Quest for Learning - Marie Alcock

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of working within a framework, including the inability to guarantee that if you follow certain steps, everything will go according to plan. We also understand the desire for exactly that kind of reassurance. But it simply isn’t possible with questing, and we address that as well—such as when talking about unexpected outcomes, for example.

      To be sure, questing is not unit or curriculum design. You can employ questing with any unit by paying attention to three engagement tenets. We developed these tenets as a result of the interplay among brain-based research, game-based theory, and lots of learner observation. What we offer in this book clarifies some of the more challenging choices and elements within the questing framework more deeply.

      Our three learner engagement tenets follow.

      1. The learner engages with relevant, worthy inquiries and experiences that are interesting or emotionally gripping.

      2. The learner engages in an active, intentional cycle with clear goals and right-sized, actionable steps.

      3. The learner engages in social, collaborative opportunities that grow expertise.

      The student and teacher experience engagement tenets through a design type. Both make deliberate design choices in the questing framework. In this book, we focus on (1) question design, (2) game design, and (3) network design. These are not the only designs through which students can quest, but they are the ones with which most teachers struggle.

      Any one quest may include any combination of inquiry, game, and network design choices. Student and teacher make choices through these design lenses to grow their own expertise. What is relevant and worth investigating? What is interesting or emotionally gripping? What networks should I tap into?

      After initially outlining something based on the quester’s interests, student and teacher design and redesign the details as the learning journey begins unfolding. Participants address details in a just-in-time manner, as they crop up, instead of in advance. This powerfully summarizes 21st century learning: discovering something of interest, working in a space with like-minded participants, and establishing either group or individual goals. Developing a prototype, pursuing social reform, or creating a film takes weeks, perhaps months, and represents possible products or events from a questing experience. Those weeks are filled with discovery, missteps, and wins both big and little. These are questers engaging in the learning process.

      To simply promote an experience and call it a quest does not mean the learner automatically experiences engagement and joyful learning. True questing means teachers encourage problem solvers, creators, and critical thinkers to adapt and grow with content, tools, and resources. To that end, the way a teacher facilitates a quest makes or breaks a student’s learning experience.

      The Quest for Learning helps you build a repository of instructional techniques and approaches that generate and sustain quality questing experiences. We split this book into two parts. Part I (chapters 1 through 5) is about establishing questing’s foundations; part II (chapters 6 through 9) is about guiding quests. Chapter 1 clarifies why questing is a compelling method for boosting student engagement. Chapter 2 thoroughly explores the three tenets of engagement and introduces three design lenses. Subsequent chapters dig deeply into each design type as a collection of choices to be made while questing—chapter 3 digs deeper into question design choices, chapter 4 into game design choices, and chapter 5 into network design choices.

      Part II puts the components together and shows you how to act on the information. This portion of the book asks that readers follow the sequence it gives. Chapter 6 reveals quest inspiration, goal clarification, curriculum mapping, and final products (known as deliverables). Chapter 7 helps you introduce students to questing. Chapter 8 details support provision during journeys, starting with timelines and checklists, which help address the standards required of you. Chapter 9 helps teachers and students decide what deliverables students will generate. Each chapter concludes with a coda to wrap up the most salient points therein. Afterward, appendix A addresses frequently asked questions, and appendix B offers probing questions that help guide quest decisions.

      To showcase how the big picture and fine details support one another in quests, we’ve chosen one illustrative quest example (on the topic of disease) to show how the details within each chapter add dimension and engagement. Our self-imposed criteria for selecting the topic follow.

      * The topic is applicable for students in various age ranges.

      * Students can pursue the topic through myriad courses and subjects.

      * The problem, challenge, or idea is meaningful and worth the pursuit.

      This book helps you use the questing framework in your classroom and incorporate learning standards. It also provides planning and assessment tools. (Visit go.SolutionTree.com/instruction to download free reproducibles, including an example of the completed disease quest.)

      We sincerely hope that you get the following from this book.

      * Inspiration to use questing as a framework in your own classroom

      * Opportunities to seek increased co-creation, win states, affinity spaces, and authentic deliverables

      * Additional tools for your instructional toolbox (including question design options, game design options, and network design options)

      * Tenets of engagement participation options for all students

      Pause for a moment to respond to the following questions: What do you want on behalf of your learners? How do you model that, live that, and grow in that space together with your students? This response is a quest’s start and guiding reason. We designed this reading experience to examine current realities and grow from them through questioning, imagining, and—most important—taking action. Learning often requires a timeless and courageous act of becoming. This book is the beginning of a conversation. Let’s get started.

      PART I

       Establishing

      CHAPTER 1

      Making the Case for Questing

      Dated approaches to school subjects where “problems are solved not by observing and responding to the natural landscape but by mastering time-tested routines, conveniently placed along the path” are ebbing away in favor of more contemporary tactics (National Research Council, 1990, p. 4). A 2016 Gallup report reveals that just 49 percent of students in grades 5 and up feel engaged in school. While facts and skills are still important,

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