Jasper Series Impressions – 2

I must say after discussing the Jasper project with my colleagues and classmates we all agree that there is a lot to admire in the Jasper approach.  To really integrate real worl learning into a classroom is hard to do and the group at CTGV have created a great resource in the Jasper Woodbury Problem Solving Series.

Despite their efforts, however, my classmates and I see certain issues with their resources that would leave us hesitant to use the complete series or something like it in our classrooms.

1. The program lacks complete teacher support in terms of implementation guides, assessment materials and learning objectives.
2. Without proper documentation or professional development support the program would be hard to integrate into an established curriculum.
3. In many ways the Jasper series does support integration across disciplines but the approach only touches on these connections.  More connections could be made deeper in the questioning in order to reach learning objectives in other subjects.
4. Although the videos and questions do relate to everyday life the material may appear dated to modern students and may need a bit of a technology upgrade to be used.

Again, the Jasper series does many things very well and supports open, real-life learning in the schools trained to use it.  With this in mind we should look at the Jasper series as a step in the right direction as opposed to the magic bullet when it comes to interdisciplinary and technology education.

I think the Jasper series can show us a alot as teachers and indeed over the past few days reading and reflecting on its use I have already seen how I can implemment similar strategies and approaches in my classroom.