A group of Clarkston teachers and administrators traveled to Harvard University in July to learn new methods during a Project Zero conference.
According to Harvard, Project Zero was launched in 1967 to examine how children learn while investigating intelligence, thinking, understanding, creativity, and other aspects of learning.
Projects Zero includes research projects to understand and enhance high-level thinking and learning at school, businesses, museums, and online.
“It was amazing. There was people from all over the world who brought in different experiences to each other,” said Staci Puzio research and testing supervisor for Clarkston Community Schools. “We met each day, and had deep conversations, like we had worked together forever.”
They talked about ‘slow looking,? which means taking time to notice things around you, Puzio said.
‘For teachers, slow looking can be when we are examining a student, we take time to slow look and not have a snap judgment,? she said. ‘We have to take the time to look at all aspects of the student.”
Superintendent Dr. Rod Rock, responsible for culture of thinking and Learning in CCS, also attended the Harvard Conference.
“There were people there from all over the world from countries like Australia, Korea, Germany and South America,” Rock said. “It was like a research event full of diverse educators exchanging information.”
Rock spoke about mindfulness, a thinking method teaching people to have a non-judgmental focus on feelings, thoughts, and emotions.
“See how things are connected,” Rock said.
The superintendent cited the book ‘Seven Habits of Highly Successful People,? and also discussed differnent theories of intelligence.
There was a lot of information exchanged at the conference.
“We looked at the whole child. We looked at ways to engage and support our students,” Rock said.
Some practices discussed at the conference are already at work in Clarkston schools.
“We want all of out students to be healthy and engaged. We want our students to feel powerful and have whatever it takes to be successful,? he said.
Rock said potential is bounded only by the self-imposed limits of imagination, will, action, and vision, and it’s important students have a sense of belonging.
“Our teachers are important too. You can have a teacher that shows you things that stay with you your whole life,” he said.
Clarkston schools has been working on a Cultures of Thinking concept for a few years.
The concept encourages students to question, experiment and think outside the box, he said.
During the conference, teachers were encouraged to take pictures at a different angle or a different perspective than normal, Puzio said.
“When we did that, I realized that yes, there are things I have missed walking that street,” she said.
We learned about “Wilding the Tame” by David Perkins,Puzio noted.
“We want our students to make connections. So if we are teaching a ‘tame? topic to students we want to make it as wild as possible,? she said. ‘If we are learning about zoo animals, lets have an experience of being a zoo keeper or something more applicable and deeper. We need to go beyond and give students more that just information. If we are teaching about soccer, why just give them a soccer ball when we can give students the whole game.”
Applying methods taught at Project Zero is not a program or a step by step process, Puzio said.
“Its thinking deeper about ideas and applying it to your own situation. Its pushing the idea and thinking about how I apply it to my situation,” she said.
Puzio said she is already thinking about how she will apply the concept.
“It’s called wonderstanding. thinking and reflecting and doing something more so it keeps us wondering,” she said.
Director of Curriculum Nancy Mahoney appreciated Project Zero for the way it brought teachers together from all over the world.
“It was an event full of big ideas,” Mahoney said. “We want to push our students towards complexity by slow looking. We want to take big ideas and use various ways from writing to visual arts to movement to tap into talents. How do we honor different perspectives in the world.”
She said creating the right learning environment also includes recognizing learning is social.
“We can break kids into groups to really bring out their talents,” she said.
“We have embraced different ideas,” Mahoney said. “We have to be in the mind-set to discard methods that do not benefit students.”