Richard D. Solomon's Blog on Mentoring Jewish Students and Teachers: How the web-based thinking tool, Showing Evidence, can be used to promote instruction in the blended learning classroom

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

How the web-based thinking tool, Showing Evidence, can be used to promote instruction in the blended learning classroom

When mentoring our pre-service and in-service teachers we need to describe and model both research-based and clinically tested best practices, and demonstrate how these best practices can be applied in the real (i.e. physical) and virtual (i.e. online) classroom for both teaching and teacher training. The combination of face to face instruction in a physical setting and online learning is called blended learning. In this section of the blog we will describe how the internet can serve as a supplemental resource for instruction and the mentoring of pre-service and in-service Jewish educators. In this post we will discuss how the online tool, Showing Evidence, can be used to promote instruction in the blended learning classroom.

Assumption: The teacher or mentor teacher has an interactive white board (i.e. SMART Board, Promethean, etc.), a Tablet PC (also called a Slate or Blade), a computer presenter or computer with internet access attached to an LCD projector in the classroom. It would be ideal if students or mentees had access to their own laptop computers or Ipads. Given parental and school approval, and the development of specific guidelines, smartphones can be used to enhance instruction as well.

Note: Although the Showing Evidence cognitive tool can be applied in the Judaic Studies blended learning classroom, it can be also be used for training pre-service and in-service Jewish educators for professional or staff development. It is our hope that Jewish educators around the globe will form an online community of practice, a CoP, a group of people who share an interest, a craft, and/or a profession, to enhance the delivery of instruction and training of Jewish educators. For example, here is a CoP you might want to join.

Note: The Showing Evidence cognitive tool can be used in a face to face and virtual classroom.

In previous blog posts we have defined thinking skills and processes, creative thinking, critical thinking and Benjamin Blooms taxonomy of educational objectives. We have also shared creative and critical thinking tools developed by Dr. Donald J. Treffinger.

What is the Showing Evidence online thinking tool?

According to the Intel website, the Showing Evidence thinking skills tool provides students with “a visual framework to make claims, identify evidence, evaluate the quality of that evidence, explain how the evidence supports or weakens claims, and reach conclusions based on the evidence. This thinking tool supports activities where students debate differences, make and defend decisions, and analyze conflicting information. The tool and related resources are available for free, from any computer that is connected to the Internet. Students may work on their claims and evidence at home or at school, and can be paired with another team to review their ideas”.

For additional details explaining the Showing Evidence click here.

For additional resources on Showing Evidence refer to the sources listed below:

Below please find an example of the web-based Showing Evidence tool[1] on the following question: Was Jack a hero in the story, Jack and the Bean Stalk?

[1] Taken from this website: http://www97.intel.com/en/ThinkingTools/ShowingEvidence/ProjectExamples/UnitPlans/JackBeanstalk/SE_UP1.htm ; retrievedon October 11, 2012.

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How the web-based thinking tool, Showing Evidence, can be used to promote instruction in the blended learning classroom

Click on the links below and find resources explaining how the online thinking skills tool, Showing Evidence, can be used to promote instruction in the traditional and virtual classroom:

On the next post we will discuss how the web-based thinking tool, Showing Evidence, can be used to promote Judaic instruction and to mentor and train Jewish educators.

[1] Taken from this Intel website, http://www97.intel.com/en/ThinkingTools/ShowingEvidence/ProjectExamples/UnitPlans/JackBeanstalk/SE_UP1.htm ; retrieved on October 11, 2012.