Lesson Planning

PST's Dip Netting

OK, so now that I have a rough idea for a framework for integrating the NPDL into the wildlife sanctuary experiences, I am now heading down the road of planning the individual activities that (will) make up the suite of experiences we offer. To begin, I figured we needed something for the teachers when they are looking at the experiences we offer. Here's an example Activity Sheet for Dip Netting.  This one is aimed at grade Foundation - 2.

The other piece of work is around how we train our staff for what they are doing, so I'm also going to be creating a heap of lesson plans so that they have clarity on the outcomes. Here's an example lesson plan for the same Dip Netting Activity.

Another aspect of my planning is the creation of a training program to develop pedagogical capacity in our presentation staff. So whilst not all our staff are education trained, my plan is to integrate pre-service teachers (PSTs) with our Biological Science undergraduate staff so we can get a bit of cross understandings and professional development happening... This will hopefully transform into professional learning opportunities for teachers in following years.

One of the Sanctuary's many wetlands - The Main Lake

The La Trobe Wildlife Sanctuary

A sunny winter morning at the Sanctuary

The La Trobe Wildlife Sanctuary is described as La Trobe University's biggest outdoor laboratory. It is a fantastic resource for learners (of all ages) to come and explore nature and deepen their understanding of indigenous flora and fauna as well as the linkages to sustainability.

I've been working there for around 10 years, mostly in the space of education development and delivery, but also in a marketing and visitor experience capacity. As you can see on the sanctuary website, we do a truckload of awesome stuff. We do this because we are inspired to learn and inspired to pass our learning on to others.

In the space of primary and secondary education, we coordinate a range of what I call education experiences (rather than education programs - cos that sounds a bit boring), and based on my learning throughout the Masters of Teaching at La Trobe, I'm now updating and developing our experiences further.

Pre-service teachers learning about teaching in nature

I'm really excited to be able to go through this process and bring the wildlife sanctuary with me on this journey.

Beyond the NPDL Framework

The Victorian Education Department (DET, 2015) highlights the 5e Instructional Model as a tool for the development of inquiry based lessons and units. There website provides a clear description about the 5es and their use. This week I summerised a variety of documents to create the 5e Framework that relates to the way the La Trobe Wildlife Sanctuary approaches education experiences.



Further, I delved into a bit of the theory behind the 6C's and created the following to guide the development of our activities.
This is hopefully starting to put some substance to the integration of the NPDL framework into the La Trobe Wildlife Sanctuary.

A New Pedagogy for Deep Learning Framework

This week I put together a bit of a draft on the framework that will inform the development of education experiences at the La Trobe Wildlife Sanctuary. I'll be rewriting all the activities and experiences we offer to schools to align with this framework and I hope that the framework evolves over the period of the Masters project so that a robust and easily accessible process for lesson planning, that incorporates much of the theory around New Pedagogy for Deep Learning (NPDL) is created.

The trick with the NPDL framework, presented by Fullan and Langworthy, is that the pedagogical approach is blend of approaches already in use by school and research practitioners, it needs to be flexible and meet the needs of the school and classroom environment. An approaches I've used to inform this framework is the 5e Instructional model, but authentic, productive and critical pedagogy have also contributed to my thoughts, as are the more practical concepts of blended learning, direct instruction and the work of McWilliams on the Meddler in the Middle. 

One thing I have not covered in this framework, highlighted by the Victorian Department of Education and Training (DET) is the importance of the Learning Environment in developing an approach to learning. In the context of the La Trobe Wildlife Sanctuary this is an important element because the environment is very different than a classroom, thus the classroom dynamics and pedagogical approach would be unique. The DET has a nice video describing their framework.

I've started explaining the framework in a further blog