LearningForward

Kent Chesnut's technology in education blog.

Boy, it’s been busy around here.  My Diabetes @ School update is running behind schedule.  For this second posting, I’d like to consider the objectives for the update.

The original version of Diabetes @ School tried to address well over 50 objectives!  Way too much!   For the 2008 update I’d like to limit this to just what a teacher needs to know and do to help a student with type 1 diabetes have a safe and healthy school year.

>

>

The objectives for Diabetes @ School 2008 are:

Terminal Objectives
School personnel (teachers, administrators, coaches…) will properly and confidently help the student who has Type 1 Diabetes manage his blood sugar while at school.  (Problem Solving)
School personnel will properly and confidently recognize and treat medical problems associated with Type 1 Diabetes.  (Problem Solving)  

Information Processing Analysis
1         Properly follow School Health Plan to minimize risk of emergencies.
2         Recognize symptoms of low blood sugar or high blood sugar that must be treated.
3         Properly follow Quick Reference Emergency Plan to correct or accommodate low or high blood sugar values as necessary.     

Subordinate Objectives 
 Student will: 
1         state that type 1 diabetes is very different than type 2 – and familiarity with type 2 may interfere with properly handling type 1 problems.  (VI)
2         list symptoms of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) and hyperglycemia (high blood sugar).  (VI)
3         state that hypoglycemia is the most common school emergency for students with type 1.  (VI)
4         choose to monitor students with type 1 diabetes for symptoms of low / high blood sugar.  (Affective)
5         list sources of information for treating a student with type 1 diabetes for low / high blood sugar.  (VI)
6         choose to use these information sources to treat low / high blood sugar.  (Affective)
7         list scheduling changes that can affect diabetes treatment.  (VI)
8         choose to inform parents of schedule changes that affect diabetes treatment.  (Affective)
9         list symptoms of new-onset type 1 diabetes.  (VI)
10     choose to bring a student exhibiting signs of new onset type 1 to the student’s parent’s attention.  (Affective)

These objectives largely focus on the teacher familiarity with 2 1 page documents - the School Health Plan (the plan Zach will follow for managing his type 1 at school) and the Quick Reference Emergency Plan (the plan school personnel should follow in case of a dangerous low or high blood sugar episode).

I think I can advertise the new program as a 15 minute investment in helping Zach stay healthy and happy during this school year.  I hope this takes care of problem #1 from my original post… see here.

As usual, any comments or advice would be much appreciated.

This week I was asked to serve as a “harsh reader” for a grant application for a  local school.  Although I don’t know anything about grant applications (and I explained this to the requester), I did think it would be interesting to read one… so I read through and provided input where I thought it might help (I only hope I wasn’t too harsh ;-).

This was Wednesday.  By Thursday I was thinking about the grant application and its assumptions.  I certainly can’t describe the whole grant, but I’ll give an overview.  A couple of junior high schools in this district have significantly higher rates of suspension and performance gaps than the state average.  The grant proposal is to hire a graduation coach for each of these 2 schools.  The purpose of the coach will be to identify students who (according to certain criteria) are likely to be drop outs before graduation, design and implement intervention and incentive programs to keep them in school.  These at-risk students were described as disengaged in school and having behavioral problems and numbered somewhere between 13% - 25% of the schools’ populations.

It all seemed so reasonable… until I started thinking about the underlying assumptions.  These students don’t see any value in school, they haven’t been successful there, school has no relevance to them, they are going to be stuck in school for several more years with no way out,  and they cause problems.  So let’s hire a couple of guys to fix the kids! 

Why not fix the schools to make them relevant and engaging?!?   No, that doesn’t seem to be in the plan.  Instead, we’ll identify and target these at-risk kids with a series of behavioral modification techniques (as I would perceive intervention and incentive programs) to try to get them to fit in with the way school is done.

To think about… 

• Are the other 80% of the students in school engaged, enthusiastic learners?  Or are a great majority simply “doing their time” with the hopes of being released when their sentences are up (i.e. finish 12th grade)?
• Are students that are strongly engaged (at least trying to get good grades and not causing trouble) well served by the schools as they are?
• How many of the classes that your child(ren) are in (or have been in) have caught their imagination, engaged them to learn (not just get a good grade), and have motivated them to work their hearts out for the love of the subject?  In my case, there have only been a very few - but it it’s great to see my children motivated in this way.  What would school be like if only 2 - 3 classes each semester reached this level of engagement?  I’m afraid the school atmosphere would be so disrupted that somebody would put a stop to it!   

Alfie Kohn has a couple of good articles on this subject, “Constant Frustration and Occasional Violence: The Legacy of American High Schools” and “Choices for Children: Why and How to Let Students Decide”.  I recommend them both if you want to think further about these issues.  Gary Stager’s article about working with kids in the Main Youth Center (juvenile detention center), “Constructive Technology as the Key to Entering the Community of Learners”, is also great (and fits in with my prison metaphor).

After my son, Zach, was diagnosed with type 1 (juvenile) diabetes in 2005, I discovered that I wouldn’t be able to take care of it all at home.  We needed the school personnel responsible for him to know what danger signs to look for - and how to respond to emergencies at school.  I put together an instructional program called Diabetes @ School to help school personnel responsible for him understand type 1 diabetes and the role they could play in helping us keep Zach healthy and happy during the school day.

The program was written in Adobe (previously Macromedia) Authorware.  Authorware allows delivery on both CD-ROM or over the internet.  I always provided the program to school personnel on CD-ROM, but I’ve made it available now on the g4classes Moodle here.  The Main Menu of the program is shown in the screenshot to the right.

I attempted to provide both the information teachers would need along with a personal appeal for them to actually work with us (Zach’s parents).

 The introduction included a video of me describing the week prior to Zach’s diagnosis and a quiz.  Type 1 diabetes is much different than type 2… but people know much more about type 2 since it is much more prevalent.  Unfortunately, I felt knowledge of type 2 would actually interfere with a teacher’s understanding of type 1.  Therefore, the quiz was designed to highlight the differences between the two types and make the teacher score poorly.  I hoped that this would motivate them to work through the rest of the program.

The screenshot to the right is typical of the introduction screen for a section.  I provide a video, a narrated slideshow, or an audio clip designed to highlight the need for the section.  Then a preview of the section is provided. 

 >

 >

 >

 >

 >

>

  Each section consistes of 5 to 7 screens.  The screenshot at right is a typical information screen.  Information and  a multiple choice question are included on each screen.

Most of the questions are factual information from the screen.  A few are application requiring the teacher to really think through what is going on. 

Feedback is provided as soon as one of the answers is selected.

I believe the Diabetes @ School program provides the information that school personnel need to care for Zach during the school day.  I believe that the videos and slideshows help make the instruction personal. 

I do see, however, 3 serious problems with the instruction:

1. I don’t think any of Zach’s teachers actually work through the instruction.  Teachers are very busy (just like the rest of us) and most already know people with type 2 diabetes.  They may not see a need for this instruction.  The quiz in the introduction was supposed to “grease the skids” by helping the teacher understand that what they think they know about diabetes is very likely associated with type 2 diabetes and not applicable to type 1.  However, if they won’t do the introduction, there’s no chance that this can work.
2. The instructional strategy is not very motivational or fun.  The program provides important information, but does not provide for any student (actually, the students are teachers, in this case) control and does not really provide any motivational elements in the actual instruction (I might be able to argue that the intro sequences for some of the sections are motivational). 
3. Authorware delivery on CD-ROM is straightforward.  And installation of the web player over the internet is automatic.  However, some institutions have their networks locked down so tight that normal users may not be able to install the player.  I’m not sure why schools would fall under the “super secure” category, but I know the Christian school that Zach attends has their network locked down pretty tight.  For example, I have a flash based web program we used 1 year for communication of Zach’s blood sugar at lunch.  The teacher’s password wouldn’t even allow for the installation of the flash player!

So, why am I reflecting on all of this here?  As the new school year approaches I’d like to revamp and update the Diabetes @ School program.  In doing so I plan to try to address the 3 problems I’ve discussed above.  I’ll probably discuss the changes in the next few posts on this site.  If you have any suggestions on how to address the problems (or if you’ve looked through the program online and have any comments or suggestions), I’d love to hear them.

My family and I spent last week on vacation in San Antonio.  On Tuesday, we visited Sea World.  Sea mammals appear to be very complex and intelligent animals.  They can be trained to do quite amazing things.

As we sat watching one of the shows (Baluga whales and dolphins, I think), I found my mind wandering - and wondering.  We always refer to animal trainers as, well, trainers - never educators.  However, I heard more than one of the trainers talk about “working with” the animal - not training it.  (Odd, but “working with” is the same language Alfie Kohn tends to use when discussing progressive forms of education i.e. education as “working with” kids as opposed to “doing things to” kids.) 

How are animals (like the sea mammals) trained?  Well, I’m no expert but I can certainly speculate.  Start with a behavior the animal does naturally, use reinforcement (positive and negative) and shaping to condition the desired behaviors.  Condition these behaviors to specific stimuli.  Punish undesired behaviors until extinct.  Sounds like Skinner’s Operant Conditioning to me.

But isn’t operant conditioning common in schools?  Isn’t what we call traditional education very much like operant conditioning?  Memorizing and stating facts with grades as reinforcement seems consistent with it.  Practicing procedures on worksheets seems consistent with it.  Much of what we refer to as classroom management appears to really be behavioristic control.  Yet, we never refer to K-12 experiences as training.

I’m not sure where such thoughts lead… but as I watched the whales and dolphins and thought on these things, I felt quite sad.

Note:  I guess I’m opening myself up to the argument that education is meant to be beneficial in the long term (after the students grow up) and not necessarily in the short run, whereas training is meant to be applicable now (or very soon after the end of the training).  I guess I’d argue that this is a real shortcoming with what we call education.

Moodle is a very popular open-source Learning Content Management System used by numerous businesses and educational institutions across the country.  I started this site (www.g4classes.com) to investigate Moodle and provide teachers and students access to eLearning that they might not otherwise have.  (Later I got interested in blogging and started the LearningForward Ed Tech blog you’re reading now.) 

A couple of months ago I upgraded from Moodle 1.7 to Moodle 1.9.  It seemed safe, there were no active classes going on.  It also seemed very simple… I surely didn’t need to back up the site.  Oops!  Was I wrong!  Blew away the whole site. 

Anyway, I’m rebuilding the site.  I’ve just finished a “course” that is a demonstration of using Moodle to implement a Family Heritage Site.  Following the walled-garden concept, it provides a family with a variety of tools to capture and preserve family heritage, including:

• A news forum where postings are sent to all family members enrolled in the course.
• A reunion discussion forum for coordinating the next family reunion.
• 2 databases for sharing pictures, from the most recent family reunion and favorite pics to be shared.  These databases provide fields for the photographer’s name and a description of the picture.
• A database for written family stories.  These stories include the author’s name, the story’s title, the story itself, and a picture.
• A oral history project where family members can record or submit recordings of family stories.

If you get a chance to take a look at the course, I’d sure like to know what you think…  Do you think the Family Heritage Site would be useful for families?  What could be added that would improve the site?  Any comments would be much appreciated.

In Jeopardy style… the question is

What’s the quickest way to destroy intrinsic motivation to learn?

See the story here. 

Alfie Kohn explores this in a number of his articles… one of which is here.   Here’s a quote from the article that explains the relationship between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation:

“The more people are rewarded for doing something, the more they tend to lose interest in whatever they had to do to get the reward.”

I’ve just started reading Alfie Kohn’s book “What does it mean to be well educated?”  I was surprised to find that he answered the question on page 10.  Basing his definition on Dewey’s belief that the “goal of education is more education”, Kohn answered the question…

“To be well educated, then, is to have the desire as well as the means to make sure that learning never ends.”

I’m not qualified to debate this with either Mr. Kohn or Mr. Dewey.  But I do feel qualified to reflect on what this means to me.

• “to have the desire”
  • If a person associates learning with school (seems natural) and consider a continuation of school (as it has been “done to” them) an undesirable thing, he will not be likely to desire learning that never ends.***
  • This “desire” will likely have to be intrinsically motivated - as there are probably few extrinsic rewards for a lifetime of learning (obviously, specific learning objectives like an MBA may be extrinsically rewarded, but I would suggest that examples such as this are few and relatively short in comparison with a lifetime).***
• “as well as the means” implies a number of things
  •  Financial means - one must have skills and knowledge that are marketable.*** 
  • Security means - one must have their immediate needs (safety, food, shelter, medicine, …) met before one can pursue lifelong learning (read about Maslow’s Hierarchy here for more information).
  • Freedom means - one must have the basic freedom to make choices such as pursuing a learning goal.
  • Intellectual means - one must have basic learning skills such as reading, writing, etc ***
  • Intellectual means #2 - it is extremely important that one have the goal setting skills (the ability to lay out a plan for achieving a learning goal) and metacognitive skills (the ability to monitor one’s own learning and make appropriate adjustments to attain their learning goals) to be a successful lifelong learner.*** 

Wow!  Even the best schools can’t achieve all of these criteria.  But schools can certainly have an effect (either positive or negative) on those that are marked with ***.

Are our schools encouraging intrinsic motivation and creating lifelong learners? 

Are our schools helping students acquire the cognitive and metacognitive skills needed to pursue a life of learning? 

Or are our schools killing off the desire and means for one to become a lifelong learner?

One of the complaints I read about school is that it is NOT an authentic preparation for the world of the workplace.  And I’ve always agreed.  When I think about school, I think about…

• Rigid and strict authoritarian hierarchy - with the student at the bottom.
• Rigid time scheduling… Students have little input - they are told when to arrive, when to start class, when to go to the next class, when to eat lunch, when to leave, when to go to the bathroom!
• Rigid control of methods… Students have little say in what they learn, how they learn it, or how they demonstrate their learning.
• Overdependence on extrinsic rewards and punishments.
• Numerous arbitrary (and sometimes senseless) rules and assignments… no student buy-in required.   

The world of school seems totally foreign to my work life… and, of course, I consider my life to be authentic.

Then, out of the blue, it hit me.  The characteristics of school that I mentioned above ARE a completely authentic preparation for the job market - at least if you only consider the lowest-paid, lowest-skilled, and least desirable jobs our economy has to offer!

Note: I just finished reading the second essay in Alfie Kohn’s book “What Does It Mean To Be Well Educated?” titled “Turning Learning Into A Business”.  I’ve read this essay before and it is clear that the “blue” that my ideas spawned from may well have included Kohn’s writings. 

In my last post, I discussed a project that I feel would be appropriate for upper elementary students.  I noted, however, that I thought it (the car driving simulation) would probably appeal much more to boys than girls.  In this second post about Scratch as a constructive learning environment for upper elementary students, I’ve selected a project that I thought may appeal more to girls - a virtual pet simulation.

A screenshot of the project is shown to the right.  Run the project here.  Download the project file here.  As it is now, the project is not very interactive.  All you have to do is click on the egg and make sure the food doesn’t run out.

So what can an upper elementary student learn from making such a project?

• Scratch programming constructs and modular programming.  The project uses loops, conditionals, broadcasts, and sprite / edge detection.  
• Debugging and troubleshooting techniques. 
• And hopefully she will have some fun!

One of the things I like best about the project is that there are so many ways to enhance and improve it.  A student could choose to:

• make the project with any kind of pet - either from the wide array of art provided with Scrath or by drawing his own.
• If he wanted the butterfly, he could have it metamorph from a caterpillar instead of hatch from an egg - luckily, we’re not talking science here
• Keep track of the pet’s age.
• Add variables to keep track of the pet’s happiness and provide a way for the user to play with the pet to increase its happiness.
• Add the capacity for the pet to “poop” and provide an interesting way for the user to clean up after it.
• Allow the pet to start smaller and grow to full size as it ages / eats.
• Make a cage on the screen for their pet to live in.  When they are finished playing, allow the pet to escape by opening the pen and allowing the pet to find his way out and return to the wild.
• Fix the bugs in the program… where the butterfly gets caught along an edge for a while occasionally.

Would an upper elementary student find such a project engaging?  Any comments? 

On reflection, the motion in this project may make it a little too advanced for an upper elementary student.  If a student chose to attempt a project such as this, it might be better to encourage her to do it without the motion at first.  As a second step she could add very simple motion… glide to the food when the pet gets hungry.  Finally, she could add some sort of randomness to the motion.

I’ve blogged about Scratch being a good learning environment for kids.  But my examples have tended to be at the Junior High level (or possibly higher).  For the next few posts, I’ll be looking at projects that I think could be generated by an upper elementary student.

This week we’ll look at a simple car game.  A screenshot of the game screen is shown below.  The objective is simple, drive on the road.  The referee will complain if you drive in the grass.  Run the program here.  Download the project file here.

So what can an upper elementary student learn from making such a project?

• Scratch programming constructs and modular programming.  The project uses loops, conditionals, broadcasts, and sprite / background detection.
• Concepts such as scaling (see below).
• Debugging and troubleshooting techniques. 
• And hopefully he will have some fun!

The hardest part of this game is trying to connect the car angle to the steering wheel angle.  If you think about how a car works, the car angle keeps changing as you hold the steering wheel in a fixed place (as long as you’re not going straight).  The student can use his body to do the Turtle Walk (see Papert’s Mindstorms Chapter 3 for a good explanation of this) to help troubleshoot this functionality.  Additionally, a program like this allows the student to progress as far as he wants.  He could make a lot of improvements, including…

• Improve the steering to make the car easier to drive.
• Add a lap counter.  A lap timer.
• Add sound effects.
• Add a second car and make a 2 player racing game?

Would an upper elementary student find such a project interesting and motivating?  I think many boys would… but I’m not sure that this would appeal as much to girls.  Any comments?