Monday, February 24, 2020

Students Identify Disinformation Using Stanford’s COR Method: Coronavirus, Fact Checking & Lateral Reading


Recently our high school media specialist, Ann Kaste, taught all Minnetonka High School ninth grade students Stanford's Civics Online Reasoning method for fact checking information. This is a newer, research proven strategy for discerning fake news. The core principle behind the method is to teach students to think like professional fact checkers.  Stanford discovered that readers practicing COR techniques were much more likely to quickly know what is false or misleading online. Rather than doing ‘close reading’ on a single webpage to examine elements such as the title, quality of the site, layout, name of the website URL, etc., readers practicing COR quickly begin opening up other browser tabs to fact check information and background of the content from several sources.  This method is called ‘Lateral Reading’. Readers using COR were much more likely than academic scholars to quickly and accurately determine the legitimacy of the information on a website. 

Ann began the lesson with a pre survey on a Google Form asking students to identify why it is important to be able to discern factual information online. One student explained why it was important to identify real from false information in this way: 

“It will help us build a more informed population that can make decisions for themselves without influence from others telling them what to think. It also makes the truth more clear so we don’t need to question whether something is true or false.”

Once students understood and expressed the importance of learning these skills, Ann explained and demonstrated the COR method. She showed the students some screenshots of real coronavirus Tweets. She modeled how to use the COR method to fact check the information on websites cited in the Tweets. She pointed out that some of this news is actually “bent” from the truth, not outright fake. Ann asked students the 3 COR questions: “Who’s behind the information? What’s the evidence? What do other sources say?”

Although many students may state that they already know how to ask these questions, Ann explained, “We know how to throw a baseball but we need to practice to get better at it.” The students then worked in partners to pick one of over 20 example coronavirus related Tweets and use the COR method to determine fact from fiction. Students quickly began investigating the Tweets using the COR method and then shared their findings with the group.

Having the ability to quickly identify fact from fiction online is a necessary media literacy skill in today’s world. Starting in elementary school and on into high school, our media specialists work to teach students research skills so they will be prepared for the future. This is part of an ever changing and adapting media curriculum that evolves in tandem with core classroom curricula.

Learn more about Minnetonka's Media Program:

Monday, February 17, 2020

Don’t Miss Out--Visit Top Ranked Minnetonka Schools on April 9!


Don’t miss out! Come see for yourself why thousands of educators from across the country have visited Minnetonka Public Schools over the past 15 years. Experience K-12 learning in action at one of the top ranked school districts in the country. Witness proven programs and gather innovative ideas to take back to your school! Discover best practices for implementing meaningful instruction that will accelerate learning. Register Today!

Visitors can choose to start your visit at an elementary school, middle school or our high school. Specialty programs include Navigators and high potential programs, VANTAGEMinnetonka ResearchChinese and Spanish language immersionTonka Online, athletics and the arts. After your tours at a school, you will transition to our District Service Center for lunch and breakout sessions of your choice. Choose from a wide variety of sessions led by Minnetonka staff to learn how things work behind the scenes. Sessions include innovation, the Teaching and Learning Instructional FrameworkcodingDesign for Learning, assessment, the curriculum review process, gifted and talented programming, student support services, personalized learning, 1:1 iPads and more. Discover best practices for implementing meaningful instruction that will accelerate learning, have time to ask questions and head back to your own school full of ideas! Additional details about possible sessions to choose from can be found hereAvailability is limited in order to keep sessions small. Lunch is provided. Register here! 

Learn more about Minnetonka Schools and Technology Integration:

Monday, February 10, 2020

My 20 Minute Ed Talk: Screen Time & Student Well-being


The recording of the 20 minute EDTalk I gave last month in Minneapolis is now available. The talk was titled How to Raise Tech Healthy Kids. I spoke about creating habits that lead to digitally healthy individuals and shared simple tips to help both kids and adults balance the use of technology in our lives. In addition to the video above, there also is an audio recording of it if you'd prefer. After the EDTalk there was an audience Q & A session which you can view below.



Prior to my talk, Erin Walsh from the Spark & Stitch Institute gave a great presentation about Students, Social Media and Mental Health. That recording can be watched below.



Learn more about Achieve Minneapolis EDTalks.

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Monday, February 3, 2020

Middle School Algebra Students Design and 3D Print Bubble Wands

 

About five years ago I heard George Couros mention the “Twitter Factor” when referencing how you could walk into a classroom and determine whether or not the teacher was active on Twitter. If s/he was, then observers would likely see innovative ideas and best practices that were being shared online. I was reminded of this recently when I was in one of our middle schools and saw students highly engaged at work on an amazing project. I learned that one of our math teachers, Jon Westmeyer at Minnetonka Middle School West, had first seen the idea for this lesson on Twitter and then worked with Cindy McGlasson, math teacher at East Middle School, and three other colleagues to adapt it for their students.

The teachers wanted students to “recognize and represent linear functions in real-world and mathematical situations.” To accomplish this, the seventh and eighth grade Algebra I students at both of our middle schools work with a partner to design bubble wands using linear equations which they print out on 3D printers and give to patients at a hospital or foundation of their choice. They put their wand in a small gift bag along with a bottle of bubble solution and a letter they write to cheer up the patient/recipient and explain what they learned in this process.

When I was in Cindy’s math class a few weeks ago I was able to see firsthand just how excited the students were with this project. She explained to me that the students in the 8th grade Algebra classes (4 of the 5 teachers) are grade level math students and, in the hour I visited, 1/3 of the students are also in her Algebra support class. “So the project is a great opportunity to add rigor and engagement for classes which might have defaulted to more rote learning in the past.”

To design their bubble wands, the students first figure out linear equations to create the lines and curves needed to make the shapes in their bubble wand design. They use the Desmos app to do this. Then they use Selva3D to transform their 2D image to 3D. Afterwards, they import this design to Tinkercad to finalize it for the MakerBot printer. Their full instructions can be found here.

Below are a few student comments that came from an open ended survey question asking, “What else you might want to share from your experience?"
I really enjoyed the creativeness [sic] of this project, and the idea that we could be doing something for other people. It was a great break from normal solve equations, check work, solve equations, check work, while still being educational, and helpful.
I had lots of fun working on this, and going through all the challenges me and my partner faced.
It was sooooooo much fun and it really helped me with my lines. You guys should do it every year. It was cool to do something different that still helps you learn lines in a better/unique way.
I think this was a great project, not only to expand our understanding of lines and graphs, but also because we were doing this for a good cause.
This work is done as part of our School Board’s Goal #2: To continue to work to expand experiential learning and inquiry-based learning opportunities for E-12, including infrastructure and resources required. To help with this, last spring “Framework Grants” were awarded in which Minnetonka teachers could apply for funding to support such projects. (Learn more about the Minnetonka Framework for Teaching and Learning.) 

According to a report to the Board on January 20, “these grants encouraged those with ideas and initiative to create compelling student experiences with District support. Grants provided teachers paid planning time, a process to request funds for supplemental materials, training, and the support of a coach. 27 teacher teams chose to attend training and engage fully in the process. To date, 15 projects have been planned and have either been implemented with students or are waiting for the proper time in the curriculum sequence to do so. Remaining grants are in varying stages of planning and implementation.” 

Another example of a Framework grant is  Grade 2 Chinese Immersion students learning the cultural background of Chinese shadow puppetry--they learn and apply Chinese language arts skills by writing original scripts and performing shadow puppet plays for an audience. Students create their own shadow puppets and props in the Chinese tradition. 

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