The purpose of this session is to describe a lesson structure called place puzzles. This structure is designed to be simple enough to be used by novice teachers and flexible enough to cover a wide range of learning outcomes. It takes advantage of the growing availability of hand held devices with GPS capabilities and internet access.

Place puzzles represent an improvement over field trips as typically implemented because 1) they require prior reading of web-based resources before going into the field; 2) they include 2 to 5 puzzles or riddles that combine knowledge from prior reading with close visual inspection of the environment in the field; 3) they assign roles to learners to create interdependence and involvement by all participants; and 4) they require creative problem solving, analysis and synthesis rather than just factual recall and visual recognition. The format can be applied to learning from the elementary grades up through graduate study.

By the end of the session, participants will be able to describe the place puzzle concept, identify areas in their curriculum to which it can be applied, locate existing place puzzles online and use freely available templates and guides to create their own lessons in this format.

Outline

15 minutes - Introduction to the place puzzle concept with video examples of a lesson being implemented.
10 minutes - Rationale. Comparison to field trips, nature walks and geocaching.
10 minutes - Overview of how to design your own place puzzle.
10 minutes - Techniques for creating riddles, visual puzzles, and word play to embed within the lesson.
5 minutes - Things to consider when having students design place puzzles.
10 minutes - Q&A

Supporting Research

The principle theoretical concept underlying place puzzles is situated cognition. This body of literature has been developed mostly during the last two decades and represents a more social approach to the study of learning. Situated cognition underscores the value of context in learning and postulates that transfer of knowledge is more likely to occur if the learning environment closely mirrors the environment in which the skill or knowledge is applied. In the case of place puzzles, the two are identical.

Another theoretical perspective is provided by the work of Daniel Berlyne, who described the usefulness of arousing uncertainty as a way to provoke information seeking. The design of place puzzles deliberately raises uncertainty and mystery to motivate learners to explore and think about the environment under study.

Berlyne, D. E. (1960). Conflict, arousal and curiosity. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Brown, J. S., Collins, A., & Duguid, P. (1989). Situated Cognition and the Culture of Learning. Educational Researcher, 18(1), 32-42.

Greeno, J. G. (1998). The Situativity of Knowing, Learning, and Research. American Psychologist, 53(1), 5-26.

Presenter Background

I've been teaching short courses about using GPS for four years and over that time I've been refining the place puzzle concept. I have significant experience at developing models of learning that have coherence and a structure simple enough to convey to novice teachers.