Journeys with Learning

Moved!!!!

To those people using the resources posted here i have moved to a new blog
http://thebigquestion.edublogs.org/
I hope to see you over there sometime

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Zotero

Zotero is a production of the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University.

It is their attempt to create a tool that will help organise and record research sources, allow users to add notes and create an accurate bibliography. This tool may help to solve some of our challenges with students adequately referencing research tasks.

i would be interested to hear from some librarians who are willing to look at this tool and try it within a classroom setting. You will need the latest version of firefox (free download here) and then you can download the Zotero plugin here.

Technorati Tags: Research Education Learning Zotero

Independent Learning Projects – The importance of Rich Questions

I have been working with a couple of schools this year where students are engaged in year long independent learning projects. These schools have engaged students in learning more about areas that they are passionate about but the two experiences offer me an opportunity to compare and contrast their approaches.

Having just visited one schools final presentations last night I became intensely aware of the importance of questions, rich open ended questions that challenge and extend the students. Without fail, the students who extended themselves and really engaged deeply with their subject area were the students with the rich questions leading to significant learning experiences.

Michelle Shearman presented a superb short session at the Apple Schools Technology Day about her experiences with a year long research project. One of the key features of her implementation of the project was her focus on “Rich Questions”
I guess the best way to summarise the importance of questioning is to quote Michelle
“Rich Questioning = Rich Thinking =Rich Understandings”

You can view Michelle’s abbreviated interactive presentation from the ASTD below. Just click on the “screen” to progress the show. You may need a little patience while it loads. Michelle can be contacted at mshearman@maryimmac.woll.catholic.edu.au .

There are a number of comments about questioning and its importance at the end of this post. If you can’t see the comments please click “here” or on the comments link to the right of the presentation below and continue the dialogue.

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