Erika Podlovics's Page

Those who have ever attempted to create a Problem Based Learning (PBL) lesson know how difficult it is to come up with a complex, multi-staged problem that directs the students toward learning the subject matter (objective), without explicitly stating it. Have you tried it out?



Without directions, most students get lost. I remember being in university classes at the end of the term and someone would always raise their hand in class and ask “When is the exam? Where? What’s on it?” and… Continue

Let’s face it – not everything that students need to learn in school is easy for them. But wait. If this is knowledge and skills what we want our students to learn, remember, and use in the future (the reason for universal K-12 education right?) then shouldn’t we be teaching them in a way that is intuitive, useful, and easy to remember and use. 

Man Meyers has a great video on Ted Talks called …

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We know that our culture affects our language, even down to tiny regional differences in local customs and phrases. But does language affect our culture? Does it constrict our ability to express ourselves or define our means to? Does it shape our thoughts and create a mould for our personalities?

 

One of my favorite articles put out by the Wall Street Journal – Life and Culture is called …

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I recently watched a video by social architect Amy Jo Kim who has worked with EA games, Ebay, Disney and Yahoo to name a few. She gave a Google talk relating to games and social media. I’ve recently been interested in bringing together game elements and teaching and have played around with it with my students. Having failed miserably at first, and then somehow succeeded a few times, it is definitely not easy to design a good lesson plan, or even series of lesson plans around game…

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