Critical thinking - fake news

By coincidence an article about how to spot fake news, popped up in my browser some days ago. follow eight steps, and you should have a good chance not to be fooled.

To read the entire article, click here

I just had to share this poster about blogging, published by On Blast Blog . Read, practice and make your own experiences when you blog!


Credit: On Blast Blog

Mocking vs. Subject Day

The last couple of years, a debate on what learning effects exams and mocking have on students, have appeared at the school where I teach. The main reason why this discussion has come up is that we have had an increasingly higher focus on how teachers should use their limited time in classroom to achieve as much learning among the students as possible.

The exam form (the mocking is mainly similar) is a test where students are tested on how much they know about one or more topics in a subject. When using this test form we measure and give marks - numbers between 1 and 6. This way to evaluate on has been widely used over the years in both junior high, high school and universities. Therefore, one should think the students had great learning benefits from this form since this is the common practice at nearly every school around the country, but sadly it’s not. Research has shown us that formative evaluation, which goes on during the working process, and where the purpose is to guide the students, not to measure them, creates better effects of learning. Also less focus on marks have shown better learning effects, and one reason is that when students get back their test or assignment, they first look at the mark, and second at the teacher’s feedback. Marks make students less motivated to learn from what they did well and the mistakes they made.

At our school we have replaced mocking in two subjects (Norwegian and English) with “subject day” where students receive guidance and assistance while they write. Instead of having one long day, we have split it into two halves. This gives students a break where they can think through how to continue their writing, and the teacher has time to thoroughly go through the unfinished texts from the first half day. When the other half day starts (usually two days after the first), the students receive tips and guidance on how to finalize the text in the best possible way.

On Subject Day communication and collaboration is allowed, the only restriction is Internet (but maybe, some day in the near future, this will also be allowed). Some students like to work only with teacher’s help, while others prefer some kind of collaboration with other students, and this has shown up to work quite well. 

In Norway we have three exam/mocking subjects, Norwegian, English and Math. Since both students and teachers are very satisfied with having replaced the mocking with “subject day”, we will over the next few months discuss and try to find out if it is possible to do this with math too. Math stand out from the language courses, and the form must necessarily be somewhat different. The goal is to change the focus from measurement to learning, and to have prepared a subject day form for math which can be introduced at the end of the term.

Smartphone in the classroom

Why on earth should we allow students to carry cell phones to school? Seeing that many schools have introduced prohibitions, so why can we not simply get a government ban and thus get rid of the problem of unfocused and asocial students once and for all!

It might be tempting to use the sledge-hammer, but maybe it's still a good idea to stop and think about whether we are on the right path. Will students be better prepared for the future with a ban, is the question we must ask. Obviously there are many functions at a smartphone that can take the focus away from the teacher who is standing talking up at the blackboard. But I think I am not totally wrong when I say that students could have a lack of concentration before the invention of smartphone as well. I am a teacher, working at a school where cellphones are allowed, but like every other school we certainly have rules about the use. Even though some smart guys manage to have a peek at some snaps during my lessons, I don’t think the smartphone is the main reason if someone should have a lack of concentration. The mobile phone, however, can be a way to get students to focus better on the academic, because it offers new educational opportunities. The advantages of mobile, used properly, outweighs certainly drawbacks.

Think about what you use your mobile phone to - banking, social media, news, weather, photos and video, messages, translator, GPS, maps, music, call, calendar, buy tickets, notes, clock, seek and find answers to questions, email - mobile is simply, and without comparison, the most widely used tool and important information bank for most people today. Learning opportunities, which is embedded in these just over 100 grams with electronics, totally exceeds all the tens of pounds of textbooks students are through during the three years at secondary school - if used wisely. Unfortunately, it doesn’t come as a surprise that schools are on collision course with the society. Just think about when businesses hunt for workers who can collaborate, communicate, share experiences, and find creative solutions using all available means - in school we call it cheating! When it pops up a fantastic multi-tool – the smartphone - that can be used pedagogically in very many contexts, the school finds it dangerous and makes prohibitions against it.

In my music- and English classes I let my students use their smartphones if they first ask me. Examples on when applicable can be to quickly find answers to questions, translate words, take pictures and document their own work, record songs they compose and present, Kahoot-quiz, and so on. Yes, of course we use computers too, but different from high school, each one of our students in secondary doesn’t have her or his own computer. The smartphone is also better suited than the computer in some cases.

The students don’t talk to each other during the recesses, they just watch their screens! This is a widely used argument to introduce a ban. Certainly it might be like this, sometimes a small group of students is lost in their smartphones, other times many are. But may this have something to do with the activities the school offers students? Experiences from my own work is that organized activities like different kind of sports or playing chess reduces the number of visible smartphones among the students (another question is whether it is worse to play games together with your friends on a screen, than on a chess board?). Some schools have also introduced mobile-free zones, which means that students actually have to consider their mobile use. An important task for the school is to raise awareness among students that they actually have choices - by imposing bans we take from them the opportunity!

Several newspapers have recently been written about schools that have introduced mobile ban. These schools have indeed pointed out that they still occasionally let students use their phones in class, and that's good. But the signal effect is still negative since the words we are left with are ban, remove and clamp down on. The alternative would be to meet students at their home ground, discuss mobile use when the topic naturally emerge in lessons or breaks, and working with attitudes about where, when and how one should use mobile phones.

Education Act§ 1-1 tells us what the purpose of the school is. It says among other things that education should "... open doors to the world and the future ...", "... develop knowledge, skills and attitudes in order to cope with their lives and to participate in work and fellowship in the community ..." and "... think critically and act ethically ... ".

The curriculum “Kunnskapsløftet” (K06) describes five basic skills that should appear in all subjects in school, one of them is digital skills:

Digital skills mean being able to use digital tools, media and resources appropriate and responsible for solving practical tasks, collect and process information, create digital products and communicate. Digital skills also mean developing digital judgment through acquiring knowledge and good strategies for online use.

Digital skills are important prerequisites for further learning and active participation in a labor market and a constantly changing society. Digital developments have changed many of the premises for reading, writing, numeracy and verbal expressions. Therefore, digital skills are natural parts of the basis for learning activities both within and across disciplinary topics. This creates opportunities for new learning strategies, but also increases the demands for judgment.

From what the Education Act, and the digital skills say, a ban on mobile phone is such as walking backwards into the future blindfolded. The school is supposed to give students knowledge, skills and positive attitudes, so that they are prepared for the life that faces them in the future, a future that just gets more and more influenced by technology where mobile phones play a central role.

The Perfect School

Some weeks ago, I gave my pupils in the 9^th and 10^th grade a task where they could use their expertise. You probably wonder what kind of expertise that would be. They are of course experts in being pupils, nobody knows the school better than them.

Warm meals are popular.

“If you were to create a new school system, how would it be?” was the questions I gave them, and from their answers, I have made a summary which includes a lot of different topics that are relevant to school.

When should the day at school start and end, homework, subjects, technology and many more topics were mentioned. Most pupils talked about what kind of changes they wanted, but someone also mentioned what they would keep from today’s school system. Here is a list that shows the topics, and I have ranged them so that you find the most popular topics at the top.

Technology Twenty-four answers said something about technology, two meant that we should use it less, while the other 22 meant that more or better technology increase learning.	Smartboard and teachers that know how to use them iPad or Mac Tablets instead of books more technology that can motivate the pupils (like kahoot) No pencils and paper No blackboard Better computers not use the computer all the time no mobiles at school Free phones and computers to use only at school Wifi with password that changes every day CCTV-cameras at school
Subjects Fifteen pupils had meanings about the subjects, and their opinions differed a lot.	Like it is today More subjects Three compulsory subjects + several electives like nature & science, religion, second language ++ Math + Norwegian + English are basic subjects, you can choose between the rest and have them in periods (courses) More wood work More practical subjects Practical subjects without grades Marketing and finance Not so many subjects French + Spanish as well as German Less theory subjects Like it is today + add the new subjects “nature” where you have to have your lessons out in the nature
Start/end school Twelve pupils had opinions about when to start in the morning and when to end the school day. A few also said something about how many days a week at school, and how long the vacations should be.	8 am - 2.30 pm 9 am – 2 pm 9 am – 3 pm 9 am – 5 pm 10 am - 2 pm 10 am - 4.30 pm (7 lessons) 10 am - 5 pm  (open to 7 pm) Like it is today End earlier 4 days a week Longer summer vacation
Food Almost everyone among the eleven pupils that mentioned meals, wanted warm food at school, and a few talked about Norway, one of the wealthiest countries in the world, that doesn’t spend money on this, while for instance Sweden does.	Warm meal Warm meal once a week, Free breakfast Three lunch breaks Allowed to eat during the lessons
Tests Some want more tests while others want less. Nine pupils had answers that covered this topic.	Like it is today Not more than one test a day Maximum two tests a week Weekly tests in every subjects, End-of-year test and repeat the year if you fail. Rewards to the best pupils Not many tests because they make pupils feel bad when they fail Change the one-day-exam into three tests so that if you fail once you can havenew chances to do well.
Homework Surprisingly only nine pupils mentioned homework, does that mean they normally don’t need to spend very much time doing school work at home?	No homework Choose if you want to do your homework at school with help from teachers Not so much as today Very little homework Do the homework in the last lesson
Furniture Also nine pupils mentioned the furniture, and most of them wanted softer chairs.	More comfortable chairs Office chairs Bigger desks Bigger desks with drawers Desks with power connectors
Classroom Bigger, lighter and warmer classrooms would probably be popular, this was mentioned in nine answers.	Open all day Redecorate Classrooms for listening only Big and light classrooms All classes should have their own classroom Round classrooms with many windows Heating in the floor
School uniforms Five pupils meant that this would be a good idea, and that it would reduce bullying in school.	Yes
Transportation Only three pupils mentioned the transportation to school.	Bus all the way home Free bus wherever you live Eco-friendly buses

At the end I will also mention some suggestions that came up, but which are a bit difficult to put into the categories above.

• Enough help for every pupil
• Start school at the age of eight
• Divide into boys and girls only in a couple of subjects (PE)
• No bullying
• Allowed to go to the shop
• Library at school 

Kahoot

Gaming is fun and learning is useful, but how can we combine them. The answer might be Kahoot, a social game where you combine knowledge with smartphones and competition.

I was introduced to Kahoot when attending an ict-seminar half a year ago. More than 200 people were crammed together in an auditorium at NTNU in Trondheim. It was not difficult to understand I was not sitting together with a collection of athletes. Teachers who looked they had swallowed footballs instead of playing with them, square eyed ict-administrators, bossy dressed headmasters and some cavemen that I don’t know much about except that I can tell from the pale green face colour, they hadn’t seen the sun the last couple of years.

Well, enough about that, every one of us were trying to answer the instructor’s questions as quick as possible, and the way to do so was to push either the red, blue, yellow or the green button on the smartphone. After we had answered one question the top score was showed on the screen in the front of the classroom, which of course trigged our competitive instinct…on the next question I want to do better, I want to enter the top score list!!!

Can “gameshows” or a quiz turn out to be educational? It is definitely fun, but is it more than only fun? Well, the answers will of course depend on what kind of questions you put into it, and what kind of goals and audience you have. You cannot put open questions that require long answers into Kahoot, this is a tool where you have to be short and concise. However, if you want some answers about facts like numbers, names, places, etc., this quiz tool fits perfect. As a teacher, you therefore have to accept the limits of this tool, but you should also know what it does better than most teachers and schoolbooks – a motivator for the students to find the answers, which means the students is led into a learning process, some of them without knowing.

In this video you can watch 5th graders use Kahoot

I am convinced you can use it in any subject at school. Maybe you want to use it as a teaser when you introduce a new topic in geography. Testing what the students have learned from their homework in maths, or your latest lecture in music, works perfect with Kahoot. You can also let your students make their own questions and create a Kahoot they can use in class, asking questions and teaching others is often the best way of learning.

As you probably understand from what I have written, I am a Kahoot fan, and if you are a teacher or a student, and have not tried it yet, you really should hurry up and enter this webpage where you can make your own Kahoot games: https://getkahoot.com/

Have fun and end up smart!

Can it be fun to learn about Peer Gynt?

My blog is called “Learning is Fun” and in a previous blog post I jot down some thoughts about this. My conclusion, if I had any, was that you are in a learning process almost all the time, maybe except when you’re asleep. You don’t only learn things at school, but also among friends, from your parents, on Internet or from books. But often, the best way to learn new stuff is to do what you’re going to learn, not just read about it. Are you going to be a plumber, well then you have to do some plumbing, not only read about tubes and hoses in a plumber book. If you want to become a drummer you have to practice on the drum set, you can’t learn it only from reading.  But theory is also important, a plumber have to know what kind of tubes he has to use in different situations, if he uses wrong dimensions, water leaks and expensive damages might be the result.

In school it’s easier to work with practical activities in some subjects than others. Music, arts and crafts and PE are subjects where we mostly do things instead of read about them. But it is more challenging to find good practical activities in English, Norwegian, religion and social studies. I really want tips about how we can make these lessons more fun and interesting while you are learning at least as much as you do today.

Here is a video from a lesson in Norwegian (I can’t guarantee you that our school has economy to hire all these people….sorry..)