Tag: education

• A Conversation on Making

  Today I had a phone call with a representative of a company that provides turnkey makerspace solutions for schools. We had both attended MakerCon, a conference on making and education at Utah Valley University two weeks ago. Our conversation zigzagged through a number of topics that are important to me and that I want to…

  davidvblack

  November 27, 2024

  Uncategorized

  3d printing, browser-based digital media software, cnc laser cutter, digital media and making, education, integrating making into academic subjects, learning, makerspace, making, making and art, making in English classes, making in history classes, making in science classes, teachers, teaching, technology

• From Passive to Innovative: A Final Version of a Long-Evolving Diagram

  I have been working and re-working a diagram for the last ten years. It was one of the few true insights I’ve gained as a 33-year classroom teacher. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, it was popular in STEM education circles to speak of good science activities as being “hands-on” instead of passive. But…

  davidvblack

  November 4, 2024

  Uncategorized

  active learning, agents of change, constructionism, constructivism, consumers of content, cookbook lab, creating content, creative learning, education, entrepreneurship, hands-on learning, innovation learning, inquiry lab, instructionism, interacting with content, learning, passive learning, pbbl, pjbl, problem-based learning, project-based learning, social-reconstructionism, students as coders, students as creators, students as innovators, students as makers, teachers, teaching

• Multi-literacies and Digital Media Creation

  This post will be a bit theoretical, as it is lifted from a draft of my dissertation proposal but is written in journalistic style. I hope it helps you understand the multi-literacy theories behind the Cosmic Creator Challenge. Achieving competence in any language (literacy) requires four components: fluency of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. It…

  davidvblack

  October 10, 2024

  Uncategorized

  affordances, cosmic creator challenge, digital media literacy, digital-literacy, education, learning, limitations, literacy, media-literacy, multiliteracies, multimodal literacy, peirce triadic semiotic theory, petroglyphs, semiotics, student-created digital media

• Student Engagement Theories

  What I hope to achieve through the pedagogies of student-created digital media projects and 3D choice is to improve student engagement and creativity in STEM classes. To do this requires a basic understanding of both; they deserve an entire book each to adequately discuss, and I hope to write such books someday. For the purposes…

  davidvblack

  June 19, 2024

  Uncategorized

  bronfenbrenner, creative flow, csikszentmihalyi, ecological systems model, education, Fisher engagement model, Groccia engagement model, influences on students, learning, meaningfulness in education, reasons for disengagement, Schlechty engagement model, social reconstructionism, student engagement theory, students, students as change agents, students making a difference, teachers, teaching, vygotsky, zone of proximal development

• Results of the Pilot Contest

  As we approached the fall of 2023, I had hoped to have my dissertation proposal ready to go and to gain approval before our first Science Communication competition began, but that was not to be. I was a bit over-optimistic on how long it would take me to wrestle through the theoretical and practical implementation…

  davidvblack

  May 13, 2024

  Uncategorized

  6th grade standards, clark planetarium, cosmic creator challenge, design thinking, digital art and stem education, education, games in education, learning, peer critique, project revision, project-based learning, science communication contest, steam education, student-created digital media projects, student-created games, students, teachers, teaching, utah seed standards