Interactive Classrooms - iClickers for active learning

The following post was written for the NAME 2016 One World: United By Water Conference at Pearson College in Metchosin, BC.

Story (including but not limited to narrative) is a powerful vehicle for learning. I would even call it a force! Below, I have created and collected some resources to support your exploration of story in science or integrated studies. As you create your own stories and engage your students in storytelling, please be sure to refer to the First People’s Principles of Learning (FPPL) and consider place and land based pedagogies to ensure a culturally responsive approach. Until we experience and observe a place or space, how can we know what we might learn from it or what we might do to conserve or rehabilitate it. Until we learn about the natural and cultural history of a place, how can we engage with it? In my own classroom, I would have the students learn about the place through their own observations and experience. A focus on developing questions and seeing connections could support further inquiry. During this process, I would likely invite an elder to share knowledge, history and current context of the place.

I would like to suggest that, in science education, there is tremendous value in looking at place from an holistic perspective rather than simply going to a place to do a task; be it collecting data or doing field work. Connecting to a place and learning what the place itself can tell you about it can help infuse aboriginal ways of knowing (BC Ministry of Education) and may help you journey further away from a ‘settler’ perspective of place (i.e. the place is there for us and our use as a resource).

Place based learning is gaining popularity in British Columbia due, in part, to curriculum revisions that now highlight this valuable pedagogy. Some would say we are returning to this way of knowing. It is interesting to note, however, that in some literature, the term ‘land based’ pedagogy is used instead of ‘place based’. The sense that it is the land to which we are connected combined with an attempt to avoid a ‘settler’ perspective (Barnhardt & Kawagley, 2005) supports this shift. Of course, as ocean educators, we might bristle at the term ‘land based’. I suspect there will be further evolution of thought and terminology as academics and educators explore this promising pedagogical approach. For now, for our purposes, we will consider this a place based learning opportunity.

It is important to know that our local indigenous cultures view all elements imbued with life force as ‘our relations’ and tend to take a very holistic and connected view of place. It is important to do some reading and ensure you recognize your perspective and also acknowledge ‘those who came before’ – the elders – who have helped you shape your understanding.

A few questions you might consider as you engage in any place: Is this place my home? Am I an indigenous person in this place? Am I a visitor? Do I come from a settler perspective? Do I have the privilege or right to be in this place? Who should I acknowledge for the opportunity to be in this place?

Teachers engaging in storytelling and working to infuse indigenous content and FPP, should consider the proprietary and potentially sacred nature of story. If you are re-telling a story, do you know that you have the privilege to tell the story and to whom do you give acknowledgement? In most cases, if you have permission to share a particular story orally, you may not have the privilege to share it in another format… It may seem complicated and even ‘scary’ territory, but, it seems to me from the readings I’ve done and the workshops and round table discussions in which I’ve had the fortunate opportunity to participate, the most important thing to keep in mind is acknowledgement. The Learning Circle is a resource for grades 4 – 7 that can support an understanding of the importance of story and includes some oral retellings you can use with your students.

A few acknowledgements (places and people who have helped me in my quest to further my understanding and gain knowledge):

• Thanks to Mary Holmes, SD36 teacher, longtime colleague and friend of mine for co-facilitating the session @NAMEBC 2016.
• The First Nations Education Steering Committee (FNESC) is a valuable resource to support teachers as they consider ways to effectively and mindfully incorporate First People’s Principles of Learning. You can download your own FPPL poster.
  
• The following academic resources might be of interest to those wishing to consider some of the intricacies of place based pedagogies:
  • Barnhardt, R., & Kawagley, A. O. (2005). Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Alaska Native Ways of Knowing. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 36(1), pp. 8-23.
  • McCoy, K., In Tuck, E., & In McKenzie, M. (2016). Land education: Rethinking pedagogies of place from indigenous, postcolonial, and decolonizing perspectives.
  • Lawrence, R. & Mealman, C. (1999). Collaborative ways of knowing: storytelling, metaphor and emergence of the collaborative self. Conference paper: Adult Education Research Conference, Northern Illinois University DeKalb, Illinois. Avaialable: http://redstonecoaches.com/files/read-collaborative-ways-of-knowing-storytelling-metaphor.pdf (17 august 2009)
• I would also like to gratefully acknowledge some invaluable colleagues from UBC working with the UBC Longhouse, the Native Indian Teacher Education Program (NITEP) and  the Xwi7xwa Library @ UBC Library.
  I have had the privilege of attending many of these presentations and have begun to develop my understanding of the potential and issues around Indigenizing education and have begun trying to share my understandings in a mindful way.

Careful observation and the digital recording of these observations can lead to some amazing opportunities: Students made some unique discoveries using digital photography including the use of time lapse. The time lapse helped them observe movements that in “real time” would be difficult to notice. Further, the act of video taping and photographing caused the students to look closely and also allowed them to ‘replay’ their observations. While sometimes seen as a distraction, the use of digital technologies can enhance student observations. (video shared with student and teacher permissions, Mary Holmes, SD36)

You’ll also see, in the video above, a plumose anemone ‘waving’ some extra long tentacles. Ashton, a grade 5 student, recorded this as he was observing the Seaquarium. He used the footage in his digital story. This is an excellent example of real world data collection in that it was something we had never seen before. We further investigated, checking in with our experts (a local biologist) and found that Jenny Purcell had written about ‘catch tentacles’ in 1977. That this was an example of catch tentacles was further confirmed by Louise Page of the University of Victoria who had read about these but had never observed them. She was thrilled to receive our footage and asked if she could use it in her BIO 321 Invertebrate course. Ashton, needless to say, was thrilled!

Purcell, J. (1977). Aggressive Function and Induced Development of Catch Tentacles in the Sea Anemone Metridium senile (Coelenterata, Actiniaria). Biological Bulletin, 153(2), 355-368. doi:1. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/stable/1540441 doi:1

An example Mary created using ‘App Smashing’ (elements built using a couple of different apps and edited into one project):

A quick example Yvonne created using ‘VidLab’ while in the field (or in place):

Our Padlet Wall (NB: the embedded map was created using thinglink and is interactive – click on the dots to view stories made in that place!):

Created with Padlet

OUR Process in this workshop:

STEP 1

Go to a local place. Sit quietly and observe. Get a feel for the place

STEP 2

Use your Camera App – take some photos that help you visualize this place. What draws your eye? Your ears? What do you wonder?

STEP 3

Launch Viva Video App –

1. Create SlideShow
2. Select your photos and click Done
3. Select THEME (we recommend ‘none’)
4. Select EDIT – Record Sound – ambient sound and/or voice
5. SAVE

Use your collective background knowledge about this place to help tell the story. TIP: once you’ve added photos, check the timing of the video. Plan, create and practice your story (you may wish to write it down) before recording so that you can keep to your ‘time’. You may come up with questions that can become a part of your story. What do you want to know more about? What do you need to know more about to really know this place?

Back to class – We will upload your video to YOUTUBE (you can feel free to upload it to your own youtube channel as well) and link it to our Interactive Map on ThingLink.

Technologies Incorporated Today:

Participants utilized VivaVideo, a free mobile tech based video editing application to create digital stories ‘in place’ and in ‘real time’. If you are using an iphone, we recommend VidLab. It is user friendly and allows you to layer and edit sound as you create. We found VidLab a bit ‘glitchy’ with our ipads.

We set up a Padlet wall (see above)

We created an interactive map that we embedded on the padlet wall. This map housed the individual story videos using ThingLink and allowed our story to be even more connected to ‘place’. “Make your images come alive with video, text, images, shops, music and more! Every image contains a story and ThingLink helps you tell your stories.”

On the bookmark, we had a QR Code that links to this virtual handout:

• QR code Generator: I often use QR Stuff or QR code generator but there are many other free ones online.
• QR code Scanner: Again, there are many free ones for various mobile platforms. On my ipad, I use QR Reader.

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