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Making Learning Visible at the Documentation Studio

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Doc-Studio-4.jpg

 

Welcome to the Documentation Studio Making Learning Visible, a General Education Capstone course, was designed as an interdisciplinary collaboration between education and visual arts and is co-taught by Stephanie Cox Suarez, Associate Professor of Special Education and Erica Licea-Kane, Assistant Professor of Art. Making Learning Visible uses the tool of documentation to understand and interpret the learning of individuals and groups and to make this visible by creating a public display that engages a discussion and elicits multiple perspectives. The importance of this type of learning is three-fold:

1. Developing skills in visual literacy is becoming increasingly vital in our digital world. Students learn basics in visual design.
2. Developing skills of observation creates an attitude of close listening to understand learning.
3. Skills in collaboration and negotiation as a team are essential 21 st century skills. A long-term group project is a challenge that pushes these skills.

Doc Studio 4

A notable element of the learning process is the opportunity for students to observe and participate in new settings that are intimate yet professional, and to witness interactions that would not normally be available to them. For example, at Perkins School for the Blind, Early Learning Center, students listened to families with toddlers with multiple disabilities and heard first-hand about daily challenges from the parents.

Documentation tells a story about learning, so Stephanie and Erica ask themselves if they can see learning in these students’ displays. Students have learned that sharing the documentation — getting another perspective — helps a story to emerge. They hope to learn from this first round of documentation so that they can truly make learning visible.

“We’ve learned that sharing the documentation — getting another perspective — helps a story to emerge.”

Emerging Stories

Doc Studio 2 Hayley, Connor, Andrea and Aaron documented their experience at the Assistive Device Center at the Perkins School for the Blind, a workshop that creates customized materials for children with disabilities. Unlike commercially available products, the center designs and constructs products that meet the unique needs of individuals. The materials to create these devices are affordable, durable and designed to reflect the interests and cultures of the individuals that use them. For example, a young girl might need a seat insert to go in regular chair for more back support. “It’s amazing that something as simple as cardboard can be so useful,” explained Connor. Hayley made a personal connection to the mission of the Center: “My sister is severely handicapped, and after seeing how much money my family has spent on these types of devices, I wanted to feature the Center, which creates much more affordable and durable options for children.”

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Emily, Kathryn, Emily and MacKenzie worked with the Perkins Early Learning Center creating a Welcome Board entitled, “All We See is Possibility,” for new parents at the Center. The Board, which they recreated at the Documentation Studio, is meant to “introduce parents to the faces they would see at the center,” including professional staff, other families and community volunteers.

Brae , a student teacher at the Peabody Terrace Children’s Center , documented “Doctor Play”,” which turned out to be an exercise and lesson in boundaries, power and empathy. After having Doctor Mary Alexander come in to talk to her students about the body, she documented, through photos and scripts how the children not only altered their vocabulary about the body, but also developed a raised awareness of the patient. Not only did they learn to be gentle when conducting an examination, but also began using words like clavicle, tendons and spine.

  describe the image “My sister is severely handicapped, and after seeing how much money my family has spent on these types of devices, I wanted to feature the Center, which creates much more affordable and durable options for children.”
– Hayley Adamuska

 

If you would like to learn more about the Documentation Studio, contact Stephanie Cox Suarez at ssuarez@wheelock.edu.


New Approach at the Documentation Studio

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“Making childhood visible in the community helps keep us connected to the essence of what it means to be human.” 

~ Carlina Rinaldi, President, Reggio Children (November 2013)

This year in our Open Studios we are experimenting with ways to present documentation that will engage the community.

In December, teachers used the pecha kecha presentation style (Japanese for “chit chat”) that enlists 20 images at 40 seconds each for a total presentation of just over 6 minutes. The presenter is prepared with well-chosen images and words to relay a clear message. Teachers from the Peabody Terrace School in Cambridge, Katie Higgins-White and Seana Whittaker, used this style to describe a delightful project of children designing hockey outfits and their realization that — hockey is really about hugging. Melissa Tonachel (Boston Public Schools) and our Melissa Rivard presented their children and photography documentation and helped us consider the value of giving cameras to young children.

Educators share ideas at the Documentation Studio.

Educators share ideas at the Documentation Studio.

Stay tuned on the Doc Studio website as we will share these two pecha kecha presentations.

In February, teachers from the Pine Village School (Spanish immersion preschools) shared how they use a new app called Kaymbu to document and share learning among the children’s families. Jacie Feinberg (education director), Luis Rivera, Marissa Tinkham, and Isabel Ceron shared their perspectives on using an iPad to take photos, short video, write captions, and easily send messages to individual families or the whole class. The tool has allowed them to organize documentation to create daily emails, newsletters, documentation panels, and portfolios.  The creator of Kaymbu, Kin Lo, was present as he is interested in learning more about Reggio-inspired documentation and to consider what kinds of app features might enhance the documentation.

We have had an increase of educators attending the Doc Studio this year–which is exciting. Teachers are coming in groups for professional development and we’ve had recent visitors from New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.

What are ways you are using to engage your community in learning?  Share your thoughts, ask questions, make connections.  The next Open Studio is April 15.

Educators Use Video Logs to Document Learning and Engage Families

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Doc-Studio-play

Terris King and Linda Butler from the Park School in Baltimore presented at the April 15, 2014 Open Studio at Wheelock College’s Documentation Studio.  They showed how they create video logs for families that illustrate some of their big ideas on learning each week as co-teachers in a kindergarten classroom. The videos are designed to both document learning by the students and engage their families.

Watch the video they created to share their reflections on their take-aways from this Open Studio discussion.  For those who attended the April 15 Open Studio – it would be great to add your reflections as Terris and Linda would love to continue the conversation.

Watch the video

 

Thanks to anyone who can join in the conversation!

 

Wheelock Strengthens Education Collaborations in Turkey

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Stephanie Cox Suarez works with early childhood teachers in Turkey

Wheelock College strengthened its collaborative relationships with several institutions of higher learning in Turkey through extended visits this spring by Wheelock faculty and the College’s Dean of International Programs and Partnerships.

Stephanie Cox Suarez works with early childhood teachers in Turkey
Stephanie Cox Suarez works with early childhood teachers in Turkey

Prof. Stephanie Cox Suarez met with 30 early childhood teachers in Diyarbarkir, Turkey, an area in the Southeastern part of Turkey that is within a few hours drive to the border of Syria and Iraq. Prof. David Fernie also visited this city in April. They said it has been helpful to coordinate their efforts in bringing ideas about play, observation, documentation, and developing portfolios to promote young children’s learning. Prof. Cox Suarez spent one day observing classrooms in three schools and then worked with teachers for a half-day workshop on Saturday to practice skills of documentation.

“We learned how to think differently, especially in this documentation process of taking notes, photos, and video, especially as we think about the before and after of the process,” said Derya Aslan, a kindergarten teacher who attended the workshop. “We are all used to taking photos, but we did not know the importance of this documentation process.”

Prof. Cox Suarez and Prof. Fernie are both Visiting Scholars this spring as part of a continued collaboration with Bahcesehir University in Istanbul, Turkey. This is Prof. Cox Suarez’s second trip to work with the faculty and teachers as the university develops a new program in early childhood and special education, as well as to provide support to teachers in their K-12 schools situated throughout the country.

Wheelock Dean of International Programs and Partnerships Linda Davis was also in Turkey in April as she presented at a conference and continued forging this new collaboration.

Dean Davis attended the first International Eurasian Educational Research Congress, through Wheelock College’s partner, Bahçeşehir University, at the invitation of Istanbul University (April 24-25, 2014).  The First International Eurasian Educational Research Congress was hosted jointly by Eurasian Journal of Education Research/EJER indexed by Social Sciences Citation Index and İstanbul University, which is one of the first established universities in Europe. Dean Davis’ keynote was entitled “Internationalization of Higher Education: Trends and Emerging Models.” (Click here to read a description of her keynote.)

During her visit, Dean Davis had an opportunity to follow up on the Wheelock College/Bahçeşehir University partnership, including the possibility of launching a joint course that would include travel components to Istanbul and Boston. The course under consideration is to be entitled “A Tale of Two Cites: Istanbul and Boston,” and is tentatively scheduled to be offered in the Spring of 2015, and taught jointly by Wheelock Professors Marjorie Hall and Edmund Campos, in collaboration with faculty at Bahçeşehir University.

Finally, Dean Davis held a meeting with a second university – Istanbul Kültür University (İKÜ) – with whom Wheelock signed a Memorandum of Understanding last month.  Wheelock Presidential International Visiting Scholar Ozge Hacifazlioglu, previously of Bahçeşehir, is now at Kültür, and is interested in an early collaboration, potentially beginning with an English immersion/study tour this summer.  Discussions are also underway on the possibilities of other areas of mutual interest.

Using Documentation to Create Dynamic Learning Communities

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Documentation Studio Event

The Documentation and Community Engagement Institute on Thursday, June 19 at Wheelock College’s Documentation Studio included over 40 educators from colleges, schools, museums and libraries. This conversation helped many of us shift our thinking from learning in a fixed classroom community to a dynamic learning community in a museum or library.

Documentation Studio EventBelow are highlights of ideas and questions that are loosely arranged around questions and themes. Please reflect and respond and join the conversation!

Why highlight learning?

  • To advocate for children and the community
  • It can transform how we all see children, their work, and their importance as citizens in our community.
  • It is a reflection on our value of children and their humanity.
  • To advocate for the rights of children by showing their potential and ability to learn through rich experiences, environment, and emergent curriculum.
  • To ensure authentic engagement.
  • Documenting student work shows that what students are doing is important.
  • To communicate the image of child to the community in public spaces on our campuses, libraries, museums.
  • Is what we (adults) see as valuable also valuable to children?

 How can we highlight learning?

  • What do you want to learn from the documentation?
  • Reflection is key to the process.
  • How can I (in the classroom) steer away from narrating what happened to sharing my perspective of learning?
  • Documentation offers families examples of how to engage with their children.
  • Documentation is about a pedagogy of relationships…
  • What if children offered alternative interpretations of artworks on exhibit? Perhaps pair an artist’s statement with a child’s comments (either in print or audio).
  • How can museums and schools help parents document their children?
  • What languages do we use to communicate learning?
  • How do we encourage educators to revisit and reflect upon ongoing learning experiences?
  • What kind of artist statement or written documentation accompanies the student product outcomes? Is there any structure set up that reveals the thinking behind the making?
  • How can documentation support collaborative inquiry that is ongoing, refining, editing?
  • How can documentation support assessment, what would you do differently next time?
  • Let children narrate a walk through a museum … “this is my favorite part because …”
  • Could children and teachers curate an interactive activity related to one of the museum installations based on their classroom provocations?
  • How do we expand an understanding of children’s learning beyond “cute.”
  • Is it the artist, or the medium, or a prolonged art experience that makes a difference in children’s engagement?

Who is the audience?

  • What contexts do we need to be aware of?
  • How can documentation of learning increase the museum visitor’s authority?
  • How do museums with a broad audience work with educators who are focused on one age group? How do we capture the multi-generational, the social, the informal?
  • What does it feel/look like when the community is engaged?
  • I wonder if our general drop-in visitors (to the Columbus Museum of Art) realize we are a learning institution and if they think of themselves as active learners and creators in the space.
  • If you capture documentation for the child will this also be effective for the adults?

Collaboration

  • Can collaboration between museums and schools be genuinely mutually beneficial?
  • How can a school/college campus, museum and library space collaborate?
  • How can we connect with our local museum or library? What would that look like?
  • What is the role of social media in our collaboration?
  • Schools find museums, libraries, and community spaces to share children’s learning.
  • Is there a shared goal, city project, community documentation project we might collaborate on, such as story telling?
  • Libraries tend to have branches that museums can use as locations to bring the museums to the community.
  • Add an outside voice when designing documentation – add the child’s perspective and adults who can remind how the general public might view the work.

Challenges

  • How does one prioritize to make the time to document learning? What are the systems and structures that can allow this to happen?
  • How can we use social media by families beyond broadcasting cute or funny photos of our children?
  • What if a teacher has two choices for documentation – how might we incorporate that dilemma and thinking into future work?
  • How do we figure out how to get out there more? That is – show what children can do.
  • What if a museum highlights a group they do not normally service – the children’s museum highlights learning of parents; the deCordova highlights the children …
  • In a college library, how can the research support team make visible the research process for the community of learners (i.e. other students, faculty, administrators)? How do you convince educators (and students) that making the research process visible is important to learning how to research?
  • How can libraries expand partnerships to get organizations (i.e. museums and schools) to use the library for displaying their documentation? Use public, neighborhood libraries as a local outpost for museums and schools.

Next Discussions

  • Bring documentation that includes interpretations through the voices of children.
  • What is informal versus formal learning? How do these distinctions work together or in opposition?
  • How does time affect learning – such as relaxed time in a museum versus specific time allowed at school?
  • Boston Children’s Museum, Peabody Essex Museum and the Discovery Museum might collaborate on a project – show us what you have in an Open Studio in the winter in anticipation of sharing more broadly in the spring when we have Tiziana Filippini visiting!
  • What other ideas do you have – please share in the comments.
  • We’ll set the Open Studio dates and post them on the Doc Studio website.

Fostering Engagement through Documentation

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DIG Meeting

The Democracy Inquiry Group (DIG)—made up of college faculty in teacher education—recently invited museum educators to continue a dialogue exploring the question: “How can documentation engage the community to make children and learning public and visible?”

Museums represented include: Boston Children’s Museum, deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, The Discovery Museums, Museum of Science, Peabody Essex Museum.

College faculty represented include: Lesley University, Harvard University, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and Wheelock College.

DIG Meeting
DIG Meeting

Here are some of the intriguing questions that were discussed among the participants, along with some of their responses and thoughts about ways to enhance family museum visits and learning through documentation.

What are shared overarching questions about engaging communities with documentation? What’s the difference between taking photos and documentation?

  • If documentation is a kind of “game” metaphor, how can we express the rules so that people stay in the game?
  • We need to set up a construct where the rules of the game are clear and we communicate these to our participants. I want you to see my documentation and I also want to see someone else’s? Right now it’s the “wild west” to Instagram photos!
  • What language are we using? Visitors post photos on social media but how can we develop a language that works for everyone as a form of documenting learning?
  • I see we are creating a shared vocabulary. A Reggio-inspired outcome that is specific that doesn’t make sense to others. What is the difference between a photo and documentation? What is the intrinsic value when you want to play the game?
  • Some families may react negatively to “jargon” related to education; there is a distinction between photographs and documentation that is interesting to tackle.
  • A suggestion would be to look at what you are calling documentation – such as the Boston Children’s Museum Twitter feed – and see if that would inform this conversation. What would be the next steps? What would you explain to a family? What are the rules of the game?
  • Why do I care about documentation in a museum? Documentation can lead to exhibit design questions, which can be generated from user-designed documentation.

How can we facilitate the shift of a photograph as souvenir to an authentic representation of an experience?

  • Does it make a difference if the photo is of yourself or someone else? How do you get someone to look at photos of someone else?
  • Photos can be tagged and placed on the museum website – but is anyone looking at those photos and interpreting them?
  • Is there a time in the museum for visitors to create a little album they take home with them? In order to take this album home it must be narrated – to tell a story of what you did with your child. This might change the idea of a photo vs. documentation.

Is there a museum educator “fantasy” of what you would like to see in documentation from a family and their museum experience?

  • We documented a recent artist creating floor-to-ceiling murals with colored tape. The artists and visitors documented. Later in the day, after the experience, a 5-year-old girl created her own mural at home that we happened to find posted on Instagram.
  • One of my fantasies for visitors starts in the car ride home with a discussion on the experience in an art museum visit. How can we support parents in asking questions to start a conversation? What did the experience mean to individuals in the family? What happened when they came home? Is there a mechanism to start that context in the museum, then in the car ride home and then once they are home?
  • In my fantasy, there is a giant photo/video of a particular child – who can see this coming in – “that’s me!!” We can all see how the child has grown, over time from repeat visits.

How do we get the family to connect to a larger community – a museum family – and not for the visit to feel isolated? In other words, how do we develop a participatory museum construct – I am participating in a larger sense?

  • Promoting the family experience versus the community experience. Can you target the community without attending to the family first?
  • When I go to a museum with my kids – I wonder what does the museum want from me – could there be an explicit invitation to families?
  • We need to be intentional – an intentional invitation to look at images so people can comment on them; a wall that is part of the museum for visitors to see each other’s thoughts.
  • In Reggio they would not document if you had just individual activities. It makes me think of a comment by a colleague – “you have to have something worth documenting.”

How do we inspire and communicate to our visitors to be life-long learners? I am wondering if documentation is the tool to communicate this?

  • As a visitor, if I saw in bright big words – What have you learned in the museum? It gets to the point of the visitor to think of themselves as an active role as a visitor.
  • It connects to this idea of community and to understand each other.

Take-Aways

  • I really like the idea of telling a story. First visitors or multiple time visitors – you may be on different chapters but the book is not finished.
  • I think there is a story to a one-day visit – would that need a slightly different prompt? Visitors from out of town a first and maybe only visit can have a story.
  • Creating a useful metaphor like a game, with a common language, across different groups of people. I want to think more of the “game of documentation” to communicate the intentions, purposes with the people I am working with.
  • The importance of being intentional and the purpose when exploring documentation.
  • Why aren’t we being really explicit and intentional, it’s silly why we haven’t asked? Can we be transparent on why we are asking? We might also be delivering a prompt that might encourage people to pause and reflect on our purpose.
  • I’m thinking of a concrete aspect of social media – it struck me when you said who is using social media? Public relations staff and not education staff. Maybe we add – what did you learn at deCordova today? What could that trigger?

Stephanie Cox Suarez is an associate professor in the Wheelock College Special Education Department. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in special education assessment, children with special needs, portfolio development, and supervision of students in their practica and internships. She is the founder of the Documentation Studio at Wheelock College, where research includes working with preservice and inservice teachers to document, share, and make visible classroom learning and teaching. Visit the Documentation Studio at Wheelock College web page.

Dr. Tiziana Filippini Furthers Groundbreaking Documentation Work at Wheelock

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photo1The Italian municipality of Reggio Emilia has earned international acclaim for its innovative pedagogy and powerful, practice-based theory in early childhood education.  As a pedagogista for the Municipality of Reggio Emilia, Dr. Tiziana Filippini, has dedicated her life’s work to the education of young children, teachers, and families in her home community of Reggio Emilia, Italy, and around the world. Wheelock College was honored to have Dr. Tiziana Filippini as a Presidential International Visiting Scholar in May as well as award her with an honorary degree of Doctor of Education during Wheelock’s 2015 Commencement Ceremony.

Teachers in Reggio schools see themselves as researchers, continually exploring and contributing to our knowledge about: who children are and how they learn; the role of the teacher; and the role of school in society. If you go into any classroom in Reggio, you will see teachers (and even children) taking photographs, videotaping, taking notes, and collecting other records of children’s work and activities. Through this careful documentation of both the products and processes of learning, these schools in Reggio have come to the attention of the world and are considered by many to be the premier model of early childhood education.

Dr. Tiziana Filippini has worked with educators around the world to develop more robust documentation practices, challengingPhoto2 researchers and practitioners to think creatively about ways that documentation can support learning, encourage collaboration, and communicate learning to others. At Wheelock, her collaboration with the Making Learning Visible Project at the Harvard Graduate School of Education inspired Stephanie Cox Suarez in 2008 to launch our own Documentation Studio, which has become an invaluable resource for a broad spectrum of educators in Boston and New England. At the Documentation Studio, Wheelock faculty and students seek to learn (and help others to learn) more about some key practices that help to make the Reggio schools so extraordinary—namely, the use of documentation to support individual and group learning (for learners of all ages).

photo3During a special Open Studio on May 12th, Dr. Filippini worked with Making Learning Visible researcher and Wheelock Documentation Studio collaborator Melissa Rivard; Boston Public Schools Early Childhood Program Developers Marina Boni and Melissa Tonachel; and over 80 teachers from all over New England to explore a common dilemma: the Department of Education is asking kindergarten teachers from across the State to “document” learning by observations and using photos and video and notes.  Educators who think about a Reggio inspired approach to documentation encourage that this documentation be meaningful, inform teaching and learning, investigate children’s interests, and support time for teachers to closely listen to children.  Together, the group explored opportunities and challenges of bringing Reggio-inspired approaches and curricula to teachers and young children in Boston public kindergarten classrooms and other contexts. Click here to watch video from the event

Dr. Tiziana Filippini’s unwavering dedication to improving the quality of teaching and learning truly inspired a world of good during her time at Wheelock, and we look forward to continued collaboration. For more information on Wheelock’s Documentation Studio, visit http://www.wheelock.edu/docstudio

VIDEO: Exploring the Philosophy of Frances and David Hawkins

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Wheelock College hosted a day of hands-on exploration and scientific inquiry inspired by the education philosophy of David and Frances Hawkins.

Exhibit and Conference at Wheelock

Wheelock College hosted a day of hands-on exploration and scientific inquiry inspired by the education philosophy of Frances and David Hawkins.

This enriching professional development conference on Saturday, October 3, 2015 provided educators a chance to practice the many ways to cultivate the scientist in every student. Exhibits and activities illustrated the Hawkins’ dynamic approaches to teaching and learning that engage children’s existing curiosity using readily available materials.

This conference was an outgrowth of “Cultivate the Scientist in Every Child: The Philosophy of Frances and David Hawkins,” an exhibit of the Hawkins’ work hosted at the Earl Center in collaboration with the Hawkins Centers of Learning. This exciting exhibit, on display from Oct. 1 – Nov. 14, 2015, not only served as the catalyst for the daylong conference but also for outreach to New England educators. Documentation of our local children’s science inquiry was also on display.

The Legacy of Frances and David Hawkins

The legacy of the husband and wife team of Frances and David Hawkins continues to inspire education processionals through their philosophy of education. “To this day, David’s educational approaches, largely informed by Frances’ insightful classroom observations, inspire professionals worldwide.  David’s theories have been foundational to the renowned schools for young children in Reggio Emilia, Italy, and are expressed in many other venues.”(Source) The Hawkins exhibit “illustrates the dynamic approaches to learning and teaching that engage children’s existing curiosity using readily available materials.” (Source)


“What can we do to sustain curiosity, wonder and engagement?”


“The Hawkins ask, what can we do to sustain curiosity, wonder and engagement?” says Dr. Stephanie Cox Suarez, associate professor in the Department of Special and Elementary Education. “I love this question as we explore with teachers the importance of experimenting and playing—engaged teachers may foster engaged students. I am excited to bring the Hawkins exhibit to Wheelock because it is a public display of children and teachers’ imagination and engagement in learning—a refreshing perspective to our standards-based prescribed curriculum.”


Why Document Learning? Lessons from Kindergarten Classrooms

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Children work with squeezersI was struck by the value of documenting learning while listening to teachers at the Open Studio at Wheelock’s Documentation Studio on May 16.  One teacher captured a moment in time; kindergarten children playing with water and “squeezers” led to a rich conversation among educators who were not present in that classroom.

The photos and the children’s dialogue brought us right to that moment.  We could point to the children’s words as they tried to explain how water is sprayed out of the squeezer.  Teachers wondered about the scientific concepts that were being explored and if children could grasp how pumps work. If children were concrete thinkers, what other materials could be provided to help them understand pressure?

Student campfireChildren created a campground in another kindergarten classroom. The rich vocabulary and language that grew from the campground was documented with photos and animal stories the children created both individually and in groups.  Why were the children interested in camping? How many had ever been camping?  The bright glowing red and orange paper campfire in the middle of the campsite was a perfect place to tell stories.  We wondered if others would realize the richness of this dramatic play that inspired reading numerous children’s books and telling stories.

Another teacher is an advocate for play and exploration in kindergarten.  In January, her students became fascinated with skateboards.  Who would ever guess that this fascination would extend to the end of the school year?

Skateboard drawingAfter learning the basic moves on a skateboard, this led to the creation of a skateboard village—complete with small, child-written books  about skateboarding (available at the skateboard repair shop) and a movie theater that featured movies about skateboarding.  The teacher created a video documenting the process of children’s self-directed play and learning.  She learned that her role was to observe, provide materials, encourage and offer the time to create.  We wondered at the Open Studio how interesting it would be to have administrators watch this video and check off the numerous standards that were evident in this child-oriented, project-based learning experience.

Why document learning? We can see the learning, discuss ways to extend the learning (i.e., materials, questions, provocations), share documentation with the children to help them create new ideas, and to inform families and administrators as to the power of play, exploration and group learning.

Stephanie Cox Suarez is an associate professor in Wheelock College’s Special and Elementary Education Department. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in special education assessment, children with special needs, instructional methods seminars, and “making learning visible” documentation courses. Stephanie was a special education teacher for 15 years in public schools and at Perkins School for the Blind. Before coming to Wheelock, she was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kathmandu, Nepal, where she helped prepare teachers of the visually impaired and worked with the Ministry of Education and non-governmental organizations to initiate a national special education program.

She is the founder of the Documentation Studio at Wheelock College, where research includes working with preservice and in-service teachers to document, share, and make visible classroom learning and teaching. Visit the Documentation Studio web pages for more information and for upcoming Open Studios for educators.

Why Should Educators Promote Curiosity?

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Building the tallest paper cup tower.
Building the tallest paper cup tower.

In what ways can educators promote curiosity?

Amina and three classmates are given ten minutes to build the tallest tower they possibly can with paper cups. What academic content, reasoning, and social skills might be sparked by this group challenge?

Educators must work with curriculum standards and school schedules as they make their teaching choices, but taking the time to consider challenging open-ended questions as provocations for critical thinking and social dynamics can motivate learning.

Wheelock College faculty and community partners came together for the Curiosity and Learning Conference (October 1, 2016) to share ideas using everyday materials and provocations to facilitate thinking on how to promote curiosity, learning, and collaboration.

What did you learn at the conference? What connections are you making? What will you try in your setting?  Share your ideas so we can continue to learn together.

Post a comment or email us at curiosityconference@wheelock.edu.

Curiosity and Learning Hands-on Station
Curiosity and Learning Conference Hands-on Station
Curiosity and Learning Conference Hands-on Station
Curiosity and Learning Conference Hands-on Station

Third Curiosity and Learning Conference Inspires Teachers

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Educators paint with a giant roller at Wheelock's Curiosity Conference

Educators paint with a giant roller at Wheelock's Curiosity ConferenceWheelock College’s third annual Curiosity and Learning Conference brought more than 130 educators from all over New England, as well as New York, Chicago, and Denver, to Wheelock’s Boston campus on October 28, 2017, for a high-energy day of hands-on learning.

“This is the third time I have attended this conference,” said one veteran early childhood educator. “But I have to say that the first conference changed my teaching life completely—it blew me away.”

Veteran Educator describes his experience at the conference
Download a Quicktime video of this veteran educator describing his experience at the conference

What is it about the opportunity for educators to play, wonder, and mess about with materials?  Did we forget how important it is to play? Did we forget how important it is to use all our senses to figure out how things work?

Rolling in a tube, cutting open a squash, drawing uninterrupted lines on a group piece of art, weaving, sewing, dancing, building. Dr. Diane Levin, Wheelock Professor of Early Childhood, reminded us at the conference’s opening talk about the importance of play and being unconnected to digital devices and instead interacting with others.

This conference, held October 28, 2017 on Wheelock’s Boston campus, was inspired by the philosophy of David and Frances Hawkins that nurtures curiosity and wonder in both educators and their students. At the conference, educators are encouraged to mess about with materials to make connections, apply meaning, and ask and explore questions.

What do you experience when you have time to mess about with materials with wonder and curiosity?

We welcome your comments and photos! Leave a comment here or email us at curiosityconference@wheelock.edu.

Stephanie Cox SuarezCuriosity and Learning Conference organizer Stephanie Cox Suarez is Associate Professor of Special Education and Director of the Documentation Studio at Wheelock College. Visit the Curiosity and Learning Conference website at wheelock.edu/curiosityconference.

Making Learning Visible and Storytelling

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A person uses their cell phone to take a photo of a group of students working on a project

Daniel Pink (2006) writes,

“The future belongs to a very different kind of person
with a very different kind of mind –
creators and emphasizers, pattern recognizers, and meaning makers” (p. ii)

Students in the spring 2018 course, GEC 253 Making Learning Visible: Using the Tools of Documentation and Visual Arts, respond:

In what ways will you make meaning and create stories in your future professional lives?

GEC 253 Making Learning Visible focuses on the tools of documentation and visual arts. Students analyze learning and develop the basics of design needed to create informative and aesthetically pleasing displays. With today’s sophisticated visual communication, these are critical skills to develop as a professional in a multitude of settings and age groups.

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