Title:
SMART Play: Collaboration, Communication, and Creativity in the Classroom
Dr. Brigid J.S. Barron, Stanford University
Assistant Professor, School of Education

Abstract:
New learning theories emphasize the importance of engaging students in knowledge building activities that connect concepts to contexts of application and encourage the kinds of discourse and problem solving occurring outside of school. As a consequence, there has been a resurgence of interest in problem and project-based learning approaches. These approaches afford opportunities for problem formulation, data collection, and synthesis around complex simulated problems or real world projects. While promising, one major hurdle in implementing problem and project-based curricula is that they require simultaneous changes in curriculum, instruction and assessment practices--changes that are often foreign to the students as well as the teachers.

In this talk, Dr. Barron will describe an integrated model of assessment and instruction that supports teacher and student learning. An episode from the videodisc series The Adventures of Jasper Woodbury, created by the Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt, forms the basis for the problem-based activities. Children's work is supported by explicit cycles of working on the problem, feedback, and opportunities for revision. Resources in the form of multimedia tools stimulate class discussion and provide support for revision. These tools are embodied in SMART (Special Multimedia Arenas for Refining Thinking) programs. The programs contain four segments that differ in their emphasis though share the purpose of supporting formative assessment, reflection, and contact with a larger community. The four segments are called Smart Lab, Toolbox, Kids-on-Line and The Challenge. Dr. Barron will share design principles that emerged from collaboration with teachers and students, examples of these tools, and data on student learning.