Hosted by OSOS , contributed by yairbh_nc on 15 July 2019
In this project, students create escape boxes and tutor younger students to create their own boxes.
In the teaching process, the teacher imparts knowledge and at the center of the learning process while the student is passive. The responsibility for acquiring the student's knowledge lies with the teacher, and the student has the duty to prepare homework (a source of friction and an unpleasant climate) and the obligation to examine. Almost no attempt was made to build knowledge in various frameworks and ways.
Is this how it should be? Everywhere they talk to us about a custom suit: in the bank, in the hairdresser, in the store, why do we continue to teach our students all the same way we were taught?!
Many times we give our students a personal or group task. They demonstrate creativity, original thinking and teamwork, but it is evident that they lack performance skills - entrepreneurship.
Through a good quality teaching, in a model of "escape boxes" in which the various subjects are presented as a network of connections, playfulness and collaborative work. Students are active in the learning process. Besides achieving the required achievements and high-order thinking skills, the students also develop important skills of the 21st century: , Independent learning, the ability to work in a team, ethics and problem-solving skills, and in addition, the class climate improves and the students' relationship with the teacher and between them, the pace of work and personal learning - entrepreneurship.
Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI):
One of the key aspects of OSOS is the inclusion of RRI - Responsible Research and Innovation principles (more information at RRI-Tools.eu). This is how the Escape Box - iSTEAM project fits into the RRI model:
- Ethics: Learning through boxes Escape requires students' maturity and responsibility, teamwork and trust between students - within the group and between groups.
- Science education: Interdisciplinary learning of various STEM subjects. Developing high-order thinking, creativity, and problem-solving skills. The content of the escape boxes will be in this STEM project, but this does not have to be the case, and content can also be integrated into the humanities and social sciences, for example. However, students use technology to create and solve the boxes - and therefore use technological skills and scientific knowledge that requires them to succeed in cracking puzzles.
- Open access: As part of the final product in the form of a physical escape box, students will create a file with a "recipe" for making their box, as well as a solution indicator. This file will be uploaded to the OSOS International Portal.
- Public engagement: The project emphasizes cooperation with the community outside the school. One factor will be parents from all schools, who will be exposed to the learning process and the final outcomes. In addition, there will be structured cooperation between students from different schools in the city and their parents - so that they will form a learning, creative and sharing community.
- Gender Equality: The presence of female students in each group should be ensured.
Opportunities for collaboration with community stakeholders:
- Joint work of several schools. In this project middle school students serve as mentors for elementary students - so that students of different ages and schools develop together boxes of escape.
- Parental Involvement: The involvement of the students' parents and their families has a positive impact, but an innovative pedagogy may be incomprehensible and even encounter resistance in the absence of agreement on the school's goals and functions. Students will present the final outcomes on the day of exposure to parents.
Feel
What is learning in the model of escape boxes?
The teacher begins with a short explanation or alternatively, the students hear a short explanation of the subject in the "opposite class model". After that the students are divided into groups of 3-4 students and the practice is done through "escape boxes". Each group of students must "break an escape box" until the end of the lesson, as is done in the "escape room" (but without the limit of the number of people participating / furniture / fixed content).
All pedagogical content can be adapted for use as puzzles in an escape box. The older students were exposed to content in geometry. The various subjects are combined with physical accessories such as a safe, a locked box, and the like. In addition, the use of technology such as: computer applications, widgets and more. In order to "crack" the box - open a safe or box while watching tasks from the world of pedagogical content. No longer the teacher at the center, independent learning, is done at a personal pace teacher role clues and of course keep the ethics of work within each group and between groups.
Imagine
Another concern was that this type of learning might attract some students while others would remain passive and that students' achievements in terms of mathematical knowledge would be impaired, so I decided that the form of observations would not change and students would be tested on a standard achievement test. - which can be assessed by an evaluation tool developed specifically for the project.
- Team play with limited time
- Frame story
- Content (both pedagogical and dramatic)
- Puzzles that lead to other puzzles
- All the information for solving the puzzles is inside
- Decor and setting of the atmosphere
- Objects
The illustration depicts puzzles in an escape box, each number represents a puzzle:
The central column (with green frame) is the direct path for cracking the box. The red frame shows more ways to reach the final solution. When the conjunction between the puzzles is a conjunction so that you can work on different puzzles simultaneously and come to the solution of a particular puzzle in different ways. A good escape box is built this way to make students all active, and everyone can work on puzzles at the same time but still have to trust each other and cooperate because the escape box has a competitive element as well: being the first to crack the escape box, and crack it without asking for clues. Students collaborate to meet times, finish first (even if the pedagogical content felt less to them). To do this, they must rely on each other and work as a team. There is always a concern that learning from the above type will fascinate some students while others will remain passive and that students' achievement in terms of mathematical knowledge will be impaired. Therefore, students are tested on a regular achievement test but acquire more important student, 21st century skills.
For example, let's zoom-in on one of the paths - the one that leads to solving puzzle number 6 which helps to solve puzzle number 10 in the central column:
Create
Suggested objects and devices for building an escape box:
- safebox --> dial lock
- car --> electronic key / switch
- smartphone --> fingerprint / lock pattern
- bank account --> voice recognition
- toolbox --> simple key
- cash register --> hidden key
- medicine cabinet --> key
- locker --> key
- computer --> password
- information --> code
Assessment:
A special evaluation tool was developed in order to examine the progress of the students. It includes four dimensions:
- Self-efficacy, coping with difficulties and self-motivation for learning.
- Teaching Characteristics
- Interest and Enjoyment
- Teamwork
- Evaluation tools
These are the statements the students were asked to rate in each dimension (on a six-point Likert scale):
Self-efficacy, coping with difficulties and self-motivation for learning:
- If there is a problem I can not solve then I continue to try
- The things taught in the geometry class give me a great and important knowledge
- In geometry class I'm expected to make an effort
- The things I learn in the geometry class also help me out of school
- A geometry lesson gives me the feeling that I can succeed in my studies
Teaching Characteristics:
- In the geometry class I am more active than in other classes
- In geometry classes the members of the group use me and my ideas
- In a geometry class I feel that my thoughts and opinions are important and valuable
- The way in which geometry is taught encourages me to delve deeper into the subjects of study (eg asking questions, researching the subject, etc.)
Interest and Enjoyment:
- I feel curious and interested in what I am learning in a geometry class
- In the geometry class the material is transmitted in an interesting way that stimulates the desire to listen and learn
- I enjoy the things I'm learning in geometry class
Teamwork:
- If there is a question that I can not solve then I use my friends during class
- In geometry I feel that my ideas are important and contribute to my group
- In the geometry class I feel that I am part of a team