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Icon for: Eric Hamilton

ERIC HAMILTON

Pepperdine University

SubSaharan Adaptation and Extension of NSF-NSDL Impact Study

NSF Awards: 1044478

2016 (see original presentation & discussion)

Grades K-6, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Undergraduate

The video traces the lineage of an NSF project in the digital maker and creativity domains by which teachers and their students develop and use video tools to express mathematical and scientific structure. The project has taken place in the US and Africa; its approach profoundly affects teacher-student interaction and in part through NSF support is now at the heart of a long-term strategy for teachers in one African country, Namibia, to be the first country whose educators have fully digitized their national curriculum.

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Discussion from the NSF 2016 STEM For All Video Showcase (21 posts)
  • Icon for: Brian Drayton

    Brian Drayton

    Co-Principal Investigator
    May 17, 2016 | 08:38 a.m.

    Fascinating.
    I am wondering about the teachers’ learning, specifically their learning about a less didactic pedagogy, more suited to a ‘maker’ approach. I spent a few days at a school in Kibera (Nairobi) which had very dedicated teachers working heroically under difficult circumstances— but they had learned within a very teacher-centered system, and that was what they were enacting.
    Do you find that pedagogical shifts occur purely because the work is focused on a project, about which it is natural to have discussions and dialogue?

  • Icon for: Eric Hamilton

    Eric Hamilton

    Lead Presenter
    May 17, 2016 | 09:07 a.m.

    Brian, we have actually worked at St. Aloysius school for Kibera students. Your question is very compelling and one we struggle with continually. Perhaps we can talk more. I am in Namibia right now facilitating a workshop on this.

  • Icon for: Jennifer Knudsen

    Jennifer Knudsen

    Senior Mathematics Educator
    May 17, 2016 | 09:37 a.m.

    Fascinating was my first thought too. What are some topics on which videos have been made?

  • Icon for: Eric Hamilton

    Eric Hamilton

    Lead Presenter
    May 19, 2016 | 01:59 p.m.
    • Note of apology for delayed reply * Overseas and have been unable to participate *
      ===========
      Jennifer, most of the topics are related to the national curriculum, which is anchored to a fairly common set of ideas. In some cases, topics are pretty funny – a python eats a rabbit, so what is the percentage of change in mass. The teachers are just starting to get accustomed to the idea of making videos from science of their surroundings – this past week, i took a group of teachers to a beach on the Atlantic (near the famous Skeleton Coast in Namibia), and the process of connecting real world phenomena unique to their geography (there is no place like this in the world) is still novel. They are heavily invested in meeting curriculum goals, and facing many of the same struggles in nurturing deep and effective learning in light of performance demands that we face.
  • Icon for: Jenna Marks

    Jenna Marks

    Facilitator
    Doctoral Student in Cognitive Studies in Education
    May 17, 2016 | 09:53 a.m.

    This is such interesting work! I am interested in the cross-cultural collaborative component of projects such as this. Is this a goal for your project, and if so, have you facilitated interactions between students in different schools or countries?

    Additionally, I agree with Brian that professional development and training is so often the critical missing piece for successful implementation of new pedagogy. What kinds of curricular guides and training do you provide for your teachers and students?

  • Icon for: Eric Hamilton

    Eric Hamilton

    Lead Presenter
    May 19, 2016 | 02:14 p.m.
    • Note of apology for delayed reply * Overseas and have been unable to participate *
      ===========
      Jenna! What a great question. We have had some experience facilitating communications between youngsters creating videos in Long Beach CA and Helsinki. It was a wild experience! We are trying to do the same thing with youngsters in US and African locations, but are finding that our hosts are really intent on us working with teachers first – indeed, their interest is in professional development, as you and Brian put it. We are striving to make it happen and believe it will be sublime. This is a dream long in the making.

    I have been spending this week at Namibia’s annual mathematics education conference, and gave a keynote yesterday on pedagogy. Much of our work is in the mechanics of learner-centrism, and the hard and mindful work of reflecting on practice. We focus a lot on interactivity, principles of media use in learning, feedback, and valuing multiple points of entry to the representation of concepts and structure. We try to help teachers decouple their own sophisticated understandings of mathematical ideas from that of students, pointing out how things they have automatized are now subconsciously part of their instruction, and unrecognizable to students, who then think math makes no sense. We work hard to highlight examples. We also try to get teachers to understand that ideas formed in rich socio-affective contexts are more durable than the didactics with which they are comfortable. And encourage them to feel permission to express joy in not only teaching but in mathematics. I know that is a lot of varied points, but that captures a bit of the pedagogical guidance we give.

  • Icon for: Helen Teague

    Helen Teague

    A cyber-ensemble of inversion, immersion, collaborative workspaces, query and media-making in learning
    May 17, 2016 | 10:12 a.m.

    Global knowledge… Local spirit…This is groundbreaking research combined with practice to give people permission to own their learning. It delivers empowerment because education is the driving force! I have watched your video several times and it always delivers something new with each view!

  • Icon for: Eric Hamilton

    Eric Hamilton

    Lead Presenter
    May 19, 2016 | 02:19 p.m.

    Note of apology for delayed reply * Overseas and have been unable to participate *
    ===

    Helen, thank you for your kind comments. I agree that one of the most fascinating things about watching teachers and learners (that is what precollege students are called here in Namibia) stretch their creative competencies is that something new is showing up every time we observe it. Thank you for having such a supportive heart and knowledgeable and insightful mind on this work. :)

  • Icon for: Pati Ruiz

    Pati Ruiz

    Facilitator
    Dean of Studies
    May 17, 2016 | 10:47 a.m.

    Providing tools for learners to teach and share what the have learned is a great way to broaden participation especially in places where PD is limited by any number of factors. How will this digitized curriculum be shared with others? Will Namibia share this curriculum with other countries? Also, are there plans to extend this project to other domains beyond mathematics and science?

    Also, do these videos or the space where they are posted promote interaction between teachers and students at different sites?

  • Icon for: Avron Barr

    Avron Barr

    Facilitator
    Consultant
    May 17, 2016 | 08:04 p.m.

    Interesting approach with great potential. Thanks for submitting your video. Have you thought about how to evaluate the impact of this idea? Do you have any plans to expand the project?

  • Icon for: Eric Hamilton

    Eric Hamilton

    Lead Presenter
    May 20, 2016 | 02:20 p.m.

    Note of apology for delayed reply * Overseas and have been unable to participate *
    ===
    Avron, we have thought deeply above evaluating impact. There are several tiers of evaluation – the students media-makers, the peers who learn from them, and their teachers. We are trying to think through the best ways to maximize the impact, so while looking for expanding, we are focused especially on making sure that the student and teacher teams not only derive great satisfaction and intellectual growth from the project, but those who use their videos do also. Thank you for your question. : )

  • Icon for: Betsy Stefany

    Betsy Stefany

    Coordinator STEM Literacy Community of Practice
    May 18, 2016 | 03:26 p.m.

    Thank you for defining terms for practices that we can use to explain what we see happening when digital tools wrap around the energy of learning. Definitely the term “multiplier effect” is a characteristic we hear with social media and it can be applied to focusing and the excitement of being in a grow in “flow” too. What are your challenges in product “ownership” as students progress?

  • Icon for: Eric Hamilton

    Eric Hamilton

    Lead Presenter
    May 20, 2016 | 02:14 p.m.

    Note of apology for delayed reply * Overseas and have been unable to participate *
    ===
    Betsy, I agree with Helen Teague’s comment below. Your phrasing was beautiful, and meant much to me. The challenges you refer to are small in some sense – learners and teachers readily take ownership of the media they create. We are finding a challenge in getting makers to move through the video improvement process that is necessary for what they produce to be usable outside of their immediate context. Thank you again.

  • Icon for: Betsy Stefany

    Betsy Stefany

    Coordinator STEM Literacy Community of Practice
    May 22, 2016 | 09:12 p.m.

    Eric, thank you your kind comment. Few like to face the unknown reader so what you describe is fairly common in this online world that once was only text! I’ve moderated gated student online forums and have found that they can be a great..and fun place to peer edit practice for localize meaning and interpretations. Interesting to hear how video can focus some of the context so tight that it has difficulty engaging others “outside of their immediate context”. Thanks too for sharing that.

  • Icon for: Helen Teague

    Helen Teague

    A cyber-ensemble of inversion, immersion, collaborative workspaces, query and media-making in learning
    May 18, 2016 | 05:08 p.m.

    Wow, Betsy! Your phrasing, “when digital tools wrap around the energy of learning” is elegantly accurate. This is not my video, but I just had to reply to your comment and let you know! What you describe is exactly what happens in digitally mediated instruction and construction! Thank you for great phrasing that will go on my “phrase wall” !

  • Icon for: Betsy Stefany

    Betsy Stefany

    Coordinator STEM Literacy Community of Practice
    May 22, 2016 | 09:20 p.m.

    Helen,
    Nice to hear someone giving digital tools a fair shot to aid learning. Science education has the benefit in that students need to learn the practice and benefits of research science to employ digital tools to assist complex problems. By starting with projects and developing “learning progressions”, our MSP project gained. HOWEVER…evaluation processes for STEM became a challenge.
    Eric did your project run into that challenge?

  • Icon for: Eric Hamilton

    Eric Hamilton

    Lead Presenter
    May 20, 2016 | 02:21 p.m.

    I like the idea of a phrase wall, Helen. Thank you for your continued enthusiasm and support. You are aces always.

  • Icon for: Helen Teague

    Helen Teague

    A cyber-ensemble of inversion, immersion, collaborative workspaces, query and media-making in learning
    May 23, 2016 | 03:25 p.m.

    Must respect and appreciation!

  • Icon for: Betsy Stefany

    Betsy Stefany

    Coordinator STEM Literacy Community of Practice
    May 22, 2016 | 08:56 p.m.

    Eric and Helen,
    Thank you for sharing my view on digital tools..and speaking of digital tools..a Padlet tool would be nice to have connected to this weeklong event. Would be nice to post quotes all in one place to have later.

  • Icon for: Helen Teague

    Helen Teague

    A cyber-ensemble of inversion, immersion, collaborative workspaces, query and media-making in learning
    May 23, 2016 | 03:25 p.m.

    Good point, Betsy! Real-time archiving is so helpful, especially to catch especially relevant/significant “gobsmacker quotes,” a term that Dr. Hamilton has graciously allowed me to use. Are you familiar with Slack? (https://slack.com/) User-friendly and no fee. :) Let’s stay in touch!

  • Icon for: Betsy Stefany

    Betsy Stefany

    Coordinator STEM Literacy Community of Practice
    May 23, 2016 | 03:43 p.m.

    Gobsmacker sounds like a great start to a very unique archive! Thank you. Yes, I look forward to keeping up…and did not know slack (that sounds like a quote too!)
    Thank you to Dr. Hamilton.

  • Further posting is closed as the event has ended.