Gerald Ardito

Teaching to teach systems and networks: preparing to teach for water resilience in the K-12 classroom

In K-12 education in the USA, teachers are typically trained to work in content area silos. This structure shapes how teacher certification is organized as well. Biology, chemistry, economics, and urban planning are each considered distinct disciplines. Although there are some benefits to this approach in terms of focus and scope, there are also limits. Deeply integrated topics such as water resilience require a more unified and interdisciplinary pedagogical approach. This paper describes work done to train new science teachers to utilize systems and network models through the use of concept mapping to reconstruct their thinking and understanding of such topics. These teachers were then asked to create appropriate unit and lesson plans that reflected these system and network models. Preliminary findings suggest that educators who participated in this training were better able to teach deeply integrated topics to their K-12 students in more meaningful and productive ways.

The game of Life Science self-directed learning in a middle school classroom

A state-mandated 8th grade Life Science curriculum reconfigured as a set of self-directed learning experiences. Throughout the year of the program, students demonstrated high levels of engagement and participation. Additionally, they began to relate to this set of self-directed learning experiences as an open-ended, multi-player game.