Learning environment and inquiry workshop in Hongkong

November. I had the privilege of conducting a workshop at PIPS, Hong kong.
Here are a few photographs to remind me of the wonderful learning that took place. Caveat: be prepared for an explosion of colours which may play havoc with your senses.

Hopes, Fears and Wonders

Chalk Talk

The participants felt good about sharing their work.

Some great texture and ideas in the ART room.

Fishing nets in the classroom. Great idea for displays.

A focus area in the classroom. The use of color to inspire students... the green calmed the kids a lot.

Plenty of children's work on display throughout the school.

The Principle, Mary. Katie, the PYP Coordinator

I love the child-friendly atmosphere.

Teachers creating a before and after the presentation. They analyzed each and every slide so thoroughly. It was fun listening to their conversation. They referred to the 7 principles of design so fluidly in their conversations.

The red classroom, which gave angst to everyone!

The teachers were trying to use their understanding of classroom design and bring about changes... one step at a time.

A cute and enticing focus area: science investigations.

Trying to de-clutter

A transformed art room area.

Playing with the lighting.

Products from Ikea on display to create an ambience.

Loved this idea to make a tree!

Can you see the effect of the lighting. A warm glow pervades the classroom.

Garbage bags hang in the center of the class, creating a display area. Great idea!

Ending with even more questions!

The whole community was eager and bustling to get started. I feel that the workshop excited and helped teachers realize they were already on the right path. The videos and articles simply helped them consolidate their understanding and give them focus.

I am eager to work on my own classroom!

You?
See below: 7 principles of designs in the classroom.

Reference:

https://www.kaplanco.com/blog/post/2010/08/26/Seven-Principles-of-Classroom-Design.aspx

Comments

Unravelling the inquiry cycle in a PYP class room

“ People can make choices to support the sustainability of the Earth’s energy resources .” Me to students : Does that make sense? Students to me : (after a while)...not really... Their understanding of "energy" during the pre-assessment task also reflected a superficial knowledge of the term. And thus our unit of inquiry started. As I was browsing the net, I came across this picture prompt- a map, which I thought would serve as a great provocation. The annual energy consumption per person . Kids love guessing where countries are, so it was a great way to address some geography at this point. I had also been reading Craig Dwyer's post which inspired me to change my inquiry cycle and use a simpler one. Wonder (while exploring)- Explore (while wondering)- Create (while reflecting)- Reflect (with subsequent wonderings). I was feeling more at ease now. The map allowed the students to make a lot of inferences based on patterns whi...

Generalization-Designing Your Lessons for Conceptual Understanding (Part 3)

This post is the third of our blog post series on how to design lessons for conceptual understanding. Part 1 here Part 2 here Strategy 3 : Generalizations You may have come across Lynn Erickson's diagram on the structure of knowledge. In my IB workshop's I always like to present the avocado model alongside this diagram when I am talking about facts. The intention of inquiry-based teaching and conceptually-driven understanding (or Concept-based inquiry- whatever terminology suits your fancy) is to enable students to make generalizations. In other words, can they transfer their learning to a new context because they have understood what they learnt. In order to make generalizations, we need to first plan lessons that help students acquire facts/topics that are interesting and worth knowing. Bringing in local and global issues that are relevant to the topic help students as they begin to compare the topics and see emerging patterns. Remember, facts and concepts have a syn...

Concepts-In-Use: Designing your lessons for Conceptual Understanding (Part 6)

Concepts-In Use www.ibo.org In this post, one more strategy takes center stage when it comes to designing lessons that aid conceptual understanding in our students: Concept-In-Use. This strategy should be used once several concepts have been covered in class. A great way to know whether your students are internalizing the concepts is to ask them to explain the connections between two concepts. For example: In Math Ask them to convert a fraction to a percentage. Or a percentage to a decimal. Can they clearly explain the connection? Can they use drawings to support their explanation? Can they articulate the difference between a prism and a pyramid. How are they same? How are they different? How can you represent data visually? Bar graphs, pictographs, line charts are all concepts. As a designer of conceptual lessons, a teacher needs to be keenly aware of the connections between concepts. For instance, is the Grade 3 teacher awar...

Learning Never Stops

Search This Blog