PBL News @SDUSD

This year's showcase will be a live virtual event on June 3rd (Thursday). It will feature CCTE and interdisciplinary PBL projects. Each team that enters will have a web page featuring their project and the students' presentation of learning. At the live event, a team of students will discuss their project with showcase judges. To better understand the experience, take a look at the CCTE Innovation Showcase website and live stream from last year's event.

We are currently planning to host two institutes in the Summer of 2020. The format will be virtual with the option for interdisciplinary teams to meet in-person. Interest in attending PBL Institute has grown and we hope that running two institutes will provide for better differentiation and collaboration.

Save the dates (June 21 - July 2 for Institute 1 & August 2 - August 13 for Institute 2) with the understanding that the number of participants is TBD by available funding and grant notifications. High school principals have received registration information. If you are a middle school principal or you are a middle school teacher interested in PBL Institute, please email me at rhoffman@sandi.net

Pulling off an interdisciplinary PBL project during the COVID-19 pandemic and online learning has been no small feat. Even with PBL teams designing and developing projects for online learning, all the obstacles teams would face didn't present themselves until school started. It has been incredible to learn how PBL teams adjusted, adapted, and shifted projects during 1st semester. While the projects may not have been what the teams envisioned last summer, they still provided students with opportunities to participate in PBL. I want to thank the teams from Kearny BST, Kearny DMD, SDHS Academy of Finace, and Mann Middle for taking the time to share their projects with me and our SDUSD PBL Community.

The 10th grade team at Kearny HS Biomedical Sciences and Technology (BST) originally planned to have their students work with UCSD Community Health to develop educational infographics and distribute them through social media platforms to spread awareness about health and food insecurities and their effects within the community of Linda Vista.

UCSD Community Health helped the team connect with organizations in the community the students would work with to design advertisements. Everything was lined up in the summer, then when school started, their clients started to fall off due to the difficulties associated with running a business during the pandemic. With no clients, the project seemed lost.

The teachers (Chemistry and English) decided to refocus the project around sustainable business practices and found two San Diego businesses, Chinita's Pie and El Cholo's Kid, who were interested and had time to work with students.

With clients in place, the students were asked, "How might you create a print advertisement to explain and persuade an audience about why supporting a SPECIFIC local business can be good for the environment?" Through the project, students learned about geoscience data, sustainability, rhetorical persuasive techniques, and design thinking.

An essential component of the project was providing students with the opportunity to conduct an empathy interview with both of the companies. Throughout this process, students spent time crafting, discussing, debating, and voting on which questions to ask their clients. The information the students received directly from company representatives led them to create social media ads that highlighted a problem and a call to action. In the end, the students were able to share their ads with Chinita's Pie and El Cholo's Kid.

The Mann Middle School PBL Team joined the PBL Institute for the first time in 2020. Their project, "Fighting Environmental Injustice in City Heights," focused on the themes of social justice and the environment. The team hoped this project, designed for online learning, would get students out exploring and making an impact in their community.

Project Essential Question: How can we determine the health of our urban ecosystem and identify areas of environmental injustice within our community, in order to make and advocate for positive change in our community and beyond?

English Classes

In English classes students studied the novel Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes, which chronicles a young girl’s experience during the week of Hurricane Katrina. The class looked critically at the residents most affected by the aftermath of the storm and used this as a jumping point to discuss environmental justice in both New Orleans and our City Heights community. Students finished the semester by creating Public Service Announcements to raise awareness of environmental issues affecting their local community.

Science Classes

In science classes, teachers passed out water test strips during textbook distribution. Students then spent a week learning about environmental justice (see lessons). Then students identified areas of environmental injustice in their school neighborhood (City Heights). Students tested water in their homes, searched for native and invasive plants and looked at heat pollution to determine their neighborhoods "health". Take a look at there DATA I and DATA II. Students then analyzed the data from water testing and as compared to national safety standards. Students found high levels of lead and chlorine in their water samples and made community PSA's about the dangers of this in their neighborhood (video example). Students presented these findings to the school administrative team.

Through reflection, the Mann team shared how Project-Based Learning, even when online, engaged their students and provided them with a relevant purpose for learning.

The Kearny HS Digital Media and Design 11th grade team are in their second year of developing and implementing their STEM Stories project. This year the students will create interdisciplinary pieces that incorporate science, art, and history (STEAM-a-zines and Invest-a-crates) inspired by local STEMists from an underrepresented population. Students will use these products to target Linda Vista with the goal of providing people with stories of STEM professionals who reflect the gender and ethnic background of the community. For more background information on the project, please visit the STEM Stories 2020-21 website and see last year's project see the STEM Stories page on the CCTE Innovation Showcase website.

A new addition to this year's project was the inclusion of students using Tinkercad to design an InvestiCrate: a science, technology, engineering experience inspired by their STEM professional contained in a crate.

In the images below, you can see the devices students created using Tinkercad and pictures of the first draft of their 3D printed device (revised second drafts are currently being printed). There is a blurb from the STEMist that the student used as inspiration for the device they created and a short excerpt from each student's written explanation of the physics concept used in the device. Also included is a slide from the students' design journal they used for research and reflection throughout the production process of creating their devices.

San Diego High School's Academy of Finance are use online learning as an opportunity to enlist their students in re-branding their academy and developing skills in public relations. Students have been working with a local digital marketing agency, BusinessOnline. 10th grade students in Empowering Entrepreneurs, under teachers’ supervision, worked directly with BusinessOnline and were actively involved in the marketing plan to create a strong and purposeful brand for the academy. They redesigned the logo, wrote content for the website, and created promotional videos.

Take a look at the new website for the SDHS Academy of Finance (image below).

Additionally, academy students in 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grade all recorded personal brand videos which were then compiled into one promotional video which is featured on the website and the academy’s YouTube channel. View the video.

Biocom has launched a new effort, the STEAM Team, to connect K12 classrooms with professionals from their member companies in the fields of science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (e.g. Thermo Fisher Scientific). Employers will virtually present to students about their careers, companies, and education. Here’s how the process works…

• Visit the speaker scheduling platform at https://www.lovestemsd.org/user/register to create your classroom account (“STEAM Educator” account).

• Select a STEAM professional to spend 30 minutes with your students virtually – 15 minutes to talk about their companies and jobs, and 15 minutes for Q&A – and schedule a classroom visit.

• STEAM professionals will follow a standard presentation template, but can adjust their talking points to fit your curriculum if you wish. You and your students will also receive questions and a worksheet to facilitate conversation and ensure students get the most out of the presentation.

• Presenters are flexible with virtual meeting platforms and will adapt to whatever you’re using in your classroom.

Please find the flyer and additional instructions attached!

The SDCOE WBL Team is continuing to build a collection of Virtual WBL Activities by Industry Sector. They are recording presentations, panels, and virtual site tours. Take a look!

Are you a high school educator passionate about design thinking and empowering youth? Project Invent Fellowship is designed to fit you. Attend a weeklong summer intensive in design thinking and invention, lead your students to invent for social good, receive support throughout the year from expert advisors from MIT and Stanford d.school, and bring your whole team to pitch to top investors. It's an opportunity to grow as a professional and network with top tech companies.

Jennifer Ogo, teacher of Principals of Biomedical Science, Biomedical Innovations, and Biology from Kearny BST, a current participant in the program shared the following:

"The Project Invent Fellowship has been so valuable for me as an educator because as a Biomedical Sciences teacher, I had never learned how to teach the design thinking process. It has given me confidence to guide the students through the process of need finding, ideating, creating and presenting their ideas in a collaborative, team building and inspiring process. The students have been impressive in their designs and creative thinking through solutions to real-world problems. These students are our future change-makers."

Jen's students recently presented their final Project Invent products (images above / click to enlarge) to experts in the field and their peers. On April 17th, one team will represent Kearny BST at Project Invent's Demo Day.

Note: This is a self-funded program not sponsored by SDUSD. Costs per team - $0 Public School (Title 1) and $1,000 Public School (non-Title 1). Cost to help cover a portion of the costs for the summer training, Launch Weekend, and year-round advisor support.

Join the Instructional Technology Department for the Innovative Teaching Network on Tuesday, March 2nd from 3:00 - 4:30 PM

Agenda

• 1 in 3 Presentations (one best thing in 3 minutes) featuring Bitmoji classrooms and Prokeys, a grading tool, and more.
• Three breakout sessions from Guest Speakers.
  - Podcasting for Educators - Chris Garcia, Chula Vista Elementary School District and SDCUE Board Vice President
  - Create Stunning Presentations, Infographics, and More with Genially - Brent Enerva, Grossmont Union High School District, SDCUE Board Candidate
  - Bitmoji Mania - Pam Rabin, SDCOE and SDCUE Board Member

For more information, descriptions of sessions, and the link to sign up in Professional Learning visit http://sdusditn.com

SDCOE's WBL Team has developed a series of Canvas trainings to support teachers in offering the highest quality career readiness education. These trainings can be completed at your pace on your schedule - over the course of a month or an afternoon, at night or during your lunch break. After completing a course, you will have access to all of the resources referred to in the training, including powerpoint slides, activities, worksheets, supplemental videos, and more. They are FREE for SD County educators. Enroll now!

Interested in getting started with or going deeper with Project-Based Learning or Design Thinking? Let's customize an experience for your site or team. Contact Reuben Hoffman at rhoffman@sandi.net.

* The events listed below are paid events not sponsored by SDUSD. They have been included in the newsletter for awareness of events that pertain to PBL / Linked Learning / CCTE / Pathways. You can follow these events for free virtually on many social media platforms, especially Twitter.

• Educating for Careers Conference (Virtual) - February 28 - March 2, 2021
  The Educating for Careers Conference is an annual three-day professional development event surrounding career technical education (CTE).
  

Great option for all types of funding related to student learning. Create an account at www.donorschoose.org

SD City Hermanos Unidos Brothers United - February 25th, 2021

HUBU aims to motivate and inspire men of color through topics that address real life issues that men face in college.

San Diego Association of Black Journalists Scholarship

In the 21 years since SDABJ was formed we have disbursed over $60,000 in scholarships to deserving students with ties to the San Diego community. Students with qualifying transcripts and a body of work that indicates a high level of interest in journalism will be considered for scholarships ranging from $300 to $1500. The application deadline is Wednesday, March 31, 2021.

SD Promise Scholarship Class of 2021

The San Diego Promise is a two-year completion program designed to ensure students complete their educational goal, whether it be to earn a certificate of completion and enter the workforce, complete an associate degree, or transfer to a university. SD Promise Requirements

For more information regarding PBL at SDUSD, please contact Reuben Hoffman at rhoffman@sandi.net, visit the SDUSD PBL Website, follow #sdusdpbl & @reubenhoffman on Twitter.

Please invite me to see your students in action, so I can share more of the great things happening in SD Unified.

If you would like to submit something for a future newsletter, please contact Reuben Hoffman at rhoffman@sandi.net.

Email: rhoffman@sandi.net
Website: https://sites.google.com/sandi.net/pbl/home
Phone: 8584142557

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