Welcome to Peter Skillen’s Online Spaces
The Construction Zone Blog
The Construction Zone blog represents some of my thinking about education and about ‘who is in charge of the learning‘. I believe that people construct their own knowledge, often socially, while in the ‘zone’ – a state of ‘flow’ – at the edge of their competence. I invite you to discuss your thoughts with us. (Read more…)
About Peter
I am a learner and I am a teacher. Simple. The two, for me, are inseparable and part of the whole.
After 4 decades in the K-12 field, I am now Manager of Professional Learning with the YMCA of Greater Toronto.
However, I am still deeply involved in educational practice through the Powerful Learning Practice (PLP), the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), the Ontario Teachers’ Federation (OTF), the Educational Computing Organization of Ontario (ECOO), Minds On Media, and, of course, in online learning spaces. (Read more…)
The Construction Zone in Action
The concepts of ‘constructionism‘, ‘zone of proximal development‘, ‘expertise‘, ‘mindfulness‘, ‘intentional learning‘ are discussed and exemplified by descriptions of classroom practice. (Read more…)
Favourite Articles
Here are a few articles that I think might be of greatest interest to you. Some are relatively recent. Others were written some time ago, but I include them here due to their continued currency. :-)
- Project Based Learning: What if we didn’t start with a question?
- ‘Making’ Does Not Equal ‘Constructionism’
- Humankind is Both Art & Science
- Scaffolding for Deep Understanding
- Transferring Knowledge with Technology (pdf)
- MULTIMEDIA – Blogs, Digital Storytelling, Flash, Podcasting (pdf)
Minds On Media
Minds On Media (MOM) is a model of professional learning that respects the learner’s ‘desire to know’.
Teachers come to learn and we respect their choices in how they wish to do that. We want them to take a ‘minds on‘ approach. (Read more…)
