GREAT THINKING THURSDAY
For Klein ISD Educators of Gifted/Advanced Learners
February 20, 2020
Building Student Agency Through Student-Designed Experiments
Advanced Academics Program Coordinator
Hether Key
Wunderlich Science Teacher
The development of agency in a learner was described as just as important as skills we assess on STAAR according to a 2015 Harvard Achievement Gap Initiative report. Defined in the report, “agency is the capacity and propensity to take purposeful initiative—the opposite of helplessness. Young people with high levels of agency do not respond passively to their circumstances; they tend to seek meaning and act with purpose to achieve the conditions they desire in their own and others’ lives.” Take an inventory real quick! How many of your students show agency? At Wunderlich Intermediate, eighth grade GT students are developing their agency by designing and leading their own science experiments.
Eighth grade GT Science Teacher Hether Key explained, “We are studying Newton’s Laws. After introducing my students to the laws, I asked my GT students to create an original lab for our class to conduct that would show all of Newton’s Laws. They were asked to create an instruction page and analysis questions for their classmates.” Hether continues, “I saw their eyes light up at the challenge and they did not hesitate to start working. By the end of the period they had developed two labs that illustrated Newton’s Laws.” Hether concluded, “I thought they did a great job. Each student had their role, I watched one take point on writing and building the lab, one student did a great job in teaching and running the lab for the class, the other student created analysis questions. They each tackled the part that was their learning style “niche” or strong area.”
When describing the process of designing the lab experiment on Newton’s Three Laws of Motion, Nathen Collins, Kaiden Miles, and Jadyx Clark describe their brainstorming session as “most of this was just us thinking what is going to actually show the laws. One this was seeing how we can show action, reaction through like moving pencil, showing one side’s the action, reaction. Then eventually we started evolving…” The students unanimously prefer designing a lab to just participating in a lab, Nathen detailing that “Sure, doing a lab is fun and you can see the excitement, but designing it you go through all these steps. Kaiden adds “You learn more than what you would learn.” As they took their “infinite number of ideas” and pared it down to one that works, Jadyx feels a sense of pride in what they have accomplished
By designing their own experiments, and in effect their own assessments, students demonstrated agency in their learning of Newton’s Laws in a much more relevant and meaningful way. Science Instructional Officer Michelle Thompson believes that “student driven inquiry allows students to think outside the box, build collaboration and critical thinking skills. Inquiry makes the topics tangible and helps students to see the tie between what they are learning and the real world.” Giving students the opportunity to develop and hone a sense of agency by designing their own lab experiments provides opportunities for these students to develop critical and creative problem-solving skills, skills necessary for a future that has not yet been created.
Stress, Learning, and the Gifted Child
Advanced Academics Program Coordinator
In a recent Supporting Emotional Needs of Gifted (SENG) post, Suki Wessling, a mother of a 2E child and GT educator, shared how stress can affect learning with twice-exceptional students in “Stress, Learning, and the Gifted Child.” Wessling brings in research from Judy Willis, a neurologist and middle school science teacher, that explains how learning “passess through and gets vetted by a student’s emotional state” and shares examples of how to cope with the “fight or flight” instinct, stress, and test anxiety through Vidisha Pate’s four-step process in “Keeping a Healthy Perspective on Stress and Test Anxiety.”
Wessling also writes about how it is important to recognize the physical manifestations of stress for both the student, teacher, and parents. By recognizing these signs, educators and parents can help their students have a child-led discovery.
https://www.sengifted.org/post/stress-learning-and-the-gifted-child
Wanted: Teachers of Gifted: Have you Enrolled?
John Spencer Returns to Klein ISD!
Advanced Academics is excited to announce that we are bringing renowned author and educator, John Spencer, back to Klein ISD! John will be joining us for a full day of professional development on Saturday, March 21, 2020.
John is the author of the book LAUNCH which details Design Thinking and how to implement this cycle into the classroom. We have taken this cycle and incorporate it into our research milestones in order to help students design more meaningful products for their GT research. He also authored the book Empower which focuses on student owned learning.
While visiting Klein, John will be presenting professional learning on two topics: PBL for ALL, and Expower.
Klein ISD is hosting this course for the Houston Area Coop, so sign up through EventBrite at the following link: John Spencer PL
John Spencer's Latest Newsletter
Spring 2020: GT Professional Learning Playlist
GT UPDATE CONFERENCE: SECONDARY
ATTENTION TEACHERS: AP SUMMER INSTITUTE INTEREST
COMPLETE THIS FORM TODAY!
Texas State Plan for Gifted: Opportunities for professional learning in the area of gifted/talented education are provided on a regular basis, and information on them is disseminated to professionals in the district.
SAT Opportunity Ambassador Update
KISD Opportunity Ambassadors: SAT Crash Course for March 4 SAT School Day!
All Klein ISD Opportunity Ambassadors would like to invite students who would like to prepare for the SAT to attend SAT-ur-day: SAT Crash Course. Please check out the flyer HERE. Students may sign up at bit.ly/SATPREP20.
Klein ISD’s Opportunity Ambassadors are leading fellow students in SAT preparation. The official, in-school, free of charge SAT test will be given to all juniors on Wednesday, March 4th, 2020 at all Klein high schools.
Beyond Facts: Bloom's to the Rescue!
By Carie Barber
Advanced Academics Program Coordinator
A common research project involves researching a favorite animal. I was recently working with a group of students, several of whom chose to research an animal. I encouraged them to push beyond repeating facts found online or in library books and pasting them on a tri-fold. Some mentioned wanted to make a model of the animal, which is also just a representation of the facts in the research.
How do we get the kids to begin thinking beyond the mere regurgitation of facts? Bloom’s Taxonomy to the rescue. When we use higher level thinking skills we start fostering cognitive development in our students. Why not take the characteristics of an animal and EVALUATE which trait is most important to its survival. Students could ANALYZE traits and sort them into categories or compare them to similar creatures. Maybe students can explore the animal’s adaptations and CREATE new adaptations that would be necessary for it to live in a different ecosystem.
Ian Byrd offers some other suggestions along with great ideas for unique products to add interest to research projects at https://www.byrdseed.com/reader-question-unusual-animals/