Building Powerful Learning Environments

Building Powerful Learning Environments takes a close look at the trends of the Post-Digital Era through the prism of how systems of education can meet the needs of our times and offers a systemic approach to creating a different canvas for learning that aligns to these changes. At the center of the book are the concepts of a learning environment and a culture of partnerships. A learning environment has traditionally been viewed as something that educators created and sustained inside their schools. Building Powerful Learning Environments expands this understanding to embrace families, communities, other learning institutions, and businesses not as helpers, but as co-builders of a powerful learning environment. It demonstrates that schools have to take the first step in this direction by becoming the center of a new educational culture - a culture of partnerships. This book looks into various ways of creating this culture at district, school, and classroom levels. It provides practical guidance, strategies, and tips as well as some conceptual understanding of what can be done to create and support this culture at various levels of educational leadership.

Teachers are bombarded with trends and competing ideas. This book provides a framework to help you find the right balance between new and old instructional practices, so you can design learning environments that truly enhance learning. The author shares key research-based principles to engage and extend learning, and he debunks common myths. He then shows how to use a classical method and how to engage with new ideas and evidence to create a highly effective learning environment. Each chapter offers reflection and application questions you can use independently or in book studies to get the most out of your reading. Written for teachers of any grade level, the book contains applications and examples across content areas so you can see how to implement the ideas in your own classroom or school.

Teachers are bombarded with trends and competing ideas. This book provides a framework to help you find the right balance between new and old instructional practices, so you can design learning environments that truly enhance learning. The author shares key research-based principles to engage and extend learning, and he debunks common myths. He then shows how to use a classical method and how to engage with new ideas and evidence to create a highly effective learning environment. Each chapter offers reflection and application questions you can use independently or in book studies to get the most out of your reading. Written for teachers of any grade level, the book contains applications and examples across content areas so you can see how to implement the ideas in your own classroom or school.

Creating Effective Learning Environments takes curriculum development to another level: it fills the gap between theory and practice. This text helps readers see the curriculum from a child's perspective and understand how that perspective is linked to learning and theory. It is the author's view that the centre of any curriculum is the child; this text begins not with general theories or applications that are suitable for many, but with each individual child. The theory and methodology of this text are integrated around the actual experiences of children, presented in a logical flow, and embracing current philosophies about integration, play, bias, and learning practices.

Building Powerful Learning Environments takes a close look at the trends of the Post-Digital Era through the prism of how systems of education can meet the needs of our times and offers a systemic approach to creating a different canvas for learning that aligns to these changes. At the center of the book are the concepts of a learning environment and a culture of partnerships. A learning environment has traditionally been viewed as something that educators created and sustained inside their schools. Building Powerful Learning Environmentsexpands this understanding to embrace families, communities, other learning institutions, and businesses not as helpers, but as co-builders of a powerful learning environment. It demonstrates that schools have to take the first step in this direction by becoming the center of a new educational culture - a culture of partnerships. This book looks into various ways of creating this culture at district, school, and classroom levels. It provides practical guidance, strategies, and tips as well as some conceptual understanding of what can be done to create and support this culture at various levels of educational leadership.

How to optimize educational spaces and teaching practices for more effective learning Author David Thornburg, an award-winning futurist and educational consultant, maintains that in order to engage all students, learning institutions should offer a balance of Campfire spaces (home of the lecture), Watering Holes (home to conversations between peers), Caves (places for quiet reflection), and Life (places where students can apply what they've learned). In order to effectively use technology in the classroom, prepare students for future careers, and incorporate project-based learning, all teachers should be moving from acting as the "sage on the stage" to becoming the "guide on the side." Whether you are a school administrator interested in redesigning your school or a teacher who wants to prepare better lessons, From the Campfire to the Holodeck can help by providing insight on how to: Boost student engagement Enable project-based learning Incorporate technology into the classroom Encourage student-led learning From the Campfire to the Holodeck is designed to help schools move from traditional lecture halls (Campfires) where students just receive information to schools that encourage immersive student-centered learning experiences (Holodecks).