The Lingo

Genius Hour: a student-driven, process-centered opportunity for students to explore their own interests (also known as: passion time, 20% time)



Audience: consider who would benefit from your project - think beyond the classroom

Bibliography: a list of all of the resources used for a project

Bloom's Taxonomy: way of distinguishing different levels of questions

• Lower Level Questions: questions that require the lowest level of thinking (Remembering, Understanding, & Applying)
• Higher Level Questions: questions that require the highest level of thinking (Analyzing, Evaluating, & Creating)

Brainstorm: coming up with a lot of ideas

Brainstorming Rules:

• Try and come up with as many ideas as possible
• One idea at a time
• Build on others' ideas - "yes and"
• Defer judgment

Collaboration: working together to do a task and to achieve shared goals

Copyright Laws: way to protect original ideas/authors

Creative Thinking: a way of looking at problems or situations from a fresh perspective that suggests a wide range of solutions

Critical Thinking: analyzing/evaluating any subject, content, or problem

Differentiation: changing content/processes/assessments/etc. to meet individual learning needs

Documentation/Notes: how students show their learning (bullet pointed list, photograph, drawing, video, Venn diagram, chart, etc.)

Feedback: reaction to a process or product

• Peer: students exchange drafts/comments on each other's drafts
• Teacher: teacher provides advice, praise, and evaluation

Formative Assessment: used to help identify strengths and weaknesses, as well as target areas that need work (not done at the end of a unit)

Genius Hour: a student-driven, process-centered opportunity for students to explore their own interests (also known as: passion time, 20% time)

Google Site: website used for Genius Hour

Habits of Mind: characteristics of what intelligent people do when confronted with a problem (including: persisting, thinking flexibly, and taking responsible risks)

Help Wanted Board: a place for students to ask for resources (like: Who knows a veterinarian?) AND provide suggestions or resources to help others

Inch/Foot/Yard Questions: different levels of questions

• Inch: a question with one short answer; not much research is needed
• Foot: a question that is answered in a summary or an explanation of steps; requires 1 or two resources
• Yard: a question that requires thinking; requires multiple sources

Mini-Lessons: a short lesson used to introduce or re-teach students (peer feedback, interviewing, etc.)

Perseverance: doing something despite it being difficult

Reflections: thinking about an activity/progress/etc. and thinking about strengths, as well as areas for improvement

Researchable Questions: 

• information is available to help you answer your question
• require you to use a source other than yourself
• can't be too narrow - need room to explore and find an interesting answer

Resources: materials used to help answer the research question (for example: books, internet, experts in the field, etc.)

Self-Assess/Self-Assessment: evaluating one's actions/attitudes/projects

Templates: a file/website/page that serves as a starting point

Website Evaluation - CRAAP Test: deciding whether or not a website is a good/reliable source for a project

• Currency: How recently was the site published?
• Relevance: Does the website have information related to the research topic?
• Authority: Is the author/organization of the website reliable?
• Accuracy: Are there errors in spelling, punctuation, or grammar?
• Purpose: Is the author's purpose to educate or inform?