Before Jeff Hopkins spoke to our class I looked into his background and education, the PSII reminds me of High Tech High a school where students guide their own learning for the most part, and Summer Hill a school where students not only guide their own learning but live independently.
While researching Jeff and the PSII I looked at his introduction video and a TED talk he performed about education (embedded below). In his introduction video, Jeff mentioned that the students didn’t have time tables which reminds me of the Summer Hill style of organization. He also talked about their creative integration of zoom into the classroom as a group meeting tool while also having lessons in smaller in-person groups. From this video, I learned about the ‘guiding question curriculum’ that guides learners rather than a curriculum of subjects. In Jeffs TED talk he addressed the fact that we don’t often use inquiry in schools because it’s quite messy, but without inquiry and student-driven learning adolescents are unlikely to learn in their Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD).
During his presentation, Jeff covered the inquiry style of learning and how it is used at PSII. Jeff said at the start of the presentation that Trevor Mackenzie says that if PSII were to be on the inquiry pool infographic they would be in the ocean, as to say that the inquiries are extremely student-led. I was very interested in the assessment systems and the tech at PSII.
Jeff explained that the students developed their own questions based on personal interest and then undertook research to refine and develop new goals and lines of questioning. Jeff said that students assessed by the “degree to which they meet goals” rather than assessed with a testing model, he later made the analogy what if you went to a doctor for a physical and they gave you an 81% this wouldn’t tell you much about how to improve which is why specific feedback is best.
At PSII they originally used a word press site similar to the ones we use but on a student, the initiative changed to a Zen torro website which is similar to Reddit. I think using a website more similar to ones that students are familiar with may help students engage with the website. Jeff explained how they also use Trello a visual planner and discord as an add-on to zoom which can make asking questions easier.
I was also super interested in their Physical Education being based at Craig x and the YMCA, and how the school had adapted to meet the needs of students who deal with depression and anxiety. Overall a very informative presentation that has got me thinking about my ed-tech inquiry.