West Virginia and regional students must be able to compete in a global marketplace; therefore, their learning must focus on the 4 C’s. This track will take you outside the traditional learning models and provide skills for incorporating critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity -- advancing innovation in public and informal education.
Sessions:
Monday, October 18, 2010:
Session 1 – 10:15 – 11:15: In Pittsburgh, an interdisciplinary group of "modern day-Fred Rogers" occasionally comes together to explore how the Pittsburgh community might imaginatively make use of child-centered media and technology as well as DIY-like practices of using the things right around us for purposes of educating, engaging, and inspiring kids.
Participants in the so-called "Kids+Creativity Group" include executives, technologists, and educators representing informal learning sites (e.g., Carnegie Science Center, Toonseum, and Pittsburgh Children's Museum); university programs (e.g., the CREATE Lab and the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University, and UPCLOSE at the University of Pittsburgh); afterschool programs (e.g., Communities in Schools and the Mentoring Partnership); multimedia outlets (e.g., WQED Multimedia and Steeltown Entertainment); robotics companies (e.g., roBlocks and Bossa Nova Concepts); curriculum providers (e.g., Intermediate Unit #1); artists (e.g., Attack Theater); and software companies (e.g., Apangea). This ever-growing group has already developed special opportunities for children to learn, to play, and to be curious in creative ways, as evidenced by, for example, FredForward (www.fredrogerscenter.org/), and SPARK (www.sproutfund.org/spark/).
Gregg Behr, executive director of The Grable Foundation, will discuss how formal and informal learning places must creatively adjust to the new reality that kids learn any time, any where.
Session 2 – 11:30 – 12:30:Mark Swiger, Teacher at John Marshall High School. John Henry, Educational Consultant
· Mark and John will discuss Teaching and Learning 4.0: New Pathways for the 21st Century. Traditional “schools” delivered content for content-sake. In the 1990s technology integration entered the picture in “schools” and more recently interactive technologies known as Web 2.0 enabled learners to engage a more collaborative world. Teaching and Learning 4.0 is a new way look at education in beyond the three previous paradigms as learning occurs “anytime anyplace”, where the world becomes the learner’s laboratory.
Monday afternoon Off-site Sessions:
Session 3 – 2:00 – 3:00 West Virginia Northern Community College (WVNCC)
· Middle College discussion by Martin Olshinsky, President WVNCC
o Middle College is a “school of opportunity” for students who show potential for success, but have not flourished in traditional high school. It is a guidance-based non-traditional school where faculty serves as facilitators, counselors, mentors student advocates and focus group leaders. President WVNCC will present what a middle college is: the who, what, when, where, how and why.
· Discussion of Culinary Program and the Community Green Garden.. Chef Gene Evans will discuss the “Green culinary program”. How he became aware of it, how he instituted it and how he got students involved. He and Emily Fisher, Executive to the President for Development will discuss the funding options and opportunities.
Session 4 – 3:15 – 4:15 Wheeling Park High School
· Students will showcase their talents and discuss the arts program at their school. This nationally recognized program will discuss how it creates remarkable talent.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010:
Session 5 & 6 – combined Tuesday morning sessions
Live Demonstrations of Learning Opportunities that You Can Bring to Your Schools
Moderator: Jim Denova, Benedum Foundation
Panelists:
Illah Nourbakhsh, Carnegie Mellon University’s CREATE Lab
· The Create Laboratory at Carnegie Mellon University focuses on technology empowerment as a vehicle for communities to improve their circumstances and to engender cross-cultural communication and environmental awareness. In this demonstration, Illah will present an overview of the CREATE Lab structure together with ongoing projects. He will present a more detailed summary of the GigaPan imaging program, which uses a robotic camera to capture high resolution panoramic images that are stored on the web and transferred around the world. Currently, students in nine countries capture cultural and social imagery, then share and discuss those scenes with their peers across borders (www.gigapan.org.)
Eriks Janelsins ,Oglebay Institute Environmental Center
· Ground Truth 21 program which is an integrated, interdisciplinary, and inquiry-based 7th or 8th grade ecosystem assessment program that uses the "living laboratory" and state-of-the-art technologies to determine the ecological health of forest and freshwater stream. This program can be completed from any location via connection to the internet.
Jackie Shia, The Challenger Center
· E-Mission program which uses the Internet or other distance learning technology to create a live link between the students and the flight directors at "Mission Control." Before each e-Mission, students complete studies, hands-on activities, and practice that opens doors into science and math discovery. On mission day, they form teams of "experts," examine real-time data, analyze it, and make their recommendations to Mission Control. Challenger's flight directors guide the students to a successful solution of each crisis situation.
Carey Sadowski, The Education Alliance
· Learn about WV eMentoring, an online career-based mentoring program for secondary students. Benefits for the student include interacting with a professional adult in the student’s career field of interest. Benefits for the mentor include making an impact in a student’s life without ever having to leave his or her desk.
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