Another Email

This is a copy of an email I sent out to the staffs of the two schools I work with this year. 


Every once in awhile I am asked about what we do in Oneco's Gifted Program or what is meant by "We are a Laboratory and NOT a Factory" and I do my best to explain. I have talked about Constructivism Learning Theory, Challenge Based Learning and students honing a multitude of cross curriculum academic standards through their experiences. Yet, the process goes much deeper than that. Recently, I read a fantastic article from 2008 "School as Inquiry" by Steven Wolk and thought it really does a great job of explaining the principles behind our projects and activities well. Different verbiage is used, but the principles and concepts are the same. In fact another author said it best-"Well, as long as real, student-driven inquiry is at the core, what's in a name?" I think my favorite quote from the article is,"An inquiry-based schools at there very best do not just practice inquiry with their students, they also invite -even expect- teachers to use inquiry to improve their practice." With that said, please know that I am consistently working to improve our process and helping prepare students for their futures through these types of activities. I have read several books that have explored these principles. My favorite being Starting from Scratch by Steven Levy that was given to me by Linda Rollyson (one of the BEST) before she retired five or six years ago. Also, strategic reading skills have been incorporated into our endeavors; including the lessons from both The Primary and Intermediate Comprehension ToolKits throughout the last three years.  I am currently devouring and loving the book several of you are reading Inquiry Circles: Comprehension and Collaboration by Stephanie Harvey and Harvey Daniels (thanks Liz Reilly for the recommendation). I actually will be part of an informal book club based on this book with a teacher or two from other schools. As well as, being in constant communication with other teachers from around the world implementing Challenge Based Learning on Apple's Challenge Based Learning Community Website , Twitter, Facebook and email.

"We Are a Laboratory, NOT a Factory"-In Action

 In earlier blog post, I had explained that for the last several years Oneco's Gifted Program has been using the motto “We are a laboratory, Not a factory.” However, I feel that I may need to do a better job explaining how things work and where standards are built into our projects. We work from The Constructivism Learning Theory where a multitude of curriculum standards are threaded together and explored on a deeper level through projects. Our integrated standards reflect Florida's Grade Level Sunshine State Standards, The State of Florida's Framework for the K-12 Gifted Learners  and National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) and Performance Indicators for Students.  In The Constructivism Learning Theory the basic belief is that the learning is in the process. This is partly done by not doing anything for students that they can do for themselves.


To illustrate my point, here is an example from one of our Challenge Based Learning Projects. Students wanted to conduct a survey for adults to participate in. It then was the students’ responsibility to:

-Write a letter requesting that the adults take the survey.

-Write the questions and answers for the survey. 

This was a wonderful learning experience and there was a long discussion on why answers to our survey might need to be multiple choice and not open ended. There was a lot of critical thinking that took place during that discussion and in the process of writing both the questions and answers to our survey.

-Write a thank you note for taking the survey.

-Analysis the data from the survey, which forced students to make and analysis several double bar graphs.

-Finally, use that information to either create new questions, conduct more research and/or create a solution.

Oneco’s Gifted Program mainly utilizes two framework that I feel embrace The Constructivism Learning Theory;  Project Based Learning and Challenge Based Learning. They have many of the same basic principles.  However, I have several reasons why I feel  Challenge Based Learning is more effective, but feel that is information for another blog post.


 As we have learned to embraced our motto, my role, as their teacher, has also changed. I have made a shift from being less of a dispenser of information to now being more of a guide and fellow researcher.  There are many conversations and coaching sessions during the CBL or PBL process. Most of our conversations, seem to center around the hows and whys of doing quality research and not just on the content of the research. It is through these conversations and their reflections that my students are forced to look at what they are doing, how they are doing it and ultimately gain the skills needed to solve other challenges they will come across in their futures. It is a balancing act to live out these authentic learning experiences and there are times when this process seems very long.  However, by getting out of the way and letting the students have some control their learning becomes both meaningful and sustainable.


There is some wonderful research out on this subject and I've included a couple articles if you are interested.


Project Based Learning ,- Edutopia
Challenge Based Learning  -