MEANINGFUL LEARNING
In a Culture of Influence and Responsibility
Teachers team of 8th grade
2004 - 2005
Who are we?
48 students – 2 classes
5 teachers
Alice
Team work
Teacher of the following
subjects:
Planning:
Danish
Schedule of the year
Social Science
Developmental focus in
certain periods of the year
History
Goal setting and evaluation
Practical and artistic skills
Project work
Windows to our goals of ongoing
assessment and evaluation

Tools for teachers
to do the follow up
of each student
Windows to our goals of ongoing
assessment and evaluation

Ways of improving
students ownership
Windows to our goals of ongoing
assessment and evaluation

Defining criteria
to obtain
exemplarity
Windows to our goals of ongoing
assessment and evaluation

Evaluation fitting
content of
learning situation
Windows to our goals of ongoing
assessment and evaluation

Outcome of
evaluation gives
information about
further education
and teaching
strategies
Logbook
Students’
reflection
Process
Portfolio
Flashback
Product
Student’s
profile
Strategies
Exhibition
Logbooks
Students’
Port folio
Examples of Practice
From the following three courses
Grammar course in Danish
Innocence and lack of borders
Fashion,- media,- music- and the industry of
commercials influence on teenagers
Serious Bloodshed
- about the War in 1864 and how the Danes saw it
Teachers’ goals
The students should be able to understand…
e.g. the background of the defeat i 1864
 Students should develop…
e.g. beneficial strategies for their research, cooperation, product and presentation
 Students should value …
e.g. to give and receive response

Pretest
Get a cheese on your knowledge
Project goals
Students’ statements about the
project
About GROUP WORK:
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Responsibility
6 persons too many
Everybody should feel ownership
Capability to listen to one another

Finding a balance between the
interests of the group and the
interest of own ideas

Speak up! Share your wishes with
the group – it’s too late to criticize
afterwards!
Presentations
Students evaluation of the
project ”Serious Bloodshed”
About the content and my own
learning:
Ida’s logbook:
” We had misunderstood our goals of methods but we all thought, that
we obtained our goals for the presentation. The weak part was, that
we hade made too much of a division of labour because of the big size
of the group.
Our social goal was, that everybody should do their best. We agreed in
this goal being a perfect one, since this was what one could expect
from all group members.
We had an excellent response from the other groups and from the
teachers.

The feeling of having a good outcome makes me feel proud!”
Ida’s summary of
personal learning in the project
I have found out what ”The co-operative Movement”
(of last century) was (…) If you had asked me three weeks
ago, I wouldn’t have known anything about the Wars of
Slesvig.
I understand a lot more about Nationalism, and how people
felt at the time. It had a lot to do with honor and ones
native country …
 I have also learned about having a project!
The different categories of questions have given me

something, and we have learned how to set goals for our
work to obtain the best result.
Ida’s summary of
personal learning in the project

” Last but not least I have learned something about
myself.
I must not give myself fully all the time, because then I
easily get disappointed during the process. I have to
force myself to think: ”This isn’t a project, which my
whole education depends on.” I forget that sometimes,
and I break down after a few days. I have to improve my
ability to make a distance and to put things into
perspective!
The result will be better, when you take it easy
sometimes!”
Mikki’s evaluation
Before I started on this project, I didn’t even know
that there had been a war in 1864 in Dybbøl.
Now where I’m reading my pretest again, it is
indeed something to almost laugh about. All my
answers on the first page were wrong.
When I should choose what to study, it was a bit
difficult, since I knew nothing in advance about
what we were all going to know more about.”
Teachers’ evaluation
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Innovation is time consuming
It would be beneficial to plan and develop new
teaching designs for goal setting and follow up
A valuable evaluation of student’s work should
be worked out with the purpose of using results
in future planning and teaching
The year planning includes evaluation in further
planning
How can students and teachers
know, what the students
understand?
How can students and teachers
develop a more profound
understanding?