' Q's to begin your community research A's: What should the content focus on? Values about  what What should the actions and interactions look like? Values about  how Why is place important? What are the goals? Values about  why Why "care about" and "care for" the local? Who gets to answer these questions? Values abo...

My presentation for Outdoor Learning educator workshop : ...concerning mobile devices and Environmental Education, here's a previous ISTE session: What's Your ECOpedagogy?

"Moral and intellectual courage only comes from experience" J. Darling I just read a piece about 2 and 3 year olds cooking over a fire. Author Emma Conder summarized the essence of experiential education in one picture and about four paragraphs. 'Sam with his damper bread' Emma Conder The simplicity of this strikes me. Yup, it's all there, the process of understanding, information transfer. The concrete experience and reflection stage is occurring simultaneously, this child is no doubt set for success to conceptualize this in the near future. Ms. Conder calls it 'ignighting minds'.  Makes one curious how large school districts embrace this and at older ages. 'Bushcraft' and outdoor education experiences (most importantly overnight ones) almost entirely remain as extra-curricular activities and appear as enhancements to a schools program. If a school/districts vision revolves around interacting with experiences and buildi...

One of the latest project-based challenges we faced in our grade 8 & 9 classroom was designing and constructing a safe and beautiful stage set for our (public) school's (k to 9) younger students holiday concert. Made helpful by both our district and province mandating 'competency focussed learning ' and made into reality through developing an effective PLN. Right:  One of the Grade 8 groups developing prototypes to answer the challenge: "With the area of 5 sheets of plywood, you must create a set that has 4 houses and can safely hold students 'on top of them'" I jumped at the opportunity when our school's music teacher asked our staff team for some help, I knew it was risky putting students in charge of a project that not only the entire school and staff  would see, countless parents would as well.  The doubts were many: Would the students fail to take ownership of this ? Was the task too advanced for the age group to create something l...