School+Academic+Performance



Student Centered Instruction The courses that I teach have always been hands-on. Students have always been required to think on their own and develop solutions that fit into the design criteria. Student Centered Learning has always meant to me that the focus was on each student's needs, abilities, interest and learning styles.

Student develop individual projects and are challenged to develop individual ideas. Below are the links to the project __Board Games.__ This project requires the students to discuss, develop and build a new unique idea.

Student must :


 * develop a new game idea
 * research existing games
 * write game directions
 * create a flat plane layout for the game box
 * draw a detailed plan of their board game layout
 * build their game board with all the pieces
 * evaluate their game design to determine improvements

Below is the link to the Board Game Lesson



Reflections I believe that this project allows the students to pull from within themselves and create something new that had never been created before. I once had a student say to me that this was the first time any teacher actually asked them to create something entirely new from their own idea. That statement made me realize that possibly we may not be drawing on the students imaginations as often as we should. Twenty years from now I will always think back to that student and wonder if they have been challenged again or challenge others.

The Artifacts that I have collected over time demonstrate a higher level of complexity than previously demanded. The original project consisted of laying out a per-designed game board that I provided with a template. The board games were precut, the templates were pre-made and the student needed only to mark the hole centers and drill. After completing this assignment several times, I realized that students were simply going through the paces to complete the project rather than drawing on their own ideas. It occurred to me to challenge them by requiring more of the student with regards to originality.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'comic sans ms',cursive; font-size: 125%; text-align: left;">I spent time thinking about what it would take to produce a new game from concept to completed board in box. Students now begin by discussing games that they have played and what drew them back to it again and again. In groups students developed ideas, sketched out a game board, developed rules, applly penalties, constructed the game and all the pieces, the box with graphics that would be appealing to a buyer and the cost of production of the game. The evaluation was now student oriented. Students would play each others games and evaluate playability based on criteria in a rubric.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'comic sans ms',cursive; font-size: 125%; text-align: left;">I am most proud of the watching the students so engaged in their project. The games develop by themselves with little guidance from me. I provide technical details and play devil's advocate to find weak spots in their game rules. The students take total responsibility for their learning. Later they enjoy playing each others games and evaluating playability.