“I had only one superstition. I made sure to touch all the bases when I hit a home run.” – Babe Ruth
Since this is baseball playoff season, I though we might couch this blog post in baseball terms. If we consider that engaging students is the first of the steps in improving both student retention and student performance, then “Engagement” is most surely “First Base.” The next step, “Higher Order Thinking,” would be “Second Base,” while “Decision Making” would be “Third.” “Communication,” the result of completing each of the previous steps successfully, would bring us “Home.” So, how do artifacts make you a “home run hitter”?
Maintaining our baseball analogy, the “game” is to get students to incorporate the information you have for them in such a way that they understand it more completely, and that they retain it for a longer period of time. Artifacts are the perfect strategy to insure that your students get a “hit” each time they are “at bat.” Artifacts engage students immediately. When a person is presented with an item with which he or she is not familiar, he/she immediately attempts to relate it to something in his or her personal experience. That is engagement. Using an artifact immediately involves your students in the lesson you have created on a personal level. You, and they, are on “First Base.”
The next step is to take students from “lower order thinking,” simple answers to when, where, who, to “higher order thinking,” analysis and synthesis. This is achieved through presenting the artifact and asking an open-ended question. Some of those questions might be, “What do you think this might be?” “Why do you think this item might be important in our study today?” Who do you think might have used this item, and for what purpose?” These kinds of questions move the student beyond his/her personal experience to an examination of the item for hints, clues, or information that can assist in solving the problem you have presented. Further, students must gather the information and order it in some fashion (synthesis) in order to provide reasonable, logical answers. Analysis and synthesis are the higher order thinking skills that our State Standards require each of us to teach to our students. We have arrived at “Second Base.”
To get to “Third,” we need to have students review the information they have acquired through analysis, and come to a decision that provides a reasonable response to your open-ended questions. They must make choices concerning which of the pieces of information they have gathered (evidence) provides the solutions to the challenges you have presented. We have arrived at “Third Base.”
To get “home,” students need to communicate their decisions about the artifact based on the evidence they have gathered. They can arrive at home base by sharing with a group, writing a response, or discussing and comparing their results with others. Regardless of the method of communication, the route to home base comes through engagement, analysis, synthesis, and decision-making; or, in baseball terms, touching “First”, “Second”, and “Third” to reach “Home.” Using an artifact provides a simple, and effective method for achieving the goals and objectives your State Standards require, each and every time.
Using artifacts in your classroom allows each student to improve his/her “batting average” (performance) through practicing the skills necessary to be successful in the 21st century. Artifacts engage, allow for immediate analysis, and synthesis, and provide the basis for solid decision making. Communicating the results of an artifact-based exercise completes the circuit of effective pedagogy. Using artifacts in your pedagogical practice makes you a “home-run hitter” each and every time, because: