Week 2 Blog

Part 1:  Authentic Intellectual Work/Authentic Instruction & Assessment.

 

1. What is the nature of Authentic Intellectual Work?  How does it differ from traditional approaches to instruction and assessment? 

Authentic Intellectual Work (AIW) emphasizes the purpose of knowledge and skills to real-world challenges, focusing on meaningful and productive intellectual activities rather than routine memorization or the simple recall of information. The nature of AIW is rooted in the idea that education should prepare students to engage in tasks that require deep thinking, problem-solving, and creating new ideas or products that are of value beyond the classroom. In contrast, traditional approaches to instruction and assessment often emphasize the mental storage of factual knowledge, typically considered through standardized tests or assignments with clear right or wrong answers. This tends to prioritize content coverage and for students to perform well on tests, which leads to superficial learning.

2. Discuss the components of Authentic Intellectual Work and provide deep consideration of at least one component by including a discussion of empirical (research-based) evidence 

The construction of knowledge involves students creating new understanding by integrating and applying prior knowledge to solve complex problems. Rather than merely recalling facts, students are encouraged to analyze, create, and evaluate information, which leads to developing new insights or solutions. Disciplined Inquiry requires students to dig deep into a subject, engage in research, and apply rigorous methods to explore significant questions or problems. It involves gathering information, interpreting data, developing reasoned arguments, and producing well-supported conclusions. This process mirrors the value beyond school, emphasizing the importance of doing work that has meaning and relevance outside the classroom. Students are tasked with creating products or solutions that address real-world issues, demonstrating the applicability of their learning to broader contexts. The goal is to ensure that students' work is academically rigorous and socially or practically valuable.

3. Describe a specific example of authentic intellectual work in a discipline or content area.

An example of Authentic Intellectual Work for 7th-grade middle school science could involve a project where students investigate how human activities impact the local water cycle. Students begin by learning about the water cycle, including evaporation, condensation, precipitation, infiltration, and runoff. They study how water moves through the environment and the factors that can influence this cycle, such as temperature, geography, and human impacts. Foundational knowledge is built through classroom instruction, textbook readings, and interactive water cycle simulations. Students are then tasked with investigating how specific activities in their community, such as town development, farming, or deforestation, affect the local water cycle. This inquiry might involve data collection, research and analysis, and hypothesis formulating. Students could apply their findings to suggest solutions for reducing the negative impacts of humans on the water cycle. Attending water municipal meetings, clean water campaigns, or recycling promotions might look like attending water municipal meetings, clean water campaigns, or recycling promotions. 

Part 2:  2024 National Education Technology Plan Update

 

Focusing on the water cycle, teachers could use reproductions and digital tools to model the water cycle’s processes. The lesson could provide multiple means of engagement, representation, and expression, ensuring all students can access the content via Chrome Books or other technology. To promote authentic intellectual work, students could apply their understanding by analyzing local water data, collaborating to solve a community issue related to water conservation, or presenting their findings to members of the community, thus connecting classroom learning to real-world challenges.

PS...I had a rough week and did some brainstorming for my science lesson with:

OpenAI. (2024). ChatGPT [Large language model]. https://chatgpt.com/c/6124a6ba-607b-4616-af7b-3bf8410faf78

Week 1 Blog Assignment

EDUC 5313 Week 1 Blog Assignment

    I am a busy wife and mother to three teenage daughters.  I work full time at our local middle school and have been at our district school since 2012.  I never planned to be a parent and never really had a plan for my future or education either.  However, after having children and becoming involved in their school, I found a passion for education, and I am now pursuing my masters in curriculum and instruction. I graduated in 2022 with my bachelor's in liberal and applied studies with a focus to teach middle school special education. I was the kid that struggled all through my growing up years.  Once God changed my heart and gave me a passion for helping kids who struggle in school, I decided to become a teacher.  I have felt a call on my life to change my family’s legacy by being active in church with my kids, promoting education, and encouraging character development to every student I see.  My family lives on a farm in Northwest Oklahoma, and I enjoy gardening, home canning, and I even have my own greenhouse.  My family spends a lot of time outdoors with campfires, archery, ATV’s, horticulture, and agriculture.  

    According to ISTE standards for students 1.1 Empowered Learner, students are expected to use technology to demonstrate competency in their learning goals. Furthermore, Oklahoma Academic Standards for science in the 7th grade classroom expect students to be able to describe the cycling of matter and the flow of energy into and out of various ecosystems. Oklahoma Curriculum Framework 7.LS2.3 expects students to describe, organize, and develop models of food webs, and energy flow systems. Utilizing these standards, one way that I would use technology to teach students would to be use the IXL Learning platform in my classroom. IXL is an interactive online learning site geared to the grade level of the students that you are instructing. After I have taught the material through the textbook and using Google Slides on my smartboard for notetaking, I can check for student understanding and comprehension through the IXL 7.X.1-6 lessons. Students can work at their own pace through the online material, and I can assess which students are grasping the technology expectation and the curriculum that has been presented.  

    I have been in education for a little over 12 years and I wholeheartedly agree with the Triple E Framework in that, “no lesson that integrates technology can be successful without the teacher carefully integrating instructional moves.”  Within the engagement category, teacher monitoring is crucial with using technology, especially in the middle school years.  Students are so distracted and prone to make poor choices so teacher monitoring is a must.  With the IXL component for my lesson, students get Kolb’s enhancement category in that they must actively listen or engage with the content on their screen which is reinforcing the lesson that was already taught.  IXL also uses visual representations of learning which also aligns with Kolb’s Triple E Framework.