Het bericht Keeping on developing with the growth mindset — a TED talk verscheen eerst op Franzen.

Marc Franzen

Het bericht Activating teaching methods in VMBO verscheen eerst op Franzen.

More interesting still is that the researchers focused on 6 proven strategies that work, which often go unmentioned or are examined only briefly in the textbooks. What are those 6 strategies, and do you have them?

The first two help students take in new information:

• Linking images to words.
  Young or old, everyone takes in information along two primary routes – auditory (for the spoken word) and visual (for the written word and graphic representation). Students learn more when new information is explained in both ways.
• Linking abstract concepts to concrete representations.
  Teachers should give concrete examples that clarify the overarching ideas, and also explain how the examples and the big ideas connect to one another.

The next two make sure students connect different pieces of information, deepening their understanding:

• Asking probing questions.
  Asking students ‘why’, ‘how’, ‘what if’ and ‘how do you know’ obliges them to clarify their knowledge of the key ideas and to link those ideas together.
• Alternating worked examples with problems students have to solve themselves.
  Explanation alongside a worked solution helps students grasp the underlying principles, so they move beyond mere problem-solving procedures.

The last two help students remember what they have learned:

• Spacing out practice.
  Students should practise material several times after learning it, with each practice session or review separated by weeks or even months.
• Assessing in order to strengthen retention.
  Beyond the value of formative assessment (helping a teacher decide what to teach) and summative assessment (establishing what students have learned), assessment that prompts students to recall previously learned information helps that information stick.

Freely translated from an article by The Economy of Meaning.

Het bericht Six strategies that work in education verscheen eerst op Franzen.

In the study, VMBO students say they do not find their own education challenging enough. “Excellent VMBO students are often forgotten. They are bored at school as things stand, or they want to move to HAVO. VMBO education needs to be far more challenging,” says LAKS chair Steven de Jong. The study also shows that students are very dissatisfied with the process of choosing what to study next.

In the qualitative study, which LAKS carried out among almost 800 students, VMBO students were asked their own views on matters such as safety, lesson content and challenge. Fully 70% of students said they found VMBO easy, and the VMBO diploma is not highly valued either.

LAKS argues for more practically oriented challenge in VMBO. Ultimately the aim should be to raise examination requirements in VMBO as well, so that the diploma genuinely becomes worth more, though a boost in quality is needed first. The number of unqualified teachers should also be cut back sharply. At present one in three VMBO teachers teaches without a qualification; that is far more than in HAVO and VWO.

In the third and fourth year, VMBO students grow steadily more dissatisfied with the process of choosing a course of study. “The poor state of careers guidance shows up in the high drop-out figures in MBO. There is still a lot to be gained in the choice process,” says De Jong. Careers advisers need to be closer to the student, and instead of aptitude tests there should be real conversation with the student. VMBO students in particular need good guidance.

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Het bericht VMBO students do not feel challenged verscheen eerst op Franzen.

Tanja Jadnanansing, MP for the PvdA, received the research on Friday in Hilversum at the launch of the themed week. Dialogic surveyed 541 VMBO students for the study.

According to the research, young people are in many respects not conscious enough in how they use media. 80 per cent do not check how reliable their sources are. Because of the range of media they use, 24 per cent of those surveyed are easily distracted from homework and other tasks, and 12.5 per cent have at some point bullied someone online.

Media Literacy Week is aimed at young people between 10 and 14, their parents and their schools. One aim is to teach primary school pupils and students in secondary education to be aware of the privacy risks of using Twitter and Facebook.

(c) ANP 2012, all rights reserved

Het bericht VMBO students spend 3.5 hours a day online on their phones verscheen eerst op Franzen.

Het bericht Supervision of weak and very weak schools? Here is how it works verscheen eerst op Franzen.

That is the view of twelve young people from Rotterdam-Zuid, set out in their advisory report ‘Zie me dan, hoor me dan’ (See me then, hear me then), which they present on Friday afternoon to Korrie Louwes, the alderman for education.

“We know a great deal is already being done to prevent students dropping out. But young people themselves have never been involved in it,” say the authors. As early school leavers, and therefore people who know it from the inside, they are now back in education or in work. At some Rotterdam schools the drop-out rate is said to be 30 per cent.

“It is unique for young people to advise us out of their own experience,” said alderman Louwes in a first response. “We can come up with all sorts of things, but if it does not connect with what actually moves young people, we will not succeed in reducing the number who drop out. This advice fits well with what we are working on as a council.”

Het bericht Early school leavers advise on dropping out verscheen eerst op Franzen.

Het bericht Summary of the budget cuts to Passend Onderwijs verscheen eerst op Franzen.

More important is what conclusions we as people working in education can draw from them, and what they tell us about our own day-to-day practice. What can we start doing about it today?

Het bericht PISA study results published verscheen eerst op Franzen.

The ‘flipped classroom’ is relatively new in Dutch education. Students make their own choices within their learning process and teachers film their own lessons. In 2013 more and more teachers dare to let go of whole-class teaching and turn their classroom, figuratively speaking, on its head.

3.Focus on 21st century skills

21st century skills are taking a more prominent place in education. Education increasingly has the role of teaching young people the skills they need to handle the opportunities our knowledge economy and society offer.

4.Internet University

Who still needs a university when they have the internet? More and more young people learn all kinds of skills that help them get on in life via the internet. The internet is the school, and YouTube, Facebook and Pinterest are the new classrooms.

5.PartYcipation

In the world of festivals and parties, an important barometer of youth culture, we see young people taking matters into their own hands more and more often. Schools are increasingly going to make use of young people’s assertiveness and creativity in this process. Young people are itching to have their say.

6.The teacher becomes a professional

Teachers, too, are taking the reins themselves. The internet offers a whole range of ways to build your own digital learning environment. Teachers go looking for work that inspires them and find each other in online networks.

7.Every school its own face

Schools are giving themselves a sharper profile: from technasium to arts school. Standing out matters, and in 2013 more and more schools are using this to present themselves to the outside world.

8.Gamification in the classroom

Games captivate young people. What can education learn from game designers about making the material more enjoyable and more interactive?

9.Motivating through connection

Alongside attention to training and talent, motivation remains an important ingredient in developing talent. In 2013, excellence is high on the agenda once again. What is the teacher’s role in motivating students, and how do they do it?

10.More attention for boys

The fit between boys and education remains a problem child. How can education bring more boys into the classroom?

Het bericht Education trends 2013 verscheen eerst op Franzen.