District Administration - October 2011 - (Page D6)

The planet isn’t the only thing improving through Disney’s Planet Challenge Research shows participants increase creativity, imagination and test scores John Fraser, PhD, AIA, is the director of the Institute for Learning Innovation based in Edgewater, Md. He led a study that assessed the creativity and imagination development in children under 12-years-old who participated in Disney’s Planet Challenge. What was the goal of the research? We aimed to understand if Disney’s Planet Challenge contributed to the development of imagination and creativity skills for participating youth. How do you quantify such subjective areas? In social sciences, we talk about truthfulness to the experience, not quantification. We took a 360-degree approach because kids are not able to self-reflect on their own learning process. Teachers and parents give us a much better picture of what’s going on in kids’ heads. So we spoke with kids who participated in a project, kids considered to be at the same level in the same school who did not participate in a project, teachers and parents. What was the most significant finding? Kids who participated in Disney’s Planet Challenge became more capable of using their imagination and creativity skills. They became self-effective learners who could understand how to use their imagination and creativity skills in practical ways to address real-world problems. How did participating in Disney’s Planet Challenge help students score higher on standardized tests? They were using all their academic skills—math, graphing, telling stories through numbers and words, organizing data and language arts. They were putting more time and effort into learning because they felt it matters. If they don’t get a graph right, the quail might not survive. This is what teachers recognized as the most important part of project-based learning. In what ways does DPC extend beyond the classroom? One father told us how his daughter taught him how to prune their tree after a tornado, in order to protect one of the few large trees left in their community. He was going to do the status quo and just grind it to nothing and hope the city would put in a new tree. These kids are thinking creatively and improving their community. How do teachers influence students’ success? The most successful teachers trust their kids to solve problems by using their collective minds. They support kids’ imagination. They challenge them to think. Did results vary by region or socio-economic status? No. The results varied based on how the program was implemented and not where and who the kids were. This project shows that kids will flourish if they’re challenged to use their imaginations to create solutions to the environmental problems surrounding us. Website helps teachers align projects with curriculum standards isney’s Planet Challenge makes it easy for teachers to align class projects with state and national curriculum standards. The DPC website links to every state’s requirements, as well as lesson plans for particular grades in particular states. “The lesson plans are a big help for teachers who might think they don’t have enough time to participate with all the things they’re required to teach,” said Breigh Rainey, whose class won the grand prize for elementary schools. Subjects that can be incorporated into a project include: science (environmental studies), language arts (reading while researching), writing/editing (grant, letter and journal writing), oral language (presentations, conferences), social studies (historical impacts on local land and people), math (fundraising, graphs, data analysis) and visual/performing arts (artwork, plays, informational displays). 6 D “We never felt we had to do something extra. It always felt like part of our curriculum,” Rainey’s colleague Kristy Gilpin said. “Our children got math, science, social studies and language arts out of it. Disney’s Planet Challenge curriculum was developed with West Ed K-12 Alliance. When the contest went national, organizers began collaborating with the National Science Teachers Association. Teachers also have access to evaluation rubrics, which are available online and help them track achievement goals as they relate to standards. “The Disney site was very helpful,” said Fran Wachter, whose students won the grand prize for middle schools. “And our project showed how science doesn’t stand alone. It is connected to math, social studies, language arts, even public speaking.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - October 2011

District Administration - October 2011
Contents
From the Editor
Letters
News Update
Transportation Update
District Profile
Administrator Profile
Building a Blended Learning Program
How Are Science Fairs Fairing?
A New Age for Algebra
Early College High Schools
Changing of the Guard in Florida
CIO News
How Much Computing Power Do You Need?
An Unconventional Approach to 1:1
New Books
Problem/ Solution
Research Center
Product Focus
New Products
Professional Opinion
Going Mobile
Online Edge

District Administration - October 2011

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