"Children should be taught how to think, not what to think"-Margaret Mead.

Today for our Mind Lab session we looked into what "Computation thinking" is.
Again, this was a new knowledge for myself as before taking mind lab sessions I did not know what Computational thinking was. So the question now is for me "What is computational thinking".

Computational thinking is an approach to problem solving. It  involves taking part of problem and figuring out how to attack it using what we know about computation.  There are 4 major dimensions of Computational thinking. These are:

1. Decomposition: Breaking something down and figuring out what all the parts are and how you might divide up the tasks.  
2. Pattern recognition: This is where you find similarities and differences between these parts in order to make predictions. 
3. Abstraction: Which involves finding the general principals that generate these patterns. 
4. Algorithm design: Which involves developing step by step instructions that solve similar problems. 

Computational thinking helps students in increasing confidence in dealing with ambiguous, complex or open ended problems. 

Computational Thinking Concept	Computer Science Application
Break a problem into parts or steps	Break a computational graph problem into 4 sections, each one to be completed by a different computer processor
Recognise and find patterns or trends	Visualise data comparing microchip material and computer speed to notice a trend
Develop instructions to solve a problem or steps for a task	Write a computer program to sort data
Generalise patterns and trends into rules, principles, or insights	Realise complex data structures require less code than complex pro

This chart shows how computational thinking differs from computer science. 

This also involves creating through technologies and students being able to express themselves through technologies. For students to be able to think computationally is to be be able to create by using technologies and coding to solve problems. 

We then looked at the programme Scratch. This programme I have seen before but had not explored in depth so I was really looking forward to exploring with it.

-Scratch for Educators: coding for interactive stories, animations and game.
We talked about Pair programming. This is where you collaborate with other person to get a better end results. 

Its the Pedagogy that is important not the tool. 

We used Scratch as a pair task one being the navigator and the other drawing.(Pair programming). It was very useful and two minds working together worked really well and made the task easier. 

We made the cat draw a hexagon, circle, triangle and square.

Here is a photo of myself and my colleague Juanita working together on Scratch. 

We then went onto talking about Leadership and growth Mindset. 

As a class we had to take a quiz about mind sets and weather we had a growth mindset or a fixed mindset. I have included my results below.

Leadership: Developing a growth mindset. 

YES!! I have a growth mindset. This pedagogy is practiced daily in my classroom. And I am a huge believer in growth mindsets. We then watched a video. I have included this video below. 

Knowledge is not understanding. 

Theory: "Intelligence has become more defined as the kind of mind that responds most readily to the peculiar demands of school" 

Previous: There is a fixed intelligence that can be measured using and IQ test. No matter how much you learn, or how how hard you work your intelligence stays the same. 

Strengthening brain neurons in the brain through learning and creating. 

We then had to use a stop motion tool to create a short stop motion on growth and fixed mindset. 

Myself and my mind lab colleague Juanita chose to use PicPac. This was new to myself and her and we could use the app on our phone through downloading it on google play store which was was very assible. We really enjoyed collaborating with each other and creating the stop motion video on the mindsets. Here is our completed video for you to view.

PicPac Stop motion movie on Growth VS fixed mindset. 


Overall today's session was awesome and I learnt so many new things that I have added to my mental schema which I will take back to my classroom and implement.

"If you are not willing to learn, no one can help you. If you are determined to learn, no one can stop you"

Today during our mind lab session during the first 15 minutes we  has to discuss with others in our class our reflective videos on "21st century skills".

We then went ontoan Ice breaker where firstly we had to get into two teams and organize ourselves into alphabetical order of our names without talking. This was very fun!

We then had to organize ourselves into a line from how far we have traveled to come to class today. 

I traveled the farthest. We were allowed to use out devices to share the distances of how far we travelled to get to class today.

Innovative classroom culture-Creating adaptive competences. 

We then went onto talking about SMAR. I have included a video of what this means below.  SMAR stands for: Substitution, Argumentation, Modification and Redefinition.
This model was created by Doctor Ruben Puentedura who believed that technology allows students to think differently, perform new tasks,

Below is another video that we looked at during class that showed us what the SMAR model is all about. This was new to me and I really found it very interesting. If I was looking at my practice, I would say that my teaching at the moment would be at the latter stage of this model-Substitution and Augmentation. I honestly feel like I could be doing more, which has made me very excited in trialing all that I have been learning during my mind lab classes in my own classroom practise. 

We then moved onto looking at what are the 21st Century Skills that every student needs in terms of their future and jobs. 

Links to reading

Some of the skills that came up that students will need to have in the workplace by 2020 were:

1. Cognitive flexibility. 
2. Negotiation.
3. Service orientation. 
4. Judgement and decision making.
5. Emotional Intelligence. 
6. Coordinating with others. 
7. People management. 
8. Creativity. 
9. Critical thinking. 
10. Complex problem solving.

Looking at this, makes me wonder and think about are we doing this as teachers in our classrooms? How are we preparing our students for these skills for when they are ready to move onto the work force. 

We then moved onto talking about TPACK. 

So, the question that comes to my mind is "What is the TPACK model?"

I have included the video that we watched in our session that went into explaining what this model is. 

TPACK Involves 3 Knowledge areas. These are;

1. Technological knowledge.
2. Content knowledge.
3. Pedagogical knowledge.

And looking at how they work together to increase student motivation and to make the content more accessible to the students. 

Content=The WHAT The object matter we are teaching. 

Pedagogical knowledge=The HOW. What teacher tools are we going to be using? Direct instruction, Inquiry, debate, Group discussions, Modelling, How are we going to make the content more accessible by the way we present it to our students. 

Technological Knowledge= Its the PARTNER. Selecting the appropriate technologies. What technology will we choose to use to make the content more accessible to the students while supporting the pedagogical strategies. Some technologies include: Laptop, projector, Smart board, Video, Camera, Google drive, movie etc. 

At the heart of TPACK is the students needs. 

 

We then moved onto looking at useful apps. Below are some new useful apps that was introduced to us during class. 

Useful apps 

Google Maps/Earth

Tools-Google maps

Google Earth.

Google Tour builder (BETA)

We used Tour builder app to create a personal recount example for an example lesson plan.
Here is my example.
This was a new app to myself and I was very excited about using this app and am very excited about using this next week in terms of student reflections for EOTC week.

We then watched a video on Technological disruption. Below I have included this video. In this video it shows how we used to be able to hire videos and DVDs at the store to have movie nights but how times have changed now where in today's world they now have netflixs where you can use multiple devices to watch movies.

Technology Disruption and mixed Reality. 
Disruption in Education
Disrupted Domains
Which sectors/industries have been disrupted recently?
-Air BnB (Accommodation providers owns no real estate)
-Skype (Phone companies owns no telecom infrastructure)
-Alibaba (Retailers)
-Netflix  (Movie houses owns no cinema's  or physical stores)
-Facebook(media companies)
Apple and google. (software vendors)
-Taxi companies owns no taxi's (Uber)

We also watched a TED talk on how they have designed cars where you don't have to physically drive them. WOW! This was def. amazing to watch.

Collaborative task:
Which career are a safe bet?
Jobs that will exist in 20 years time

1. Teachers-What would happen
2. Industries with social interaction: Beautician
3. Paramedics, Fire fighters.
4. Social Workers, councelors, psychologist.

Will a Robot take your job

885, 000 (46%) of NZ jobs are at risk of automation in the next two decades 

Mixed reality-Virtual reality. 

What (if any) value does this tool add?
Think about the first activity that you did with Google Tour Builder, as weak as SAMAR and TPACK

What are the potential used of VIRTUAL REALITY WORLD in Education?

ARGUMENTED REALTITY
(making something to life-trigged images)

Apps: 
Ingress-Pokemon GO
Universal Aurasma
Blippar
Quiver

"Investigating in Education and providing 21st Century Skills for students and fundamental components to the Nations continued growth and prosperity"

Practicing Teachers Criteria 4, 8 

FOCUS FOR TODAY:
Digital 21st Century Skills
Leadership: Reflective practice and Key competencies in leadership.



"We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it and stop there lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove lid again and that is well but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore" -Mark Twain- (On reflective blogging)

The meaning behind this quote is that blog reflections are a part of our learning and reflection. When we make mistakes we reflect and learn and grow from them. We ask ourselves questions as to "Why did this happen, what can we do/change to make things better". We are life long learners. Self reflections are a part of everyday life.

21st Century Skills

We also talked about "What is 21st century Skills". Some of the points that came through discussion were:

• Collaboration- Where more than one person is able to collaborate using e.g: presentation, google doc etc. 
• Networking-With other Schools.
• Being a global citizen. 
• Use of up to date technologies. 

What do you think are the most important skills of the 21st century? 

These are the skills that ITL decided were the MOST important for 21st Century Skills. 

• Collaboration-Where more than one person can work together on a document or presentation.
• Problem solving. 
• Knowledge construction.
• Self regulation
• Real world problems/innovations. 
• ICT for learning 
• Skilled communication. 

We then were given a group challenge. This task has been noted below. 

Group Challenge

Goal: Revealing the power of a good 21st Century learning activity by making a short movie about it. 

ITL (innovative teaching and learning) introduction Video was used to introduce the collaborative task to the group to give us a background on what ITL was. 

These are some of the points that came up in this video which I thought was really good.

• Connection between innovative teaching and what it does for the students. 
• Collaboration with other children Globally. 
• Guiding education reform. 
• Engagement in 21st century skills.
• Building Problem solving skills for student. 
• Giving the teacher the tools they need to bring about Change in education for student's.
• Evidence based learning.

Below I have included a screenshot of the different aspects of the ITL Rubric. These are:

• Collaboration
• Knowledge Construction
• Self regulation.
• Real world problem solving. 
• Use of ICT for learning. 
• Skilled communication. 

(reference: http://etec.ctlt.ubc.ca/510wiki/ITL_Research_-_Leap21C)

We were asked to get into groups and choose a reading in regards to 21st CLD Learning Activity Rubrics. Our team chose "Real-world problem solving and Innovation".
 As a group we first read the article and then we collaborated our thinking and ideas. We sat together and talked about what the article meant to us and we planned how we were going to show this in our movie. We then filmed and edited our movie on what "Real-world Problem solving and Innovation.

Here is our video on "Real-world Problem solving and Innovation".

I was very impressed with the collaboration and team work of our team. Well done team, big thumbs up to us all! Though it was challenging I must say because we had a certain amount of time to get the task completed in, it really gave me a better understanding of how this can lead to frustration, panic etc in terms of the students in my classroom. When they are given allocated tasks, with a time frame, this can lead to pressure and many other feelings. It can lead to confusion too. If the student for example does not understand the task, this can lead to not having the task completed or even started. Also, it is very important for each member participate and contribute equally and have their presence in the task. The task needed to be planned properly for it to be effective. So again, in terms of the classroom context, if the planning is not done well, then the outcome will also not be well.

Leadership

Firstly, we discussed in our group what "Key competencies" mean to us.
Some thoughts that came through were:

• Keys to life
• Preparing students for the future. 

Differences/Similarities

We looked at 21st Century skills and the Key competencies and how they are linked and what were the similarities  and differences.


How well do we model KC as leaders?
We had really good conversation and discussion amongst the group about this question. All of us came with different views of this in terms of our classroom context. In  reflection on my teaching and  and my classroom context and being a School that is part of the Manaiakalani cluster of school, the key competencies are embedded  in our whole philosophy of teaching and learning not only for the students but also us teachers.

We talked about Teacher leadership and how we should see teachers as leaders in a classroom context. "Teacher agency is central to School improvement" It is about shared discussion making, team work and community building.

Overall, I really found todays session very informative and I am looking forward to next Saturdays session on virtual Reality and am also very excited about our homework on making the Google cardboard. This is a picture of a Google cardboard if you do not know what this is.

"Never stop learning because life never stops teaching"

MINDLAB: SESSION 1:

Today I had the great opportunity to meet  a range of teachers from a range of teaching backgrounds at my very first mind lab session. To begin with we started with writing down 3 main reasons of why we were here on different post-it notes and stick them on the back wall.

We looked at the future of teaching/learning and where it would take us in the future in terms of what types of occupations there would be.

We also did a collaborative Icebreaker at beginning of our session where we were given a post-it note where we had to write something about ourselves that no-one else knew and then we had to walk around and find our match and share something about ourselves with our match. We then we had to introduce our partner to the class and tell the class something that we learnt about our partner. This was a really good ice breaker and I can really see using this in my classroom. This was a fun way of engaging with each other and finding something we didn't know about another person in the class.

We then went onto looking at the 4 platforms we would be using during our postgrad journey.
These are as per below:

4 main platforms of learning:

• Portal
• Google+ community
• United Library
• Your reflective blog.

Discussion:

What is knowledge?

Is to google to know?

What is the purpose of Education?
I really liked this quote about the purpose of Education which really caught my attention:

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF EDUCATION:

As s group we were to work together collaboratively to create a presentation on what knowledge means as well as the purpose of education. Here is what we came up with as a group. Great work team! Great collaboration and team work! Ka Pai!

Some of the key words that we came across which is new learning for me are as per below:

Ontology, epistemology, axiology, purpose of Education. 

I am really looking forward to further learning in this postgrad what these words mean and how I can apply these terms into my teaching and learning. 

We looked at what is Epistemology. Here is a video that we looked at that defines this theory. 

(Gert Biesta's Domains)

PURPOSE OF EDUCATION

We also watched this video on Gert Biesta's "Purpose of Education" Here are some points that I got from his video: 

• Questioning what is means to be in the world.
• The need to understand the need of Education.
• Infertile desire-Education about human being who are interacting.
• "Focus on the child" education being personalised and tailoring learning to meet the child's needs"
• Education should help children to exist in the world in a grown up way.
• Fuel the desire to want to exist in the world in a grown up way. 
• Identity, finding your identity. Where we live with other human beings in the planet and how we interact and engage with them. 

We also looked at leadership. We watched this video and below I have included some points about leadership. 

• Engagement and close attention: Working alongside and in partnership  (insync)-more expression.
• Misconceptions/ being passive. 
• Showing off follower: more about them then then working in partnership and working together.
• Approach on the follower can affect the leader. 

In regards to to the purpose of Education on my classroom and weather it is visible in my classroom, I would say, yes it is.  Education in my classroom is meaningful-meaningful to the leaners. Learning and teaching activities that are done in my classroom are ones that children can make connections with where they are using the knowledge that they already had as well as adding to that knowledge like a evert growing tree.  It not only is it a digital classroom but children are able to be creative in the classroom and they are able to use the  "Learn, create, share" theory as a form of sharing their thinking, knowledge and understanding.  In terms of my classroom, we are still working and developing on children becoming more independent and self managed learners.  I have a range of different learning abilities in my class, and to be honest at times it can be hard and I try my best to be able to cater for those needs in an engaging and interactive way. I believe this course will help me in terms of giving me more guidance as well as ideas in terms of how I could best cater for these children so that they are able to collaborate more with each other and set them up for success in the future.


Today was the beginning of a new journey and I am looking forward to the rest of this journey and engaging in the learning as well as interacting and forming new relationships with teachers from different walks of life.