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3.1 Culture and Collaboration in Education

CULTURALLY RELEVANT/REFLECTIVE TEACHING PRACTICES

COLLABORATION

ELECTRONICS

Culturally Relevant/Reflective Teaching and Learning

Ladson-Billings (1990) Teachers being aware of their own culture and biases as well as their students’ culture.

  • Reflecting on Biasas
  • Learn about Students’ Backgrounds
  • Achknowledge Differences
  • Inclusive Curriculum
  • Encourage Student Voice
  • Adjust Teaching Methods

Self Reflection Questions * Does the technology I use in the classroom support and reflect the cultural diversity of students * Are there cultural experiences and perspecitves reflected in stories or analogis? * How do I use technolgoy to amplify my students’ voices and allow them to share their culutural knowledge? * What assumptions do I make aobu what is “common knowledge” for my students?

Collaboration for Success

Research shows that teachers have more success integrating technology when they collaborate and partipate in a professional community.

TPACK theory of Teacher Knowledge -Technology - Content - Pedagogy

Fab Learning Academy -Technology - Science of Learning - Innovative Practices

Moving away from teacher knows everything! Collaborate and fill in what’s missing by having subject area teacher work with technology teacher to design lessons.
1. Look at Technology Knowledge Domain (teacher in school or outside specialists) 2. Content Area Domain (subject area teacher) 3. Pedagogy Domain (teachers, instructional coaches, administrators)

Ways of Collaborating * Brainstorming * Remixing lesson plans * Observation * Sharing resources

The Collaboration Cycle: Building Independence Through Partnership Full Collaboration - Partial Collaboration - Coaching - Mentoring

This is like the co-teaching model but with technlolgy

Challenges to Collaborating

It’s important to consider where teachers are coming from - their philosophy, their

Electronics

Why do it for K-12? * Hands on * STEAM career prep * Builiding foundational skills * Project-based learning * Develop critical thinking and problem solving skills * Hands on learning * Fostering creativity and innovation

Important Considerations * Age appropriate * Safety protocols * Access

Early Elementary (4-8) * Batteries * Simple Swatches and LIghts * Buzzers * Conductive inks/foils

Upper Elementary (9-11) * Series & parallel circuits * Simple circuits * Light sensor, dc motor

Middle School * More complex components, e.g. resistors, capacitors, transistors, breadboards * Building projects; more sensors, output devices, motor control * Block or scripted coding

High School * Deeper dive into circuit analysis, simple circuit design * Calculations of current, votage and resistance * More advanced projects, e.g. building robots, alarm systems, etc. * Other hardware platforms

Online Simulators - Tinkercad Circuits

Tutorial (insert link)

Demos - Embedded Boards

Paper Circuits (make a pop up greeting card that lights up) Put it on vinyl cutter…

Makey Makey - a great introduction to electrical current, integrates with DF You can make your own board

Circuts - The Work

Refleciton 1. We can integrate electronics into lessons by connecting student work to the content they are learning. For instance, make a symbol/character)aligned to your content) out of soft materials and add light/sound/movement to bring it to life. 2. If teachers create and learn the fun in the work as well as the possibilities of how it can connect to student learning they will be more interested in collaborating, learning and engaging in this type of teaching. Communities of Practice, Professional Learning Communities, Professional Development, all of these are opportunites for learning 3. Culturally reflective practices are critical in creating an inclusive and trusting environment where students can feel comfortable taking risks in their learning. Feeling a part of the community of a school and your classroom can make a big difference in the depth of your engagement in learning. Taking the time to know your students and consider how they are reflected, valued and supported in lessons and activities will support this work.