Overdue props this week for Kelly Lantz and her students, who have done remarkable collaborative work this semester, seamlessly integrating visuals, equations, and language to explain difficult and complex concepts. Concepts that I dimly remember thinking I understood, back in the day... but it's clear I didn't understand them as well as these students did -- as their lengthy and elaborate explanations attest.
And what's more, they did all this beautiful and rigorous work despite the fact that there was no grade attached.
Instead, student teams competed for naming rights -- a method used in class was named after each winning team.
The other great thing about this work is that Kelly had her students use the same method again to tackle a different project -- and the student work was even more competent and dazzling: the students gained and refined skills, given the chance to work again using the same tools -- Google Docs, screenshots, equations, etc. (Images below)
Too often, because we are pressed for time, we have students use a set of tools once. How much growth might we see if we allowed them the chance to work with the same set again? This also means teachers have to invest less time in the planning and setup of technology, since students are revisiting the same tools and techniques.
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