The PhET simulations are an interesting attempt to all students to experience science as a scientist rather than as a student. This is also done while reducing the financial investments by the school and instructor. They do not however, reduce the amount of preparation by an instructor as they need to know of all the parts of that simulation, so that they can answer any questions that come up while students work through the simulation. However, they can reduce the amount of lesson planning if the instructor shooses one of the lessons from their website. This would in theory reduce as they repeat the simulations, while that is less true for repeated labs. As such, I believe that these simulations have a place to explore ideas which cannot be performed or seen in a schoolroom lab.
Their activities come setup for inquiry based learning, where students can ask their own questions about the particular simulation. For what its worth, I do remember doing simulations like these as a high school student and I did not find these simulations engaging since they were presented as work, and I did not freely choose the topic. Free inquiry based learning to me, requires self-motivated engagement on the part of the students. As such, I don’t know if these simulations can be used as free inquiry, but they could support guided inquiry as discussed by Trevor Mackenzie. This guided inquiry, where students explore a simulation based on prompts by the teacher allows students to explore specific ideas without having the answers presented to them.
In summary, I believe that the PhET simulations have usefulness in classrooms, to engage students and provide accessibility to students who could not otherwise see these experiments. However, they do not provide the level of guided inquiry which or involvement which I was hoping to see.
Kahoot! is an incredibly useful platform for motivating students to engage in their learning. It does this by gamifying the learning process. I have used Kahoot! since 2012 as a student and as a TA since 2020 when it became difficult to create a sense of community in the classroom as we were all online. I turned entire tutorials into Kahoot games where students were engaged and thinking about the questions that were asked.
A screen capture of my slides for the EDD 401 concept attainment presentation.
In this manner, creating competition can generate interest and encourage socialization where it may not already be occurring. There are, however, downsides to using Kahoot and gamifying learning. If students are competing against each other, and that is the only type of interaction that occurs in your class. Your class culture will likely create a sense of competition among students outside of these games. In a subject like math, where students may already feel lots of anxiety, this could result in pushing students away from participating in your class as they are afraid of losing, i.e. being wrong. This destructive culture could result in less student interaction and increase their anxieties around grades, rather than increasing interaction as intended. Therefore we need to be careful about how often we use direct competition in our classrooms, and remember to emphasize the collective nature of learning.
In Weekly Reflection 1: Most Likely to Succeed, I used Mentimeter to create a word cloud of all the ideas that came up as I watched the movie, Most Likely to Succeed. This is one simple way that I can use this program in my classroom. It is often difficult for teachers to track their students’ self-reflection while they are watching movies as the writing often happens after the movie ends in individual notebooks. Mentimeter provides a space where all of a class’s responses are entered into one location, and valuable information based on time and responder are attached to each response. In this way a teacher can see when a student has what thought, and watch their class’s collective thoughts progress and evolve.
The badge given by Mentimeter in your first tutorial is incredibly reminiscent of the BC voting stickers.
Additionally, being able to integrate interactive slides into your presentations means that there is an engagement baked into direct instruction sessions. This enhances my ability to use formative assessment as I no longer need to remember how all of my students respond to questions in class. It also provides opportunities for students to tell me that I need to slow down, anonymously.
My only concern with using mentimeter is that I cannot rely on it until I have met all of my students and know that they will reliably have access to a phone, tablet or computer in the classroom.
The final slide from Mentimeter’s Introduction Academy Program
How do we use evaluations of a journey to avoid copy and paste from AI.
Most data that is captured digitally comes from a global north context. This means that any output will come from a global north context.
How do students who are learning new content evaluate the truth statements made by AI models if they do not already have a background in that field.
Campus food survey used AI to create an image.
Notebook LM, an AI that allows you to select the sources on which the AI creates content.
Having premium AI options, does this create a divide between students who can afford and who cannot afford the “better” program.
How is OpenAI scraping the internet different from someone observing all of the internet and sharing it with you?
How will fees on running queries change as the environmental and social impacts of AI increase in relevance and impact?
The Ouroboros was an ancient Greek and Egyptian symbol which is meant to represent the cyclic nature of life.
Our class conversations about AI self-cannibalization reminded me of the Ouroboros symbol which I had always interpreted as a symbol of greed and self-defeat. However, it is discussed in reference to cyclical structures, where the creature develops out of itself, while also consuming itself.
This perspective had me reflect on why we considered this form of self-consumption a negative idea, while other cultures considered the Ouroboros a positive. Examples of this are seen in the cyclical nature of the Nile river banks which the ancient Egyptians used as their year marker. This did include construction and destruction in cycles, within it, but it was overall seen as a positive. We seem to only consider content created by AI as useful if it is consumed by humans and wasteful if AI is trained on it. This hints at how we value content created by humans compared to AI. When a chatbot hallucinates, we dismiss this response as incorrect, whereas when a human creates a new idea, we weigh its value and logical structure before deciding if it is valuable. This reminds me of how we teach humans compared to teaching adults. Children are told to rehearse thoughts and ideas, and when they say something “wrong” they’re often told that they are wrong and to go back to rehearsing. Comparing this to adults, we often ask how they came to that conclusion and try to identify the incorrect reasoning. So we seem to treat children and AI in similar manners, where they are dismissed and ignored when incorrect, but celebrated when they are correct.
This lecture felt like a deeper investigation into the concepts presented in the Multimedia and Learning Design course, focusing specifically on the Universal Design for Learning. The topics that we discussed included both students with disabilities and complex learners which were distinguished due to the disparity in the methods used to address their needs within the classroom and schools more broadly. Both methods use accommodations or modifications to instruction, assessment, and curriculum where necessary.
The mindset behind these accommodations should lend to providing a complex learner, or student with disability, the opportunity to participate as though they did not have their disability. This should direct lessons, assessment, and course programming in a direction that removes barriers for these students’ participation and maintains their integration within the class culture. An excellent analogy for UDL principles would be the following building design, which incorporates a ramp into the staircase so that students who cannot use discrete steps can remain integrated with the rest of their class.
Comparing this to ramps and stairs which are separated, we see that students needing these tools are forced to separate from the group unless the whole class choses the inefficient route. Â
This analogy shows how classes can be adapted to integrate complex learners and students with disability without interfering with other student’s learning and can instead truly be an intentional and useful part of the course. Paying attention to this part of our lesson planning allows us to improve a hidden part of our curriculum. By including these accommodations in our classes, we teach our students to value all students in the school, not simply the neurotypical, able students. This will go on to improve the social atmosphere within the school towards these students, further improving their schooling experience.
It’s incredibly fascinating to me how having an administration that is open to adjusting its structure allows for a diversified pedagogy within your own classrooms. Students at PSII are allowed to pursue the same projects across multiple years. This is promoted within the school whereas in the public system, this may not be possible due to the manner in which classes are planned and which teachers will be assigned which classes. This allows students to pursue community engagements and projects without the threat of a semi-immediate deadline to produce results. This allows students the opportunity to pursue ideas, fail with them and then adjust and return to the project without losing grades or leaving something “unfinished”. I could see other ways in which having a flexible administration allows instructors freedom to design classes in manners which more accurately pursue the goals of the students. This relocation of the goals of education, from a singular idea designed by the institution, to the individual goals of each student, allows for the institution to justify its educational practices in a manner that the public system cannot. Finally since this system focuses on the desires of the student, they will be more successful at teaching students who are different from the administration. Since their purpose is to serve the students, they are more likely to look to understand the student’s motivations, goals, and abilities rather than a typical institution which does not have to account for each students abilities since their goal is not specific to each student.
For other perspectives on alternative educational institutions, this audiobook by Dr. Kerry McDonald explores the challenges that parents and educators are facing.
I enjoyed this class quite a bit more, the overall theme of inquiry education was engaging and exciting. Our other classes have been discussing the theoretical basis of inquiry based learning, but have not had any discussion of the practical experience around implementing them. Suggesting that you introduce inquiry based learning though a controlled release method was very helpful, as it provides a safe atmosphere for the teachers and students to learn together on how they want to implement completed inquiry based learning. His image demonstrating this which uses a pool, explaining structured, controlled, guided, and free inquiry was a perfect analogy of this. It’s also helpful to hear that all of these are valid methods of inquiry which will help engage students.Â
I did not realize that vertical learning was considered a method of inquiry based learning, which is great since I firmly believe in this integration of motion and learning. Whiteboards provide an excellent surface for trial and error as students can quickly think of something, write it down and erase it as soon as they realize that it is wrong. Additionally, this method of teaching provides opportunities for students to move and engage kinematically with content which would otherwise distract from their learning. By placing students in small groups, you also indirectly encourage students to socialize and develop negotiation skills. This can be directed by instructing students on what they must ensure their groups achieve. For example, requiring all students to contribute to the problem, forces students who are not writing, to engage with the writer and think about the problem rather than allowing one student to complete the problem and present it while the rest do nothing.
As a teacher in training, the film *Most Likely to Succeed* provides both a thought-provoking and inspiring perspective on the future of education. The documentary explores how traditional schooling models, with their focus on rote memorization, standardized testing, and a rigid, one-size-fits-all approach, are becoming increasingly outdated in preparing students for the complexities of the modern world. The film showcases High Tech High, as a case study of innovative schools that are challenging the status quo by integrating project-based learning, fostering creativity, and emphasizing critical thinking skills over mere knowledge retention.
One of the central themes of the film is the need to cultivate a learning environment that mirrors real-world challenges, rather than adhering to the traditional, compartmentalized subjects of the standard curriculum. As a future educator, this idea resonates deeply with me. The notion of focusing on how students approach problems, collaborate, and think critically seems more aligned with the skills they will need in the rapidly changing global economy. As a physics and math student, I have often encountered the tension between the desire for success on standardized tests and the aspiration to develop skills that go beyond the classroom. “Most Likely to Succeed” brings this issue to the forefront, advocating for a shift in focus toward deeper, more meaningful learning experiences. This film also forced me to reflect on why I entered the field that I did. Physics appealed to me as a way of understanding the world, rather than as a subject which was easy to attain high grades. This was a perspective which drove me to ask questions and engage with instructors in content that would not be tested. So even though I entered a procedure heavy field, I discussed content more than in other classes where I was uninterested in the subject matter.
The film’s portrayal of High Tech High, highlights the power of project-based learning. The way students in the film engage with interdisciplinary projects—solving real-world problems while building meaningful relationships with teachers and peers—makes me reflect on the type of educator I hope to become. Teachers in these environments aren’t just content experts; they are facilitators of learning, guiding students as they explore, create, and solve problems. Additionally, they leave students wanting to pursue more of that field and excited to do so. Rather than leaving students with a closed vision of the subject, these projects expose lots of ideas and areas that will not be covered inclass, this excites and motivates students to engage in learning for themselves, rather than for grades or tests. The film emphasizes the importance of fostering an environment where students feel safe to take risks, make mistakes, and learn from those experiences, which is a philosophy I aim to adopt in my own future classroom.
Moreover, the film underscores the idea of personalized learning. It challenges the conventional notion that every student must progress through the same set of content at the same pace. Instead, the film suggests that teachers should recognize the unique strengths, interests, and learning styles of each student, and adapt instruction accordingly. This is particularly compelling as I reflect on how I can ensure that my future classroom is inclusive and responsive to diverse learners. Every student’s journey is different, and it’s crucial that I, as a teacher, understand and respect those differences to create an environment where all students have the opportunity to thrive.
However, while the film offers a hopeful vision for the future of education, it also highlights the challenges of moving away from traditional methods. Changing educational systems, whether on a district, state, or national level, requires a significant shift in mindset, resources, and teacher training. As a teacher in training, I recognize that these changes may not happen overnight, and I must be prepared to navigate a system that is often resistant to change. The film encourages me to think about how I can be an advocate for progressive education within my own classroom, even if the larger system is slow to adapt. I can start by experimenting with innovative teaching practices, incorporating project-based learning, and embracing technology to personalize learning experiences for my students.
In conclusion, “Most Likely to Succeed” has challenged me to think critically about my role as a teacher. It has reaffirmed my belief in the importance of nurturing skills such as problem-solving, collaboration, and creativity. As I continue my journey toward becoming an educator, I feel inspired to think beyond test scores and traditional curriculum, striving instead to prepare students for a future that requires flexibility, adaptability, and innovative thinking. This film has shown me that while the path toward transformative education may be complex, it is well worth pursuing for the sake of our students and their futures.
Before proceeding with this first blog post, we expect you to consider your privacy preferences carefully and that you have considered the following options:
Do you want to be online vs. offline?
Do you want to use your name (or part thereof) vs. a pseudonym (e.g., West Coast Teacher)?
Do you want to have your blog public vs. private? (Note, you can set individual blog posts private or password protected or have an entire blog set to private)
Have you considered whether you are posting within or outside of Canada? This blog on opened.ca is hosted within Canada. That said, any public blog posts can have its content aggregated/curated onto social networks outside of Canada.
First tasks you might explore with your new blog:
Go into its admin panel found by adding /wp-admin at the end of your blog’s URL
Add new category or tags to organize your blog posts – found under “Posts” (but do not remove the pre-existing “EdTech” category or sub-categories, Free Inquiry and EdTech Inquiry). We have also pre-loaded the Teacher Education competencies as categories should you wish to use them to document your learning. If you would like to add more course categories, please do so (e.g., add EDCI 306A with no space for Music Ed, etc.)
See if your blog posts are appearing on the course website (you must have the course categories assigned to a post first and have provided your instructor with your blog URL)
Add pages
Embed images or set featured images and embed video in blog posts and pages (can be your own media or that found on the internet, but consider free or creative commons licensed works)
Under Appearance,
Select your preferred website theme and customize to your preferences (New title, etc.)
Customize menus & navigation
Use widgets to customize blog content and features
Delete this starter post (or switch it to draft status if you want to keep for reference)
Do consider creating categories for each course that you take should you wish to document your learning (or from professional learning activities outside of formal courses). Keep note, however, that you may wish to use the course topic as the category as opposed to the course number as those outside of your program would not be familiar with the number (e.g., we use “EdTech” instead of “edci336).
Lastly, as always, be aware of the FIPPA as it relates to privacy and share only those names/images that you have consent to use or are otherwise public figures. When in doubt, ask us.
Please also review the resources from our course website for getting started with blogging:
