Part 4 Doing The Project

Beyond the Design: How does co-design influence learning during the project?
The next portion of my findings veers from the chronological style of previous sections and examines themes that I saw emerging as students carried out our codesigned project. As the project got into full swing, my observation journals shifted. We were no longer doing everything as a full class (with Ms. Wong and I as the lead facilitators). Students were now organized into 21 self-directed research groups, pursuing their own questions, going on field trips, interviewing experts, writing, creating art and designing a magazine layout. At this point, my job as learning facilitator became much more scattered. Consequently, my journals focused on striking moments during our project-block work time. After combing through my observations, student quotes, surveys and student work, I saw three themes emerge: I. Independent Inquiry II. Spirit of Collaboration III. Mastery of Content I believe these ideas are strongly connected to the culture and methodology of codesign.

Student committee during the project-design process.

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 I. Independent Inquiry A Sense of Self-Direction and Agency

Before starting our End of the World Uncovered project, we built the foundation for a classroom community and designed our learning experience - all with the input and extensive collaboration of our students. Once the project kicked into high gear, how did that set-up influence their learning? I believe it pushed many students to be more self-directed and act with a higher level of agency. Being part of the co-design (and practicing decision-making) showed them that they didnt need authorization from a teacher to take action. They could do it on their own. Bryan Meyer, in his work around mathematical agency, defines agency as the willingness to act or perceived ability to act when confronted with a new situation (2013). This feeling that one can take action and independently pursue their learning is what I call independent inquiry. The following section examines survey data, illuminating instances of independent inquiry and provides stories that further illustrate the rise of student agency and selfdirection.

What Did The Surveys Indicate About Self-Direction & Agency?

Throughout my action research, I gave students a survey three times (during week 3, week 13 and at the conclusion of the project exhibition week 17). The survey helped me identify changes in students feeling towards learning as they participated in co-design. One thing I found was a growing sense of self-direction and agency.

The Best Way To Learn

Students indicated a growing preference for a more self-directed style of learning. Initially, 50 percent of students polled stated that the best way to learn about a book/topic was students discuss books in groups of four and ask each other questions. Our mid-point survey showed this rise to 66 percent. At the conclusion of our semester project, 71 percent of students polled selected the student-centered book discussion as the best way to learn. Conversely, the number of students selecting an independent reading activity prepared by a teacher dropped from 33 to 15 percent by the end of our project.

Comfort with Co-Design

Throughout our project, there were two areas in which students self-identified an increase in comfort with self-direction. One question asked them to rank how comfortable students would feel with aspects of co-design. When asked, How comfortable would you be if your teachers asked you to make a decision about what to learn in an upcoming project?, students who responded very comfortable increased from 56.4 percent to 71.4 percent. When asked to rank their comfort with making a choice about their role in a project, students who answered very comfortable escalated from 37 percent to 75.5 percent. What I saw here was an increase in students beliefs that

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they were capable of directing their own learning. Co-design gave them the opportunity to try it out and build confidence.

How comfortable would you be if your teachers asked you to make a choice about what to learn in an upcoming project?
80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Very comfortable Kind of A little Very comfortable uncomfortable uncomfortable Student Feelings

Percentage

Survey 1 Survey 2 Survey 3

The following stories, capturing moments of self-direction and agency with Gabe, Malcolm, Anoushka and their classmates, add convincing dimensions to the data discussed above.

These students independently scheduled a Skype interview with an expert (in Portland, Maine) on human population growth.

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 Gabe Makes A Plan

It was a cloudy Tuesday morning in November. As I drowsily sipped a cup of coffee and moved tables around the classroom, a bolt of 11 year old excitement charged through the door. Gabe had arrived early to show me something important. He held up a piece of paper with some scribbled notes and explained, Mr. Shaddox, I made a plan for my group last night. A plan? I searched my memory for any assignment or homework by that name. Nothing registered. What plan, Gabe? Our first drafts arent due until next Thursday. Gabes shoulders hung heavily and he looked at the ground. Its a plan for my group. Things arent going well so I decided to make this to help out. The paper he held featured his group members names with a list of ideas next to each. I got excited thinking about the self-direction he displayed. This sounds interesting, Gabe. Tell me about it, I prodded enthusiastically. Gabes eyes lit up and he referenced the paper as he spoke. They dont know what they should do, so I want to help them out. Since Ive done most of the writing for the history section and introduction, I thought it would be a good idea for Sam to finish writing the agriculture section. Olivia should finish her map, which is taking a long time, but looking good. Then she can finish the Maya calendar section. I was floored by Gabes thoughtfulness in preparing his groups plan. He knew that he was the most advanced student in the group (in terms of organization and literacy skills). However, he also knew that Olivia and Sam needed to be challenged and held accountable for their parts of the project. Impressed by the thought that he had put into this plan, I asked him how he drew it up. Well, I was talking to my brother who goes to High Tech High International. Hes got a lot of experience with working in groups. Anyways, hes run into this problem before. He said I should just make a plan to split up the rest of the work with my group. So, I wrote this up and thought Id do it today. I wanted to know how Gabe was going to implement his plan. I asked if he needed my help facilitating the dialogue with his group. He insisted on doing it on his own. I asked him to tell me his strategy. Well, I think Im going to just tell them what to do. I could see how this might go wrong. I asked him to reflect on the process we had used to co-design our project. What had we given people throughout each step that engaged them? With some guiding questions he figured it out. We concluded that Sam and Olivia would probably feel better about Gabes plan if he offered his group mates a few choices. Several days later, I walked out of the classroom during project-block and witnessed a striking moment with Gabe and his group. In the midst of the 6th grade commons, the three students had pulled their chairs into a circle and were taking turns

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reading their article aloud. I stood beside them watching for a few moments when they finally noticed me. I asked, What are you working on? Sam got a big grin and said, Were proof-reading our article to make sure it sounds right. Gabe added, Yeah, were looking for errors and stuff. It was still nearly a week before our first writing peer critique was planned. This group, led by Gabe, had initiated an impressive process. They organized and finished their first draft and had begun proof-reading their work. If ever there was an example of agency and self-direction, this was it. I later interviewed Gabe about his actions. I wondered if he would make an explicit connection with the co-design process. He didnt. He saw his actions as independent of any influence. Deep down, my teacher instincts tell me that Gabe came to my class with a predisposition for self-direction and acts of agency. However, I believe that being part of a co-designed project and given the freedom to act independently pushed him to develop these qualities even further as a learner. Gabe, who was characterized by his parents as immature, unfocused and needing an extra push, continued to show a sense of independent inquiry in our project. On one occasion, he developed an outline for his article to organize his ideas. Later, while researching Mayan gods, he created a PowerPoint presentation, profiling major deities. Both of these pieces of work were not only completed by Gabe, but designed by him. In the second semester (while in another teachers class), Gabe applied for the position of director and successfully led a student-produced movie about bullying.

Malcolm, Dimitri and Jack Dive Into Black Holes

Not only was the End of the World Uncovered project built on the students questions, but the students pursued their own inquiries once they selected their topics. At the onset of the research, Ms. Wong and I asked each group to brainstorm a list of questions they had about their topics. Students created posters documenting their inquiries. They referred to these questions (and added to them) throughout their research. A group of three students (Malcolm, Dimitri and Jack) started out with these questions: 1. What are black holes? 2. What happens to stuff in a black hole? 3. What is the best evidence of a black hole? 4. What effects do black holes have? Could they cause the end of the world? 5. What can be done about black holes? 6. What causes black holes? 7. What happens in a black hole? 8. Will the sun become a black hole? 9. Are there black holes in the center of the galaxy?

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In order to find answers, students were asked to arrange a field trip and/or interview to conduct authentic research with professionals in a field related to their topic. Before Ms. Wong and I could develop the protocol or instructional aides to guide this step, Malcolm, Dimitri and Jack drafted an e-mail for an astronomy professor at San Diego State University (SDSU) (whom they had found via a web search). Ms. Wong proofed the e-mail and sent it immediately. A few days later, Professor Jerome Orosz invited the boys to visit his department at SDSU for a presentation the following week. The day after their field trip, Jack approached me and asked, Mr. Shaddox, I took photos at SDSU using my iPhone, do you want me to crop and edit them first, or would you like to do that? Of course, I encouraged Jack to do it himself. Then he followed up, What about the audio recordings? Should I e-mail those to you now or later? Photos? Audio recordings? Wow. Without explicit direction, Jack figured out how to document their interview with the professor. The amazing thing is that Ms. Wong and I never clarified how we wanted any of this done. Jack took the initiative to do it himself. He cared about this work - a recording of an astronomy professor discussing black holes. The work gave Jack pride and a sense of ownership. Its something he did spontaneously (without the reward of points). It had intrinsic value that went beyond a typical school assignment. It reminded me of what A.S. Neill said about learning at Summerhill: We have no new methods of teaching, because we do not consider that teaching in itself matters very much. Whether a school has or has not a special method for teaching long division is of no significance, for long division is of no importance except to those who want to learn it. And the child who wants to learn long division will learn it no matter how it is taught. (p. 9) When the work really matters, when it has real-world value, it gets done. Given enough time, Ms. Wong and I would have developed ornate lessons to help teach these topics to our students. But it wasnt possible since we were designing on the fly. And it wasnt necessary. Through our process of co-design we helped students reach a point where they wanted to learn what they were learning. They knew how to direct themselves to engage the task at hand. We didnt need fancy teaching magic to make it happen. Within a few days, the boys finished compiling their notes, writing their article, creating their illustrations and finished their storyboard for their Flash animation. They beat every deadline. However, I noticed that they continued to informally research their topic. One afternoon, I walked by their desk and saw them on a website about black holes (specifically Cygnus X-1). I peered over their shoulders and glimpsed the content. The graphics and information went beyond my understanding of black holes. As I

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watched, they pointed at the laptop screen, engaged in discussion. And honestly, as I listened, their conversation soared above my head. This was unboxed learning. I was no longer the authority, but a learning coach. The Black Holes group finished their project ahead of schedule. Seeing that they had a propensity for self-direction, I enlisted their help in writing a narration for a documentary about our project. Since Ms. Wong and I were busy overseeing the projects of 20 other groups, we needed Malcolm, Dimitri and Jack to complete this challenge with minimal guidance. I gave them a slideshow of photos, documenting our projects process and asked them to write a narration that could tell the story. Within three days, the boys had successfully written the narration. But, what struck me was that they enlisted the help of other students to critique their work (without instruction from a teacher). Malcolm explained, You think that your own stuff is really good, but then you get to see the reality of it by hearing what other people think. Next, they were asked to record their classmates reading the lines of the narration (to be used as a voice-over in the documentary). I gave them a one-minute tour of Garageband (an audio recording program) and set them loose. Within two days they had coordinated the full recording of the narration. Had our democratic approach to project design led to their sense of independent inquiry throughout the project? As in the story of Gabe, it is hard to prove an explicit cause and effect relationship. Is that the point? We know that the co-constructed class culture and design of the project laid a foundation for students like Malcolm, Jack and Dimitri to demonstrate agency and self-direction.

Ms. Wong assists a group of students planning a field trip.

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 Students Take Charge: Field Trip Planning, Interviews & Beyond

As I described in the prior section (Malcolm, Dimitri and Jack Dive Into Black Holes), a major component of the project was authentic research conducted through field trips and interviews. Ms. Wong and I supported this aspect of the project with protocols, scripts and explicit modeling. We knew, from prior experiences, that most students needed support with this type of research. For many, it is their first time reaching out beyond the classroom. However, I was struck by the number of students who initiated this step of the project prior to our mini-lessons. Many students also went beyond the prescribed steps. The day after we kick-started the project and set students loose to brainstorm and pursue their questions, Ivan e-mailed me about an interview with an SDSU professor. He was the first to schedule an interview (even before Malcolm, Dimitri and Jack). We saw this as an opportunity to model agency and endeavor to the class. At the beginning of our next project-block, Ivan shared his experience and described the steps he took with his classmates. They listened. Right off the bat Grant and his group pursued inquiries on the Internet and found movies and a museum featuring the ancient Maya. By the time I knew of their findings, they had directions, dates and a parent driver set-up. Grants mother related a story to me about their field trip: After the movie, on the ride back to school, the group of students pulled out their journals and began writing down things theyd learned. I overheard them talking about constellations, architecture and the Maya religion. I was really impressed by how into it they were and the information they recalled.

Students visited the San Diego Veterans Museum & Memorial Center to conduct authentic research.

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What struck me was the self-direction and agency these students showed in organizing their research. Alexa Fernandez and her group did the same thing. Before I knew it, they had arranged a phone interview with a NOAA scientist in Hawaii about tsunamis. In every phone or Skype interview, Ms. Wong and I would chaperone the group for the first couple of minutes. The tsunami group began recording the interview with a laptop and I left the room to attend to other students. Thirty minutes later, Alexa and her group were gathered around the laptop in the 6th grade commons, transcribing the interview (something we hadnt explicitly taught or modeled). At the conclusion of our project, Alexa Fernandez wrote this reflection in her journal: The best way that we learned in my opinion was getting to interview the experts. We got to interview Sgt. Sandmeyer and Dailin Wang who are both tsunami experts. I enjoyed being able to ask questions that I had and they could answer the questions better than a website ever could. Another advantage was being able to ask an expert if they can explain the topic in detail. Contacting the experts was something that I had never done before. I liked how we got to talk with and email experts on tsunamis. When we contacted them we had little help from the teachers. I really liked being able to schedule a field trip or interview with little to no help. Time and again, throughout the interview/field trip process, I saw students like these initiating the pursuit of their inquiries and directing their own learning. Ravi bought a book about the Apocalypse and read it from cover to cover (even outside of project-block time). Gwyn taught herself about the human immune system in order to understand how HIV works. She did it all at home writing and illustrating a comic to explain AIDS and white blood cells. Isaac, Russel and Caetano brainstormed the idea for a student debate feature in our magazine. The three boys designed a survey to conduct with their classmates. Within a few days, they had gathered the data and selected two students to highlight on the page, representing two viewpoints.

A frame from Gwyns immune system comic.

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This debate feature (from our magazine) is one example of students demonstrating agency. Three students developed the idea, designed a poll and finally created this page using Adobe InDesign. Like every aspect of our project, this endeavor was not completed for points.

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 Anoushka Saves The Day

One morning, near the end of our project, I walked into school and found Anoushka waiting anxiously in the 6th grade commons. She explained in a serious tone, Mr. Shaddox, I wanted to run a plan past you. Two days before, she had taken on the role of documentarian. She and another student, Mia, interviewed the whole team about their exhibition experience. Anoushka took this role seriously and demonstrated this through thoughtful planning and execution. She and Mia mapped out the number of students they would need to interview per day in order to meet their goal before Friday. She explained, Because project-block was cancelled yesterday and the fact that its going slower than we expected, we need to interview more students per day. I could see her point. She was afraid they wouldnt finish the interviews by the end of the week. So whats the plan? I asked, smiling. I knew that she had figured it all out. Mia and I are going to write the interview questions on the board to give people time to think about the questions ahead of time. Then, they can pick the question they want to answer. Were also going to have kids sign up on the board so they know when their turn is getting close. This will help things go more smoothly. I asked, Anoushka, did you figure all of this out last night? Yeah. I chatted with Mia online and we made the plan. Anoushka had identified a problem and collaborated with her classmate to resolve the issue. All of this occurred outside of class. When students go above and beyond the call of duty on an ungraded, unguided, extra assignment they are demonstrating independent inquiry. Did Anoushka and Mia follow through with their plan? Absolutely. The two students made announcements to the team and wrote the questions on the board. We had originally brainstormed three or four questions. The girls extended the list to fifteen! At the end of the day, I walked into the office (their studio for the interviews) and found them analyzing their clipboard. Mr. Shaddox, we only have five interviews left. Were gonna finish in time! After filming the interviews, Anoushka proposed editing the footage at home and outside of class. Within a week they had completed the movie and we debuted it for the class. As the two girls stood in front of the class and introduced the movie, their classmates applauded energetically. Anoushka and Mias classmates recognized and appreciated the agency and motivation required to independently complete a project on this level.

A Question of Grades
One might wonder, Are these really examples of agency or self-direction? What kind of extrinsic motivation might be at play here? Its important to point out that Ms. Wong and I did not implement or mention points/grades for any of the work

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throughout our semester project. This was partially deliberate and partially an accident. The accidental nature of no grades was a result of being so darn busy co-designing and facilitating the students that we couldnt figure out how to grade what was happening. Sure, we were assessing, but attaching a number or value to what they were doing seemed moot. Around the time of my action research, I had begun rethinking the influence of grades and their effect on motivation and risk taking. Something Daniel Pink said in an RSA talk struck a deep chord with me: With tasks that are an algorithmic set of rules where you have to just follow along and get a right answer, "If-then" rewards, carrots and sticks [are] outstanding! But when the task gets more complicated, when it requires some conceptual, creative thinking those kinds of motivators demonstrably don't work. (2010) In the case of our project and democratic learning, a point-based grade system seemed oppositional to what we were trying to accomplish. We wanted conceptual, creative thinking, not one-dimensional rule-following. As we assessed students regularly through teacher/student conferences, informal check-ins and peer critiques, attaching points to the various assignments in the project seemed unnecessary. If the students were getting the work done without being strung along by points and grades, why did we need them? So, we abandoned grades. How did that affect students? Rochelle succinctly explained, If you dont see your grade, you dont have stress. You feel focused. Youre confident and then you see your grade and youre like, Okay. I did great. I did good. At the conclusion of the project, students completed a self-assessment. The document featured a section for teacher feedback. Many students assessed themselves much more harshly than I would have imagined. Ms. Wong and I balanced out the points if we saw someone being too harsh or too soft on themselves. Since our school requires a grade to be entered at the completion of a semester, a number was finally attached to the work. By no means was it explicitly used to motivate students. It is interesting to note that many students, when interviewed, mentioned the importance of grades (even though they were absent in the project). When asked about his above and beyond effort on his animation storyboard, Sam responded, We worked hard because we want to get a good grade and teach people about the Mayans. In the case of these students, I can only imagine that five years of schooling focused on test-scores and grades can take a while getting out of your system. The ghost of grades lingered for many of these students, but throughout our project, grades were simply dead.

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 II. Spirit of Collaboration

Most great learning happens in groups. Collaboration is the stuff of growth. If we atomize people and separate them and judge them separately we form a disjunction between them and their actual learning environment. - Sir Ken Robinson (Changing Education Paradigms) "This school is totally different! At my old school I never got to work with other people. I'm social, not antisocial, so I really like working in groups. It's hard sometimes, but its also really fun!" - 6th grader overheard by a visitor at End of the World Uncovered exhibition On the evening of December 20, 2012, our class exhibited its project for parents, teachers and classmates. The reception was stunning. Our class erected an exhibit of work reminiscent of a conference hall with booths displaying blown-up prints of their magazine page layouts and Flash animations on laptops. Students accompanied their work and shared it with hundreds of guests. I wandered throughout the exhibition looking, listening and smiling, my role as facilitator shrinking to near invisibility. Students ran everything, from the documentary showing in our classroom (converted into a theatre) to the magazine sales booth. In groups, they excitedly shared their knowledge and experience from the project. In the midst of the festivities I overheard a striking conversation with one of my colleagues and a student. The question was, What was the best part of this project? The student responded, In Mr. Shaddox's class, it's really cool because he's not in charge. I mean, he is in charge, but he tells us all the time 'We are in this together.' It's cool because we have a say in everything. We created this project together." It was interesting to hear a student comment on the method, rather than knowledge or information theyd learned. Being in it together and recognizing the benefits is what I call a spirit of collaboration. A democratic education emphasizes the values and principles of a democratic way of life (Beane, 2005). Collaboration is essential to this. Providing students with the opportunity to work together, make connections and consider different opinions was at the center of our approach. From the very beginning, the design process (curriculum integration), was rooted in collaboration between students and teachers. Students worked in committees to make decisions. As we kicked off the research, students were placed in pairs or trios to investigate their inquiries. They wrote their articles on a shared Google Doc (often simultaneously). As Ms. Wong and I continued to design the learning in the project, we used approaches like peer critique to reinforce collaboration. We didnt want to build the project as a team and then do it in isolation. We had to maintain the momentum of our communal ethos. How did these structures for collaboration influence the students experience?

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 What Did Surveys Reveal About The Spirit of Collaboration?

Who should decide what you learn about in school? This question on the class survey revealed some striking trends 100.0% in students feelings Teachers about collaboration. 50.0% At the onset of our Students project, students 0.0% favored teachers and 1 2 3 students together (64 percent). Twenty-three percent of the students selected just students, while nine percent believed teachers should be the sole deciders. Parents came in last place at four percent. Right off the bat, I could see that my students were supportive of co-design. It was encouraging to see that many of them considered Ms. Wong and I a part of that team. After all, co-design is collaboration between all parties, including teachers. By the end of the semester, students support of teacher and students together had risen to 84 percent while the other categories shrank by approximately 8 percent. This showed me that our co-design experience was reaffirming for many students, while persuasive for others. Anot her simple, yet striking data set from our survey 60.0% was the 50.0% increase in Independently 40.0% positive

Who Should Decide What You Learn About In School?

Which Way Do You Prefer To Learn?

feelings 30.0% In pairs (2 students) toward 20.0% learning at 10.0% In groups (3 or more school. At the students 0.0% beginning of Survey 1 Survey 2 Survey 3 our project, 47 percent of those polled indicated that they felt really excited about learning at school. By the end of our project this number jumped to 67 percent. Students who merely felt good dropped from 51 percent to 33 percent. Bored dove from two percent to zero by

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the end. Since our teams learning was rooted in collaboration, these numbers indicate at least a loose connection between excitement towards learning and working with peers and teachers as a team. Throughout our co-designed project, students worked primarily in pairs. Our survey confirmed that this worked for the majority of students. In fact, their preference towards working in pairs increased by the end of the project (up by 10 percentage points). Something that really jumped out at me was the response to working independently. This number steadily declined from 24 percent to 14 percent. As you will read in the following section, many students developed a great appreciation for working in pairs throughout our project.

Who has the most control over your learning at school?

60.0% 50.0% 40.0% 30.0% 20.0% 10.0% 0.0% Teachers You Classmates Parents Survey 1 Survey 2 Survey 3

Did co-design alter students perceptions of control in their learning? The survey showed a solid decline in the sense that Teachers or Parents (alone) controlled learning. What I loved seeing was the steady rise in both the You and Classmates categories. By the end of the project students were really gaining a sense that they were in control of their learning. Co-designs use of collaboration was definitely an influence on this change in data. The following look at conversations and observations with students around collaboration tell the story that is hinted at in the numbers from our surveys.

The Lunch Bunch Interviews

As the project kicked off, I invited students to eat lunch in my classroom and discuss our project. During four sessions, a group of 8 to 10 students turned up. This is where I first heard students stress the importance of collaboration. Our conversations revealed an enthusiasm for and value of opportunities to collaborate with their peers. Some students even shared feelings of resentment for not having had the opportunity to reach out to their classmates at previous schools.

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 Cameron & Sutton (Comets, Meteors & Asteroids Group)

Throughout the project, Cameron worked in a trio with Sutton and Isaac. The three boys researched asteroids, comets and meteors. Right from the start, Ms. Wong and I noticed this groups unique way of collaborating. In the project design, we left the organization of research open for each group to manage. This group decided to split the research; each person tackling a type of Near Earth Object. As they wrote, revised and edited their feature article, the boys began using the comment function of Google Docs as a way of chatting about their work. As a result, they were able to write, revise and edit their work all at once something I had never seen students do before. The first draft of their article had fewer errors and inaccuracies than other groups. As we proceeded, many students took this approach with similar results. During our lunch bunch meeting, I asked Cameron and Sutton to talk about their experience collaborating in their group. While their responses are a little scattered, you can see that the group aspect of the project is important to them. It provided them with a sense of ownership and confidence: Since were in small groups, everyone has a top priority to do. All of us learn new things and we talk about it in our groups. I was always really interested about space and stuff so thats why I chose meteors. Ive learned a ton of stuff like I told my mom, I feel like a genius. I never got to do a big project that was really long in a group before. Im glad we get to learn things that we want to learn and not stuff were made to learn. Sutton, his partner (a man of few words) added, I like collaboration because we get to work in groups. Its improved learning for me because whenever I have a question my partners can help me find the answer. Cameron went on to describe what he enjoyed about the co-designed experience. Notice the emphasis on the joy of hearing others ideas and how he contrasts that with the previous authoritarian teacher: I really like how you get to be heard. Like when we have the group discussions about things like the Affirmations. That really changed my opinion about things. Its cool to see what everybody is saying. It really changes your opinion and Ive never done that before. I never did that at my old school... It was always what the teacher said. We never got to pick stuff that we wanted to learn about. It was always what she said.

Anoushka & Paige (Overpopulation Group)

Anoushka and Paige, two students who were quite shy at the beginning of the year, were another pair that demonstrated excellent collaboration. Working together helped them to overcome their timidity and push each others learning.

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I like it a lot. When were together in a class, I know for me Im a very social person, if I cant talk to someone I feel like Im invisible. If we were doing projects by ourselves nobody would understand what were talking about. When we can talk about it with somebody else, its like that saying, Two heads are better than one. It works much better and we learn more things. - Anoushka My partners really supportive and helpful. Because of this, were getting a lot done. If youre one person doing one thing it would take us longer. This way, we can split the jobs and it helps us do it faster. Sometimes people are used to just working alone, not counting on somebody else to help. It helps them to be more social and less by themselves. Its helped me feel less shy. - Paige

Collaboration vs. Isolation: Students Compare School Experiences

During our lunch bunch discussions, I was struck by how frequently students referred to the experience of moving from a non-collaborative setting to a democratic classroom. In the following conversation, transcribed from a portion of our lunch interviews, we can see that these students experience collaboration as an empowering tool that connects them to their classmates and improves their learning. I think what happened at my school was the teacher would sit there and actually show us what to do but this way at HTM we actually figure it out on our own. We can tell our parents, the teacher didnt just teach us something. We learned it by ourselves. We learned it on our own. We are responsible enough to do the work. We can figure out things that we probably could figure out if the teacher just showed us. If we do it ourselves we probably understand it better. - Anoushka I wanted to add on (to Anoushkas idea). You know how (she said) that you can figure it out by yourself. Well, you also have help with a partner. I never had a partner at my old school. The teacher would say, No! Youll get distracted. I didnt have a partner to help me with [my work]. At this school, my partner and I became friends. Were working together. If she needs help I can help her. I have help with an extra person. We both love animals and were into it. - Rochelle I agree with Rochelle because my teachers always made us work by ourselves. We never had anyone to help us. We couldnt get up to go ask the teacher

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something. We couldnt get up unless we needed to go to the restroom. So when youre working alone and you have a hard question, they wouldnt help you. As soon as the teacher saw half of the people done, it was like, Were moving on. But in co-design were all working together and were all able to help each other out if we dont understand something, instead of working alone or independently. We get to learn about other people and learn from them. We get to hear things from different peoples perspectives. I know that in collaboration you have to be able to work with people to get things done. If youre working lousy with someone youre not going to get something done because youre going to be arguing with them all of the time. Collaboration is important because were all working in a group and we have to agree with what our partners are doing. We have to try and get along. If we dont we have to settle things really fast. - George If we didnt work together we wouldnt be able to finish this project. We have to work with our partner otherwise wed be the missing part of the jigsaw puzzle. - Augustus

Augustus & Corbins Breakdown: Kinks in Collaboration

Collaboration is a learned skill, like reading, writing or mathematical problem solving. Steven Wolk (1998), a democratic educator, writes about the struggle to make classrooms into collaborative communities. Most kids not only lack the social skills that are necessary for community, they lack the knowledge and experience for designing community. The idea of working together and putting the good of the group in front of ourselves is a foreign idea to most people today, adults included. This year, students arrived with varying levels of collaborative experience. While the majority of students saw the opportunity to collaborate as something positive, there were a few who struggled to open up communication with their classmates and work effectively in groups. As Ms. Wong and I facilitated 21 pairs/trios, researching their topics, we took note of several that needed special attention. We wondered, How do you effectively scaffold learning tools for collaboration in a situation like this? We knew that each of these struggling groups would need a lot of personal attention and coaching. In order to maximize our efforts, we split them up and checked in with them several times throughout project block. We also assigned Mr. Raymond (our academic coach) to consistently work with these groups. One pair, Augustus and Corbin, was the biggest challenge for us. From the beginning, this pair struggled to agree on some basic steps in the research (establishing essential questions and identifying websites for research). Whereas most students found

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ways to share a laptop (placing it in the center of the table, taking turns typing, etc.), Corbin often grabbed the computer away from Augustus, clutching it close to his body and refusing to allow his partner access. When asked about his actions, Corbin rolled his eyes or grimaced. Augustus was often on the verge of crying. The two students struggled to communicate clearly to one another. After several days of coaching the pair was finally given two laptops. The two students accessed a shared Google doc. At first, Augustus wrote and Corbin edited for grammar and spelling problems. At one point Augustus accused Corbin of deleting significant portions of the writing. The next day, I noticed Corbin typing in a new document. I asked him if he was sharing it with Augustus. He explained that he had now begun writing his own article. The tone of his voice was indignant. Corbin, the stronger writer, was adding further dimension to the ideas (descriptions, voice, etc.). Upon closer inspection, I could see that Corbin was actually revising Augustuss article. Meanwhile, Augustus sat beside him and continued writing his own. He shrugged his shoulders and explained in a defeated tone, Hes gonna do his own, I guess. The foundations of collaboration, trust and empathy, were in ruins. What could I do to open things up between these students? My impulse was to counsel them, rather than give them orders. I sat down to discuss the power of collaboration with the boys how two perspectives and voices could really strengthen the writing. We discussed collaboration's connection with many of our class' affirmations like respect, support and patience. I gave examples of other groups in the class and pointed out the fun they were having. The two finally made the decision to merge their ideas (copying and pasting Corbins writing into Augustuss article). Something became painfully obvious after I collected the boys first draft article. Although the two had dumped their ideas into one document, they had not merged ideas. Corbins introductory paragraph appeared tandem to Augustuss. The piece was completely schizophrenic and revealed a total breakdown in teamwork. After repeated efforts to open up communication with the boys and modify their work, we split up Augustus and Corbin. Because of the timing, we decided not to match them up with new partners (because the other groups were too far along in their work). Augustus and Corbin finalized their projects individually. On exhibition night, the two students presented their separate projects at the same table. Unfortunately, we removed Corbin half way through the exhibition for arguing, disrespectfully, with Augustus and one of our guests. Since this first project, Augustus and Corbin have continued struggling to collaborate with classmates in other projects and activities. The question still lingers for us: In special cases like this, how do you scaffold collaboration? For many students, the experience of collaboration was a series of successes and failures. However, through this experience, many gained a deeper sense of empathy or grew in their ability to negotiate learning with partners. Are there emotional needs that must be met before some students can successfully collaborate? In these cases, what steps can teachers take to help these students grow?

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 Teachers Modeling Collaboration

The partnered team of teachers in the same room is a valuable structure. Young adolescents see two adults working together harmoniously, even if they sometimes disagree. Consistently modeling this respectful and cooperative behavior while maintaining high expectations for the students to do the same ultimately strengthens the learning community (Springer, p. 35, 2006). Throughout the project, Ms. Wong and I utilized our partnership to model collaboration. We saw evidence of students repeating our moves in their groups. As I described in Chapter 3, during full-class discussions and team meetings we shared facilitation, built on one anothers ideas and encouraged each other (in front of a live audience). Taking Springers recommendation to heart, we showed what it means to listen respectfully and take anothers perspective into consideration. We also continually shared work (developing handouts, models and resources) and pointed out how we shared the load.

The Final Word On Collaboration

Throughout the year, my teaching partner, Ms. Wong, hosted a weekly class meeting in order to maintain open communication between students and teachers. The meeting is a forum for discussing and resolving dilemmas and celebrating each others successes. Nearly four months after our exhibition, upon the students return from Spring Break, Ms. Wong decided to revisit our teams affirmations (the list of adjectives that describe us as learners, which we collaboratively generated at the beginning of the year). Ms. Wong asked the students, Are affirmations still relevant to us? Which one is most important to you? It was striking to note that a majority of the participants cited collaborative as the most important quality. Three students (Mia, Cesar, George and Gabe) said, Without collaboration we couldnt have our magazine.
Peer critique was one of the many forms of collaboration in our project.

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 III. Mastery of Content

"At my old school when we did research, the teacher would just tell us what to research and we would do it. In Mr. Shaddox's class, we got to choose what to research. The funnest part was asking questions - we got to come up with them ourselves!" - Rochelle As my students co-designed their learning, I saw them engage the content in a way that I had never seen. Now free of traditional curriculum constraints, they could pursue their inquiries and define the boundaries of their own learning. A teacher did not hand them a list of things to know. They developed their own list, based around original questions. Students had to figure out what they needed to do and know, if they wanted to answer a question like, Will diseases cause the end of the world? They literally discovered the content. This approach led to a deeper level of content mastery. When I talk about content mastery I am referring to students who transcend the lower levels of cognition like knowledge and comprehension. Im talking about learning that surpasses the assessment of a standardized, multiple-choice exam. Content mastery means applying, analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating information in original ways. Students built their own webs of knowledge around their inquiries, so they owned that knowlege in unique ways. This allowed them to do more sophisticated things with that information. Many groups in our project achieved this deep level of content mastery. In the following section, I will highlight two groups that demonstrated content mastery and examine their process. After topic selection and group formation, students began their research in the same way that we began our project design. They wrote their questions. These questions became the foundation for their research guides (which they used to take notes). By the end of the first week, students created posters exhibiting their essential questions, key terms and a summary of their early findings. This was generated by the students and facilitated by the teachers. When we saw students heading off in a fruitless direction or missing crucial information, we offered advice and suggested possible questions.

The Human Diseases Group: Infected By Deeper Learning

Javen, Destiny and Gwyns first week of research showed impressive growth (with little teacher facilitation). At the beginning, this trios topic was simply Diseases. After a day of research (using books and websites), the students realized that they had selected a very large topic. After some discussion, Destiny suggested refining their research to infectious, human diseases. Gwyn and Javen agreed. Gwyn had an interest in HIV/AIDS, Javen chose malaria and Destiny selected cancer. They summarized their first weeks findings in a poster:

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Human Diseases by Destiny, Gwyn & Javen Our Essential Questions: 1. What are the main diseases? 2. How do people gain the diseases? 3. How does malaria effect people? 4. Where do most diseases come from? 5. How does AIDS effect people? 6. How many people die from diseases? 7. Is there cures for the diseases? 8. What does cancer effect? Key Terms Pandemic AIDS HIV Tumor Insulin Immune System Definitions A epidemic of infectious disease Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome Human Immunodeficiency Virus Extra cells made by cancer all together A hormone in your pancreas that controls the amount of sugar you receive A system that protects you from diseases

Summary of Our Learning We have learned that the main diseases are AIDS, Cancer, Influenza, The Plague, Smallpox and Malaria. You get HIV from one persons infected body fluids and spreads into someone elses body. You get smallpox from the air traveling and spreading. You get cancer when your immune system is not working properly. People gain malaria when there is a parasite in the mosquitoes and you are bitten. You get effected with many bad symptoms. When you receive malaria, you get fever, chill, muscle ache, headaches, nausea, cough, vomiting, diarrhea, sweating and jaundice. Small pox started over 3,000 years ago in Africa spreading to india and china. Malaria came from Africa Haiti and Dimitrian Republic, Eastern Europe and South Pacific. When you get AIDS youre body gets very weak because your white blood cells run low. So when you get sick people without aids can fight people without aids cant fight it and they would get very sic. 20 out of 30 people with smallpox have died. 300-500 million people die of malaria per year. People die from cancer, but if you catch it early Docters can help. Cancer affects DNA. How would the quality of this groups learning compare to that of students studying infectious, human diseases within a prescribed or teacher-driven curriculum? A skeptic might find this groups research rife with errors and lacking crucial

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information. However, if we examine Destiny, Javen and Gwyns process, we see students using skills that dont emerge under an autocratic approach to learning. These three students had to analyze and assess information in order to refine and establish their inquiry. They connected concepts, identified key terms and created an original infrastructure for their ideas. This helped them develop deeper familiarity with and ownership over the content. Throughout the following weeks, this process continued. In week two, Destiny discovered that there were so many types of cancer that she couldnt possibly cover them all in her article. After teaching herself about the major cancer types, she narrowed her topic down to skin cancer. She felt that skin cancer had a closer connection to the end of the world because of its alarming growth and connection to environmental damage (depletion of the ozone). Gwyn ran into a hurdle with her HIV/AIDS research. She discovered that she needed to first learn about how the immune system worked in order to fully understand her topic. In a moment of agency and self-direction, she created a homework assignment for herself to master this content: a cartoon strip. Javen discovered that a teacher at High Tech Middle had contracted malaria on a trip in Tanzania. He and his group arranged an interview with Mr. Greg to learn all about the frightening symptoms. The group was able to apply Javens foundational research when constructing informed questions for Mr. Greg. The first draft of Destiny, Gwyn and Javens article, Malaria, HIV & Cancer: The Next Plague? outlined these three diseases, their causes, symptoms, effects and ways to prevent them. They concluded: Diseases put peoples lives at risk every single day. This is a threat to people all around the world. Diseases cannot end the world, but could impose severe limitations on human life. For example, it can cause a major drop in the population. That is why it is very important to get vaccines, have regular doctors appointments, and take preventative measures against disease. On exhibition night, Destiny, Javen and Gwyn stood by a blow-up of their article (see Appendix F), mounted on an easel, and their Flash animation, displayed on a laptop. The three of them eagerly greeted visitors and educated them on the diseases that they had researched. They had no script or note cards with facts to recite. They spoke comfortably and fluidly about their topics and answered questions spontaneously. The experience showed that they gone beyond understanding the content. They mastered it. Gwyn wrote in her journal: I thought it was super cool getting to teach people new things and know that they know new things because of me. The thing I enjoyed the most was when I explained to her what HIV does to white blood cells when it enters your body. And she got all of these new ideas and got really happy. Then she gave me a big

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high five and said I should be a doctor. That really made me happy because I taught her these new things and got her to really think and try to get an answer.

Meteors & Asteroids Group: Escaping The Orbit of Prescribed Learning

Everyone is learning what they need to learn when they need to learn it. This wouldnt happen in a carefully constructed box with prescribed outcomes and step-by-step learning. This is real learning. - Excerpt from my journal (November 23, 2012) Cameron, Sutton and Isaac are another group worthy of examining in their path towards mastery of content. The group began the research with a lot of excitement, questions and many misconceptions. However, by the end of the project, they had defined the parameters of knowledge for their topic and mastered the content. During the first day of research the boys struggled to differentiate some key terms: meteors, meteorites, comets and asteroids. Just defining their topic was a great exercise in learning! They also become fascinated (and subsequently sidetracked) with a meteor called Apophis. When doing this type of open-ended research, it is often up to students to evaluate the resources they access. Unfortunately, when it comes to researching meteors, there is no lack of false Web prophets offering misinformation about space objects on a terminal trajectory with Earth. These boys discovered for themselves the idea that truth is not something handed down to us in a tidy package. Its something we must construct for ourselves, based on multiple experiences and sources. Sutton wrote in his journal, What surprised me [about our research] was that a meteor called Apophis might hit L.A. and destroy San Diego too or it might hit the Pacific Ocean or it might not hit Earth at all. What confused me was how the scientists found out that the meteor might hit in the year 2036. Cameron also wrote, Something challenging for us was finding the right thing to read on the computer to get the right information. In response to reading about Apophis, he wrote, Many people have already evacuated L.A. It might destroy San Diego too because San Diego is only 125 miles away. We really didnt want to box the boys in with their research, but didnt want them to get scared out of their wits either. So Ms. Wong and I offered them some tips on checking the validity of sources and how to compare information. I also sent them links to helpful articles and websites. These approaches were in-line with our co-design and the democratic spirit of the project. We werent giving them the answers, just the tools.

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By the end of the first week, the group produced this poster sharing their research: Meteor Crashing by Isaac, Cameron and Sutton Our Essential Questions 1. Will the meteor Apophis hit earth? 2. Will we survive a meteor crashing? 3. How big is the biggest meteor? 4. How fast do meteors fly? 5. Was earth made out of meteors? 6. How many meteors have crashed on earth? 7. Was the moon created by a meteor? 8. Are meteors made of something harder than diamonds? 9. When will the next meteor crash on earth? 10. What is a comets tail made of? Key Terms Asteroid Orbit Coma Nucleus Astronomic Meteor Comet NEO Definitions Any one of thousands of small planets To move around an object The haze around the main part of the nucleus The solid part of the comet Of or relating to astronomy A piece of metal that burns or glows brightly in the sky as it falls from outer space into Earths atmosphere An object in outer space that develops a long, bright tail when it passes near the sun. Near Earth Object

Summary of our Learning This week my group and I learned a lot about meteors. Meteors are giant rocks that orbit around the sun and are mostly made of dust, rocks, and gases. There are different meteor types like asteroids and comets that also orbit around the sun. A comet is made of ice, dust and gases. Asteroids are made of rock, dust and gases and they orbit around the sun in a form called The Main Asteroid Belt. The next meteor that may crash into Earth is a meteor named Apophis that is headed straight for L.A. This meteor may crash into L.A. in the year 2036. It may also hit the Pacific Ocean or miss Earth. This meteor is the side of a football stadium and if it hits earth it will have the force of 100 atomic bombs!

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Apophis is a big part of their summary. This raised some questions for us. Is the quality and accuracy of the content at risk in this self-directed approach to research? Why should these students be permitted to struggle like this? This hurdle in research (which other groups also experienced) was certainly not our intention. However, we saw this struggle as an opportunity, rather than a failure. We knew it was more valuable for students to discover how to compare sources and evaluate their reliability, than for us to feed them the truth. And so we continued to trust in this process. Students continually revisited and revised their lists of questions. Ms. Wong and I met with each group to discuss their essential questions. We read over their research, asked them to explain what they had written and facilitated further question formulation. By the second week of research, this groups questions had evolved. Isaac 1. Are meteors becoming a threat to our planet? 2. If a meteor hits the Earth, will we survive? 3. How have humans throughout history perceived comets? Sutton 1. What are meteors? asteroids? comets? meteorites? 2. What are they made of? 3. How can meteors, asteroids and comets harm us? Cameron 1. When may the next meteor hit Earth? 2. What are some of the most unique comets discovered? Why? 3. How are comets, asteroids and meteors discovered, tracked and named? One aspect of our project was authentic research. Students arranged field trips and interviews with experts to find answers to their questions and construct knowledge. Cameron, Sutton and Isaac made contact with Jason Hammond, an educator from the Ruben H. Fleet Science Center. Hammond came to our school for an hour-long interview with the boys. Isaac reviewed his research before Hammonds visit and developed these questions to fill in the gaps of his groups knowledge. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Do you believe that meteors caused the extinction of dinosaurs? When comets hit the atmosphere how does it strengthen the atmosphere? How many meteors crashed on Earth? Are there thing(s) besides meteors, comets, and asteroids that are near Earth objects (NEOs)? What is the biggest meteor that has hit Earth? 121


6. What is the fastest speed recorded from a meteor? Most of his questions dug deeper than the groups original questions. However, at this point, I also saw students like Isaac retreading the same territory with questions. For instance, Isaac already knew the biggest meteor to hit Earth happened 65 million years ago. In this project, there was no textbook with an answer key in the back. I started wondering, How will students know when theyve sufficiently answered their questions? Did the boys ever find out the truth about Apophis? An excerpt from their final draft article (see Appendix G) demonstrates how they put together the information from the literature and their interview to construct their own understanding: There is one meteor called Apophis that may hit Earth in the year 2036. It used to be that the chances that Apophis would hit was 1 in 48,000, but now it has dropped to 4 in a million. Astronomers determined the angle is enough that Apophis is not going to hit us, says Jason Hammond, an expert on meteors, comets, and asteroids. Apophis is the size of two and a half football fields. It will hurtle past Earth at a speed of 28,000 miles per hour! Right now Apophis is approximately between 930,000 and 9,300,000 miles away from Earth. Apophis will only hit Earth if something unusual happens like another meteor hits it. It should fly 20,000 miles away from Earth. As far as we know right now we are safe from the meteor Apophis, says Jason Hammond. Apophis is an exciting thing to research and will most likely not hit Earth. When co-design is carried throughout the project, students engage the content in a new way. Cameron, Sutton and Isaacs self-directed inquiry allowed them to define, analyze, evaluate and apply information for themselves. This group, like many in our project, showed that a students capacity to master content is elevated when they truly own the path of their learning.

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