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On this page you can read more about how you can use Didactic Bricks in your teaching.
The methods are generic step-by-step guides that you as a teacher can search for and use across themes. The methods are tagged according to 4 phases: Engage, investigate, create and act and with additional keywords (taxonomic verbs).
They are collected and described with inspiration from, among others, Cooperative Learning, project based learning, and innovation didactics. The method page can be used as a method library where you can find inspiration to vary your teaching.
The resources consist of authentic materials such as texts (web articles, pamphlets, poems, etc.), images (photos, models, etc.), audio (podcasts, radio spots, etc.), video (YouTube videos, TV spots, etc.) and links to websites and interactive tools. In addition, there are a number of resources developed for Didactic Bricks: Worksheets (which students can fill in), inspiration cards (which can be printed and cut out), and checklists (which students can use as guidelines).
The activities combine methods and resources so that the school subjects come into play in relation to the 3 themes. The activities consist of step-by-step descriptions of the process as well as a number of didactic tips (suggestions for variations, differentiation, progression, etc.). The activities are color-coded, so that it is clear how methods (orange) and resources (light green) are used. The idea with the color-coded markings is to make it clear how the activities are structured and inspire for alternative use in other activities.
On each of the 3 theme pages, which are accessed from the front page, you can open an activity overview for the 3 themes by clicking on the orange button at the bottom. The overviews for the 3 themes are made to make it easier to choose activities, that you want to use to build your playlist.
Activities, resources, and methods can be marked as your favourites by clicking on the little heart in the top right corner. To do this, you must create a profile and log in. You can see all your favourite activities, resources, and methods by clicking on ‘Favorites’ in the menu bar – and then open and close the favourite categories by clicking on them one by one.
On the Playlist page, you will find a prototype of a playlist (lesson plan) builder. You can use this to build your own unique playlist, that matches your didactic intentions and the students’ prerequisites. When using the builder, you either select an existing playlist, that you want to customize, or you can build your own playlist from scratch.
If you want to choose to edit a playlist made by another teacher, you will first need to open the playlist, and then click on the orange ‘copy playlist’ bottom. Then, you can start editing it right away. remember to save your changes 🙂 If you will go back to a playlist that you have started editing, you will find it at the favorites page, where you select the playlist that you want to edit. This way, you can choose someone else’s playlist and adapt it to your own needs. If you have built a playlist previously, you can also select and copy it, so that you can adapt it to a new group of students.
When working with the builder, you will only be able to build with the activities that you have marked with a heart on the activity page. In the builder, you can add the activities to one of the 4 phases: Engage, Investigate, Create, Act. Please note that once you have added an activity to one of the phases, it cannot be used again in the same or one of the other phases.
Once you have added activities to your playlist, you will be able to use the arrows on the right to change the order – and the small trash can icon to remove activities from the playlist. When you remove an activity, you will be able to add it to your playlist again.
When you add an activity, the associated methods and resources will appear in the table. If you have forgotten what they contain, you can click on them – and they will open in a new window.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to add methods and resources to your playlist directly in this version of the builder.
If you are missing an activity, and would like to create one, you’re welcome to fill in this template (link missing), and send it to us (se email address below). (do we want to open up for that?)
The playlist builder is a prototype that we are currently testing. We hope that the tool will be of value to you in preparing for engaging and creative learning journeys for the students. We also hope that you can see the idea of building your own unique playlist. If you do so, and you want to share it with other teachers, please notify us by sending us an email (se email address below).
In the coming time, we will explore the possibility of further developing Didactic Bricks. If you have suggestions for improvements or ideas for further development of the site and content, we would like to hear from you. Please send us an email to hej@andlearning.com.
Enjoy!