STEM is everywhere

New MOOC of the European Schoolnet Academy 29.10.2018 - 5.12.2018

STEM is everywhere

Technology is a tool to develop problem-solving capabilities, both in a team and during independent study.

Question to reflect on
Module 1
How will artificial intelligence rewrite the way we work, think, study?
AI will make things easier in our workplaces but relaying on AI will change the way we use our brain.
Human will be asked to do what AI can't.
Ethics will change and emotional intelligence will be of high demand.
Studying will be easier but it will need a stronger motivation.

Share the most important things you think should change in the educational systems.
We reform curricula but how to reform attitudes and mindsets of the educators, especially the older ones.
Teachers need new skills too.

Critical thinking and problem solving
collaboration and leadership
effective oral and written communication
accessing and analyzing information
curiosity and imagination
initiative and entrepreneurialism
agility and adaptability
What other skills do you consider to be crucial for 21st century learning?
Emotional intelligence, empathy

Examples of how you teach your students 21-century skills.
PBL on real life problems

Module 2
Do you agree that most students don't have an appreciation for science because they can't relate it to the real world? How do you deal with it in your STEM classes? Experiences and resources?
Yes, they don't. Every time I have given them  the freedom of choice of what they will work on their PBL class, they respond well. They like working on problems that are close to them.

Module 3
What is the most significant advantage of an interdisciplinary approach to STEM lessons?
It's closer to real life!

My lesson plan was about garden design of a public open space.
Reflecting on my teaching subjects in order to find an idea for my lesson plan I realized that vocational subjects are full of STEM activities.

Google Earth in eTwinning projects

A Learning Event with: Cristina Santos and José Braga from 1 till 15.11.2018
that aimed at 
promoting a better knowledge/recognition of space or places involved in the projects using Google Earth tools, in collaborative work. 
Google Earth provides resources to help teachers and students to explore, create, and collaborate with mapping tools. Students who are taught geography are more prepared to understand how human and physical systems interact and to make informed decisions based on that knowledge.
Content

1. Let's Start - Tutorial Basic Operations

2. Let's Explore - Tutorial Exploring

3. Annotating - Tutorial Annotating Part 1 , Tutorial Annotating Part 2

4. Let's Rewind - Tutorial Let's Rewind

5. Narrated Tours - Tutorial How to Create Tours

Visit the site Google Earth Outreach about Success Stories and Special Projects.

This project from Google also have an Youtube channel.

Some Resources...

Tutorial of Google Earth Chrome for tablet or phone:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwoKQucfUiI

Blog about Google Earth:

googleearthuser.blogspot.com/2007/08/snapshot-view.html

15 Amazing Things with Google Earth:

www.quertime.com/article/15-amazing-things-you-can-do-with-google-eart

 

Timelapses:

https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWw80tqUZ5J_T8EKLKEWYd_NcFPiq9zTN

 

 Visit to the moon:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zHJ77RsnFXI

  

Visit mars (Google Earth version 5.0 but some features remain active):

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GjcCF6cIlPw

  

Explore the ocean:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6ATw1f_qcEg

  

Google Expeditions Tutorial Video (for GE on mobile devices, not GEP):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yPjqgFZWJ4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izcrdS40iV4

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GW2udc7Zlac

  

How to use cardboards for Google Expeditions:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CYwApgxCIIM

  

Legal aspects about using Google Earth materials:

Read the following PDF document extracted from Google compiling all the legal aspects of using materials created by Google Earth, and also the application logos. Essentially, you will see that there are no restrictions for the use in education.

mistakes on the spotlight

One of the activities during the workshop on entrepreneurial competences was "our mistakes". Participants were asked to list mistakes that they had made during the production season, on different phases  of the production and explain what they had learned from those mistakes.
Today, my morning reading at the beach, with the sound of the waves in the background, was "decision making" chapter from the book "Smarter Faster Better, the transformative power of real productivity", by Charles Duhigg.
I remembered the list of the mistakes that the farmers had written down and I thought that everybody usually talks about success and failures are rarely mentioned, especially in media.
Good choices concerning the future are based in forecasting. We make predictions based in assumptions and assumptions are made according to our experiences. What if we use only our positive experience? Will we get the right assumptions?

Successful people have spent a lot of time exploring information on failures.
We need to expose ourselves  to both success and failure stories, so that we make more accurate predictions. We need to remember our mistakes and I think that it would be quite useful to keep a diary of failures. It may be hard, because it's easier to look and think about our successful stories. But if we want our kids or students to be able to cope with the uncertainty of the future, we need highlight the importance of learning from mistakes and failures.

Workshop on Entrepreneurial competences

On Saturday the 11th of August I run a workshop on Entrepreneurial competences for farmers, offered by the Business and Innovation Center of Crete, in Ierapetra.
The activities that I had designed were based in the EntreLearn toolkit for Teachers that follows the EntreComp framework (developed by the Joint Research Center).
Instead of independent activities I combined them in 4 sets, relating them with the 15 entrepreneurial competences in clusters.
1. Analyze it (spotting opportunities, creativity, vision, valuing ideas, ethical and sustainable thinking)
    Participants had to identify 5 problems that a typical farmer faces, think of how  these problems could get     worse, think of solutions, analyze those solutions (SWOT) and recognize their sustainability.
2. Our mistakes (coping with uncertainty, ambiguity and risk- motivation, perseverance- learning through experience)
    Participants had to list the mistakes they have made during the different phases of production and explain the lessons they have learned from these mistakes.
3. Make a difference (taking initiative- mobilizing resources- mobilizing others- financial economic literacy- planing and management)
    Participants had to plan in details an initiative of social or environmental purpose and present it.
4. Our personal growth (self awareness, self efficacy- collaboration)
    Participants had get rid of negative thoughts, identify their strong and weak points in case of a         collaboration, to self-assess their entrepreneurial competences.

Those activities were related to their professional life so that participants get engaged and make the most out of their own experience.
The aims were that participants

• identify the 15 entrepreneurial competences and the circumstances in which they can develop these competences
• organize their thoughts 
• self-evaluate their entrepreneurial competences
• develop an entrepreneurial mindset
• realize the importance of collaboration and sharing of ideas

In the beginning of the session there was a warm up team building activity on the dynamics of collaboration.

 

Participants were given worksheets with instructions for each activity, they were collaborating in groups, they were developing their thoughts in mindmaps and charts, they filled questionnaires, they reflected on their personal self-evaluation EntreComp Giant, and  they completed their personal profile card of collaboration. They felt particularly engaged and they liked the activities very much, wishing that the result of their work is gathered in one document and be published.

My personal observations are that the participating adults preferred walking in well known paths of thinking, hesitating to think in innovative ways. The available time was not enough for reflection and for showcasing alternative ways of thinking. That's why I believe that there must be a long term available professional development course on the subject. 

skills to focus on

For all of us teachers that work on vocational guidance and counselling of students, it's essential that we use the latest resources concerning skill needed in a fast changing world.

Truly worrying about how fast school curriculum changes to adapt to these needs and how well teachers are trained to teach these skills, I'm publishing the infographic of Guthrie Jenssen, as mentioned in the World Economic Forum post on the 10 skills you'll need to survive the rise of automation.

1. complex problem solving
2. critical thinking
3. creativity
4. people management
5. coordinating with others
6. emotional intelligence
7. judgment and decision making
8. service orientation
9. negotiation
10. cognitive flexibility

Reverse thinking: How could we block students from gaining these skills?
By continue teaching independent subjects, in competitive instead of collaborating classrooms, without art that ignites creativity, without social and emotional intelligence courses to develop empathy, without keeping in mind sustainability.

Questions to feed our thoughts, now that we're on holidays and have time for something new to learn:
How much updated do we keep ourselves to new trends in education?
What is our personal Continuous Learning Development?

educational innovation

Today I discovered this publication of the European Schoolnet
Open Book of Educational Innovation



It's a collection of 115 educational innovations in Europe, in an attempt to make these innovations visible.

Starting reading this booklet, 3 things came in my mind and I highlight them:

1. The importance that the European Schoolnet initiatives have in my own professional development

2. The importance of Personal Learning Networks, twitter in my case. I find amazingly interesting things from my contacts, to learn and to share

3. The importance of innovation in schools that actually derive from innovative minds and collaborations, from individuals that had "A ha!" moments of inspiration and shared them successfully with like-minded people.

Investing in quality education for all European youth is vital for the future of Europe. No matter how deep technology will be embedded in educational practices, the human factor, teachers, will always play the most important role in motivating students and developing their social skills. Investing in empowering teachers to give their best in the classroom will be the crucial factor for successful education in the future. That's where European Schoolnet seems to have succeeded.

student ownership for a PBL classroom

Sharing the link to an interesting article of GettingSmart website 
You can read my ideas there.
6 insights on student ownership for your pbl classroom