This is a great project with promising outcomes in learner engagement through media creation and use. We already see good outcomes in St. Aloysius Gonzaga, Mpesa Foundation Academy and the other host sites. Let's enhance the visibility

I totally agree with Joseph. Also here in Finland the beginning of the project has been very promising. In addition to learning media making and STEM contents, a big positive thing here is the increased engagement to learn English that is used as a lingua franca in this project. For example, last time when an online meet-up was organised, I heard students planning together how they can say what they wanted in English. They also asked me how to express something, for example: "Veera, how can I say that my video tells about the Baltic Sea?" Some of the students opened their English textbooks and searched words from there...

Veera, this is good news. I believe we are learning from previous engagements. In particular, the VIP project in the SAVI project had amazing insights on how to engage learners. Am keeping my eyes, ears and connectivity open to the learnings

It is so cool that Veera is running this in Finland.

I think it's important that the projects offers a creative learning space outside school. Too often is learning associated with a brick and mortar school when learning should taking place anywhere, anytime. Lifelong learning must be nurtured so each individual will continue to thrive and contribute.

Thank you for your comment Charlotte and we are still learning. In the projects that students come up with, they try out new ideas, new skills, rethink prior learning and reassemble them into new ones. Could you be having ideas and suggestions on how to nurture lifelong learning?

Thank you Marcelo, it is more open and in some cases project ideas arise and re-arise naturally in response to questions and reactions during the online meetups.

In addition to my other response, Marcelo, nice to hear from my alma mater in Evanston :)

Hey there, Eric and team. This looks really exciting! Congrats on all the hard work and thinking. How are the student projects used in their classrooms? Does the whole class do this, or an after school group? Have you thought of ways to test how useful they are to other students--I bet they're a lot more dynamic than many of the textbooks out there!

Michael, in this early stage, this is all media-maker club outside of school.  We are looking at ways that classes can engage, but it is first and foremost an informal science ed effort.  But the videos and other artifacts are meant to be used in formal settings as well.  I am trying to work with Joanne Lobata at SDSU, whose group does a lot of work on the efficacy of student created artifacts.  Thank you!

The students/learners come up with the videos themselves. They focus on thoughts and ideas of interest to them. After creating these videos, they are then shared with other students/learners globally. 

Kristine, the configuration of the teams and the structure of the work flows creates a "club" system where focus is on learners' own initiatives, demanded guidance rather than supplied instruction. It makes it easier to begin, document and learn, and hopefully, policy makers are also 'listening' to see how gains in such initiatives may be contextually sustained. In deed promising!

Charles. where are you teaching now?  Your name is familiar... Are you in Nairobi or Thika?  I love the expression "break away from the chalk" !

Charles, the paradigm shift towards student-centred learning in Kenyan classrooms requires educators to reflect on the roles we play in and outside the classroom, and the skills we need. I am excited that you are flexible and willing to be part of the learning process. 

Katherine, this is encouraging news and I hope we will be able to connect more teams to this great initiative

Katherine, My liege Ateng' Ogwel, replying to you above, is an amazing partner in Kenya.  Without each of you, there would be no project, so many thanks to both of you.  We are so proud to partner with NYSci and with Ateng's agency within the Kenyan Ministry of Education. 

Eric, these are great comments. I should be able to see how the segments in which I appear have more clarity. It's sometimes amazing how you express these "things", and the connecting thread in your vision is so empowering, service to humanity. As George Pepperdine put it, "Freely ye received, freely give".

Joseph: I so appreciate your comment here and the eloquent way you connect IC4 to George Pepperdine's founding vision. Thank you!

We love having you be a part of and helping to shape and define this work.  it has been a ride we could not take without you and George.

True, George and Lynette are amazing and having seen their work at Long Beach - we have a couple and a team of professionals, a pair among others, on whose shoulders we stand.

We are fortunate to have you on this time, Ms Nghifikwa!

Rachel is an enormous asset to our team and we are so lucky to have her. Her incite and promise for future learners is enormous. 

Mary, I don't know if we are on the cutting edge, but it is immensely rewarding to see students collaborate like this, and as we expected, the unexpected is always showing up!

Eric, Mary is  right about Pepperdine, yourself and the Project. Looking back, nearly 10 years ago when we met in Makerere University, am not sure if am dealing with the same Hamilton of "ins and outs" at USAFA. You are indeed patient, resilient, visionary and a humble servant. To God be the Glory

Mr Gamez, thank you for your excellent effort in this project.  I think you are right about the participatory teaching.  That has to be an important priority for us.  You are helping us move beyond boundaries and borders!

It is wonderful to see students eager to learn from each other and to work together from different parts of the world in one single setting. It is wonderful to see how students suddenly become part of your teaching team in the classroom. Students helping you to teach students that is priceless!

You are exactly right, Jose! I am focusing on your comment that "students helping you to teach students that is priceless!" I heartily agree and I am reminded of Carol Dweck's premise that intellectual skills could be cultivated, especially in constructivist classrooms that honor many voices and viewpoints! Thank you for your comment, Jose! Do you see applications of the IC4 concept to your professional practice?

Helen, these remarks "students helping you......." is true and accurate. Zach has evidence on what students are able to do during Maths Camps and we also witnessed during a holiday when we had GeoGebra Handshops in a couple of schools. Let's keep the hope and optimism, and share the little stories. I believe we do not need spectacular results, we just need to tell the story as it is.

Hi Catherine: Your comment regarding as a unifying force for teachers and students is exactly what the IC4 project embodies. Activities listed for participatory teaching include brainstorming, role plays, experiments, discussions, and field trips. These are productive alternatives to traditional instruction but they usually originate with the a teacher task. The interactivity of the IC4 discussions is primarily with and among students. Technology such as Fuze enables global conversations and interactivity in real time! Thank you again, Catherine!

Hi Jeremy: Much appreciation for all you do through S.R.I.! Cyberensembles include combinations of five key activities: Inversion, Immersion, Knowledge-sharing, Querying, and Digital Media-Making in STEM Classrooms. Here is a link to one of Dr. Hamilton's early papers on Cyberensembles: http://www.learntechlib.org/p/37639.
Thank you for your comment!

Helen, please tell Jeremy that it was an act of God that made me miss the Cyberlearning Meeting in January 2016, and Zach was able to attend in April. It gave us opportunity to expand the team, and create more opportunities for the young. His work with others at SRI is rewarding and Godly

Eric, your response to Jeremy is revealing the ultimate, a kind of area you are reluctant to engage in for fear of losing some of us. Reminds me of the last supper in Helsinki, the discussion with Ron. I hear you my liege, am not sure if am following you!!!!

Hi Christine, Thank you for your kind comments and thoughtful questions. The virtual component does lend itself to collaboration across thousands of miles. The teachers of record in this discussion would be the best to comment about their assessment methods and student grouping. As part of the research team, we use a code book of recurring terms of engagement used by the students and teachers. The research has yielded rich troves of data that reflect participatory student-led teaching, the cyberensemble skill combinations, student engagement, deep, concentration/flow states of learning, collaboration, academic speech and transfer of knowledge, informal teaching and learning, and increased math concept retention through media-making. There is also more information in our information sheet at this link: http://bit.ly/ic4-researcher-info-page. Do you see ways to replicate this approach or become involved? Hope this helps to begin our thinking together ~ Helen

Thank you Christine for your great questions. We are still learning as we observe students (age range 10-19) from four different countries, three different continents work together on project ideas suggested by themselves. The project seeks to nurture meaningful and scientifically rigorous collaborations that cross ages and connect cultures.

We are Investigating how digital maker‐space collaborations help others, between adolescents and teachers in different parts of the world, and how they can make a significant societal impact. Also, we examine research in multiple areas in order to advance informal STEM subject learning.

In some videos of unfamiliar problems/projects developed by students, the explanations they give go beyond what is obvious or what is explicitly taught, makes subtle connections, well supported by argument and evidence and novel thinking is displayed. Could you be having other ideas of how to measure the students learning and best ways to establish degrees of understanding?

Thank you Christine about your questions and comments! I want to say something about the language barriers you asked. Here in Finland the students generally start studying English (that is used as a lingua franca in this project) when they are 9 year olds. So, for example the two clubs of 11-year-olds that are taking part in the project now, have officially studied English only 2 years, couple of hours per week.

That means that communicating in English is challenging for them. But, because the setting of the project is so exciting, students seem to forget their limitations. In online meet-ups you meet real living people from countries that are somewhere far away, and these people are interested in you and your project. That setting makes that students really want to say what they have in their minds, no matter how many grammar mistakes they do. It was so rewarding to follow those little kids eagerly trying to find the right words and expressions to say what they wanted. And, what was also a good thing, they did that together.

Thank you Veera, Zach and Helen for the insightful responses. It appears that there is already deep thinking on the overall assessment of the project. I would be particularly interested in the knowledge flow within the learner networks; what is being shared, to who (is it across different age/school/culture levels and what the impact of this knowledge transfer is in the overall project setup.

Given the participatory nature of the project, I would think they would be lots of interaction between & within the learner virtual networks, this might influence direction/flow of learning, and to what extent there would be transfer & gain of knowledge....the rich troves of data might help in evaluation. Students’ reflections would be another rich source of data.

Hi Christine, just to tag on to Helen, Zach and Veera (who also all work on the project), we've found that the online global meet-ups have become an important part for knowledge sharing.  A participant "presents" their video, then everyone gives feedback on both the content and quality of the video making.  This has led to some rich conversations on both STEM subjects and cultural awareness.  At the end of the meet-ups, we have the participants write a reflection on their experience of the session.  The reflections have helped us to better organize the meet-ups, which have now become an exciting part of the project.

Danielle explains a lot about the infrastructure of IC4 and reflection is integral to the ecosystem architecture. Following Schon's research, both reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action. Reflections are harvested through interviews, transcriptions, recorded meet-ups, and collecting reflections through mutually shared GDocs. Key words and concepts are curated for further investigation in the best practice development. Danielle's open, positive reinforcement, and transparency catalyzes the global synergy across the innovative and experiential collaborations.  (Thanks again, Danielle!)

Dr Teague, well-said all the way around!

Thank you Victoria for your comment. The goal here is to have learners take control of the knowledge process and begin to see themselves as producers, not just victims of knowledge. You were at the root of implementation at Maseno University and we do value having you at the center of the research process. 

The students meet each other in online global meet-ups that are organised every month. They are so excited!

During the meet-ups students chat and talk about their works. The online system that is used also allows screen sharing and that is the way the students can watch the videos together and talk about them.

Hi Joni, one more thing. Yes, the students can also work on shared challenges, and the project strongly supports this kind of activity by grouping the students into global groups, so that there are members from every country in a group.

Hi Joni, Veera did a great job of sharing our strategy.  The participants use Microsoft OneNote to share ideas and collaborate on projects, and we have online global meet-ups among our participating schools to provide an opportunity for participants to "see" each other and share/discuss their work. The discussions during the meet-up usually revolve around projects they are working on and videos they've made-- for example, participants had some rich discussions on topics of environmental conservation, the lived experience of their country, differences in weather/seasons, and most recently, coding and robotics.  Project topics so far are self-directed, rather than something assigned to the groups.  Since we are still in the relatively early stages of our project, the participants' work is mainly shared within our network of clubs, but we hope to showcase their work in the future-- stay tuned! 

Hi Danielle, what do online global meet-ups look like, and what setups do you use?

Hi Danielle and Veera, It sounds like you are experimenting with a variety of ways for students to speak to each other about common challenges. It is a great project and I will stay tuned.  Should you ever be interested in them having a video showcase where they can share videos with each other and also with other peers, their community, parents, etc. and discuss the videos then let me know! Best of luck with this fascinating project. 

Joni, this is an intriguing suggestion.  We have multiple ways that we share the videos, but something on the order of a showcase - which, let's face it, TERC definitely knows how to do :) - would help us in efforts to establish standards for publication for the students and teachers, for example.  So I will discuss further with the heroes you addressed (Danielle and Veera) and other members of the team.  Thank you. And say hello to JA-C.

To Hiroo, the online global meet-ups are conducted in Fuze.  I create a Google Doc agenda that structures the meet-up (so participants can post their video/project links they want to share, or questions they want to pose to the group).  We try to limit the amount of participants to keep the meet-up intimate for conversation; no more than 2-3 students from 3 schools at a time (max 9 participants), which has helped in creating more interactions.  We have the participants write reflections immediately following the session.  Thanks for the question (and perhaps we will meet someday, I've heard a lot about you!).

Thanks, Danielle. How do you get people in different time-zones to meet synchronously? That must be a challenge!

Are you based in the Malibu campus? I will be sure to visit when I am there next time!

That's a good question-- the different time zones can be a struggle, but since we limit the number of participant/sites at each session, it helps us to narrow down a time.  Some sites are restrictive on when they can meet, and some sites have participants who are able and willing (because of the global nature of the meet-up) to make the sacrifice with late nights, which we are grateful for.  

I'm actually out of West LA, if you every make it there-- perhaps if Eric is teaching in the fall, we'd be on campus at the same time!

You are most welcome Joyati! With your research interests and as a recipient of many grants including the National Science Foundation Instruction Laboratory Improvement (NSF-ILI), we will all learn a lot from you.

Helen, Los Angeles and Nairobi are just in different time zones, not intellectual zones. Perhaps the sacrifice is evidence that the students have some elements in the Project which align to their aspirations. Let's give the the hope, opportunity and scaffold their work. Thanks for the kind remarks about my neighbours. Zach is coordinating well 

Okay, so this answers the question I just asked Danielle about meeting across varying time-zones. Helen/Ateng, what kind of internet bandwidth do the students have in Kenya? 

Jill,

You ask several great questions! The teachers meet almost weekly with the site liaisons and the students. These meetups are generally conducted through Fuze meetings. We use one note to track and record all of our data. Reflection is a HUGE part of our study. For that, we use google docs. The project is very exciting and rapidly growing! 

Jill, thank you so much for your insightful wonders! It is really participatory and involves students at every stage from choosing their own projects to work on, planning through to creating videos on their projects and sharing. Although, there is still a lot of variability in students designing meaningful/effective projects and strong driving questions, teachers have always come in handy. 

We emphasise reflection as key part of learning and through students' personal reflections at the end of each the regular fuze meetings, individuals and groups of students working on projects have seen opportunities for growing and developing further their projects and videos.

Jill, we use documentation as a tool for making learners' thinking visible, we have students videos of their own investigations, fuze recordings of learners global meetups, written notes of students' ideas and contributions on OneNote. Teachers, also do comments on students' projects that would sometimes lead to rich discussions among learners.  

Thank you Dickson for your comment, apart from sharing videos we are learning how learners model their interest in the project ideas being explored, how learner's support each other in constructing understanding and clarifying their own thinking of STEM concepts.

Ross, I agree with you about the nature of Mr Mbasu's inspirational leadership.  I often call him a future leader of Africa.  Excited about connections to tablab :)

Henry, do you know Zach Mbasu?

Eric, Henry is connected to us through CEMASTEA. We were with him in Saijo some years back. I met him at the SMASE Workshop this week. He's an amazing guy

Very nice, and thank you.  Perhaps we can visit in July. 

Lauren, always good to communicate with a fellow NU alum (I hope I have that right!)  We are trying to sort out ways for low cost and no-cost expansion and involvement.  It turns out that there are almost endless aspects to the blend of tools we use, and a main task is developing fluency in all systems interchangeably - using onenote, g-drive, skype, fuze, android tools, windows tools, iOS, wireless versus wifi connections, etc - all as prerequisites for the main event - the collaboration around digital STEM media in service of helping peers learn.  All of these are in play simultaneously. Once this expertise is acquired, then a lot of the project is scalable.  So we are trying to distill this.  Any thoughts you have would be welcome : )

Guilty as charged! You have it right! It sounds like you're on the right track. I'd love to learn more about how you're approaching the training piece as the project evolves. 

We are so proud you are on the team.  And find it cool that the video producer came out from behind the editor to join the conversation!

My boss and mentor, was is and will remain. Keep the beacons, Dr. Oconnor as you move ahead, we may not follow the same path but we are in the same direction.

One thing I like about Marguerite's post is that directs to a different path - sort of rare for these showcase comments. 

There is quite a bit to unpack in this counsel and how or why we do things the way we have.  How do we connect?  You know my liege Ogwel?

Tabby, we are still sorting that out as we ramp up the project.  We have about 15 clubs right now, and the teacher profile differs in each!

Thank you Tabby for your great questions, at the moment teachers are taking students comments on OneNote and in videos as a starting point for dialogue. Simple follow up questions like "Can you say more about that?" or "What makes you say that?" have been used to clarify students' thinking during the Fuze global meetups too.

I agree!  I hope that ENA helps us with this.  In any case, we will formulate a new set of questions for the summer sessions.

Gave my earlier reply before seeing this.  As you can see:  agreed!

Jerome, are you in AIMS?  We did a forerunner workshop at AIMS Ghana three years ago, and have maintained an intention to keep working with AIMS in some capacity.  I have also been to AIMS/False Bay.  You must know Mr Mbasu?  Let me know...

Yes, I am currently a student at AIMS Tanzania (almost through with my program though). Mr Mbasu has visited us a couple of times, I enjoyed the sessions He facilitated in one of our school outreaches last year and I really love the vision of the African Maths Initiative.  

There's a researcher's info page link Eric provided in an earlier post, which has some examples of the projects.  Since we are in the early stages, right now projects are only being shared within the network through OneNote and our online global meet-ups.  As we continue, we hope to directly showcase more of the students' work!

Mike, thank you for your kind comments.  You are in the Rift Valley area?

Sonya, thank you for such heartwarming comments.  We will try to live up to them!

This would simply be lovely.  And I notice my reply is the 100th comment on the board.  Yikes.  Glad it is on this matter.  Please give my regards to Mr Njoroge.  I hope to see you mid July.

Kimberly, you are at GMU?  If so, please say hello to our good friend Kathy Matson, working on her PhD in CEHD.  Much of this work was actually advanced through a three year Fulbright, interestingly, which took place in Namibia after being originally slated to occur in Kenya, before being transferred to the SW.  This new project now has two schools in Kenya - one for students in Kibera, and one just a bit NE of the capital, in Thika.  Our students don't currently have a lot of mobility, but now you have me intrigued about drawing jua kali work more into the mix.  Perhaps we can interact more on this.  Thank you for your note!