Today I got to practice with a new program pluggin called H5P as a piece of educational technology that allows teachers, or students to create content for more interactive content engagement.
This is the activity that I developed. I modelled my practice project as a quick timeline of the model of the atom. This was a topic we are covering in my science 10 class currently. I am curious about how my students can approach this pluggin, as a method to demonstrate their learning, that could be engaged with by their fellow students to check-in and learn from.
My initial thoughts are that the interactivity of the pluggin made it easy to work with but had some challenges to get through, such as stop and end points for the timeline. To overcome this I put the end point as the time that the next event happened.
Where to Start? I suppose some context will help frame this post. I have just returned from 4 Days in Ottawa Ontario, attending the 29th Annual Prime Minister’s Awards for Teaching Excellence. In June I was informed I was a recipient but informed that I had to keep a Secret till October when It would be announced. I was so excited to be one of the recipients of this prestigious award. As part of being a national recipient of the award, I travelled to Ottawa to meet with other teachers from across the country. Over the time in Ottawa, I not only met these wonderful educators, but we got to share our best teaching practices and connect with each other about projects and stories from our classrooms. We attended an awards ceremony that had us all beaming with excitement and support for one another, and got to meet some very special guests.
Framing The Experience:
My flight out on Tuesday morning had me leaving the house at 3:30am, it would be a long day of travel. I spent a good amount of time on the plane trying to finish a presentation on my best practices, summing up a fair amount of time spent thinking over the last few weeks trying to collate what I thought were the most impactful aspects of how I approached teaching. When I arrived I had a list, and so obviously that was enough done to warrant taking a nap. It was refreshing enough that when I woke up an hour later I was able to begin patching together a slideshow. 11:30 am hits and we have a presentation together that feels like it will cover the topics I had wished to talk about.
Wednesday Morning I get myself together at 6am, (3am again BC time) and head over to the ISED (Innovation, Science, and Economic Development) offices where I am to meet the other recipients. I show up at the building and get greeted by name in the lobby, feeling impressed, I am issued a pass and given instructions on how to use it for security. Beth, the main organiser, came to greet me and ushered me up to the meeting room, it felt very official, and then we walked into the room where today’s event would take place. It was the type of place where international delegates would go to for a very important meeting or press conference. There were little microphones at each seat, and flags on the desk and in the corner, a video and photography team mulling about, and each seat had a very nice and very official looking name tag. This is when It would begin to click in how special this award really was beyond what I had already come to. The view out the window was the library and main block of parliament. It was a stunning view.
The view of parliament from the window of our meeting room
When I first took my seat I was a little nervous. I had that voice of self doubt running through my head, wondering if I was even qualified to be in this room. But It soon disappeared and did not return. I quickly began talking and engaging with the other recipients, talking about science, maths, robotics and inclusion and hurdles we faced. The group bonded really well, we connected in such a personal and deep way with one another. I think this set the tone for sharing and connecting over the following days. We had an opportunity to introduce ourselves and share a bit of who we were and where we came from, and we added personal anecdotes of what this meant for us. This deep and personal sharing around our teaching practices built a connection that became really important. We would later learn that we were the most socially and emotionally connected group that had ever gathered to received the award.
The Table of Recipients meeting each other for the first time.
Day 1 The Experience and Connections:
Over the course of the day we each gave a 20 min talk on our best teaching practices. Although we each approached it from a slightly different angle, there were some themes that really resonated among us. The first commonality I would note, was a true commitment and dedication towards inclusive, representative, and socially responsible education. It was so refreshing and exciting, to hear these concepts not only being talked about but demonstrations of how they were being enacted in class and through lessons. What was more, was the impact and inspiration that students were taking from these lessons. There were teachers who actively working to help create change in how teachers perceived Black students and culture and people in society, so that more Black representation, inclusion and social understanding of systemic challenges were reflected in the classroom. Some talked about the impact of second languages on education and how that influenced a sense of belonging and subsequent impact of engagement and participation in the classroom for students. There were a range of topics but inclusive education would be repeated throughout!
My talk focused on having fun in the classroom, the role of connection, belonging, and representation as important factors to students engagement in class. We also spoke about my students projects and the impact having fun had on them but also the importance that teachers also have fun! It was well received and delivered with the perspective of story, a delivery that resonates well in indigenous pedagogy .
A photo from my talk on “Are You Having Fun?”
The second commonality, I would note was the use of innovative, hands-on, project based learning. This was everywhere, no one was doing worksheets and few were using textbooks. As a teacher who discovered the impacts of project based, hands-on learning on my own, and while facing resistance to this approach from some of my colleagues. There was a point in my teaching over the last few years when I began to question, if this method I was so passionate about was really as impactful as I thought. I believed it was but I did not see anyone else really doing this type of teaching. This past week has changed any sense of hesitation towards the use of Project based learning. It was so truly affirming to see so many other teachers who were approaching education in this way, and also teachers who were being recognized nationally across the country for this approach. I had found my people, a cohort of educators that shared this perspective and were embracing it!!!
As the discussions carried on with teachers from around the table mingling, chatting and inquiring a third perspective came to light. This perspective would hold that educational reform was well overdue and antiquated (but still embraced) teaching practices were not only ineffective but also harmful for students. The fact that these teaching practices were standard place and commonly taught on how education should be delivered, was an issue we would gather around and agree needed to change. Carrying back to the second commonality, we would talk about the potential students had when given the opportunity to pursue projects from a place of passion and interest. The success and impact that projects had on student engagement, learning, connection, and application of knowledge was echoed by the teachers I spoke with. How these projects would regularly engage the student who was often difficult to engage using traditional teaching practices.
Finally: The use of, engagement with and embracing, learning through engagement with technology. Less so for the younger students but highly across all other grades.
Collaboration, It’s going to happen! As we spoke it evolved naturally from the bonds and shared perspectives of whats next, what can we do to keep this energy going, to change education and share the perspectives we have developed? A number of ideas have been floated around, PodCasts, to running our own schools, to developing PD summer programs. I have left this week with a handful of new friends who are eager to collaborate, gather and share as the years come.
Myself and Paige, a Teacher from Tuktoyaktuk, NWT
I assume it goes without Saying that these teachers are among some of the most passionate educators I have ever met! Their effort, thoughtfulness, intention, and determination towards teachers shine through!!
The Ceremony:
The group was excited as we met up at the National Arts Centre, a few run throughs rehearsing how the ceremony would go, as the nerves began to build! We were sent off for group photos and then called back to start the event. At this point I was so excited but also so nervous, and increasingly aware that my emotions were running high, the last thing I wanted was to burst into tears at the videos and pictures of my students. I missed them and missed teaching them, they were inspiring. I had family friends and colleagues back home watching the live stream. The Prime Minister walked in and the Ceremonies began. Some introductions about the event occurred and suddenly I felt calm. In that moment there was pride and strength and still excitement. The time had come and we were feeling ready. It was a wonderful experience seeing the video and hearing description they had drawn up from the letters of support. We were each called up on stage and got to shake hands with Justin Trudeu, be congratulated by the Prime Minister and pose for a photo holding our certificate. It was over in a moment and it represents an experience I will hold onto for a lifetime. Being presented with an award from the Prime Minister was an experience, but it really represents so much more. It will be a defining memory of the trip where I met 18 other amazing educators and educator teams, where we shared and celebrated each other’s teaching practices, where we upheld innovative approaches to teaching, where we shared stories of our students’ success, where we made new friends that when we left we could not imagine not seeing each other again! We learned so much, and I can’t wait to keep the connection and energy going!!!
Receiving my Certificate of Teaching Excellence from Prime Minster Justin Trudeau
During the reception, I was surprised to find out that a contingent of guests were there from Indigenous Services Canada, who had come out to the event specifically to support me. This was a really nice experience, I had a wonderful time talking with them and sharing all the exciting projects my students were working on. They were even able to get a couple of photos of me talking with the Prime Minister at the reception.
At the Reception Talking with Justin Trudeau PM
My time in Ottawa at the Prime Ministers Awards for Teaching Excellence was a truly incredible, humbling, inspirational, and amazing experience. I am so thankful for the opportunity to meet and share with some of the greatest teachers from across the country! Without the students who bravely came along with me in classroom through a different method of teaching and learning, and the administration who saw the vision and supported me through it all(including the nomination), I know we would not have been able to receive this inspiring award of accomplishment. Sending a Very Special Thank You to the Students and Teachers at the Siksika Nation High School.
In the following Days I would learn that the Justin Trudeau’s Instagram account would post a picture of me and a few of my fellow recipients.
In this post, I will talk a bit about what the term Etuaptmumk: Two-Eyed Seeing means and how I have applied it to my science classes as a teacher teaching in a first nation school.
Albert Marshall is a Mi’Kmaw Elder from Eskasoni First Nation. Albert Marshall brought forward the concept of Two Eyed Seeing in 2004, and is shared as, in Bartlet (2007) :
Learning to see from one eye with the strengths of (the best in) Indigenous knowledges and ways of knowing, and from the other eye with the strengths of (the best in) Western knowledges and ways of knowing, and to using both these eyes together, for the benefit of all. Thus, Two-Eyed Seeing intentionally and respectfully brings together our different knowledges and ways of knowing, to motivate people, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal alike, to use all our gifts so we leave the world a better place and not comprise the opportunities for our youth (in the sense of Seven Generations) through our own inaction. (p.14)
This concept was a very important teaching to come across for me. I am Metis and have been learning about my culture and traditions and knowledge as an indigenous person. I am also a scientist, and have learned a lot about the western knowledge and empirical applications. However there was a time when I had the science knowledge and only a little bit of indigenous knowledge. It was difficult as a science student raised in western culture and perspectives to be able to embrace traditional knowledge as much more than a fairy trail or myth.
It was during my education undergraduate degree that I learned about Albert Marshall and the concept of Two Eyed Seeing. This changed and helped heal my connection with cultural knowledge. It was through this perspective that I was able to connect the important knowledge that I was learning in story to western perspectives, in a way that gave respect and authority to traditional knowledge. I found a new appreciation for indigenous ways of knowing and was able to give context to my students of western perspectives and how they could align with the teachings. All indigenous groups have their own set of teachings and stories that are part of their epistemology. It is through these stories that important and valuable knowledge has been shared and passed down to generations. It is my observation that Indigenous ways of knowing have a playful way of weaving story and knowledge together. These teachings hold observations and knowledge about the world that they lived in, they provided lessons and understanding that helped guide people to live prosperous lives. The true value of these stories is unmeasurable. There are understandings and observations that have taken generations to gather. An example of how this goes can be demonstrated through some of the research I did as a scientist in my Bachelor of Science at the UofL. I was working in a neuroscience lab, were we researched preterm birth and stress correlations. I was given a set of data to see if we could see a difference in the preterm behaviour of rats that had been exposed to stress during pregnancy. The model looked at the effects of generational stress during pregnancy and its impact on behaviour. My first publication showed a novel behavioural model demonstrating the impact of stress on preterm behaviour and the compounding effect that stress had across generations. What I would later learn from an Elder is that the Blackfoot people were already aware of this effect and had measures in place, learned through observation and applied though story, to help prevent the effects of stress on pregnant women. Learning this was a wonderful moment for me, it really helped to highlight the authority and authenticity of indigenous knowledge, and gave me a personal connection and tool to be able to share what two eyed seeing is.
How can we use this lens to frame Indigenous ways of knowing in the classroom :
With my students I make a point of teaching them about two eyed seeing and how to give space to the traditional knowledge that is shared with them in the context of a western education system that allows for belonging, value and respect of that knowledge.
In the classroom this has various applications and integrations. For example my prior post about the VR videos my students made about traditional water knowledge. However it does not always need to look this complex. As a Metis person I do not have access to stories or knowledge of the Blackfoot people, some of it is very strongly protected and only certain people with special qualifications can access it. However that did not mean I could not encourage my students to pursue this knowledge on their own. It was not an irregular occurrence that a student would ask about a traditional piece of knowledge that I did not have access to, and so could not give them an answer. We could, however, provide them some tobacco as an offering and send them off to speak with one of the elders and usually a teacher or maintenance staff in the school for an answer. They would return and if they were allowed to share they would give a summary that could be graded or add it to evidence of summative learning. There was on occasion teaching they could not share for various reasons, in this case I would have the student reflect on how that information and experience was important to them.
The following is a video of a TED talk what helps further explain the concept of Two-Eyed Seeing.
Earlier this month I was able to give a talk at the First Nations Educational Administrators Association, National Gathering on indigenous STEM, on how I have used the Two Eyed Seeing approach to STEM in the First Nation Classroom. Elder Albert Marshall attended my talk and I was later given the opportunity to meet him, and share the impact he has had on my teaching approach.
Myself and Elder Albert Marshall, at the FNEAA conference in Winnipeg 2023
In this post I will outline how I have integrated drone use along with other technology like VR and videos to create a connection with traditional ways of knowing as shared by community Elders.
My approach to technology adoption in the class has been as a tool to enhance a students learning experience. I have been using technology as the thing we are learning about, while simultaneously integrating the program of studies outcomes in the process. I have found this to work really well because a lot of my students’ prior learning experiences have missed information or grade appropriate skills. By integrating technology into the learning experience in this way my students have the opportunity to attend and participate in a way that is meeting them where they are at. This approach also frequently allows for cross curricular learning opportunities. My science class was often reminded that science is not only about a way of observing our surroundings but requires the use of all the other skills and knowledge they are learning in other classes. Science is everywhere. Drones, for example, are a topic of understanding flight, but also reading maps and graphs, calculating velocity, distance, and time, evaluating ethics of rules and limitations (social), and being able to articulate their learning through communication skills(english). Also gym class to go run after the drone when it lands far away from where you started.
The project we had that integrated drone technology was actually a project about the ecosystems and water. My students were introduced to the topic of water quality and testing in an ecosystem. We had our schools Elders come into the classroom for a period and the students shared what they were learning about. The elders began to tell them about their traditional knowledge on water. This sparked an idea, could the students build a project to share their learnings and this experience. A lesson on video recording soon turned into a lesson on how to take video with a gimballed camera, that evolved into how to use a green screen with a video, and eventually to use a GoPro 360 video for video. The practice videos that came from this was 360 videos of students running around the school with green screened in dogs running around with them. This was converted to a VR video so you could put it in the Oculus headset and go on a virtual tour of the school with a dog. I think it should be noted, that I had never used any of this technology, and relied highly on the students learning how to use everything from the camera to the video editing software and then sharing with each other how to use it. I like this method, It builds their sense of community, engages them to figure out how to ask the right questions, and immerses them in the technology. Also I get to learn a lot about the basics from them.
Elders Gerald and Laura Sitting Eagle, being interviewed about traditional knowledge about water by students in front of the green screen.
Eventually we brought it back in and the students began applying this technology to our chosen topic of water and ecosystems. They began to develop a list of interview questions and started interviewing the Elders in front of a green screen. We got a drone pilot trainer to come into the classroom for a few days and get the students and a few teachers certified to fly the drone. A group of students began to find a way to 3D print a mount for the 360 camera to be mounted to the drone. With a Drone, a new set of drone pilot licenses and a GoPro 360 camera mounted to the drone they were ready. A couple of teachers and students took a quick afternoon field trip to the river, and flew the drone up and down the river valley gathering footage. Later the students combined the footage with their green screen Elder interview footage and rendered it on a very fast computer graphics processor for a VR video. The final product was a VR video you could watch on your phone or in a VR headset. This VR video showed the Bow River on the Siksika Nation, with two Elders floating in the air telling you the stories and traditional knowledge about water and the role it plays. When showing this to the Elders, it was really reassuring how excite they were about the technology and the application of their knowledge. They shared that it was important for them to be able to share this information in a way that students would engage with it and cary forward this knowledge. The youtube version of the video was deleted when my teacher account was closed, but I have been assured it is still on the hard drive, and I am trying to get a copy. (on a side note, take more pictures of the projects and their different stages, I only have 3 photos of this project.)
The Drone pilot trainer we used was connected to us through IndigeSTEAM and it was there first time teaching High School students. Darcy Hunt from Aboriginal Training Services was the one who helped us get the students RPAS pilot licenses to fly the UAVs.
This interesting and fun project had several outcomes. Students learned about how to use technology to explore learning, they integrated and embraced traditional knowledge and cultural teachings with outcomes for the program of studies. This allowed for a personal connection to the material, by highlighting traditional and cultural teachings as part of their learning experience. There were a number of STS(science technology and society) outcomes around technology and technological literacy that the students engaged with. Additionally, a number of students were able to become certified as drone pilots. The students started coming up with ideas of how else they could use the drone to demonstrate traditional knowledge while simultaneously creating educational material. This self reflection was very exciting to see. I feel like one of the most impactful aspects of the experience was not the video or the technology or even the use of traditional knowledge. It was the pride and confidence that the students experienced when they got to demo the video to the administration, the Elders, and their peers. This confidence is crucial to student success and tends to be an aspect I work hard to cultivate in my classroom. The students I have worked with have regularly shown low self confidence and self worth, especially when it comes to their perceived learning and career potentials. This project not only got the cool and fun stamp of approval from my students but we also saw the confidence grow. I don’t believe that certain concepts are too complicated for students to learn. Over the years I have taught very complicated processes to high school students with great success, uptake and understanding. The biggest thing that comes from it time and time again, is not the application of knowledge and skills but the perception of what they are capable of learning. The skill here is how to learn and how to ask questions. The outcome is hope, leadership, and confidence that allow the students to face unique challenges like the one that first nation students face. This perception of capacity and skills to self direct their learning is what changes outcomes.
In a following article I will talk about what two eyed seeing it and how it is used in the classroom (Link to Follow)
This Title is not the first time I have been asked to give advice on what drone someone should purchase. The last time I was asked this, I was told we have 48 hours to spend this grant, and what drone should we buy? UMMMM……
At the time I did not have any experience with drones and did not considered them as an aspect I would be engaging with in the classroom. There I was madly reading through reviews and comparing products and being asked or my expert opinion. We picked one, it looked pretty and started up, but it would be another year or so before we got training to even think about flying it.
So Work last week asks, we have till the end of the week to spend this grant, what drone should we buy? This time I had some experience, and I wanted to share what that looked like!
I started by asking a few questions:
How much do you want to spend?
How many drones do you want to buy?
Does anyone else in the organization have a UAV license ?
What do you want to use the drone for?
I used these questions to help guide my recommendations. I made suggestions on the following drones based on user experience, warranty, and capacity. The prior experience of uses would direct what drones provide the most expectation based based experience. A warranty helps for large tech purchases in case something goes wrong or is faulty and that allows the product to not become a wasted investment that never gets used. Warranties have helped in the past such as when we started up a new very expensive desktop for video processing and 3D rendering and the USB device we used short circuited a key component on the motherboard, we sent it off and got a new one back a week later. The third consideration was its capacity, how big is it, how far can it fly, how long can it fly for, what is the image quality of the camera, essentially what is the best option for what it will be used for, without it inhibiting a potential lesson.
What we settled on was a couple of common commercial hobby drones, the options I presented are listed below. I chose to go with the DJI, partly because I have experience flying them but they also come recommended by another drone pilot who trained me. These drones had a reliable battery life and a good amount of fly time. A lot of the recommendations on educational sites looked a classroom pack drones, that were small with short battery and no camera options, the price worked better for classroom budget but I do not believe these would last. I wanted this drone to have a camera so students could share their stories with it. Additionally DJI provides a series of warranty options, the will help cover issues with with the device. I offered my organization 4 options by DJI, they did not let me know how much they wanted to spend, it needed to be approved by the granting agency first. So I showed a few options at different prices. The prices reflect the Fly More purchase option were available, propellers and extra batteries and chargers a typically added.
18 min flight time 1 camera built in at 48mp blades are contained(safety) comes with fun headset, but might b limiting for some to use, can be flown with controller
34-45 min flight time with flight optimization, 1 camera built in at 48mp
249g
Does not require a licence to operate, due to being 1 gram below the legal limit for a license
DJI Mavic 3 ProDJI Air 3DJI Avata Explorer ComboDJI Mini 4 Pro
I suggested these 4 but I also made a recommendation for getting a set of Tellos, these are small drones with a little camera that were made for inside classroom use. They can be programmed by the operator to help teach computational thinking, and can also be connected to other Tellos to perform swarm displays. On a project based application for a video essay for such, these do not perform the way I would like to see, but for a coding and programming connection to learning these, would work really well. They are priced right to be able to make them a classroom kit with more than one unit.
13 min flight time 5mp camera auto take off and landing programmable with scratch swarm capability max flight distance 100m (no lost fly aways)
80g
no license required
DJI Tello
At the end of the day or more so around noon, I submitted these suggestions to my colleagues and let them review the process. I have not heard with drone will be picked. The Funding agency has responded with approval to purchase a drone so at least one of them will be coming. The drones will be added to our technology library loan program, so that students and teachers can borrow them for use in the classroom. Additionally, as a certified drone pilot, I will be able to take them with us when we go into community to run programming. Now it will be important to begin developing programming to go with these drones.
In another post, I will outline how I have used a drone in the past for a learning experience in my classroom. (Link to follow)
It Funny the places you will end up going that you never had imagined you would. I have two stories like this, I don’t fully remember the context of this one but, a teacher was yelling at me about something…. and said something to the effect of “I hope you are a teacher one day so that you have to deal with shit kids like you!” To which I responded with “Ewww No, I never want to be a teacher what a horrible job!” And fully believing that I would never pursue such a stuck up and stuffy type of job. Little did I know what would come down my path and be so embraced. (I have never had to deal with any “shit” kids its probably a perspective thing)
Reflection is a tool that was embedded heavily in my undergraduate education program. At the time It felt silly however, as I have worked through my first years of my teaching experience reflection has become a critical part of my practice. As I start this program I am reflecting on how I got here, and what role that will play in the direction I believe I will pursue… we will see where I end up in a few years. Over the years it has been a bit of a series of unforeseen events, projects, programs and adventures that have really helped to shape my experience towards where I am today. These experiences have helped shape my views and built my impressions on how I believe education, learning, and teaching should be approached.
This journey will begin when I was attending Mount Royal university, during a time where I was feeling quite lost. I was starting a journey in understanding how my ADHD worked. I had just finished reading a book on addiction, a book that my past experience would have told me was far beyond what I could finish in a few hours, let alone finish reading. In the past and for most of my educational years, I grew up believing I was not very intelligent, school was not a place I thrived and reading took far longer for me than anyone else. But I had just finished a book in a few hours, one that should have taken a few weeks…. Why? At this same time I was beginning to read up on and begin figuring out how my ADHD worked. In this process I began to read about the brain and how it worked. This would mark a fundamental shift in my perspective towards learning and how I viewed education and learning specifically.
The Aha Moment:
What I learned that day in a short summary was that brains where susceptible to addiction and craved Dopamine. More specifically what I learned was my brain was lacking sufficient quantities of dopamine, either production, release or binding, but that how my ADHD was being treated was with stimulant medication, a medication that let me focus. When I think back about this I thought it was an article but I am beginning to wonder if it was a book because I can not find the article anywhere currently, but a few adjacent ones.
The concept showed that a brain that had been exposed to a hit of cocaine, when imaged look almost identical to a brain that just experience an Aha or Eureka moment. That moment of learning where you finally put all the pieces of the puzzle, the question, the inquiry, together and you just get it! I get excited thing about those times those moments and the fact that understanding this was one of those moments for me. What this told me and impressed upon me was, That the process of learning released dopamine, and If I was able to learn, discover, explore and find out new things, then learning could be addictive. The follow up question I would pose for myself and explore for the next few years would be: If learning is addictive, Why does everyone hate going to to school? And why didn’t I do well at school? If I have a lack of dopamine and learning released dopamine, then why was school not a place where I could focus and do well.
The following two links provide information on the “Aha Moment” as we see it in the brain. However they are not the one I was reading that day!
This insight would lead me to learn that I had a passion for learning and research. I loved setting out a question and going to find the research that had been done about it, confirming ideas and following concepts. Over the following months my marks would grow from low and failing grades to A and B’s ( a place I had never been before) to a new perspective that I could go learn anything I wanted to. I took some time to ponder what I really found interesting, but kept coming back to the brain, how it worked, its locations, fundamentals and differences, injuries and lesions, and all the while knowing that I will never in my entire life be able to learn it all. This meant that as a person with ADHD, I would not get bored of this when I learned what I needed to as was the case with many of past endeavours. I set forth to pursue an undergrad in neuroscience, at the University of Lethbridge.
My time at the UofL would be very exciting and would help me redefine what a learning space, learning experience and what the impact of learning could be. This time from the onset would be composed beyond my classes into 3 main parts, research done in the lab, my time in iGEM and my time Setting up and running the first Canadian High School iGEM program.
Engaging in research during my freetime was a wonderful experience. In both the neuroscience lab and the biochemistry lab I was able to learn and develop skills and apply knowledge around the subjects that I was taking in my classes. This made my classes so much easier to understand and take in. From the first semester of my time at the UofL I was part of a program called iGEM. It was an international competition of primarily undergraduate students who were using engineering principles applied to genetics to build novel applications of genetic material for unique and impressive outcomes. The iGEM competition stood for International Genetically Engineered Machines Competition. This experience taught me a few things, a great amount of lab skills, but most importantly was that being immersed in and applying the subject matter made a big difference in how well I understood and was able to recall the information. Additionally this immersion made understanding big concepts much easier as there was tangible knowledge/experience to work with and also there was a place to practise and work with those concepts in a real environment.
The High School iGEM program
In the years that followed, and a few competition seasons later, A colleague and I came together and began to conceptualize and design what a high school iGEM team would look like. We had a challenge on our hands, how do we teach 20ish high school students 4 years of university biochemistry and molecular biology skills in 3 months. So we built a volunteer based after school program hosted out of the UofL’s iGEM Lab space and Dr. HJ Wieden’s biochemistry lab.
The model was simple. The students would come to the university after school and we would teach them a little bit of information on a molecular biology concept and then take them up to the lab to learn how to do it in person and repeat. It did not see that novel of a teaching method, besides give or take that’s how we trained rats for an experiment in our other labs. This worked tremendously well at developing a self motivated group of students who engaged in research and were curious about their project they were developing. This project would later be presented by the students at a conference in the little town of Greenfield Indiana, where the students met other students on teams from across the United States. The students on the way home with a trophy for best presentation, would start their journey for the next years competition. In the following year, strong with self motivation, the team tackled a bigger project, please check out the links to see it(the students made this website as part of the competition to demonstrate their learning, mine is not going to be this shiny). During this time as a team advisor I would make a few important observations.
The students held the vision, and could articulate it to their peers
The students displayed ownership, Leadership and were having Fun
The students were Reflecting on their experience
Now the biggest impact on my career and journey to becoming a teacher was the third one, student self reflection. They would come to me and ask, “Why do I learn more in the 3 hours after school playing in the lab than I do all semester at school everyday?” This sentiment would be voiced by other students over the months of the project. For me though, it was a question of Why…? The answer I would give them was: Because we are having Fun! I would go on to pursue an additional degree in education, and I used this experience as the framework to fit all the theories to. Some didn’t fit but I learned about constructivist theory and felt how well it resonated with this experience, and how I saw learning happening most effectively. Now as I work towards my Masters Degree, this experience continues to sit with me as an example of a model for learning, that feels like it steps in the way of so much of what has traditionally been said about how learning should happen and what that should look like.
The outcome of this impact has been that I now have a teaching philosphy that I share with my students from day one: If you are not having fun, you are probably not learning anything.
You may have stumbled on this page out of curiosity but more likely you are one of my Instructors or a Classmate from the Educational Technology graduate program I am taking. If this is a topic that interests you, I hope we can show you something new in this field.
A bit about me: I am a graduate student at the University of Victoria, In British Columbia Canada. I am Metis, and was born and live most of my life in Alberta till recently. I have a degree in neuroscience, and an after degree in Education. I have spent the last few years work in on the Siksika First Nation, teaching high school science education. I currently work as an Educational specialist and sit on the board of an indigenous STEM organization. A few of these themes and experiences will show up in the posts I put up here, I hope you find them as exciting as they have been for me.
