Minimal Teacher Planning Requirements
Constructopedia provides an integrated system that brings the
benefits of interdisciplinary teaching and learning to schools and systems without adding new requirements for training, planning or inter-departmental coordination.
The system can be managed by a teacher/curator with scant computer skills. It simply requires educators across different departments to a) agree upon a “Construct of the Week”, for example, and b) submit digital materials via an internal contact form. The lesson plan, assignments,and homework can be created by that unit’s curator.
The system can be managed by a teacher/curator with scant computer skills. It simply requires educators across different departments to a) agree upon a “Construct of the Week”, for example, and b) submit digital materials via an internal contact form. The lesson plan, assignments,and homework can be created by that unit’s curator.
User Scenarios
Constructopedia can be used by teachers/learners at all levels of education and by professionals as well. It is a flexible display tool that allows website administrators to populate its matrix cells with material of their own. Here is a sample middle-school lesson for the core
construct “Cycle”:
Alternately, students can be paired in groups of two or more to explore constructs. In this strategy student A is asked to learn about Lunar Cycles and Student B reads about Rock Cycles.They then brief one another on what they learned, then share with the rest of the class what they learned from their partner
Lesson Integration
Constructopedia can be integrated with standard lessons from
any subject area. For example, the concept of displacement can be
illustrated concretely in a hands-on science lab by floating selected weighted objects in an aquarium.
As homework, students can be assigned to surf the matrix and write about two examples of “displacement” from other fields like geography and urbanization. By starting with a concrete experience and then exploring its abstractions in other fields ideas can be reinforced, integrated and anchored in memory as one bundled experience.
As homework, students can be assigned to surf the matrix and write about two examples of “displacement” from other fields like geography and urbanization. By starting with a concrete experience and then exploring its abstractions in other fields ideas can be reinforced, integrated and anchored in memory as one bundled experience.
