Poking the Universe

A group of John Muir teachers and school administrators experienced a professional development session recently as part of their involvement in the NASA Student Spaceflight Experiments Program. The meeting was conducted via Skype from astrophysicist Jeff Goldstein.

I was most impressed with the philosophical background of the program as to the “why” behind the process.  Mr. Goldstein gave the example as to how young children “poke the universe” and begin to determine the causes and effects from the time they are old enough to sense their world around.

Children are already predisposed to be inquirers and find out how the world and universe works. He mentioned that same way of thinking; that childlike sense of inquiry and investigation is what science is all about, and that is how the scientists they work with approach their work in looking at the universe.

Here was a key question: “How many of you science teachers give a set of procedures to your students to do a lab?” As a former science teacher, I did not want to raise my hand because I knew where this was going. He asked, “If you conduct your labs by giving your students a list of procedures, is that science?” I thought to myself, “Ouch!”

He noted that is not science, but it is following the recipe or doing the work of a technician and not a scientist. When we teach science (or any discipline at all for that matter) as a set of procedures or as a rigid recipe, students see the classroom and the learning as belonging solely to the teacher.
However, when we build the learning around inquiry-based, evidence-based learning, students own the learning much like they did as young children who “poke things” to see how they react.

The scientific method is not a set of procedures or rules as well, but it is simply “poking” around inquiry-based, evidence-based learning. And, he mentioned,  “Who says you have to have a hypothesis?” For example, a group of peer scientists just recently “poked the universe” by wondering what was beyond a certain part of space. After digging further, they discovered a whole new set of planets and systems.

A powerful part of the learning was this: He emphasized that the scientific method (remember his definition of the scientific method is inquiry based, evidence based learning) should be in all of our courses, across all disciplines. For example, a cook wonders what would happen if he added a little rosemary. He then experiments by adding rosemary and testing the results (aroma, taste, etc.). Or, an
artist wonders what would happen if she added texture to the painting. She uses a variety of textures, tests the aesthetics, the feel, the tone created, and adjusts.

All of this inquiry based, evidence based learning is embedded in the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program. John Muir students will be “poking” about the idea of how living things react, live, adjust, grow, divide, build, survive or thrive in a zero gravity environment in a space station that is in orbit. Looking forward to our kids “poking” around!

Year of the Learner

We have committed our theme for this year as the "Year of the Learner" due to our increased desire to increase the focus on the learning and success of all learners in our Corcoran School Community.

I use the word desire because we have a strong belief that is the key to learning; having the "want to" to learn and improve.  Our resources, our efforts, our strategies and our district direction is to do everything possible to help all learners (staff and students) flow with that passion and desire toward learning and growth.  We are purposeful in creating an atmosphere where success is a must, and is inexorably tied to learning and achieving.  Learning is our way of doing business, and powerful learning is the outcome.

The change in focus is really about moving from groups of students perceived as "needing to be taught"

to . . .

. . . individual, capable, distinct and personal young boys and girls; young men and women as “learners” who are provided learning environments,  leadership and opportunities to break all pre conceived ideas of their learning limitations!

Our efforts are focused on determining what is necessary to see to it that learners learn!

We are committed to "learn" the following:

• We have to continually learn to know our learners as learners and what they can know and do in their learning.
• We have to continually learn how our learners learn and what motivates them and inspires them to learn and use what they learn in powerful ways.
• We have to continually learn what our learners need to learn to be successful in today's challenging and changing world.
• We have to continually learn what it takes for us to make sure our students learn and grow and achieve.

The table below is a good illustration of what we have learned about the best ways our students learn and how we meet those best conditions for learning:

Best Learning Conditions for our Learners	Our Focus
High Levels of Cooperation Among Classmates	Kagan Structures in Real Time, In Class Coaching
Focused Teacher Feedback:  Frequent and Diagnostic	Challenging, Realistic Goals for Everyone, Datawise Process, Continual Feedback for all Learners (Staff & Students)
Variable Time Allowed to Reach Levels of Attainment	Personalized Learning; Every Student Must Pass Prior Year CASSPP