Collab Lab 42: Recap & Notes

Pete Reynolds Blog October 21, 2021

We kicked off our 6th season of Collab Labs on last week with a return to in-person sessions, this year at MSOE’s We Energies STEM Center. The session provided an opportunity to share a bit more about the water projects developed by our Learn Deep Fellows and hear from them how things are progressing as they implement those projects with their students. The first project focuses on student interviews about what “clean water” means to individuals work on water related issues, systems, technology, or infrastructure. To support that work our discussion focused on interviews — what we want students to get out of them, and what both students and interviewees need to make that a productive experience.

What do we want students to get out of interviews?

Our discussion started with the question “What we want students to get out of interviews with adults in the community?” Across the four discussion groups several key themes emerged:

Develop interview skills and techniques
- Learn how to be an effective listener
- Practice, research, prepare
- Create appropriate questions and be able to ask follow up questions based on the conversation
- Record responses, building conversation
- Interview skills (asking questions, recording responses, building conversation, etc.)
- Research skills (asking questions, citing sources, etc.)
Understand something more about the person they are interviewing & where they are coming from
- We want them to be inspired by our stories
- Exposure to different life stories & histories
- Recognition that learning is ongoing
Exposure to different careers
- They will become knowledgeable about various career paths
- How their current learning experience connects to life after K-12
- They can discover the relevance of the topic to their lives
Understand something more about the topic at hand
- Understand the cultural significance of water
- Real life integration & connection
- Learn about different careers (involving water in this case)
- Students gain knowledge about water, climate change, global warming and how they are interconnected
- Students will understand the value of freshwater and civic responsibility
- Students will learn 21st century skills
- Students will gain knowledge about water politics, exercise their citizenship and take action

Cutting across all of these ideas is a goal articulated by one of the groups– the chance to expose students to what they might not know, whether that is career opportunities, uses of water, or the path that an interviewee took to the interesting work they do today.

What do students need?

Our discussion groups found broad agreement on what students need to make effective use of interviews

Preparation
- Know who they are interviewing
- Context – who am I interviewing
- Research the interviewee/topic of discussion
- Background knowledge of the interview subject/their work/expertise
- Time to think about and prepare questions in advance
- Comfort and awareness of space
Practice
- Low stakes practice opportunities
- How to ask authentic questions
- How to listen with intent
- Restating/clarifying
- With the technology they will use to conduct the interview
- Propriety
- Communication skills
- Drafting interview questions
- How to check for understanding
  - Scaffold
  - Clarify both ways
Feedback for both practice and live interview sessions
- Peers
- Interview subjects (perhaps via follow-up survey)

Interview opportunities that work for students/interviewees — e.g. in person, or virtual

What do interviewees need?

The key concern heard across groups is that interviewees recognize who they are speaking with:

Understand the age of the kids (their level of knowledge and how to talk with them)
Understand the purpose of the interviews
Learning goals/needs of students

Other needs include:

Be prepared to ask the students questions
What they should include (their story/path)
Advance knowledge of questions that will be asked during the interview
The opportunity for interviewees to ask follow up questions/provide their feedback.

Water Interviews

Pete Reynolds Blog, Learn Deep Fellows September 9, 2021September 16, 2021

As our Learn Deep Fellows kick off their first project this fall, we’re recruiting candidates who can meet in person or on-line for an interview with one of the teams of students from MPS and Glendale/River Hills middle schools involved in the effort. Students participating in the project will explore what “clean” means to those who use or value water for specific purposes. This could include anyone concerned or excited about water quality, access, or technology, green infrastructure, urban agriculture, the health of the Great Lakes or Milwaukee watersheds, or other water issues.

For students, its a chance to understand both how water is used across the community, as well as the broad range of careers and interests that intersect with water access, use, delivery, and treatment. From the interviews collected, students will share stories of what clean water means to Milwaukeeans.

If you’d like to participate as an interview candidate, or know someone who make a good one, we’re collecting contact info and availability in a Google form here: https://bit.ly/LDFwaterInterviews

Collab Labs Return for Season Six!

Pete Reynolds Blog, Collab Labs September 1, 2021September 14, 2021

Season six of our Collab Lab Series kicks off on October 14th. This year we’ll be back in-person at a new location– MSOE’s STEM Center. The center was host to our STEM Studio sessions with the Learn Deep Fellows in August. The ample whiteboard space and standing tables of the Center’s Lab work well for collaborative efforts, and on-street parking should be much simpler.

Collab Lab 42, our first session of the season will focus on the series of water related projects the Learn Deep Fellows developed over the course of the STEM Studio sessions that they will run over the course of the 2021-22 school year. Subsequent sessions will provide further occasions to explore with the Fellows the challenges and opportunities that come with engaging students in hands-on collaborative work focused on real-world challenges.

November – Prototyping/testing ideas
December – Working with community partners
February – Student experience
March – Connecting projects across grade levels
April – Fellows experience (what have we learned/how do we want to adjust)
May – Welcome Cohort II

Collab Labs will run from 5:30 to 8:00 pm on the 2nd Thursday of each month from October to May, with the exception of January. They are free to attend, but space is limited, so we’ll ask you to register ahead of time.

We’ll be following MSOE’s Covid protocols for on campus meetings. At this point, that includes masks for all attendees, regardless of vaccination status. As that policy changes, we’ll provide updated information in the details for each session.

Learn Deep Fellows – Water Projects

Pete Reynolds Blog, Learn Deep Fellows August 17, 2021October 19, 2021water

Our Learn Deep Fellows wrapped up the STEM Studio workshop on Friday with a presentation and discussion of their projects to colleagues and program partners. The projects developed over the course of the past two weeks focus on water, but are aimed at the much larger goals the fellows have for their students– that they can see a broad range of career possibilities, that they can see themselves as creators and that they think of themselves as someone who can make a difference in their community. Those three goals led to a sequence of three projects which flow together over the course of the school year.

Our Water Our Stories

Students will talk with each other, people in their lives, and others in the broader community involved in the provision or use of water and tell the stories of what clean water means to our community.

Our Water, Our Design

Students will collaborate to design and build a prototype or model of a device to test water for qualities they care about.

Our Water, Our Community

Students will identify a location in their community, how it uses or is impacted by water, the issues posed by the current systems, and propose an equitable, sustainable solution.

What’s Next?

Across the arc of the three projects, Fellows identified points in each project where students can collaborate with and support the work of their peers at other schools. While the timing will vary by school, Fellows will get students involved in the first project come October. We’ll be working to build up pool of interview candidates that represent a broad range of perspectives on water and how it is used. If you’d like to participate as an interviewee, we have a sign up form for you here: https://bit.ly/LDFwaterInterviews

STEM Studio kicks off at MSOE

Pete Reynolds Blog, Learn Deep Fellows August 2, 2021September 10, 2021Learn Deep Fellows, MSOE, STEM Studio

The STEM Studio sessions for our Learn Deep Fellows kicked off today at MSOE. Over this week and next our Fellows will work together with input and support from community partners to design of real-word challenges focused on water. Today’s work began with a focus on goals Fellows have for the program. Through repeated cycles of asking “Why?” we saw those goals grow from tactical hopes for the skills students or teachers might development to visions our Fellows have for their students — that they can see themselves as creators, citizens, individuals who can make a difference in their community. We’ll use those much loftier goals drive the vision for projects knowing that we can hit the initial, tactical ambitions along the way.

We are grateful to MSOE’s We Energies STEM Center for hosting us over the next two weeks and look forward to covering any available surface with ideas and plans to engage students over the coming school year.

Welcome the first cohort of Learn Deep Fellows!

Pete Reynolds Blog May 28, 2021May 28, 2021Learn Deep Fellows

We’re excited to announce our inaugural cohort of Learn Deep Fellows! Both the participating teachers and their schools reflect the energy, passion and diversity that is Milwaukee. We look forward to learning with and from these teachers how to design Learning Experiences for every student in Milwaukee. They will be supported in their work by a great group of community partners from higher-ed, industry, and non-profits. That work kicks off in a couple of weeks with a workshop to surface ideas for innovative and challenging collaborative projects focused on water.

With a drum roll, please welcome:

Andrew S. Douglas Middle School (MPS)

Michelle Young – 6th, 7th, 8th grade; GE Innovation Lab
Stanley Levells – 7th & 8th grade Math

Audubon Technology & Communication Middle School (MPS)

Adrian Wade – 6th, 7th, 8th grade; GE Innovation Lab Instructor (6 – 12 schoolwide)
Amanda Glunz – Grade 8, 9-12 Computer Science

Glen Hills Middle School (Glendale/Riverhills)

Lalitha Murali – 6th 7th, 8th grade Enrichment classes
Jennifer Clark – 8th grade; Science and Green Team
Sarah Lapp – 6th grade Science
Chloe Stuesser – 7th grade Science

Hayes Bilingual (MPS)

Miguel Ramirez – 6th 7th, 8th grade; GE Innovation Lab

Rufus King International Middle School (MPS)

Susan Kridler – 7th grade Science/PLTW; GE Innovation Lab
Connor Morris – 7th grade Math

Wedgewood Park International Baccalaureate (MPS)

Elkin Hernandez – 6th 7th, 8th grade STEM
Theresa Johnson – 6th 7th, 8th grade PLTW and Computer Science
Jessica Buckley – 6th 7th, 8th grade Advanced Science/Social Studies/Science

Collab Lab 36: Recap & Notes

Pete Reynolds Blog November 17, 2020December 3, 2020Distance Learning

Last Week’s Collab Lab gave us a chance to share some updates on two projects we have running with students and the impacts we’ve see running those in a distance learning environment. That set up a longer conversation about what educators need as they look to engage their students in a real-world challenge.

Several of the concerns we talked through were issues prior to the pandemic:

How can I connect and work with local professionals who can offer domain expertise?
How can I figure out who I need to know in Milwaukee (beyond domain experts) to execute the project?
How do I get students to the point of figuring out what they want to explore?
How do I assemble a real audience for students to present to?
How do I get students to recognize that their teacher is not the audience?
How do I give students the experience of doing work in the real world?

Distance learning has imposed new concerns in taking on new challenges. Chief among these is gaining student engagement, but educators also struggle as the find effective ways to use distance learning technology. That this is so new to educators means that everyone is trying to figure things out at the same time. There is no colleague or expert to turn to for a definitive answer.

This, and the conversations that continued after we wrapped up the formal discussion, suggests to us that the key need for educators who want to engage their students in real-world work, particularly in a time of distance learning, is a network of colleagues who can offer support, ideas, and connections.

Collab Lab 35: Recap & Notes

Pete Reynolds Blog, Collab Labs October 13, 2020October 21, 2020Distance Learning

We kicked off our 5th season of Collab Labs on Zoom last week with a discussion focused on what educators were running into in the early weeks of the school year. We started the conversation by asking about what folks are seeing themselves or hearing from other educators:

Stakeholder involvement pushes teachers and school leadership to learn fast
When we lose control, we latch on to what we can control, e.. following the rules
Star testing on Chromebooks without reliable internet/devices does not work
If students aren’t in synchronous session they miss out
How do you reach the students who don’t come back to engage? Students feel they are so far behind that they can’t catch up.
teachers are overwhelmed, too many subjects to go deep, how do you check for understanding?
One week before start of school, we were told we will be using PBL with our students.
Lack of student perseverance – checking out when it gets to be too difficult
how do you replicate observation in the classroom?
fear of making mistakes?
students go to community centers during the day– how do they help kids when kids have so much work to do. The partners need to understand what is useful to learning.
frustrated trying to get content across, frustrated with attendance. Cuts across city & suburban districts.
kids at same grade level show up at same daycare, all with different assignments.

That prompted some further discussion around getting above a tactical level…

we’re still trying to deliver curriculum rather than learning.
Rethink what is accountability?
how to use tech tools to level the playing field and create empathy among students?
how to use synchronous and a-synchronous teaching in a structured way.

…and what teachers/schools need to make this work:

creating ‘digital citizen culture’ for using technology to learn together
Why is presence needed for learning?
How do we use tools strategically
How does a person demonstrate learning?
How does a person demonstrate learning?
Lots of time up front how to use tools of virtual platform.

We wrapped up with the recognition that post Covid, schools will end up somewhere new:

Systems have been cobbled together overtime. Now we are starting fresh. Can we think about how we ought to fix this?
Can we create a new framework for learning experiences that gives students a choice of opportunities to pursue?

STEM Studio: Adopt a Storm Drain

Pete Reynolds Blog September 16, 2020September 16, 2020Caravela IoT, Computational Thinking, MMSD, Northwestern Mutual, STEM Studio, Sweetwater

Over the summer we were able to pull teachers from Golda Meir’s Middle School and Escuela Vieau together on Zoom with partners from Sweetwater, Caravela IoT, and MMSD for the design phase of our STEM Studio Adopt a Storm Drain project. We used a modified version of a customer journey map to map out the experience we wanted students to have, touch points with community partners, and connections back to curriculum standards. The project will kick off in the next few weeks as participating teachers have students monitor storm drains near their school or home to begin the research work that will prepare them to take on one of the following challenges:

How can we reduce the volume of litter and debris that collects near storm drains?
How can we leverage IoT sensors to detect when litter and debris has collected at a storm drain?
How can we safely remove litter and debris that has collected at a storm drain?

With teachers, curriculum specialists, and partners in on the design process from the beginning, we were able to map out an approach for a collaborative multi-disciplinary effort that will also give students a chance to explore computational tools. The program guide produced for the project provides an overview of the project structure, timing of project events, and links to resources the team wanted students to be able to leverage. That includes a simple model of waste collecting near, and washing down a storm drain we put together using Starlogo Nova that students can manipulate and revise.

This STEM Studio effort is made possible by a grant from Northwestern Mutual

Progress Report: Student-led Tech Support

Pete Reynolds Blog, Student Run Enterprises September 15, 2020September 16, 2020MPS, Student-led Tech Support

We’ve been meeting weekly with students and staff from Golda Meir and Washington High School since we kicked things off this summer. The teams put together a quick survey that went out to students at both schools to capture issues their peers ran into during the first week of school. Those results confirmed a lot of what we heard from students over the summer, with a large percentages of students reporting issues connecting for class, getting their assignments, or having distance learning technology work as expected with at least one class.

The team from Golda is now working on two parallel paths– the first has been to define a process where students can step in to offer help. Most calls now run through a tech lead at the school. She’s been logging the types of issues folks are calling about so that we can get a sense of the volume of support requests. She will also be handing off a sample of those calls for students on the tech team to respond to. This will help us understand how well the support process envisioned works, and what students will need to have in place to respond to help requests.

While those experiments are running, we are using the Lean Startup Canvas to capture the team’s vision for effort. Our first pass focused on defining the customer, identifying what customer problems the team will address, the unique advantages a student-led team brings to bear, and the value proposition for the endeavor. At this week’s meeting we’ll take what we’ve learned from student’s experiments taking support requests to flesh out and refine the model in greater detail. Stay tuned!

Collab Lab 66: Recap & Notes
February 21, 2025

Our discussion at February’s Collab Lab focused on engaging families. As we explored goals we have for family engagement we considered: Who we include as “family” in “family engagement” Who family engages with Where/When it happens Who benefits/how While parents, siblings, and caregivers of students are obvious starting points for who to include as family, the discussion quickly broadened to include a much broader group. The extended families of students, individuals and families in the community which surrounds a school, those who may work or own businesses in the community around the school. In no small part, this expansive view family reflects a deeper goal — that the school is not simply a place where students and teachers spend the day, but that it is deeply embedded in the life of the community. This broader approach to engagement changes the way one thinks about who the school and it’s families engage with. It’s not just about caregivers connecting with their student’s teachers. It’s about giving those families a chance to connect with each other, individuals and organizations who support their school, and in particular. It looks to move past one way communication, simple reporting out of what a school thinks families ought to know. It looks to build the relationships and trust that allow disengaged families to engage and for the community to come together not just to support the work of students and their families, but to support each other. It changes as well, where engagement might take place. It moves beyond family coming to school. It’s the school coming out into the community. This expansive view of engagement only works if all participants see benefits, and they see that their contributions to the school community, as students, teachers, family members or neighbors are valued. What do members of the school community need to engage? As we moved the discussion to what’s needed to engage, the word “dignity” came up early. Again, not just dignity for caregivers, but dignity for students, teachers, and members of the broader community who schools do or seek to engage with. For caregivers, this means recognizing both the time, financial, and other constraints and obligations they work face, but that they have something to of value to offer, that they are partners in the education of their child. Often it comes down to the simple things– if we are asking for something more of any of the participants, what burdens can we remove? A time that works for those we want to engage with Providing food at events that may overlap with meal times Helping with transportation Activities for children that may need to come when a caregiver is there for an adult conversation Most importantly, don’t waste someone’s time. This means not asking teachers, caregivers, or members of the broader community to participate in engagement activities they don’t value or benefit from. The process starts with how we invite the engagement. Are we asking for engagement because we see a caregiver or a student as a problem or the one that needs to solve it, or are we asking for engagement to work together for a better outcome. In the end, it comes down to recognizing that members of the broadly defined school community each come with a different set of goals. Effective engagement doesn’t mean that everyone needs to share the same set of goals. It requires that we acknowledge the goals they do have, understand where they align, and find something useful to work on together that allows everyone to come out ahead. It’s how trust is built. A special thanks to our featured guests, Amber DuChateau — Art Teacher at the Milwaukee Academy of Science Aubrey (Ellickson) Fulsaas — Environmental Educator, Schlitz Audubon Nature Center Bernie Traversari — Director of Operations and Programs, Society for Conservation Biology North America & STEM Education Consultant Additional thanks to Bernie for his help facilitating the session. Bernie joined us to record a debrief of the session that you can find on inspirEd. As always, we’re appreciative of MSOE for letting us make use of the NM Lab in the WE Energies STEM Center every month. Up Next Collab Lab 67: Connecting to Community Thursday March 13th, 5:30 to 8:30 pm at MSOE’s STEM Center Actively using some form of PBL with your students and looking for ideas or encouragement from others? Consider joining your peers in the inspirED Community.

more....
Collab Lab 65: Recap & Notes
January 16, 2025

Capacity Building as an Outreach Strategy The Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin’s mission to advance freshwater education and research relies on attracting and developing talented individuals who are passionate about water science. The conventional approach to community outreach is traditionally focused on the delivery of programming — offering experiences or content to K-12 teachers and students through curriculum, site visits, summer camps, or other activities. We worked with the Freshwater Collaborative to use our December Collab to explore a different approach. We view teachers, students, and schools not simply as recipients of programming, but as potential partners that can support and extend the work of Freshwater Collaborative members. This model empowers K-12 schools to become active partners in research and education, creating experiential learning opportunities that benefit both students and researchers. To provide a concrete basis from which to explore this approach to engagement, we framed the discussion around a budding collaboration between Dr. Ashley Lemke, an underwater archeologist working out of UWM’s School of Freshwater Sciences, and Peter Graven, a middle school science and high school robotics teacher from St. Francis. Over the past several years, his students have developed underwater ROV’s of increasing sophistication. The immediate opportunity is to deploy an ROV in service of Dr. Lemke’s research. The bigger vision is to develop additional capabilities at St. Francis and other schools to serve the specific needs of FCW researchers and its partners. Discussion The set-up for our discussion centered on a single faculty member working with an individual teacher on a specific project. What came out of that was a number of insights about how and where those efforts could catalyze opportunities for other K-12 teachers and schools, as well as faculty pursuing other research interests. We split the attendees into four discussion groups, each focused on a different capacity needed to allow a K-12 school, to support research efforts of Dr. Lemke. These included: An ability to engineer, prototype, and test components An ability to collect images, data, water, and sediment samples An ability to provide ongoing monitoring of conditions An ability to document findings, tell, and share a story A fifth set of needed abilities we had not planned to introduce as part of the discussion, was nonetheless covered as part of a broader conversation between discussion groups: An ability to deploy, operate, and maintain an ROV The discussion which followed covered opportunities to directly engage students, the importance of cultivating a sense of wonder, and the importance of soft skills — the ability of students to work effectively as a team to take on any of these challenges. Across the participants we saw interest and excitement around: The types of collaboration that might ensue What K-12 students might gain from the experience What individual participants or organizations might be able to do to support the efforts of Dr. Lemke and Mr. Graven directly, or to support FCW/K-12 collaboration in another area. Given the discussion at the Collab Lab and follow-up conversations we see six areas to build upon to validate and scale the approach we’ve suggested, starting in the spring 2025 semester. Facilitate the work of Dr. Lemke and Mr. Graven Share that story as it evolves Identify opportunities for other schools to support this effort Identify additional opportunities for collaboration Recruit participation from additional K-12 schools Understand and document what has enabled this initial collaboration and a path forward to extend the depth and reach of these efforts Notes From Initial Brainstorming Ability to engineer prototype and test components Teachers need to have a framework/plan to structure students’ learning experiences to develop their design & making skills Teachers need to be able to and actually model failure & Learning so that students know what it looks like and what it produces Students need self awareness & self management skills to monitor and adjust their emotions to persist and create Students need to have practices or skills to stretch their thinking and ideate broadly so their ideas break new ground Students need to be able to sketch/model their ideas so they can discuss and make Students need to have clarity about the connection between the design and real world application so they can test effectively Students need to have multiple experiences of the make-test-revise cycle and feel a sense of accomplishment and to believe there is value in failure Students need to be able to see their efforts and failure as a part of a lifelong learning journey so they persist and learn Students need to be able to let go of their ideas and take an adversarial approach to find flaws so they can go farther faster Students need to develop an appreciation for the discomfort that comes from presenting their ideas, getting, feedback, being wrong, and being uncertain so they remain open to growth All parties deal with failure — playing it safe leads to not enough prototyping Ability to collect images, data, water, and sediment samples Modular construction for multiple purposes — right tool for the tasks Generalized tool vs specific tasks Photography Lighting High quality camera Shutter speed Video vs photos Coring Water Samples Sterility, DNA, Grabber hand for artifacts Mapping Endless types of data (interdisciplinarity) to collect. Explore & let the science happen– don’t lock yourself in too soon Underwater mechanics important to take into account Streamlined Multi-perspective balanced/shifting balance Transform something that works on land to something that works underwater Research & Art Videography – stabilization of film (See film all too clear film) Need to know where you are explore/make questions Underwater special challenges Design thinking Project management Give up control Deal with failure Visual thinking Resilience Ability to provide ongoing monitoring A Reason Why Creativity – draw from other disciplines Story purpose Community Contributing (leads to story) Reasons to do it in a certain way — e.g. being scientific Model scenarios for winter tests simulations Drill through pond ice (winter strategy to get out on smaller lakes) Big challenge is precise location Get practice in an accessible more….

more....
Collab Lab 64: Recap & Notes
December 2, 2024

Our November Collab Lab explored placed-based engagement–what it can offer students, and the ways we might engage students around particular places in their neighborhood, their lives, or the broader community. Discussion We started the conversation by asking participants to describe for their tablemates a public space that holds meaning for them. We then asked each group to identify the what helped create that sense of meaning. Across our discussion groups, several key themes emerged: The opportunity to experience a place over an extended period of time– within a single visit or across multiple visits The sense of agency/ownership/belonging/feeling of welcome individuals had within those places A feeling of connection to a place’s history, their own experience within it, or with the people of that place The ability of participants to experience a place through multiple senses, bring their own knowledge or experience to their understanding of a place, physically engage with or within a place, or recognize a feeling of peace (or danger), all add to the ways we find meaning or a sense of magic and wonder in a place. From there we asked participants to identify what they came to understand about places which hold meaning for them, that a casual observer, or one who had not spent much time in the place would miss. Here, the temporal experience of places came to the fore– how it changes during the day, with the seasons or over the years; how it evolves or adapts physically, in how it is used, and the meaning it holds for those who inhabit or care for the place. Participants also recognized that much of the meaning a place has for them is a product of what they bring to the place, that there are multiple ways of experiencing the same place, and often unwritten rules which guide one’s conduct within it. As a final point of discussion, we asked how students might gain that sense of meaning, or a deeper understanding of places within Milwaukee. Here, we found clear agreement across the discussion groups– “Get out of the way”. Students need time and the freedom to experience and explore places on their own terms. The meaning of a place can’t be proscribed for students, it needs to grow organically from their experience, knowledge, and understanding of that place. We can however help set up the conditions that can allow that to happen: Don’t fill or control every minute of a field trip or field experience, leave time for students to explore and experience the place you’ve brought them to on their own terms. Build a classroom culture that welcomes reflection, understanding of the experience of others, self exploration, and a willingness to share ideas Leverage the fact that each student comes with their own experience of the city and connections to different parts of it Start with places students do know and care about, and let them explore outward from there Allow students to engage with new places in the context of issues they care about Participants recognize that curriculum, access, proximity, and time all pose constraints as we seek to engage students in building a deeper understanding and connection of places within Milwaukee. But there was also a hopeful thread of thought that looked to kindle a re-enchantment with the world for students and a recognition that one can find wonder and meaning within the most mundane places. That starts with simply creating the opportunity and getting out of the way. Thanks A big thanks to all who were able to join us for the discussion, and especially our Featured Participants: Lauren Instenes— Project Coordinator for the MKE Roots Project, Marquette University Joseph Kaltenberg — MKE Parks Manager, City of Milwaukee – Department of Public Works Arijit Sen — Associate Professor of History and Urban Studies, UW Milwaukee Angela Vickio — Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Thanks also to MSOE’s STEM Center for hosting us. Resources We didn’t get much time to talk through Arijit Sen’s Field School project, but he did share several links to that work with us: The Field School web site Stories from the Milwaukee Garden Network The Milwaukee Environmental Justice Lab The Washington Park Collaborative J.B Jackson’s work looking at ordinary landscapes was also mention. Here’s a link for further reading https://daily.jstor.org/j-b-jackson-and-the-ordinary-american-landscape/

more....
Collab Lab 63: Recap & Notes
October 29, 2024

The ability of teachers and students to engage effectively in difficult conversations, across that gap or amongst peers is central to creating the kinds of opportunities we want for students. At a bare minimum, those skills are needed to offer and receive effective feedback on student’s work. They are even more important if we want to engage students (and teachers) on challenging topics or to drive change within their school or in the broader community. The centrality of those skills seemed like a good place to kick off our 9th season of Collab Labs. On October 10th we gathered at UWM’s Lubar Entrepreneurship Center for Collab Lab 63 and a discussion focused on Empowering All Voices. Our work for the evening engaged participants to map factors that allow all voices to participate in brave conversations. The maps shown here were captured and included here unedited. The primary two goals of creating this experience for the attendees were to: Discuss and reflect on what group members with different backgrounds but shared purpose consider relevant factors and how they relate and impact each other. Reflect on how you would apply the insights generated to your own ‘self-management’ in a group setting with familiar and unfamiliar participants. We did not explicitly ask attendees to consider a K12 setting with teacher-student(s) and teacher-teacher interactions. We are in the process of integrating these maps into our larger model, and will share that work in a subsequent post. What do you see in the maps when you look a bit more closely? Are there commonalities that stand out to you? What would be a question you might ask (one of the teams) to help connect some dots or further complete the map? Thanks again to our Featured Participants: Hannah Fox — Health Education Coordinator, Sixteenth Street Community Health CentersSerina Jamison — Program Director, Future Urban LeadersYesi Pérez — Neighborhood Revitalization Project Manager, Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers Chris Willey — Director of Technology, Islands of Brilliance Thanks also to Ben Trager from UWM’s Center for Student Experience & Talent for hosting us at UWM, and to his Ed Policy students who were a great addition to the conversation. Join us on November 14th for Collab Lab 64: Place Based Engagement

more....
Collab Lab 59: Recap & Notes
February 9, 2024

After a break in January, our Collab Lab Series resumed last night with a session focused on dealing with setbacks and recognizing wins. Challenges Began the discussion with an inventory of the challenges and setbacks students face when they work together on open ended projects. These challenges primarily revolve around: Expectations Focus on grades Belief that their voice won’t matter Opposing wants — freedom vs control Expectations are unclear An ability to deal with uncertainty Lack of confidence Being open to the idea that there is no one right answer Aversion to risk/failure Communication & collaboration Inability for team members to agree on a common approach Ability to deal with personality conflicts within a team Ability to give and receive constructive criticism Lack of accountability Lack of feedback Project structure Project lacks structure that would allow students to make progress Space/time to iterate Access to resources necessary to effectively take on the challenge Skills Ability to arrive at a good definition/understanding of the problem at hand Time management Need for higher level thinking skills Strategies In our second round, our discussion shifted to look at strategies to help students address each of these challenges. Expectations Set clear expectations with examples Set up an environment with clear expectations for communication, collaboration, willingness to learn from things that did not go as expected. Dealing with uncertainty Students have repeated opportunities to immerse themselves in the challenge and circle back with their teacher for input and guidance Acknowledge big feelings to help understand that “failure” is not personal Communication & collaboration Understand the context of students life beyond school and what they may need to work effectively with peers Small, frequent check-ins Create time/space for purposeful reflection Project Structure Students are given a clear view of the process they will follow to arrive at a solution even if they can’t yet see where it might lead Decompose challenge into smaller pieces Structure challenges students to stretch at each step of the process, but those steps are within reach, and build on each other Connect students with what they need when Repeated opportunities to practice and develop skills within the context of the project Skills Both students and teachers are equipped with the skills they need/supported in their development of those skills Skills required build on those already acquired A Simple Tool With this inventory in hand, we recounted the story of the Number Talks Quick Refence Card that was developed out of a project we did with K-12 teachers and UWM Math faculty. That project supported teams of teachers who wanted to establish Number Talks as a regular practice in their elementary school classrooms. Though teachers could clearly see the value of the practice, it was something new, so they wanted something that could rely on to help keep them on the right path. One of the teachers suggested a small card of reminders that should could hold and glance down at while working with students. The card we developed includes three sections: Talk Moves (strategies), Probes (questions to ask), and Pats on the Back (signs that things are working). As the final exercise of the night, we asked each of our discussion groups to develop their own Quick Reference Cards for open ended projects. Here’s what they came up with: Group 1 Moves Give yourself time Accept “I don’t know” Build personal connections You’ve got this Accept congratulations Probes Tell me more… How might we…? Pats on the Back I was afraid to try this but I did anyway Group 2 Moves Yes, and? Build community Set Goals Normalize failure Probes What did we learn? What is your why? What makes you uncomfortable? What do you bring to the team? How might we…? Pats on the Back Unprompted reflection Group 3 Moves Are students in the right groups? What does this student need? How is my relationship with this student? Probes How will you define success? Pats on the Back Students are engaged Students are gaining essential skills Students give and receive feedback Students get the feedback they need Students move from “I” to “we” Thanks again to our Featured Participants: PJ Dever — Executive Director for Playworks in Wisconsin Lana M. Minshew — Assistant Professor, Director of the Human-Centered Design Lab at the Medical College of Wisconsin Nina Johnston — Program Manager of the Human-Centered Design Lab at the Medical College of Wisconsin A big thanks also goes out to Anthony, Audrey, Connor, Olivia, & Madeline, Architecture students at UWM. They are joining us this semester for Collab Labs and other sessions we run at the STEM Center as part of service learning field experience for Arch 302. In another example of 1 + 1 = 3, The students gain a field experience as they look at the design of learning spaces (in this case the STEM Center), we get help setting things up and cleaning up after each session, and our Collab Lab participants get the perspective of 5 individuals not far removed from K-12 who find themselves navigating open-ended, collaborative, community-engaged projects. Thanks also to MSOE’s STEM Center for hosting the Collab Lab Series, as well as the students from Pathways High School and Bradley Tech who joined in person/on Zoom.

more....
Collab Lab 57: Recap & Notes
November 16, 2023

Following the Hero’s Journey theme of Collab Labs this season, our November session explored stepping out of the known world and dealing with uncertainty. Our discussion began with an exploration of the uncertainty participating teachers and students already deal with in school. That set some context for the next round of conversations focused on fears/worries about engaging students in open-ended challenges. We wrapped up the discussion with an inventory of strategies and practices teachers, students, and attendees from outside of K-12 have seen or use to manage uncertainty around projects — whether that is where the project will lead or how the team will get there. This week we pulled those factors into a system map, connecting elements based on what we heard in the discussions. What’s striking, though not unexpected, is the importance of trust and open communication in all of this. It is what allows both teachers and students to take some risks, try something new, and be willing to accept and learn from efforts that don’t work out as hoped. You can view the system map here, and we welcome your thoughts and input on what else we might include, or how we might better repent the dynamics at play. Those of you who have explored the map produced from last seasons sessions focused on feelings of safety and affirmation at school, will recognize a number of familiar elements. Going forward, we’ll be looking at how we can merge or otherwise use these maps and what we hear in upcoming Collab Labs to paint a more complete picture of the forces at play when we look to offer students the hands-on community-engaged learning experiences they deserve. … Next up on our Hero’s Journey, we meet the mentors and helpers as we explore what it takes to support authentic work. Join us on December 14th for Collab Lab 58. Thanks again to our Featured Participants: Amber Henzig: Scrum Master & Servant Leader, Johnson Controls Kelsey Otero: Senior Director of Community Engagement, Marquette University Sean Campbell: Teacher at Pathways High School, Milwaukee Thanks also to MSOE’s STEM Center for hosting the Collab Lab Series, as well as the students from Pathways High School and Bradley Tech who joined in person/on Zoom.

more....

Blog