Private Eye Project

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The Private Eye Project is a research-based educational program created by Kerry Ruef in 1988. Founded in both inquiry-based learning and active learning approaches, it is designed to accelerate student learning by the development of critical thinking skills, creativity, literacy, and scientific literacy. Some of the main themes are "close observation", "thinking by analogy", "hands-on investigation", "changing scale", and "theorizing". One of the main tools used in the program for enhancing close observation is a loupe. The first three and one-half years were grant-funded by the Discuren Charitable Foundation and piloted in the Seattle Public Schools. [1]

Contents

As of October 2010, The Private Eye Project has been used by thousands of teachers and over 3 million students. [2] The Private Eye Project is both a curriculum and staff development program; its teacher-training component is also distributed via university school of education programs. [3] It is viewed as a powerful program for fostering ecoliteracy. [4] It is considered an innovative program for teaching thinking. [5] The methodology of The Private Eye Project is sometimes referenced in discussions of creativity and critical thinking. [6]

In May 2015, The Private Eye was featured in Microscopy Today, [7] the journal of the Microscopy Society of America.

Research basis

The Northwest Educational Technology Consortium lists The Private Eye Project first in the list of resources for research-based strategies for effective instruction in critical thinking. [8] SEDL, formerly the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, includes the materials of The Private Eye Project in its "Science After School" list of resources for advancing research, improving education. [9] Education Resources Information Center lists The Private Eye Project as an educational resource. [10]

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The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to education:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interdisciplinarity</span> Combination of two or more academic disciplines into one activity

Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity. It draws knowledge from several other fields like sociology, anthropology, psychology, economics, etc. It is about creating something by thinking across boundaries. It is related to an interdiscipline or an interdisciplinary field, which is an organizational unit that crosses traditional boundaries between academic disciplines or schools of thought, as new needs and professions emerge. Large engineering teams are usually interdisciplinary, as a power station or mobile phone or other project requires the melding of several specialties. However, the term "interdisciplinary" is sometimes confined to academic settings.

Media literacy is an expanded conceptualization of literacy that includes the ability to access and analyze media messages as well as create, reflect and take action, using the power of information and communication to make a difference in the world. Media literacy is not restricted to one medium and is understood as a set of competencies that are essential for work, life, and citizenship. Media literacy education is the process used to advance media literacy competencies, and it is intended to promote awareness of media influence and create an active stance towards both consuming and creating media. Media literacy education is part of the curriculum in the United States and some European Union countries, and an interdisciplinary global community of media scholars and educators engages in knowledge and scholarly and professional journals and national membership associations.

Critical thinking is the analysis of available facts, evidence, observations, and arguments in order to form a judgement by the application of rational, skeptical, and unbiased analyses and evaluation. The application of critical thinking includes self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective habits of the mind, thus Critical Thinking is an acquired skill used to evaluate data. Richard W. Paul said that the mind of a critical thinker engages the person's intellectual abilities and personality traits. Critical thinking presupposes assent to rigorous standards of excellence and mindful command of their use in effective communication and problem solving, and a commitment to overcome egocentrism and sociocentrism.

The Association of College and Research Libraries defines information literacy as a "set of integrated abilities encompassing the reflective discovery of information, the understanding of how information is produced and valued and the use of information in creating new knowledge and participating ethically in communities of learning". In the United Kingdom, the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals' definition also makes reference to knowing both "when" and "why" information is needed.

The Five Colleges of Ohio, Inc. is an American academic and administrative consortium of five private liberal arts colleges in the state of Ohio. It is a nonprofit educational consortium established in 1995 to promote the broad educational and cultural objectives of its member institutions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Open educational resources</span> Open learning resource

Open educational resources (OER) are teaching, learning, and research materials intentionally created and licensed to be free for the end user to own, share, and in most cases, modify. The term "OER" describes publicly accessible materials and resources for any user to use, re-mix, improve, and redistribute under some licenses. These are designed to reduce accessibility barriers by implementing best practices in teaching and to be adapted for local unique contexts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Project-based learning</span> Learner centric pedagogy

Project-based learning (PBL) is a student-centered pedagogy that involves a dynamic classroom approach in which it is believed that students acquire a deeper knowledge through active exploration of real-world challenges and problems. Students learn about a subject by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to a complex question, challenge, or problem. It is a style of active learning and inquiry-based learning. PBL contrasts with paper-based, rote memorization, or teacher-led instruction that presents established facts or portrays a smooth path to knowledge by instead posing questions, problems, or scenarios.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeremy J. Shapiro</span> American philosopher

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Integrative learning is a learning theory describing a movement toward integrated lessons helping students make connections across curricula. This higher education concept is distinct from the elementary and high school "integrated curriculum" movement.

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Place-based education, sometimes called pedagogy of place, place-based learning, experiential education, community-based education, environmental education or more rarely, service learning, is an educational philosophy. The term was coined in the early 1990s by Laurie Lane-Zucker of The Orion Society and Dr. John Elder of Middlebury College. Orion's early work in the area of place-based education was funded by the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. Although educators have used its principles for some time, the approach was developed initially by The Orion Society, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit organization, as well as Professor David Sobel, Project Director at Antioch University New England.

Scientific literacy or science literacy encompasses written, numerical, and digital literacy as they pertain to understanding science, its methodology, observations, and theories. Scientific literacy is chiefly concerned with an understanding of the scientific method, units and methods of measurement, empiricism and understanding of statistics in particular correlations and qualitative versus quantitative observations and aggregate statistics, as well as a basic understanding of core scientific fields, such as physics, chemistry, biology, ecology, geology and computation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transliteracy</span> Ability to use diverse techniques to collaborate across different social groups

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Susan Neuman is an educator, researcher, and education policy-maker in early childhood and literacy development. In 2013, she became Professor of Early Childhood and Literacy Education, and Chair of the Department of Teaching and Learning at NYU's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development.

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Global education is a mental development program that seeks to improve global human development based on the understanding of global dynamics, through the various sectors of human development delivery. In formal education, as a mode of human development delivery, it is integrated into formal educational programs, as an advanced program where global dimensions to local problems are appreciated through interconnectivity. Its first phase began as an undertaking to restructure education and society in the 1960s and 1970s, through the initiatives of educationalists, NGOs and intergovernmental organizations. The program evolves with the internet, and is in its virtual interconnectivity phase, through social media and other global public spheres. This global approach to mental development, seeks to fix the failing curriculum-based global education program that is: stuck in limited subject knowledge, based on theories that have failed the world ;hinged on memorization without visual exposure to knowledge development resources and global culture, limited by access to human development resources. Instead, the program seeks to improve the global mental resources pool through the appreciation of global dynamics and local perspectives on issues. This is through alternative motivations for global human development, and alternative global futures hinged on interconnectivity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">21st century skills</span> Skills identified as being required for success in the 21st century

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashok Goel</span> Indian-American computer scientist

Ashok K. Goel is a professor of computer science and human-centered computing in the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Institute of Technology, and the chief scientist with Georgia Tech's Center for 21st Century Universities. He conducts research into cognitive systems at the intersection of artificial intelligence and cognitive science with a focus on computational design and creativity. Goel is also the executive director of National Science Foundation's AI Institute for Adult Learning and Online Education and an editor emeritus of AAAI's AI Magazine.

References

  1. The Private Eye. "What is the Private Eye?". The-private-eye.com. Archived from the original on 2011-05-27. Retrieved 2011-05-13.
  2. "The Private Eye and The Interdisciplinary Mind". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2013-01-24. Retrieved 2011-05-13.
  3. "About Us". Ed.uab.edu. Archived from the original on 2011-07-20. Retrieved 2011-05-13.
  4. Michael K. Stone and Zenobia Barlow, eds., Ecological Literacy: Educating Our Children for a Sustainable World, Sierra Club Books (2005)
  5. "Private Eye Program Makes Connections in World, Brains". WBHM. Archived from the original on 2012-01-29. Retrieved 2012-01-26.
  6. Bernstein, Robert (1999). Sparks of genius : the thirteen thinking tools of the world's most creative people. Boston, Mass: Houghton Mifflin Co. p. 156. ISBN   978-0-395-90771-9.
  7. Ruef, Kerry. "The Private Eye: (5X) Looking/Thinking by Analogy". May 2015. accessed October 25, 2015.http://content.yudu.com/web/14lmv/0A3cxwn/MicroscopyTodayV23N3/flash/resources/52.htm
  8. "Identifying Similarities and Differences | Researched-Based Strategies | Focus on Effectiveness". Netc.org. Archived from the original on 2012-09-09. Retrieved 2011-05-13.
  9. "The Private Eye: (5X) Looking/Thinking by Analogy - from the Science Afterschool Consumers Guide". Sedl.org. 2008-04-23. Archived from the original on 2011-07-20. Retrieved 2011-05-13.
  10. "ERIC - Education Resources Information Center". Eric.ed.gov:80. Archived from the original on 2023-08-13. Retrieved 2011-05-13.