On Pinterest, there is a whole section of the site dedicated to education. It is a category where students, teachers, parents, preschool leaders, etc. can share their classroom activities and ideas. Others can comment on the pictures to share whether they have tried the idea and it was effective, or ways to adjust the idea to work better. Each picture links to the site that the idea came from, or directly to step-by-step instructions on how to carry out the activity. There are pins on how to create no-mess finger-paint stations, recipes on healthy snacks that follow the weekly theme, activities that provide hands-on learning of the concepts of multiplication, spelling, etc. The possibilities are endless.
I began to view this site as a valuable tool to the education community, one that encourages the critical pedagogy approach to education. Using this site, teachers can collaborate together to find and share activities to engage their students in critical thinking, provide hands on learning and creativity that will make children excited to participate and be involved in their learning processes. That teachers can comment and make suggestions on how to make the activity work better or be more enjoyable is essential to the constant revision on learning materials that is needed to help students stay engaged with topics, and to make them enjoy learning. Students can be encouraged to browse the site to look for ideas for their own projects, or suggest them to their teachers for class discussion.
In working in a daycare/preschool over the summer, we were required by the daycare licensing board to have weekly "themes" in which different activities emphasizing math, language, art, and motor-sensory learning were all to be planned in relation to the weekly theme. Each teacher was required to complete a weeks worth of activities all following the weekly theme. Most of the time, these activity ideas came from approved preschool activity books. This resulted in most of the teachers doing the same activities with their group, and repeating the same activities over and over again with different themes. The lack of selection also ensured that there were many activities that had to be included to fill the sheets that the children did not particularly enjoy, or did not work well for certain groups. I feel as though if we had known about the Pinterest education board, we would have had access to many theme activities that had been proven to be enjoyable for the kids. We would have been able to share our activities with others and use different daycares ideas with our kids.
Pinterest is an excellent online tool to promote interaction between professionals in the educational world. This interaction could greatly benefit students and engage their attention using hands-on activities to facilitate their learning based on feedback from other teachers on the effectiveness in their classrooms and the approval of their students.
I found your review on Pinterest as an educational tool very insightful. I use a website similar to Pinterest called StumbleUpon that acts on a similar premise of sharing information on particular areas of interest. What is most useful about this kind of tool where teachers can share their trick and ideas, say what works for them and what doesn't, and where students can also have input makes education a community focus. It is in the interest of students that teachers share what works and what doesn't, and especially in this kind of atmosphere where people can be anonymous and not afraid to question certain teaching practice.
ReplyDeleteI think your point about variety is also very true. Many teachers use teaching practices that are repetitive and are widely used by other teachers that may not be completely effective. Pinterest can offer suggestions on how to change things up in the classroo and offer alternatives for out dated teaching methods.
-Rebecca Thompson
Wow! I only started using Pinterest recently and I never even knew they had an education board. I am always looking into new blogs so I could definitely see how Pinterest could be used as a great educational tool! By being able to share knowledge with others there would be endless possibilities for teachers! As Rebecca pointed out above about teachers being repetitive that is very true but I would say it is because teachers did not have the resources they have today. In high school I could see a huge difference between teachers who were fairly new and teachers who had been at the same school for thirty years. They seemed to have just lost that "spark" over time. By having a whole online community just regarding new ideas for teachers is really exciting!
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw the title of this blog post I was really intrigued to see what you had to say about Pintrest functioning as an educational tool. As I read your review, I went on my Pintrest account to view the educational section since I didn't know that it existed until now. I believe that this would be a great tool for teachers who are just starting to teach. Teachers who have experience in this field of work can post their experiences with ideas, activities, etc that will really encourage interactional learning in the teaching community. I completely agree with your point that this is (and encourages) the critical pedagogy teaching approach to education. Not only are the teachers interacting with other teachers from all over the world, but they are also including their students in this. Their students are able to interact, try new things, and as you states, really encourage critical thinking. It's amazing how much things have changes since we have been in junior high and high school. I feel like if these tools existed when I was in school, that it would have made teaching and learning an altogether better experience. This is taking education a step in the right direction.
ReplyDeleteGood for someone like me who have been to Pinterest before and I will surely advantage from your insights.
ReplyDeleteHey, thanks for posting this. It was good to know about Pinterest. This will be of value to me. Appreciated.
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