Thinking Inside the Box

This week, students were able to participate in the ultimate live Breakout EDU experience, using teamwork and critical thinking to complete a "mission", solving a series of challenging puzzles related to a recent novel study in order to open a locked box of treasure. For those not familiar with Breakout EDU, they are similar to "escape room" experiences. 

Breakout EDU games can be used in a variety of ways, including introducing a new topic or concept, for strengthening learning, delving deeper into topics, or for thinking critically about literature (which was the purpose of this week's Breakout EDU). The games provide a student-centered learning experience where students use critical thinking, collaboration, creativity and communication to problem-solve and own their learning, apply their understanding of new content or even discover it. One of the best aspects of these games is that they provide students with many opportunities to fail forward.  Every unsuccessful attempt to solve a puzzle and open a lock forces the player to try again. These Wild Robot (novel by Peter Brown) fans were determined to complete their mission within the allotted 45-minute timeframe. The first team broke the codes within 34 minutes and the second team broke them within 36 minutes - both teams setting a Spofford record!  It was just as thrilling for us to observe as it was for students to participate - they were supporting one another as learners and persevering through the more difficult aspects of the challenge. Student feedback:  "Please, can we do another one soon?"  You can bet we will and next time, we'll level up! 

Special thanks to Mrs. Kosakowski, our digital literacy specialist, for putting together this special mission for our students. There will definitely be more to come!

This week's guest bloggers reflect on their first live Breakout EDU experience. Enjoy.

I think we should have listened to more people's ideas because sometimes I heard people on our team say, "No, that's not going to work." We should have been saying instead, "Sure, let's try that."   - @Horse321

If we had to do this again, my team should have split up the tasks and have some kids look for clues while others solved the puzzles. My team had good leadership. I guess teamwork does make the dream work. A shout-out to @Dream who was really helpful finding the clues!   - @PickleKitty

I want to give a shout-out to @Swagger_25 because during the Breakout, he was helping everyone out and being both a team player and a leader.    - @M&M

I think that my team did well with the breakout. We collaborated well and shared our thinking with each other. I would just like to say that @Lightning24 and others rounded the group and said, "Come on, we can do this guys!" and "Stay with me!" By working together as a team, we were able to open all of the locks and get to the prize. This shows that if you try super hard and don't give up, you can succeed.  - @Pineapple

The next time we do this, I think we could be better about thinking about our answers to the clues, especially when we are given a clue from the teacher. We shouldn't just be guessing, we should be thinking.    - @Chickadee

@Polly had lots of great ideas. She encouraged others and she really helped our team be successful. She looked for clues and helped solve puzzles. She was doing it all. She never gave up, even when no one was listening to her and she had the right answer. She won it for our team.   - @Galaxy

I think @Swagger_25 was being a good leader because when he started helping us, I felt like we could do it. He really pulled the group together. Also, @PickleKitty was really helpful, too. We were able to open all of the locks and beat the clock!   - @Dream

I think my team could improve by letting everybody do something to contribute. A lot of the time, my team had one person doing the work and others weren't able to do anything. It would be good if we all talked before we started so that we could figure out how we could all participate equally.   - @Zombie

My advice to another class who wants to do this is to never give up! When my team was struggling, we would stop and review what we did that was wrong. That was very helpful. We also encouraged each other and we felt like a team. - EarthySmurf

If I were to give advice to another class who wanted to do this, I would say: Always have fun, be kind, don't be bossy, and do your best to collaborate. Also, listen to others and share your thinking.    - @Flash4

I want to give a shout-out to @Venom. He was really positive and really cooperative during this experience. He worked really hard and suggested that we divide and conquer so that we could complete the challenge. His thinking was far outside the box and he had some great ideas.    - @TheBeeGuy101

If I were to give advice to another class who wanted to do a breakout, I would tell them that they should listen, share ideas, and work as a team.   - @Strawberry

I think our team could have collaborated better. Some people weren't letting others have a go at the puzzles. Everyone should be able to participate equally. Also, I felt like my team could have broke out faster if we remembered that we were racing the clock, not the other team.   - @Pickle03

If I were to give advice to another class who wanted to do this, it would be to use teamwork, perseverance, kindness, and leadership. You have to support your team at all times. If they take this advice, they will be a good team and succeed.  - @Mac

If I were to give advice to another class who wanted to do a breakout, I would say, "Teamwork and listening to others is the way to have a successful game even if you don't win."    - @Lightning24

If I were to give advice to another class about this game, I would say WORK TOGETHER. Seriously, I wasn't doing enough of this. If it weren't for my awesome teammates, we wouldn't have cracked the codes.  @Cheeto111

I want to give a shout-out to @Polly and it's not because she is my friend. It's because she was so positive and was always focused on trying to solve each puzzle. Thanks for being a leader, @Polly!  - @Ham

I want to give a shout-out to @Pineapple and @WowWriter. They helped our team find clues and helped us work together. They made the mission fun.   - @Lonnie

I want to give a shout-out to my whole group. We worked as a great team!! I want to point out that @Lightning24 really helped our group. He completed an online puzzle, but he let others help him.  - @WowWriter

I want to give a shout-out to @Swagger_25 for holding the group together and reminding everyone that "We can do this!"    - @Giraffe

A member of our team who really collaborated well and was positive was @Polly. She was in it to win it the whole time. She was very focused and she worked hard even when we were stuck. Also, she didn't get frustrated when time was running out - she thought outside the box and persevered.   - @Wolverine12

I want to give a shout-out to my whole team, but especially @BeeGuy101 and @Elizabeth_Schuyler. They both showed leadership and never gave up. Our group worked together really well together and had a lot of fun.   - @Koala333

If we were to do another breakout, I would include more people in the mission. Not everyone in the group was participating and I think everyone wanted to. It works better when everyone gets to participate.   - @Polly

If we were to do this again, I think teams should pay less attention to the locks and more attention to the actual clues. Also, if you want to succeed, the whole team has to work together.    - @Venom

I want to give a shout-out to @Polly. @Polly worked really hard for our team, she never gave up, and she was never bossy. She was a really good leader. I would love to do this again with her.    - @G-Money

My team could have collaborated better. Instead of saying things like "I want to do it!" we could have been saying "Let's work together!". Even I think I could work on that.   - @Elizabeth_Schuyler

Unleashing Our Creativity

Research shows that when students create multimedia, it engages a wide variety of cognitive skills. Deeper learning and the development of critical thinking skills occur, allowing them to express what they've learned in meaningful ways that are unique to them.  

Through a grant generously funded by the B.E.S.T. organization, The Hive now has access to WeVideo - an online video editing tool for beginners. We chose this digital tool for a variety of reasons this year, which you will discover through this blog as the school year unfolds (hint: we're remaking literacy in relevant and exciting ways). We introduced WeVideo to students this week as part of a literacy unit on story themes. Students have been learning about the importance of story themes (the theme being one reason why an author writes a story - using the story to share a message with readers). We focused on one particular story titled The Wild Robot by Peter Brown. Students were able to identify a variety of relatable themes in this story. Having them write about those themes laid the foundation of what was about to come next. We took their thinking to the next level, asking them to create a video book trailer for the story that portrayed one of the themes that they identified in the story (initially launching the experience with a storyboard plan). Talk about total engagement - satisfaction and enjoyment x 10. We observed the development of several skills including, but not limited to creative thinking, critical thinking, vocabulary, and communication. Students will be sharing these book trailers with third-grade classes in an effort to promote this much-loved book. Today's guest bloggers reflect on this experience. Enjoy! (P.S. scroll to the end to find some examples of their amazing book trailers)

WeVideo is an amazing digital tool. It stretched my creativity and my thinking to the next level. I like WeVideo because I can be creative without too many rules.   - WowWriter

I used to think THEME was the topic of a story, but now I know that THEME is the message or lesson that the author wants you to take away from the story to help you in life or to be a better person.  - Cheeto111

Using WeVideo helped deepen my understanding of THEME because making a book trailer that portrays the THEME of the story without coming out and saying it made me have to think about what pictures and words I would need to use to represent it.  - Lonnie

WeVideo is a good digital tool to help us develop our literacy skills and it makes learning the skills super fun. It helped me think about THEME in different ways, which was really awesome and helpful.  - Wolverine12

WeVideo helped me deepen my understanding of THEME because I could represent the THEME with images instead of just words. Finding the right images took a lot of thought.  - WaterBottle1

Using WeVideo to represent the THEME took a lot of thinking because the pictures and the words have to be just right in order for them to go together and show the THEME without just saying it.  - Swagger_25

Using WeVideo helped me deepen my understanding of THEME. It was a lot of responsibility to find the right images and choose the right text that fit the story's THEME (True friendship means making sacrifices). If you haven't read The Wild Robot, you should. It's a very good book. - Pineapple

BELOW ARE A FEW OF OUR STUDENTS' BOOK TRAILERS

Meaningful Mathematical Discourse

When we take the time to have rich and meaningful conversations (productive dialogue) about our math experiences, and encourage students to participate, we're nurturing a supportive culture of questioning, reflection, and understanding. 

One of the key factors in math achievement involves supporting math language development. This includes asking critical questions, encouraging students to seek clarity, and accepting our failures as opportunities for real growth. In doing this, we're motivating and encouraging students to work together to facilitate productive mathematical conversations. Engaging in meaningful mathematical discourse offers students an opportunity to reflect on their math knowledge and understanding, make connections with prior knowledge, identify patterns, hone in on their reasoning skills, and develop their higher order thinking skills. As teachers, it allows  us to observe and evaluate their mathematical understanding and development so that we can better support their math growth as we address gaps in student understanding and refine and redirect their approaches to reasoning and problem-solving.

Students are enjoying the opportunities to present their ideas and mathematical strategies with one another. As they seek out, listen to, and value the ideas and perspectives of others, they are able to maximize their own learning while supporting the growth and achievements of others. This is one example of what taking ownership of mathematical knowledge looks and feels like in The Hive. 

This week's guest bloggers reflect on these experiences. Enjoy.

Math conversations help me improve in math because we get new ideas about math when we talk it out. It also helps me think differently and in new ways. It's really helpful to share math strategies.    - Blocky

I think the conversations we have about math are a good way to understand different strategies. It allows us to see what's going on inside each other's brains when we think about math.    - EarthySmurf

Having conversations about math helps me learn about math in different ways and it makes math more interesting. I like math talks.   - G-Money

I think our conversations about math help us improve our understanding of math A LOT. For example, I was having a really hard time with bar models and forgetting how to set them up. When someone came up to the board and showed the class their work and how they set up their bar model, I think that helped all of us.   - Cheeto111

Talking about math is one of the ways that we we help each other in The Hive.  - Elizabeth_Schuyler

Our conversations about math help us improve our understanding of math. For example, yesterday we had a "ripple effect". I shared something about how I worked out a problem and then a classmate piggybacked on that and in the end, we all learned something new from sharing and talking about our math strategies.   - Pineapple

Our conversations about math are helpful. For example, I thought I knew my math facts pretty well, but then a classmate showed us a simpler way to learn our facts and it's so much easier for me now.   - Pickle03

I think conversations about math help us share our strategies with each other. Sometimes some strategies are quicker and better than others, but people can make their own choices about the strategy that works best for them.   - Recycle14

When we were sharing our bar models, I liked how lots of people got to share. One day, we were at the beginning of a math conversation about bar models and I thought I knew EVERYTHING. By the time the last person finished sharing, I knew a lot more than I did before we started. I learned that you can never know everything. There is always something new to learn. That's what I love about The Hive.   - WowWriter

Our math conversations help me a lot. One time, a classmate had a strategy that taught us how to check our work. This has helped me a lot with my own math work. Another time, a classmate came up to the board to show how to make sense of word problems and it really helped me.   - Dream

Conversations about math can help you see how other people think about math and so it helps you understand math better. When you hear someone explain how they were thinking about a math problem and how they solved it, it can help you understand how to solve it yourself.    - GoatLover

Sources:

Curtis, Jeannie. “More Talking in Math Class, Please.” Edutopia, George Lucas Educational Foundation, 31 Oct. 2017, https://www.edutopia.org/article/more-talking-math-class-please.

Audrey Jones, et al. “Let's Talk Math! Implementing Math Talk in the Classroom.” Mrs. Winter's Bliss, 23 Sept. 2020, https://mrswintersbliss.com/math-talk-in-the-classroom/.

“Talking Math: How to Engage Students in Mathematical Discourse.” Getting Smart, 29 Sept. 2015, https://www.gettingsmart.com/2015/09/29/talking-math-how-to-engage-students-in-mathematical-discourse/.

It's Getting a Little Sketchy In Here

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Let's first talk briefly about the power of visible thinking. 

Learning is the consequence of thinking. Expecting students to think deeply can be a challenge. How exactly should we expect our students to do this? What does it mean to think? How do we know what or how they're thinking about something if we can't see their thoughts? When we give our students specific tools to help them better structure and deploy their own thinking, learning outcomes improve. When we help them build, connect, and refine their thinking in more overt (visible) ways, we are essentially helping them to develop their metacognitive skills, which leads to better thinking. Visible thinking routines provide a window into what students understand and how they are understanding it. As teachers, this offers us an opportunity to be intentional about how we plan and adjust our learning experiences to help our learners dig deeper into content, and hear and see each other's questions, insights, and perspectives so that we can support the development their thinking habits and refine their thinking as needed.

There are a plethora of ways to make thinking visible and we will explore many of them in The Hive this year. One of the ways we recently asked students to process information visually, was through a sketchnoting exercise related to the pollination process. Sketchnoting is a form of visual note-taking where students (or really anyone) listen to, synthesize, and visualize ideas about what they are learning about through a combination of picture drawings, diagrams, and text. Creating these visual notes during our exploration of the pollination process and then having students participate in a gallery walk of their classmates' sketchnotes, was an engaging way for students to share and build upon one another's knowledge, ultimately gaining a deeper understanding of this information.

This week's guest bloggers reflect on this experience. Enjoy.

Sketchnoting helps me understand what I am learning because drawing pictures about what I've learned makes sense to me.   - Lonnie

Sketchnoting helps me see how other people are thinking about what we are learning about.  - McLovin

Sketchnoting helps me learn because it's easier to learn with art. When I created my sketchnote about pollination, I felt like I was learning more.  - WowWriter

Sketchnoting helps me better understand what I am learning about and it allows other people to see how I visualize my learning and maybe it will help them.   - EarthySmurf

I think sketchnoting is helpful because drawing what you learned is sometimes easier than writing about it. For example, describing the crown of a hummingbird would be better to see in a drawing with arrows and labels.   - Horse321

Sketchnoting is a great to to explain what I learned because I enjoy drawing and showing my learning with pictures.   - Elizabeth_Schuyler

Sketchnoting helps me to blend (synthesize) my ideas and make sense of what I am learning. Doing this with pictures is helpful for me.   - Dream

Sketchnoting helps me understand my learning more because when I sketchnote, I am drawing pictures and writing words, not sentences. Sketchnoting makes learning really fun and makes a lot of sense to me.  - Koala333

Sometimes I forget what I learned, but when I create a sketchnote, it helps me remember it better. Also, I can easily look back at my sketchnotes to help me instead of reading pages of notes.  - Lightning24

Sometimes it's hard to understand words, but pictures can help with that. Drawing pictures with short text helps me visualize my learning.  - GoatLover

When I am learning about the process of things, Sketchnoting is really helpful. It helps me understand what I am learning because it's easier to understand a process through drawings and text.  - TheBeeGuy101

Sketchnoting helps me to remember what I am learning about. The drawings are really helpful. - Zombie

Sketchnoting helps me organize my crazy mind.  - Strawberry

Sketchnoting forces me to think more deeply about what I am learning.  - Giraffe

Sketchnoting helps me see what I am thinking in a different way. It's like talking pictures.  - Wolverine12

Sources:

“Project Zero's Thinking Routine Toolbox.” PZ's Thinking Routines Toolbox | Project Zero, http://www.pz.harvard.edu/thinking-routines.

H, Sean. “What Is Visible Thinking Really?” Ideas Out There, 12 Apr. 2020, https://seanhamptoncole.wordpress.com/2017/09/02/what-is-visible-thinking-really/.

Making Thinking Visible - Harvard University. http://www.pz.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/makingthinkingvisibleEL.pdf.

Schwartz, Katrina. “Why Teachers Are so Excited about the Power of Sketchnoting - Mindshift.” KQED, 3 Nov. 2019, https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/54655/why-teachers-are-so-excited-about-the-power-of-sketchnoting.

 

Arguments Welcome!

 

“Curiosity—the desire to explain how the world works—drives the questions we ask and the investigations we conduct.”  - Kerry Emmanuel, MIT

Explorations in science and engineering should have purpose and lead to conclusions and claims. Scientists make claims all the time, but for their claims to be believable, they must be supported by evidence and reasoning. An effective tool for working through this type of scientific explanation is the C-E-R framework (Claim, Evidence, Reasoning) and it offers the perfect opportunity for fourth-graders to begin thinking and communicating like scientists. 

The C-E-R framework is a valuable inquiry method that promotes the development of critical thinking skills where students not only evaluate their own arguments, but the claims and arguments of others. Students learn to answer scientific questions by stating what they believe to be true and then providing evidentiary data and rationale to support their belief. Utilizing this practice in science instruction, as well as across all disciplines, increases rigor by incorporating a greater cognitive complexity of thinking. For elementary students who are first learning to engage in scientific argumentation, C-E-R provides a developmentally appropriate approach toward how students connect their experiences with previously learned content, boosting their scientific literacy. If it sounds like a tall task to you, it’s because it is. 

Unknowingly, students began engaging in this process a couple of weeks ago when they first started exploring the various structures and functions of plants and animals. Their explorations inspired curiosity about the subject and a desire to analyze factual information, make connections, and evaluate the meaning and implication of it. A great deal of time and thought was spent crafting logical and concise claims, identifying relevant and reliable evidence, and understanding the importance of explaining how the evidence supports their claims. This exercise provoked an intense and meaningful reflection on what they had learned. It provided students with the practice necessary to draw and support appropriate conclusions and the foundation to participate in effective and high-quality argumentation. 

Students ultimately crafted their own C-E-R argument about an investigation related to moss and were asked to argue whether or not they believed it was a plant. It was fascinating to observe students effectively evaluate the information they were given and synthesize it with their schema to make a claim and defend it. We spent some time as a whole class afterward discussing the merits of their arguments, identifying any potential holes, sharing the various methods as to how they analyzed and evaluated the data and information they were given, and how they arrived at their conclusions. It was an incredibly meaningful discussion that helped shaped their ideas not only about the topic, but the perspectives and methodology behind organizing their thinking and assembling it into the C-E-R framework. 

This week’s guest bloggers reflect on this experience. Enjoy. 

I think that reasoning is the most important part of a C-E-R because it explains how the evidence supports your claim and makes it more clear to understand what you are trying to prove. - Flash4

During our group discussion I learned that your claim has to be clear and simple. You don't want to say "I think this or I think that". You want to be sure. - PickleKitty

You can use the C-E-R framework for anything, including math, social studies, and books you are reading. You can also use C-E-R to make an argument for getting a pet. Hmmm... that gives me an idea...  - Cheesy

In my opinion, I think the most important part of an argument is the claim. The claim is the foundation of your argument. The evidence and reasoning are useless without it. Your claim tells your audience what you are trying to prove.  - Choney

I think that reasoning is the most important part of an argument because reasoning is explaining why you think what you think. It breaks down the argument so that you can see the evidence more clearly.  - Wolverine12

I think the most important part of an argument is the reasoning because your audience might not know how your evidence supports your claim if you don't explain it clearly.  - CHEETO111

I think that evidence is the most important part of an argument because without factual evidence, you can't support your claim and it's not believable and your argument is not believable.   - Pickle03

I think the claim is the most important part of an argument because you are making a statement about what you know and want to prove.  - Strawberry

Another example of when you can use the C-E-R framework is if you are a lawyer. For example, if you are a lawyer, you need to defend your client with a claim, evidence, and reasoning. If I were a lawyer and my client was accused of stealing a pencil from the classroom, I would say something like this: "My client is not guilty. The classroom got new pencils and Mrs. Valzania said that they could take a pencil if they needed one. This proves that my client was allowed to take a pencil and therefore my client is not guilty."  - Pineapple

When we were learning about moss and had to investigate whether or not it was a plant, it was very hard to do because there were a lot of reasons some people thought it was and a lot of reasons people thought it wasn't. Kids had to think, and think, and think. We had to have a discussion about the evidence and how we could analyze it to make a decision. It was really hard but also really fun.  - Galaxy 

If you use the C-E-R framework to write a strong argument, it can be a very powerful thing.  - Lightning24

Sources:

Brunsell, Eric. “Designing Science Inquiry: Claim + Evidence + Reasoning = Explanation.” Edutopia, George Lucas Educational Foundation, 25 Sept. 2012 

Cusamano, Jennifer, and David Janosz. “Using a Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning Platform With Next Generation Science Standards.” McGraw Hill Education.