Another reason for relying less on textbooks and making learning real. Get a compelling question which produces a compelling answer. Develop the problems with students.
Here's a great article on the history and cognitive role of handwriting.
I would hate to live in a world where we were unable to communicate without a keyboard, and keyboard free is also not future I would enjoy.
We need to straddle both worlds and some of us will lean more on the handwriting side than others. The question of which to use keyboard skills in school is more about resources, competency at typing and the level of integration of computers within school.
Virtual manipulatives is a fantastic looking version of smartboard software. I just looked at the maths software and was really impressed by the easy to use tools, including base ten manipulatives, a set of scales or balance and a simple timer.
I'm sure that smartsoftware has more functions, but is does seem like a good quick and easy alternative.
This link takes you to a pdf of a set of resources called cornerstone assessments. I had heard of Jaye McTighe and Grant Wiggins and Curriculum by design a while back but recently saw a tweet by D krea_frobro747 .
Content, process, quality and result are the 4 types of performance criteria he uses.
There are some great indicator words they use; for example if you are assessing the process skills then the following adjectives help you to identify how the task has been completed. careful clever coherent collaborative concise coordinated effective efficient flawless followed process logical/reasoned mechanically correct methodical meticulous organized planned purposeful rehearsed sequential skilled
This video is a great example of PBL. It comes from the Buck Institute. It includes segments showing the planning stages and exemplifies how PBL should have a real purpose. Here, the curriculum does not seem to be a rigid force which has to be manipulated, rather the project presents reasons for the skills and knowledge to be learnt.
Do the teachers keep track of what has been learned? Do teachers make notes of who contributed, who succeeded and who worked the hardest? Does this school ONLY use PBL?
The real life context of the learning provides the motivation...decisions which the children take will have a real effect on their surroundings and way of life:
The influence of contextual factors on cognition has also engendered a good deal of research and has, according to the citations in PBL research, had an important influence on the authenticity and autonomy elements of Project-Based Learning. According to research on "situated cognition," learning is maximized if the context for learning resembles the real-life context in which the to-be-learned material will be used; learning is minimized if the context in which learning occurs is dissimilar to the context in which the learning will be used (Brown,Collins & Duguid, 1989). (A REVIEW OF RESEARCH ON PROJECT-BASED LEARNING, John W. Thomas, Ph. D March, 2000, )
