Thinkpiecing

Creative Commons

Just read Terry Greene’s brief post, A piece of thinking, that might solve a problem I’ve been wrestling with:  how to change the way I set up prep work and related follow-up activities to raise levels of student understanding and engagement AND reduce paper usage.

Revisions to my course this semester include a significant change in delivery.  We now have a one-hour lab to complete guided electronic activities such as research tasks, followed by a one-hour seminar where students will participate in learning activities that build on their prep work.

I’m going to borrow from the idea of the thinkpiece, and modify it in a way that scaffolds student thinking, understanding and application through Bloom’s [revised] taxonomy.

Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching

Ideally, this experiment will help students build their research and critical thinking skills, and their ability to communicate their understanding and ideas in writing and orally.  I also hope that the scaffolding of the levels of discussion through the semester will result overall in more student engagement and in a richer learning experience for students.  Maybe … more learning will stick!

It’s not the usual Thinkpiece – I’m just calling it that!

For the first couple of discussion board posts, students will be asked to remember; to write a brief thinkpiece based on their prep work:  what stood out from the research or reading (a key point / partial summary), and then explain why it stood out.  This format might result in an initial focus on opinion over facts; but, it won’t be long before they start to exercise their critical thinking muscle; especially, as we move up Bloom’s ladder.  At this initial stage, peers will respond either with questions or by sharing something from their own prep work.

For the next level of discussion posts, students will be required to demonstrate understanding by writing a one-paragraph summary of their findings.  Peers will be asked to respond with [thoughtful and respectful] probing questions which I hope will help reveal to the writers where their summaries miss the mark for reader comprehension and understanding.

At the final stage of the discussion boards, students will be required to think and write more deeply and more widely about topics – beyond a cursory thinkpiece – as their confidence and competencies in online discussions will have grown.  They will be invited to apply what they learn from their prep work, from readings, from seminar activities, from assignments, and to make big-picture connections with their program courses in their posts and in their responses to peers.

As we near the end of the semester, students will participate in a “Take-a-stand” protocol where they will apply what they learned through their prep work and research to take – and defend – a position on a controversial health care issue (e.g., strategies to respond to the opioid crisis in Canada:  safe-injection sites, distribution of naloxone kits to first responders, declaration of an emergency, etc.).  This activity requires that students analyze their findings, and evaluate their perspectives on the topic before seminar.

In seminar, students will engage in a group activity wherein they will share their findings with peers.  By this stage, we should have established a comfortable learning community where students feel safe to express and defend their views, and where they know that others will listen actively and respectfully.  After hearing from all group members, students will be asked to [re]–evaluate the topic through the lens of new learning, new ideas, and again take a stand.

Some students will retain their position; others will potentially have been persuaded to formulate – create – a new position.  Whatever the outcome, students will have participated in an engaging learning experience that requires preparation, thought, active listening, and consideration as the process moves students through:  remembering, understanding, application, analysis, evaluation, and re-evaluation (create).

What it’s all about

I hope that the changes that I make in my course will effectively help students build their research, critical thinking, writing, and persuasive skills, as well as set the stage for higher engagement levels and increased [sustained] learning, through the stages of Bloom’s taxonomy.  In other words, students will develop higher levels of thinking, reasoning, responding.

 

Being Intentional

CCO / Public Domain

The first step in my creativity journey is to choose a course where I commit to embed creative problem-solving in my teaching practice, and where my students will develop and be able to employ some practical creative problem-solving skills.

I’ve chosen a course titled Professional Issues in Health Science that is offered in a one-year college preparatory program that helps students prepare for a range of health care pathway programs, such as:  paramedic, biotechnology, nursing, massage therapy, etc.

To solidify my commitment to creativity, I have added the following learning outcome to my course outline.  Students will:

• develop a toolkit of creative problem-solving skills to be applied in various learning and personal situations.

There.  I’m committed!

Embrace the challenge … and never lose hope

Theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking recently announced that we only have about 100 years to develop a plan to keep humanity alive – and not on Earth! Conflict, chaos, climate change, contagions, astral catastrophes and a swelling human population form part of the equation that commands our attention and our imagination. There is work to be done, and if we do not succeed, we are warned, our species will barely deserve a brief footnote in the history of time.

STOP!

This is depressing.

My job teaching mostly pre-health science students commands a commitment to the future. Students come to my classroom to learn skills, to ready themselves for their tomorrows. They arrive on campus filled with hope and aspiration, albeit often tinged with apprehension and uncertainty. For they worry about whether they made the right choice. They worry whether they will fit in. They worry about getting jobs after graduation, life affordability, survival. How might I help them hold on to the threads of hope?

First, let’s be real … hope, alone, is not enough. My students need skills – concrete, serviceable, employability skills. They also urgently need to acquire problem-solving skills and life skills.

According to the Conference Board of Canada, the four fundamental skills that Canadian workers need are: communication, numeracy, information management, and thinking about and solving problems. My students will need to be creative in their search for solutions for themselves, in their workplaces, for their communities, and even for the future of our species. I also want to have fun in the classroom. I want to see my students enjoy what they learn, as they learn.

A few years ago I sought ways to develop a learning community where all members work and learn as a team. I wanted to weave experiential learning through a playful creative lens. That’s when I introduced the Fish! Philosophy into my classes. That philosophy originated at Seattle’s world famous Pike Place Fish Market. It proves that it doesn’t matter whether you are a fish monger, a nurse, an accountant, or an educator; it is possible to integrate the Fish! principles into one’s day, into the workplace:

• Play
• Make Their Day
• Be There
• Choose Your Attitude

I am ready to up my game, to learn new ways, or to refresh old ways, to weave more creativity, and Fish!, into my teaching practice. I want my students to leave my classroom with increased ability and confidence to be creative problem-solvers, to play roles as today’s and tomorrow’s innovators.

And I am not blindly ignoring doomsday prognostications nor the today and future woes of humanity. Rather, I want to be a part of the team that embraces hope, and that nurtures it.

CCO/ Public Domain

Stephen Hawking says that we have work to do, and I want to do my part! SUNY’s Creativity Training with a team of energetic and inspirational peers is going to support my goals, as well as help make my work – and my classroom – a little more fun.  And I hope to give my students strategies and skills that will help them become confident and competent creative problem-solvers.

I think, therefore I create!   ∼    cogito ergo creo