Week 5 Activity: How we critically thought about the notion of 'Growth Mindset'

Week 5: Digital & Leadership- Computational Thinking and Growth Mindset

Reflect how and why would you use Computational Thinking in your classroom?

Computational thinking can be described as being defined as the following key words and phrases:

"Computational thinking is a way humans solve problems; it is not trying to get humans to think like computers." (Wing, 2006)

“The impact of computing extends far beyond science, however, affecting all aspects of our lives. To flourish in today's world, everyone needs computational thinking.” (Carnegie Mellon University, n.d.)

Computational Thinking Means...

• Solving problems
• Applying abstraction and decomposition
• Thinking algorithmically - what’s the process?
• Thinking conceptually - what’s the model?
• Understanding how things repeat and scale
• Dealing with errors
• ...among other things (depends who you read)

Within my classroom, I envisage computational thinking looking like different sequencing activities, such as baking and following recipes, creating and building objects and crafts. Computational thinking also looks like the sequencing aspects to writing a sentence, paragraph or essay. This type of thinking involves processes, sequences and it needs to be implemented with junior levels and through the rest of the school. These strategies are very well relevant at the 5-year old level, as for them, learning is very black and white and for majority of things in the classroom, you do want learning to be very straight-forward and to the point. 

The following video is an excellent resource to understanding why we should be providing opportunities to problem-solve, innovate and provide opportunities for children to develop their coding and computational thinking skills. 

Scratch has been a fantastic way for children to learn about coding in an interactive level, see the link to the website here: 
Scratch Website

This link goes to the website of Scratch, that is for the junior level: 
Scratch Junior


Learning about Mindset:

Mindsets

Mindsets are beliefs; how you think about yourself, your intelligence and talents, what it is you can and cannot do. Ultimately, this affects how you perceive other people and their abilities, talents and capabilities, what they are and are not capable of.

Quiz: quiz to explore your own mindset

Intelligence

"intelligence [has] become defined as the kind of mind that responds most readily to the peculiar demands of school."

Dweck's Theory of intelligence

Dweck (2006) described two different views of intelligence. The previous view is that there is a fixed intelligence that can be measured using an IQ Test. No matter how much you learn, or how hard you work, your intelligence stays the same. Her view of intelligence is that  the brain is malleable: it is like a muscle that can get stronger and work better as you learn and stretch yourself. Over time, you can get smarter. This leads to two contrasting views of mindset, fixed and growth:

Fixed Mindset

People with a Fixed Mindset believe that the abilities and capabilities they have are fixed traits. Their intelligence is set, they are talented at certain things and not others. They believe that it is whether or not someone is talented at something is what allows them to be successful at something or not.  Intelligence is fixed and can be measured.

Growth Mindset

People with a Growth Mindset believe that their intelligence, and abilities can be developed and grow. Through hard work, dedication and time, people can learn new talents, learn new things and become more intelligent. Teaching a growth mindset encourages learning, develops relationships and self-efficacy. The brain is malleable, it can grow, stretch and expand. The harder you work, the more you can learn.

Reflect after (optional): Reflect on how you think a growth mindset could affect the change initiative you investigate in your LEADERSHIP 1 assessment.

Children need time and need to experience the learning around about three times. For me, there needs to be more of a change around my classroom environment and what sort of language I am using, but not only me, but also the other children in the classroom, so that we all have the same mindset and language to express our thoughts and ideas. There needs to be an environment created where every child has an 'individual voice' and that the child, feels like they can express themselves in the most constructive, positive and effective manner. 

Learning about Growth mindset: Video to support this: "How We Learn"

Our growth mindset video: 

Week 5: Digital- Personal video about how I implement 21st Century Skills

I chose to centre this video around ICT and how I use it in the classroom. 

Week 5: Digital- Tracking Documents

To make it easier to refer back to readings and videos that we have been watching, I have started using some documents to note down what is important from the readings, what questions I think about and what could be done differently. 

Week 4: Digital- Constructivism vs Constructionism:

This week there were many different aspects that got me thinking. One of them was the difference between constructivism vs constructionism. Constructionism is the hands-on-learning. Children learning by doing. In relation to the activities in class, we were able to explore this by learning about Makey-makey, an interactive tool of creating music and other aspects. We were able to explore the tool and create music for ourselves.

Constructivism is the notion of building on prior knowledge and applying next steps for learning, based on prior learning experiences. In class, we build on prior knowledge and played on the different learning strengths and backgrounds that we had within in our group. Some of us had played piano before, so we could create music using our knowledge of what songs we learnt.

So, in the classroom, what activities and learning tasks are centred around these two concepts?

We also explored the tool 'Scratch' using the following website, as a way for learners to develop coding and computational thinking skills. 

Scratch Website

Week 3: Digital- Learning about different learning theories

This week for digital we explored a few different learning theories and some engaging digital tools. 

40 years ago the learning theories below underpinned the teaching and learning that occurred in the classrooms. Over the 10-20 years, this changed and they weren't as apparent in classrooms as they were then. In today's society, these are now coming into effect and guiding our 21st Century learning environments. These theories below all range in cause and effect and all have a place in our classrooms. Have a look at the video below, definitely food for thought. 

Following on from this, we explored a few different digital tools, Quiver and an augmented reality tool from Google. 

Week 2: Digital & Leadership- Reflective Practice and Key Competencies

How might teachers' and students strengths in developing capabilities in thinking, using language, symbols and texts, managing self, relating to others, and participating and contributing, be recognised and celebrated? 

• providing opportunities for learning to be shared with their families and the wider community 
• children having a sense of independence, ownership and responsibility 
• providing opportunities for children to talk and share with their peers instead of not having a sense of an open classroom
• children learning through a range of contexts, mediums and options that is suitable and flexible and relevant for them 
• allowing children the space to form and develop ideas in their own way 
• providing a problem-solving based, creative classroom context

Digital: 21st Skills and Competencies 

The following video was an excellent example of how things have altered between 20th Century learning and 21st Century learning. One of the videos that was well worth the watch. 

Week 2: Digital- 21st Century

What 21st Century skills related to an area of your practice, would you like to focus on for Assignment 1?

I am fortunate to work in a classroom where every child has access to an iPad. All children work on their own iPad. A focus that I beginning to think about is how we utilise the technology that is there in a collaborative manner. Is there some sort of app or technology usage that can be utilised so children can work together to work on real-life contexts or issues in a problem-solving, critical thinking manner? 

Do 20th and 21st Century skills differ? Do we need them both?

21st Century skills that we believe are important:

After what the 'What 60 Can Tell us About Teaching Century Skills'

Key Points from the video: 

• asking questions than giving answers
• finding problems instead of solving them 
• messy, noisy and chaotic class environment
• 'Bloom's Taxonomy' 
• creative: classroom environment (writing on walls, thinking, designing, building, fail forward and upward) 
• relevant: engaging to them
• permeable 
• dynamic and adaptative: curriculum integration 
• self-correcting: empathy and thinking about what he doing (tradition and innovative)

• 'Ecosystem vs industrial'
• 'Dewey: knowing what great learning looks like'

• Anchors: no collaborative approaches to everything
• Dams: no open leadership etc 
• Silos: no collaborative approaches and innovative implementations 

• We don't want anchors, dams and silos 

We need: 

• teach into the unknown: teach for the future,  
• self-evolving learners: they can meet the challenges ahead 
• self-evolving organisations: embrace change and methodology 
• preparing them for their future, not ours 

Week 1: Leadership- Thought Leadership and Fellowship

What is good leader? Are you a thought leader? 

A leader is someone that is constantly challenging the norm and what changes could be made to constantly allow a context to move forward. If we are looking at a school context, a leader has a sense of direction and vision for where a school a go, and this may not mean just a principal, but a parent, teacher or support staff member. A leader can happen in any context and anywhere. As long as you strongly believe in something, then anyone can be a leader in their own right. I have noted below some important qualities of a leader that I think are important.

• vision and belief
• belief in ones' self to strongly believe in something
• values other people's
• open communication
• acceptance of other people's ideas
• acceptance and openeness to be willing to change or adapt practice or ideas

Week 1: Digital: Epistemology and the Purpose of Education

Understanding what is knowledge, what is education and what is the purpose of education?

Knowledge is …

Being able to develop the skills to question, problem-solve and think critically. The ability to sieve through, and take, what information applies.

Education is …

an environment that facilitates learning and provides multiple pathways to gain and pursue knowledge in order to gain qualification.

The purpose of education is …

Equip, empower and encourage students to be motivated and self-directed. To expose them to multiple ways of learning through experiences and learning opportunities.


So, how is the purpose of education evident in my classroom? 

• I provide a range of different learning materials to my children to support their learning and the way in which they learn, whether it be through technology and the use of iPads, whiteboards, visual dsiplays or through oral language opportunities
• Children monitor their own learning and learn how to develop independence qualities such as responsilibilty and ownership of their own learning
• Expectations and learning goals and tasks are clear to the student. They are openly discussed, praised and feed-foward opportunities are always provided so they they are aware of what their learning shows and where they are going to next
• Multiple learning opportunities inside and outside the classroom are provided so that the children get a sense of the 'real world'