Visual Learning Connections - inspiration.com information is a critical first step to ... the Wicked Stepmother and the Seven Robbers Italy ... specific event as an endpoint

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Visual LearningConnections

•GatheringandorganizinginformationWhether students are brainstorming, researching on the Internet or gathering facts, organizing information is a critical first step to understanding it. Visual organizers help students to prioritize information. Younger students use Kidspiration’s SuperGrouper® tool to learn the skills of sorting and showing relationships. Using Inspiration’s RapidFire® tool, older students start projects by brainstorming and visually organizing their ideas. With one click, this information is instantly transformed from a diagram into an outline, allowing students to expand their visual ideas in a textual format.

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Name

Snow White Comparison.kid

7 dwarfsThe seventh dwarf found Snow White asleep in his bed.

7 robbersThe robbers were brothers. They invited Maria to live with them and be their sister.

Little Snow White Germany

Maria, the Wicked Stepmother and the Seven Robbers Italy

gold ringAn old woman gave Maria a gold ring. It was a magic ring from the wicked stepmother thatmade Maria fall dead.

beautiful girlSnow White and Maria are both beautiful.

Both

poison appleThe queen tricked Snow White into eating the poison apple.

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Find

Name

Snow White Comparison.kid

poisonapple

7dwarfs

prince

beautifulgirl

house in the woods

7robbers

goldring

Little Snow WhiteGermany

Maria, the Wicked Stepmother and the

Seven RobbersItaly

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Focuson21stCenturySkillsThe importance of mastering 21st century skills—including organizing and interpreting information and data, thinking critically, problem-solving, and communicating—is emerging as a critical teaching goal for K-12 institutions. As the nature of employment continues to change, many educators, business executives and policy makers feel that classroom instruction must evolve in order to adequately prepare young people for the workforce.

To meaningfully integrate these 21st century skills into their existing lessons, many teachers use Kidspiration®, Inspiration® and InspireData® software. With Kidspiration for grades K-5 and Inspiration for grades 6 to adult, students use graphic organizers to visually represent information and ideas. Using graphic organizers is a proven strategy for gathering ideas, analyzing information, thinking critically and organizing communications—all key 21st century skills. Kidspiration 3 also includes visual math tools to support conceptual understanding in mathematics. With InspireData, students grades 4–12 organize, manipulate and interpret data with dynamic graphs and plots.

Developessential21stcenturyskills,including:

Dr. David Thornburg, Director of the Thornburg Center and Senior Fellow of the Congressional Institute for the Future, believes that with the overflow of available resource material, the use of graphic organizers is a powerful way to help students organize information and see relationships. In a history lesson about the U.S. landing a man on

the moon, Thornburg explains how students can start from that specific event as an endpoint and use Inspiration to create a cause-and-effect diagram that works backwards through history. By learning about Sputnik, the Kennedy Presidency and other events that led up to the moon landing, the exercise facilitates a richer understanding

of the dynamics and interdependencies of history. “Kidspiration and Inspiration are requirements for me,” says Thornburg. “The ability to flexibly map content, concepts and causes makes these tools essential as learners of any age organize and make sense of the 21st century’s abundance of data.”

one of the key challenges 21st century students face is making connections between information.

foCus on 21st Century skills page 2

•Analyzing,evaluatingandthinkingcriticallyWith the abundance of available information, the ability to critically analyze has become a vital 21st century skill. As students create graphic organizers in Kidspiration and Inspiration, they learn to manage, sort and prioritize information. These graphic organizers help students focus on the most relevant information to be visually compared, contrasted and interconnected. This process makes information comprehensible by revealing patterns and relationships. As these patterns emerge, students extend their understanding by integrating new ideas into their existing body of knowledge.

•CommunicatingclearlyCommunication can take many forms. In mathematics, K-5 learners can use Kidspiration’s visual math tools to communicate their understanding of concepts by combining powerful models with text, numbers and math symbols. With InspireData, students in math, science and social studies communicate their understanding of complex data with graphs and notes.

Using Kidspiration and Inspiration leads to clearer writing because students can view and manipulate their ideas in a visual format before writing. In Kidspiration’s Writing View and Inspiration’s Outline View, students

organize the flow of information to structure their written work. In Inspiration’s Presentation Manager, students use the content they’ve developed in Diagram, Map and Outline View to expand their work into organized and polished presentations. When preparing their final work, students can hyperlink from Inspiration to specific web resources, graphics and other documents. This helps students develop the ability to critically analyze a variety of source materials and integrate only the most relevant information into their final project.

•Evaluatingdata21st century students must have the skills to manage and interpret complex data in any subject area. InspireData supports students’ development of data literacy while bringing data to life. Students can begin with one of InspireData’s built-in databases, create a new database, or import data from other sources. InspireData’s e-Survey tool allows students to quickly collect data and instantly download results to jumpstart data analysis. Students can use a variety of plot types and statistical measures to interpret the data, and use notes and slides to communicate their findings.

•UsingtechnologyInspiration Software tools give students valuable hands-on experience using technology as a part of authentic learning. By integrating the use of technology into a practice of evaluation and organization, students develop a set of tools and strategies vital for the 21st century. Kidspiration, Inspiration and InspireData offer an intuitive, flexible interface that is easy for younger students to use while providing powerful support for older, more advanced students. Kidspiration, Inspiration and InspireData can also be used with interactive electronic whiteboards.

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2 VIEW OF THE CONSTITUTION AND PROPER

ROLE OF GOVERNMENT

3 FOREIGN POLICY

BACKGROUND AND

PERSONALITY

JEFFERSONIAN VISION

HAMILTONIAN VISION

Favored cities,

merchants, banks,

industry, trade and

wealth

Favored farming and quiet, rural

life of independent

small landowners

Believed in a strict

construction of the

Constitution

Believed in a loose

interpretation of the

Constitution

American Revolution as

successful and complete

Viewed the American

Revolution as an unfinished

movement

FEDERALIST

Political and social climber

Member of one of Virigina's oldest and

most established families

Federal government should be national in scope and vigorous in

operation

Federal government is only a compact

among the states and should be strictly

limited in operation

Viewed the

"PURE REPUBLICANISM"

Central idea of America was

individual liberty

Aristocratic and shy pacifist, a humble

and reserved intellectual

Inexhaustible energy and restless

ambition, a dashing and arrogant soldier

VIEW OF THE CONSTITUTION AND PROPER ROLE OF

GOVERNMENT

vs.

RIVALRY IN AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Championed the French Revolution

Supported Britain and authority against the

French Reign of Terror

"NATIONAL MODEL" Central idea of America was

collectivistic rather than individualistic

Thomas Jefferson

Alexander Hamilton

FOREIGN POLICY

BACKGROUND AND

PERSONALITY

CREATED BY: Richard Geib, Teacher

Foothill Technology High School Ventura, CA

DEMOCRATIC–REPUBLICAN

foCus on 21st Century skills page 3

Backgroundon21stcenturyskillsSeveral research studies conducted over the last few years offer clear recommendations for the focus of educator’s efforts to teach 21st century skills.

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills (www.p21.org)—a respected organization of leaders in public and private business and education—issued a report titled Learning for the 21st Century. This report outlines key elements for fostering 21st century learning. Their findings highlight three critical recommendations:

• The focus of education should continue to be on core subjects. 21st century skills should not be taught as a discreet subject, but rather integrated into curriculum and taught side-by-side with core content.

• Educators should emphasize learning skills such as thinking and problem-solving. These skills help students think critically about the source of information and see connections between events.

• Students should be comfortable using technology. Only through using 21st century tools can students develop 21st century learning skills.

This report complements an earlier study issued by Educational Testing Services, titled Digital Transformation: A Framework for ICT Literacy, (www.ets.org/Media/Tests/Information_and_Communication_Technology_Literacy/ictreport.pdf ). Based on the recommendations of an international panel of thought leaders, this study highlights the need for a framework for assessing student achievement in technology literacy and the critical thinking skills necessary to successfully function in a knowledge-based society. At the core of this framework is the notion that 21st century skills are not simply a measure of hands-on technical skills, but also of cognitive problem-solving skills.

The Institute for the Advancement of Research in Education (IARE) reviewed 29 scientifically based research studies and determined that graphic organizers (such as Kidspiration and Inspiration) are effective tools for teaching many aspects of 21st century skills. Their report, Graphic Organizers: A Review of Scientifically Based Research (www.inspiration.com/download/pdf/SBR_summary.pdf), found evidence that Kidspiration and Inspiration are highly effective tools for the development of thinking skills, including organizing ideas, seeing relationships and categorizing concepts.

GettingStartedUse these resources to get started using Kidspiration and Inspiration to empower your students with 21st century skills:

•www.inspiration.com/Educators/Trainer-Resources provides multimedia professional development demonstrations and complimentary workshop materials.

•www.inspiration.com/Examples demonstrates meaningful ways to integrate Kidspiration and Inspiration into your classroom across all grades and subject areas.

• Templates and activities included in Kidspiration and Inspiration offer a framework for gathering information, organizing research and analyzing ideas. Educators can use these templates as models for classroom discussion or modify them to meet specific curriculum goals or student needs. Templates cover common assignments across the curriculum—including language arts, social studies, science, math, thinking skills and planning.

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