Analysis of Curricular Frameworks & Innovation

I selected and evaluated  5 curricular frameworks against our group generated criterion for innovation. These 5 frameworks include:

• Maker education,
• Critical thinking,
• Self-regulated learning,
• Flipped classroom, and
• Understanding by design (UbD).

​Although each of the selected frameworks could be made to be innovative, what set maker education out was its explicit premise on ‘learning by doing’ and making. This in itself encourages motivation, opportunities to easily differentiate, risk from both the teacher and student, creativity, and self-regulation.

I could not help but notice Garfield Gini-Newman graph and relate it to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Vygotsky.

As Gini-Newman questions when he presented his graph, ‘What do we make students do to make learning real-real?’. Maker education is all real and authentic. Csikszentmihalyi uses a similar graph, but factors in emotions and how finding flow supports innovation, as mentioned in his TED Talk in 2004. Finally Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development, I ask my myself as an educator what can I do to foster a plan which is well suited for my students learning, work on key competencies and be well supported emotionally. With this in mind I rate these 5 frameworks in the following table in what I see as advantages and disadvantages.

As I read through the varying frameworks, many of them have aspects which overlap into the other. Below in the table you will find how maker education fits into our innovation framework. As Jay McTighe, discussed in his video - 'Think big and start small' and this is how I feel about the maker movement. Initially thinking about it I actually feel a bit anxious as it's not exactly the framework that I would 'flourish' the most in. I'm more of a critical thinking or inquiry based kind of teacher. However, what I found most attractive about this framework is the high level of risk taking from both the teacher and student. In addition to this, there is autonomy to create which could lead to innovation.

References:

​Case, Roland. "Bringing Critical Thinking to the Main Stage." Edu Can 45.2 (Spr. 2005): n. pag. Wilson Web. Web. 14 July 2019.

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2004, February). Flow, the secret to happiness. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_on_flow?language=en 

Davis, V. (2014, July 18). How the Maker Movement Is Moving Into Classrooms. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/maker-movement-moving-into-classrooms-vicki-davis

Dougherty, D. (2012, June 04). Want To Improve Science Education? Let Kids Build Rockets and Robots Instead of Taking Standardized Tests. Retrieved from https://slate.com/technology/2012/06/maker-faire-and-science-education-american-kids-should-be-building-rockets-and-robots-not-taking-standardized-tests.html 

Edutopia. (2018, November 16). Maker Education. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/topic/maker-education 

Gini-Newman, G. (2017, October 27). Inspiring wonder through learning and thinking | Garfield Gini-Newman | TEDxKitchenerED. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBREL3VVbZI 

MakerEd. (2019). Maker Ed. Retrieved from https://makered.org/

McTighe, J. (2013, July 17). What is Understanding by Design? Author Jay McTighe explains. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/d8F1SnWaIfE

Riverdale Country School & IDEO. The design process is what puts Design Thinking into Action. (2013, April). Retrieved from https://designthinkingforeducators.com/design-thinking/ 

​Sage. (2017, June 08). What is Self-Regulated Learning? Retrieved from https://serc.carleton.edu/sage2yc/self_regulated/what.html