Brie Stark's blog

Brie Stark, Praxis III Independent Research

September 16, 2009: Initial Observations

Note: today was my first time visiting the Praxis location, a nearby school, and the first time meeting the participants of the study, as well as the teacher [in the setting of the Praxis; I had previously known the teacher from a summer institute].

Observations

Project:  Oobleck

Students

Engagement:

• Describe how you felt about the activity
• Describe this lesson to an incoming student/a student who missed the lesson.  What could they expect from this lesson?
• Do you wish you had more time to do this lesson?  Why?
• Would you do the lesson again?  Why?

Transfer:

Researcher: Brielle Stark, Bryn Mawr College '12

Research Questions:

• Are open-ended activities engaging to students?
• Do open-ended activities transfer knowledge to students?
• Is there a difference between teacher and student perceptions of open-ended activities?

Goals:

This summer, I participated in the summer institutes with K-12 teachers, sponsored by Howard Hughes Medical Institute.  The goal of my summer research activities was to participate in and facilitate discussion, form relationships and develop new ideas in relation to the brain, education, mental health and inquiry with K-12 teachers in both the Brain and Behavior Institute, lead by Paul Grobstein, and the Inquiry Institute, lead by Wilfred Franklin.  I will summarize these institutes and offer conclusions and further points of discussion for the future.

Brielle Stark, 2009

Living Life

My name is Brielle Stark -- I am a rising sophomore at Bryn Mawr College and a proposed psychology major (concentration in neural and behavior science).  I'm a learner, athlete, outdoors-lover, reader, writer, pianist, conversationlist and much more!

Model for Creation of Open-Ended, Inquiry-Based Projects

Brielle Stark, July 2009

I have been taking part in an inquiry-based program with K-12 teachers, exploring how the brain works, how emergence works and how to apply this knowledge in everyday life, as well as in the classroom.  We like to call this concept open-ended transactional inquiry. 

Commentary on the Computer Science Education Summer Institute