January 9, 2024 • 25 mins
Dr. Hiller Spires talks to us about the PBI global framework, creating to learn, and how we can support students with a global village. Dr. Spires is known for her work in the areas of digital and disciplinary literacies and project-based inquiry (PBI) global for diverse learners. Hiller has conducted extensive research, teaching and engagement with teachers in China for which she received NC State’s Jackson A. Rigney International Service Award. She led 10 delegations to China, partnered with Beijing Royal School since 2010, and co-created Suzhou North America High School, where she continues to serve as their Honorary Principal. Dr. Hiller Spires is executive director of the William and Ida Friday Institute for Educational Innovation and professor emerita at North Carolina State University. She is also founding director of Margiesbooks.org.
To cite this episode: Persohn, L. (Host). (2024, Jan 9). A conversation with Hiller Spires (Season 4, No. 7) [Audio podcast episode]. In Classroom Caffeine Podcast series. https://www.classroomcaffeine.com/guests. DOI: 10.5240/C461-C0F5-B173-B4AB-75E4-2
Connect with Classroom Caffeine at www.classroomcaffeine.com or on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Education Research has a problem the work of
brilliant education researchersoften doesn't reach the practice
of brilliant teachers.
Classroom Caffeine is here tohelp.
In each episode, I talk with atop education researcher or
expert educator about what theyhave learned from their research
(00:31):
and experiences.
In this episode, dr HillerSpires talks to us about the PBI
Global Framework, creating tolearn and how we can support
students with a global village.
Dr Spires is known for her workin the areas of digital and
disciplinary literacies andproject-based inquiry, global
(00:54):
for diverse learners.
Hiller has conducted extensiveresearch, teaching and
engagement with teachers inChina, for which she has
received North Carolina State'sJackson A Rigny International
Service Award.
She led 10 delegations to China, partnered with Beijing Royal
School since 2010, andco-created Shuzhou North
(01:15):
American High School, where shecontinues to serve as their
honorary principal.
Dr Hiller Spires is ExecutiveDirector of the William and Ida
Friday Institute for EducationalInnovation and Professor
Emerita at North Carolina StateUniversity.
She's also Founding Director ofMargie's Booksorg.
That'sM-A-R-G-I-E-S-B-O-O-K-SO-R-G.
(01:40):
For more information about ourguest, stay tuned to the end of
this episode.
So pour a cup of your favoritedrink and join me, your host,
lindsay Persan, for ClassroomCaffeine Research to Energize
your Teaching Practice.
Hiller, thank you for joiningme.
(02:02):
Welcome to the show.
So, from your own experiencesand education, will you share
with us one or two moments thatinform your thinking now?
Sure.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
One big moment was about 18 years ago, when I had
an epiphany with my literacyinstruction with teacher
educators.
I knew that reading and writingto learn was a solid
pedagogical approach for teachereducation and I had been using
that approach.
But I wanted to go further andcenter the idea of creating to
(02:36):
learn and specifically, I wantedto utilize the affordances of
emerging Web 2.0 tools at thetime.
So I pondered how do I come upwith a process that would allow
teachers and students togenerate ideas and use the power
of imagination in order tolearn?
They would generate and createcontent as a means to learn new
(03:01):
information.
At that time, there were manybodies of work to draw from
Library and information sciences.
They were using an onlineframework.
Dr Don Lu was using a newliteracies framework for online
comprehension.
Others were using project-basedand problem-based learning
frameworks.
(03:21):
So in my new literacies andmedia graduate class, I came up
with an approach that I calledproject-based inquiry, or what I
usually refer to it as PDI, andit used a five-phase iterative
process for generating newknowledge.
Those phases are ask acompelling question, gather and
(03:44):
analyze sources creativelysynthesize claims and evidences,
critically evaluate and revisecontent and then finally share,
publish and act.
I was taken with the idea ofinquiry as a means to create
knowledge because it centeredthe learner as a driver of the
(04:08):
learning process, and I was alsotaken with the many affordances
of emerging digitaltechnologies that could be used
with inquiry cycles of learning.
But I was also aware at the timeof the caveats around inquiry
learning based on what we knewfrom cognitive science.
(04:29):
So I knew that I needed todesign instructional scaffolds
so learners would not be sofrustrated that they would
actually give up during theinquiry process.
So over the years I committedmyself to this PDI process and
centered it in everything that Iwas doing in my graduate
classes, professionaldevelopment with teachers in
(04:51):
schools and sessions with K-12students, and each time that I
used the process I would learnsomething new from my
participants about how furtherto apply the process.
So that was one big moment.
And then a second big momentthat goes right along with this
was when I traveled to China forthe very first time I had read
(05:15):
Thomas Friedman's book the Worldis Splat and I became energized
by the idea of engagingstudents and teachers to
collaborate across time, spaceand cultures to co-create new
knowledge.
That's when I added the globalcomponent to my project-based
inquiry model, so I added theglobal aspect to signal two
(05:40):
components.
Number one collaborating witheducators and students from
different cultures and countries, and or using the 17 UN
Sustainable Development Goals asa content focus.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
I love the way that you talk about your ideas and
how they evolved over time,because I think that's something
that can sometimes get lost intranslation right, particularly
if we just read one of yourbooks or even read an article.
I think that somehow it's likeit freezes our ideas Once we put
it into that kind of text, andso I love the way that you talk
(06:14):
about how you develop thisframework, and then had another
moment in your educationalcareer that kind of changed the
way that you thought about that.
I also love the way that youtalk about PBI framework as
something that can reallysupport learners of any age to
continue to ask questions aboutthe world and then gather
(06:35):
information in order to developsolutions that they can share
with others.
So it's really important stuff,and I feel as though quite
often in schools these days thisisn't at the center of every
conversation, this idea oflearner centered or learners at
the center of the learningprocess.
So that's one thing I reallylove about your work.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Yes, I totally agree, and I learned over time and it
really was through trial anderror, right, and that's what it
all gets down to trial anderror.
You know that putting thelearner whether it's the teacher
learner or the student learnerin the K-12 classroom, putting
them at the center, it's magical, it's just absolutely magical.
(07:16):
And then, of course, there's somuch that you can do with that
and take cues from the learnerand adjust the different kinds
of lessons that you're doing indifferent frameworks.
But it's very, very important.
And you know the whole ideaabout the 17 UN Sustainable
Development Goals.
I felt like when those came outit was so exciting for me
(07:38):
because you know we had beenusing the grand challenges here
in the United States.
But when we got the UNSustainable Development Goals
this idea that representativesfrom countries across the world
had come together aroundconsensus about what the most
pressing challenges of our timeswere I thought that was
(08:00):
galvanizing and it was just very, very exciting for me.
You know, for example, cleanwater and sanitation issues,
poverty, gender equality,climate action, just to name a
few but they were so exciting tothink about and have that point
of reference of the world, notjust for everything being
US-centric, so that really didgalvanize the work, I think.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
And what an important point to highlight in this work
, because I think that it is soeasy to get trapped within, kind
of our own mind and our owncontext, particularly when we're
in the day-to-day demands ofeducation and the school climate
.
So I think that steppingoutside of that to say what
matters not just to us butglobally, what is an issue that
(08:45):
we can all tackle together, Ithink it creates such a
different sense of whateducation is and what it can be
right.
Whenever we sort of get out ofthe standards a little bit,
because I tend to believe thatall good education comes back to
standards.
Particularly if the standardsmake sense right, if they're
sensible and if they arewell-defined for us, I feel like
(09:07):
it's actually quite easy to tielearning back to the standards.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Absolutely, and one of the things that we learned
through using this model overtime and using these 17 UN
sustainable development goals isthat you can design the
instruction so that the studentsand teachers are engaging in
these topics both locally andglobally, and that's very
(09:32):
magical when they can see howthese topics apply in their
backyard, but they're alsoapplying in developing countries
and all around the world.
It's quite powerful.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Yeah, absolutely so.
On that note, hiller.
What do you want listeners toknow about your work?
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Well, as I mentioned, I embraced the practice
creating to learn and havecentered PBI Global as a
pedagogical approach in teachereducation, really for the last
half of my career.
I've just been very stubbornabout it and just stayed with it
.
You know, and everybody knows,that inquiry based teaching and
learning is challenging but it'salso very rewarding for both
(10:15):
teachers and students.
Marie Hines, who is a researchassociate and director of the
new literacy, is collaborativeat the Friday Institute.
She's been one of the keycollaborators with me on this
PBI Global model and over theyears we've learned a few things
.
Number one teachers need tocreate what we call a PBI Global
(10:37):
Village.
So if you're going to do thiswork, don't just try to do it as
a lone ranger.
It just doesn't work.
It's important for teachers toassemble a support team of
administrators, coaches andexternal experts.
You need the administrativesupport or it really can fall
flat.
You know you just have to havethat support and leaders are
(10:58):
just so important in the schoolbut they help facilitate class
scheduling, being responsive toimpromptu needs and real
important, bringing together thecommunity members for the
student showcase and, you know,taking the lead on that and
really galvanizing folks to cometogether to celebrate the
(11:19):
learning.
Coaches support the studentteams to stay on task and be
goal oriented.
So if you can include coaches,that's also very, very important
.
And we really emphasize havingexternal experts to provide that
specialized content knowledge,because students can do the
online research.
(11:39):
They can read and read and readand read.
But having another person whohas expertise in a particular
area, like climate change orwhatever area you're focusing on
, is so valuable, and thoseexperts can be in person, they
can come in the classroom orthey can be a virtual and both
work extremely well.
(12:00):
We've seen them both workextremely well.
And the second area is what wecall create balance.
It's important to beintentional about project goals
while remaining adaptable.
It's key to embrace thetensions that always occur as a
natural part of the inquiry andcross cultural collaboration
process.
(12:21):
For example, sharedresponsibility is frequently a
challenge during collaborativeinquiry.
Oftentimes there will beasymmetry in student teams
efforts.
So you have to address that andsome of the strategies that we
found that work include preselecting some student teams,
(12:42):
assigning roles to studentswithin a team and having
students conduct both self andpeer assessments regarding the
project contributions.
So supporting student choice ofinquiry topics helps with both
accountability and quality ofthe outcomes of the project,
(13:05):
which we think are very, veryimportant.
So those are two things that wethink are important.
The next one is students can bechange agents.
We have learned that firsthand.
Angela Meyer says that thegreatest gap in education is the
under estimation of studentgenius and their capacity to
(13:27):
contribute, and I love GoldieMuhammad's book on cultivating
genius using an equity frameworkand I think that she's just
right on target there.
Our students in a former PBIproject his name is Nick, as a
student in he said ourgeneration isn't prepared for
(13:48):
the future, our generation isshaping it, and I love that self
awareness and it really cameabout through a PBI global
process.
So PBI global is one way thereare many ways, but this is one
way to support student geniusand engage students to
(14:10):
understand the power of agency.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
I really love everything you're saying, hiller
, and I think it's such anexciting way to think about
education and in my mind it isin so many ways the antithesis
of what so many of our systemickind of mandates tell us to do
in schools.
It is the opposite ofstandardization of knowledge, it
is the opposite of learning forthe past.
(14:35):
Because I think that whatyou're talking about here, when
we encourage young people toidentify their big questions
about the world, to identify theproblems in the world and how
they want to see that futureshaped or reshaped for them,
it's so empowering.
But I think, even beyond thatit allows us to we talk about
(14:57):
how we don't know what we'repreparing students for.
Right, it's an unknown future,but I love the quote that you
shared with us from Nick theyare in fact shaping the future,
and so who are we to try toguess what we're trying to
prepare them for?
Why not hand the learning overto young people?
Because they often are trulythe experts, but we just sell
(15:18):
them short, right?
We just don't really give themthat kind of credit, we don't
give them that kind of power intheir own education.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
I totally agree and just from the work I've been
engaged in, I see it time andtime again.
That's not to say that therearen't many, many challenges
with this process.
You're always going to have thestudent who you just can't get
going.
But what we found is there arejust so many ways that you can
(15:45):
engage a student and createthose conditions.
Create those conditions forengagement and create empowering
conditions.
More times than not you willget these students engaged.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
And I think that's really key there is that.
Does it reach everyone 100% ofthe time?
I'm not sure anything reallydoes right, but I do think that
this type of approach tolearning it certainly engages
more learners more of the timethan the rote, standardized sort
of education that I think somany young people are offered.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Yeah, and what the students tell us is that it's
memorable.
It's like they'll say we'llnever forget this learning
experience.
We'll be talking about it whenwe're adults because we remember
how it made us feel, and Ithink that's so important.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
That it is and it's exciting right.
It brings a lot of energy backinto education.
The other thing that I think isso important to highlight is
this idea of a global villageand how we can help young people
to feel more connected to theirimmediate communities, but also
to young people around theworld who are potentially
(16:57):
thinking about some of the samechallenges in life that they may
be thinking about, and we talka lot about the connections and
disconnections of young people,particularly in today's
technological world, how we areso close together yet sometimes
worlds apart.
But I think that this createsan entirely different sense of
(17:18):
engagement with others, anentirely different sense of
community and how we might worktogether in ways that maybe we
haven't even considered yet.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Exactly, and what we found, too, is that the students
that we're working with here inthe US, when they start working
with students like we've workedwith a lot of students in China
over time because of all of myconnections in China, and I
helped create a state-of-the-arthigh school there what we see
(17:48):
is that they come to realizethat they have even though
they're different in a lot ofways, they come to create shared
knowledge and they also veryoften have shared challenges,
even though they might look alittle differently.
That is quite empowering.
I know when we did a waterproject and students in actually
(18:11):
Raleigh, north Carolina, weretesting water samples here, and
then we also had the students inSuzhou, china.
They were testing water samplesand then they compared them.
They were amazed at some of thesame challenges with the water
that they were experiencing.
So it is a quite eye-openingand valuable experience for
(18:33):
students, I think.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
That's really neat.
That definitely does speak tothat idea of a global village
and how we are creating globalcommunities, so really good
stuff.
Is there anything else you'dlike for listeners to know about
your work?
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Well, I think the important thing to know is that
I'm passionate about this work.
It has sustained me over manyyears and every day I'd get up
and just be excited to get to dothe work and connect with
teachers.
I think teachers are thegreatest people to collaborate
with.
I just love teachers andstudents.
(19:08):
It definitely keeps you young.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Yeah, that's for sure , that's for sure, and I love
that idea of how this kind ofwork can be sustaining, because
we know the energy it takes tobe a teacher to tap into that
daily.
It takes a lot, so it does helpif you can find something
you're passionate about andcontinue to work at discovering
new knowledge and putting newpieces into those ideas that
(19:33):
help to sustain that energy.
So, along those same lines,given the challenges of today's
educational climate, whatmessage do you want teachers to
hear?
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Well, I think Nelson Mandela said it best Education
is the most powerful weapon youcan use to change the world.
Teachers make the world goround.
Over my 43-year career ineducation, I've witnessed the
passion and dedication teachersdemonstrate on a daily basis.
(20:05):
So I have three messages forteachers.
Number one first and foremost,teachers, take care of
yourselves.
It's very difficult to engageand inspire students to learn
when you are burned out.
There's plenty of reason to beburned out, but you have to be
creative and dig in and figureout how to take care of yourself
(20:26):
first, so important.
Number two enroll your studentsas creators and co-creators of
their own learning.
Create the conditions forstudents to shine and take
ownership of their learning.
It's not always easy, but soworth it.
Then, finally, on a littledifferent note, check out
(20:49):
margysbooksorg.
I recently founded Margie'sBooks to provide books to
under-resourced educationalcommunities, and I named it
after my mother, margie Spires,who passed away in 2019.
I'm from a small town calledHearthsville, south Carolina,
and I'm a first-generationcollege student in my family.
(21:09):
My mother was my biggestsupporter and cheerleader
throughout my educationaljourney, so I decided to honor
her through the work of Margie'sBooks.
As long as I've been ineducation, teachers I have
encountered have needed and orwanted certain books that they
did not have the resources for,and oftentimes they had to use
(21:32):
their own funds to make theliteracy events happen.
Margie's Books seeksopportunities to fill these
needs for teachers, so check itout.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Thank you.
Thank you so much for thatresource.
That is very exciting and Ihope that our listeners will
take a look at margysbooksorgand we'll put that in.
It'll be in your bio and theshow notes for your episode as
well.
So thank you so much and thankyou for doing that work and
thank you for sharing your ideaswith us.
I also want to thank you somuch for your time today and for
sharing your ideas.
(22:05):
You gave us so many concreteideas as to how we could get
started with project-basedinquiry, how we can connect with
others and how we can reallybring this kind of rich learning
into our classrooms.
So thank you so much for yourtime and for sharing your ideas.
It was my pleasure.
Thank you.
Dr Hiller A Spires is known forher research in the areas of
(22:26):
digital and disciplinaryliteracies, and project-based
inquiry, or PBI global, fordiverse learners.
Hiller has conducted extensiveresearch, teaching and
engagement with teachers inChina, for which she received
North Carolina State's Jackson ARigny International Service
Award.
She's led 10 delegations toChina, including a three-city
(22:46):
study abroad trip for educationstudents in 2019.
She has partnered with BeijingRoyal School, one of the leading
schools in China, since 2010.
She co-created the Suzhou NorthAmerican High School as a
state-of-the-art high school inSuzhou, china, which embraces
the best of Eastern and Westerneducational practices.
(23:08):
She continues to serve as theirhonorary principal.
Her collaboration witheducators in China resulted in
her groundbreaking book DigitalTransformation and Innovation in
Chinese Education, published byIGI Global.
Her publications have appearedin Journal of Educational
Psychology, cognition andInstruction, journal of Literacy
(23:30):
Research, reading and Writing,and Interdisciplinary Journal
Computers and Education and theJournal of Adolescent and Adult
Literacy, among others.
She was guest editor for theInternational Special Issue of
Journal of Media andCommunication on the topic of
critical perspectives on digitalliteracies in 2019.
She is lead author on Read,write, inquire Disciplinary
(23:53):
Literacy for Grades 6 through 12, published by Teachers College
Press and co-edited with Dr ShayKirchoff on critical
perspectives on globalliteracies Bridging Research and
Practice, which was publishedby Rutledge this year.
Dr Kirchoff is also a formerclassroom caffeine guest.
Hiller served as foundingdirector of the William and Ida
(24:15):
Friday Institute for EducationalInnovation, an executive
director and associate dean from2019 to 2022.
She is currently executivedirector and professor emerita
at North Carolina StateUniversity, as well as founding
director of margisbooksorg,which provides children and
young adult books forunder-resourced educational
(24:37):
communities.
You can connect with Dr Spiresat https.
Colon.
Backslash backslash c, e, d,dot, n, c, s, u, dot e, d u.
Backslash people backslash h aSpires.
For the good of all students.
(24:58):
Classroom caffeine aims toenergize education, research and
practice.
If this show provides you withthings to think about, help us
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Talk to your colleagues andeducator friends about what you
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You can support the show bysubscribing, liking and
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(25:20):
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(25:41):
are doing on our publicationspage.
We would love to hear from you.
As always, I raise my mug toyou.
Teachers.
Thanks for joining me.
Education Research has a problem the work of
brilliant education researchersoften doesn't reach the practice
of brilliant teachers.
Classroom Caffeine is here tohelp.
In each episode, I talk with atop education researcher or
expert educator about what theyhave learned from their research
(00:31):
and experiences.
In this episode, dr HillerSpires talks to us about the PBI
Global Framework, creating tolearn and how we can support
students with a global village.
Dr Spires is known for her workin the areas of digital and
disciplinary literacies andproject-based inquiry, global
(00:54):
for diverse learners.
Hiller has conducted extensiveresearch, teaching and
engagement with teachers inChina, for which she has
received North Carolina State'sJackson A Rigny International
Service Award.
She led 10 delegations to China, partnered with Beijing Royal
School since 2010, andco-created Shuzhou North
(01:15):
American High School, where shecontinues to serve as their
honorary principal.
Dr Hiller Spires is ExecutiveDirector of the William and Ida
Friday Institute for EducationalInnovation and Professor
Emerita at North Carolina StateUniversity.
She's also Founding Director ofMargie's Booksorg.
That'sM-A-R-G-I-E-S-B-O-O-K-SO-R-G.
(01:40):
For more information about ourguest, stay tuned to the end of
this episode.
So pour a cup of your favoritedrink and join me, your host,
lindsay Persan, for ClassroomCaffeine Research to Energize
your Teaching Practice.
Hiller, thank you for joiningme.
(02:02):
Welcome to the show.
So, from your own experiencesand education, will you share
with us one or two moments thatinform your thinking now?
Sure.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
One big moment was about 18 years ago, when I had
an epiphany with my literacyinstruction with teacher
educators.
I knew that reading and writingto learn was a solid
pedagogical approach for teachereducation and I had been using
that approach.
But I wanted to go further andcenter the idea of creating to
(02:36):
learn and specifically, I wantedto utilize the affordances of
emerging Web 2.0 tools at thetime.
So I pondered how do I come upwith a process that would allow
teachers and students togenerate ideas and use the power
of imagination in order tolearn?
They would generate and createcontent as a means to learn new
(03:01):
information.
At that time, there were manybodies of work to draw from
Library and information sciences.
They were using an onlineframework.
Dr Don Lu was using a newliteracies framework for online
comprehension.
Others were using project-basedand problem-based learning
frameworks.
(03:21):
So in my new literacies andmedia graduate class, I came up
with an approach that I calledproject-based inquiry, or what I
usually refer to it as PDI, andit used a five-phase iterative
process for generating newknowledge.
Those phases are ask acompelling question, gather and
(03:44):
analyze sources creativelysynthesize claims and evidences,
critically evaluate and revisecontent and then finally share,
publish and act.
I was taken with the idea ofinquiry as a means to create
knowledge because it centeredthe learner as a driver of the
(04:08):
learning process, and I was alsotaken with the many affordances
of emerging digitaltechnologies that could be used
with inquiry cycles of learning.
But I was also aware at the timeof the caveats around inquiry
learning based on what we knewfrom cognitive science.
(04:29):
So I knew that I needed todesign instructional scaffolds
so learners would not be sofrustrated that they would
actually give up during theinquiry process.
So over the years I committedmyself to this PDI process and
centered it in everything that Iwas doing in my graduate
classes, professionaldevelopment with teachers in
(04:51):
schools and sessions with K-12students, and each time that I
used the process I would learnsomething new from my
participants about how furtherto apply the process.
So that was one big moment.
And then a second big momentthat goes right along with this
was when I traveled to China forthe very first time I had read
(05:15):
Thomas Friedman's book the Worldis Splat and I became energized
by the idea of engagingstudents and teachers to
collaborate across time, spaceand cultures to co-create new
knowledge.
That's when I added the globalcomponent to my project-based
inquiry model, so I added theglobal aspect to signal two
(05:40):
components.
Number one collaborating witheducators and students from
different cultures and countries, and or using the 17 UN
Sustainable Development Goals asa content focus.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
I love the way that you talk about your ideas and
how they evolved over time,because I think that's something
that can sometimes get lost intranslation right, particularly
if we just read one of yourbooks or even read an article.
I think that somehow it's likeit freezes our ideas Once we put
it into that kind of text, andso I love the way that you talk
(06:14):
about how you develop thisframework, and then had another
moment in your educationalcareer that kind of changed the
way that you thought about that.
I also love the way that youtalk about PBI framework as
something that can reallysupport learners of any age to
continue to ask questions aboutthe world and then gather
(06:35):
information in order to developsolutions that they can share
with others.
So it's really important stuff,and I feel as though quite
often in schools these days thisisn't at the center of every
conversation, this idea oflearner centered or learners at
the center of the learningprocess.
So that's one thing I reallylove about your work.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Yes, I totally agree, and I learned over time and it
really was through trial anderror, right, and that's what it
all gets down to trial anderror.
You know that putting thelearner whether it's the teacher
learner or the student learnerin the K-12 classroom, putting
them at the center, it's magical, it's just absolutely magical.
(07:16):
And then, of course, there's somuch that you can do with that
and take cues from the learnerand adjust the different kinds
of lessons that you're doing indifferent frameworks.
But it's very, very important.
And you know the whole ideaabout the 17 UN Sustainable
Development Goals.
I felt like when those came outit was so exciting for me
(07:38):
because you know we had beenusing the grand challenges here
in the United States.
But when we got the UNSustainable Development Goals
this idea that representativesfrom countries across the world
had come together aroundconsensus about what the most
pressing challenges of our timeswere I thought that was
(08:00):
galvanizing and it was just very, very exciting for me.
You know, for example, cleanwater and sanitation issues,
poverty, gender equality,climate action, just to name a
few but they were so exciting tothink about and have that point
of reference of the world, notjust for everything being
US-centric, so that really didgalvanize the work, I think.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
And what an important point to highlight in this work
, because I think that it is soeasy to get trapped within, kind
of our own mind and our owncontext, particularly when we're
in the day-to-day demands ofeducation and the school climate
.
So I think that steppingoutside of that to say what
matters not just to us butglobally, what is an issue that
(08:45):
we can all tackle together, Ithink it creates such a
different sense of whateducation is and what it can be
right.
Whenever we sort of get out ofthe standards a little bit,
because I tend to believe thatall good education comes back to
standards.
Particularly if the standardsmake sense right, if they're
sensible and if they arewell-defined for us, I feel like
(09:07):
it's actually quite easy to tielearning back to the standards.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Absolutely, and one of the things that we learned
through using this model overtime and using these 17 UN
sustainable development goals isthat you can design the
instruction so that the studentsand teachers are engaging in
these topics both locally andglobally, and that's very
(09:32):
magical when they can see howthese topics apply in their
backyard, but they're alsoapplying in developing countries
and all around the world.
It's quite powerful.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Yeah, absolutely so.
On that note, hiller.
What do you want listeners toknow about your work?
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Well, as I mentioned, I embraced the practice
creating to learn and havecentered PBI Global as a
pedagogical approach in teachereducation, really for the last
half of my career.
I've just been very stubbornabout it and just stayed with it
.
You know, and everybody knows,that inquiry based teaching and
learning is challenging but it'salso very rewarding for both
(10:15):
teachers and students.
Marie Hines, who is a researchassociate and director of the
new literacy, is collaborativeat the Friday Institute.
She's been one of the keycollaborators with me on this
PBI Global model and over theyears we've learned a few things
.
Number one teachers need tocreate what we call a PBI Global
(10:37):
Village.
So if you're going to do thiswork, don't just try to do it as
a lone ranger.
It just doesn't work.
It's important for teachers toassemble a support team of
administrators, coaches andexternal experts.
You need the administrativesupport or it really can fall
flat.
You know you just have to havethat support and leaders are
(10:58):
just so important in the schoolbut they help facilitate class
scheduling, being responsive toimpromptu needs and real
important, bringing together thecommunity members for the
student showcase and, you know,taking the lead on that and
really galvanizing folks to cometogether to celebrate the
(11:19):
learning.
Coaches support the studentteams to stay on task and be
goal oriented.
So if you can include coaches,that's also very, very important
.
And we really emphasize havingexternal experts to provide that
specialized content knowledge,because students can do the
online research.
(11:39):
They can read and read and readand read.
But having another person whohas expertise in a particular
area, like climate change orwhatever area you're focusing on
, is so valuable, and thoseexperts can be in person, they
can come in the classroom orthey can be a virtual and both
work extremely well.
(12:00):
We've seen them both workextremely well.
And the second area is what wecall create balance.
It's important to beintentional about project goals
while remaining adaptable.
It's key to embrace thetensions that always occur as a
natural part of the inquiry andcross cultural collaboration
process.
(12:21):
For example, sharedresponsibility is frequently a
challenge during collaborativeinquiry.
Oftentimes there will beasymmetry in student teams
efforts.
So you have to address that andsome of the strategies that we
found that work include preselecting some student teams,
(12:42):
assigning roles to studentswithin a team and having
students conduct both self andpeer assessments regarding the
project contributions.
So supporting student choice ofinquiry topics helps with both
accountability and quality ofthe outcomes of the project,
(13:05):
which we think are very, veryimportant.
So those are two things that wethink are important.
The next one is students can bechange agents.
We have learned that firsthand.
Angela Meyer says that thegreatest gap in education is the
under estimation of studentgenius and their capacity to
(13:27):
contribute, and I love GoldieMuhammad's book on cultivating
genius using an equity frameworkand I think that she's just
right on target there.
Our students in a former PBIproject his name is Nick, as a
student in he said ourgeneration isn't prepared for
(13:48):
the future, our generation isshaping it, and I love that self
awareness and it really cameabout through a PBI global
process.
So PBI global is one way thereare many ways, but this is one
way to support student geniusand engage students to
(14:10):
understand the power of agency.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
I really love everything you're saying, hiller
, and I think it's such anexciting way to think about
education and in my mind it isin so many ways the antithesis
of what so many of our systemickind of mandates tell us to do
in schools.
It is the opposite ofstandardization of knowledge, it
is the opposite of learning forthe past.
(14:35):
Because I think that whatyou're talking about here, when
we encourage young people toidentify their big questions
about the world, to identify theproblems in the world and how
they want to see that futureshaped or reshaped for them,
it's so empowering.
But I think, even beyond thatit allows us to we talk about
(14:57):
how we don't know what we'repreparing students for.
Right, it's an unknown future,but I love the quote that you
shared with us from Nick theyare in fact shaping the future,
and so who are we to try toguess what we're trying to
prepare them for?
Why not hand the learning overto young people?
Because they often are trulythe experts, but we just sell
(15:18):
them short, right?
We just don't really give themthat kind of credit, we don't
give them that kind of power intheir own education.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
I totally agree and just from the work I've been
engaged in, I see it time andtime again.
That's not to say that therearen't many, many challenges
with this process.
You're always going to have thestudent who you just can't get
going.
But what we found is there arejust so many ways that you can
(15:45):
engage a student and createthose conditions.
Create those conditions forengagement and create empowering
conditions.
More times than not you willget these students engaged.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
And I think that's really key there is that.
Does it reach everyone 100% ofthe time?
I'm not sure anything reallydoes right, but I do think that
this type of approach tolearning it certainly engages
more learners more of the timethan the rote, standardized sort
of education that I think somany young people are offered.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Yeah, and what the students tell us is that it's
memorable.
It's like they'll say we'llnever forget this learning
experience.
We'll be talking about it whenwe're adults because we remember
how it made us feel, and Ithink that's so important.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
That it is and it's exciting right.
It brings a lot of energy backinto education.
The other thing that I think isso important to highlight is
this idea of a global villageand how we can help young people
to feel more connected to theirimmediate communities, but also
to young people around theworld who are potentially
(16:57):
thinking about some of the samechallenges in life that they may
be thinking about, and we talka lot about the connections and
disconnections of young people,particularly in today's
technological world, how we areso close together yet sometimes
worlds apart.
But I think that this createsan entirely different sense of
(17:18):
engagement with others, anentirely different sense of
community and how we might worktogether in ways that maybe we
haven't even considered yet.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Exactly, and what we found, too, is that the students
that we're working with here inthe US, when they start working
with students like we've workedwith a lot of students in China
over time because of all of myconnections in China, and I
helped create a state-of-the-arthigh school there what we see
(17:48):
is that they come to realizethat they have even though
they're different in a lot ofways, they come to create shared
knowledge and they also veryoften have shared challenges,
even though they might look alittle differently.
That is quite empowering.
I know when we did a waterproject and students in actually
(18:11):
Raleigh, north Carolina, weretesting water samples here, and
then we also had the students inSuzhou, china.
They were testing water samplesand then they compared them.
They were amazed at some of thesame challenges with the water
that they were experiencing.
So it is a quite eye-openingand valuable experience for
(18:33):
students, I think.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
That's really neat.
That definitely does speak tothat idea of a global village
and how we are creating globalcommunities, so really good
stuff.
Is there anything else you'dlike for listeners to know about
your work?
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Well, I think the important thing to know is that
I'm passionate about this work.
It has sustained me over manyyears and every day I'd get up
and just be excited to get to dothe work and connect with
teachers.
I think teachers are thegreatest people to collaborate
with.
I just love teachers andstudents.
(19:08):
It definitely keeps you young.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Yeah, that's for sure , that's for sure, and I love
that idea of how this kind ofwork can be sustaining, because
we know the energy it takes tobe a teacher to tap into that
daily.
It takes a lot, so it does helpif you can find something
you're passionate about andcontinue to work at discovering
new knowledge and putting newpieces into those ideas that
(19:33):
help to sustain that energy.
So, along those same lines,given the challenges of today's
educational climate, whatmessage do you want teachers to
hear?
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Well, I think Nelson Mandela said it best Education
is the most powerful weapon youcan use to change the world.
Teachers make the world goround.
Over my 43-year career ineducation, I've witnessed the
passion and dedication teachersdemonstrate on a daily basis.
(20:05):
So I have three messages forteachers.
Number one first and foremost,teachers, take care of
yourselves.
It's very difficult to engageand inspire students to learn
when you are burned out.
There's plenty of reason to beburned out, but you have to be
creative and dig in and figureout how to take care of yourself
(20:26):
first, so important.
Number two enroll your studentsas creators and co-creators of
their own learning.
Create the conditions forstudents to shine and take
ownership of their learning.
It's not always easy, but soworth it.
Then, finally, on a littledifferent note, check out
(20:49):
margysbooksorg.
I recently founded Margie'sBooks to provide books to
under-resourced educationalcommunities, and I named it
after my mother, margie Spires,who passed away in 2019.
I'm from a small town calledHearthsville, south Carolina,
and I'm a first-generationcollege student in my family.
(21:09):
My mother was my biggestsupporter and cheerleader
throughout my educationaljourney, so I decided to honor
her through the work of Margie'sBooks.
As long as I've been ineducation, teachers I have
encountered have needed and orwanted certain books that they
did not have the resources for,and oftentimes they had to use
(21:32):
their own funds to make theliteracy events happen.
Margie's Books seeksopportunities to fill these
needs for teachers, so check itout.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Thank you.
Thank you so much for thatresource.
That is very exciting and Ihope that our listeners will
take a look at margysbooksorgand we'll put that in.
It'll be in your bio and theshow notes for your episode as
well.
So thank you so much and thankyou for doing that work and
thank you for sharing your ideaswith us.
I also want to thank you somuch for your time today and for
sharing your ideas.
(22:05):
You gave us so many concreteideas as to how we could get
started with project-basedinquiry, how we can connect with
others and how we can reallybring this kind of rich learning
into our classrooms.
So thank you so much for yourtime and for sharing your ideas.
It was my pleasure.
Thank you.
Dr Hiller A Spires is known forher research in the areas of
(22:26):
digital and disciplinaryliteracies, and project-based
inquiry, or PBI global, fordiverse learners.
Hiller has conducted extensiveresearch, teaching and
engagement with teachers inChina, for which she received
North Carolina State's Jackson ARigny International Service
Award.
She's led 10 delegations toChina, including a three-city
(22:46):
study abroad trip for educationstudents in 2019.
She has partnered with BeijingRoyal School, one of the leading
schools in China, since 2010.
She co-created the Suzhou NorthAmerican High School as a
state-of-the-art high school inSuzhou, china, which embraces
the best of Eastern and Westerneducational practices.
(23:08):
She continues to serve as theirhonorary principal.
Her collaboration witheducators in China resulted in
her groundbreaking book DigitalTransformation and Innovation in
Chinese Education, published byIGI Global.
Her publications have appearedin Journal of Educational
Psychology, cognition andInstruction, journal of Literacy
(23:30):
Research, reading and Writing,and Interdisciplinary Journal
Computers and Education and theJournal of Adolescent and Adult
Literacy, among others.
She was guest editor for theInternational Special Issue of
Journal of Media andCommunication on the topic of
critical perspectives on digitalliteracies in 2019.
She is lead author on Read,write, inquire Disciplinary
(23:53):
Literacy for Grades 6 through 12, published by Teachers College
Press and co-edited with Dr ShayKirchoff on critical
perspectives on globalliteracies Bridging Research and
Practice, which was publishedby Rutledge this year.
Dr Kirchoff is also a formerclassroom caffeine guest.
Hiller served as foundingdirector of the William and Ida
(24:15):
Friday Institute for EducationalInnovation, an executive
director and associate dean from2019 to 2022.
She is currently executivedirector and professor emerita
at North Carolina StateUniversity, as well as founding
director of margisbooksorg,which provides children and
young adult books forunder-resourced educational
(24:37):
communities.
You can connect with Dr Spiresat https.
Colon.
Backslash backslash c, e, d,dot, n, c, s, u, dot e, d u.
Backslash people backslash h aSpires.
For the good of all students.
(24:58):
Classroom caffeine aims toenergize education, research and
practice.
If this show provides you withthings to think about, help us
spread the word.
Talk to your colleagues andeducator friends about what you
hear.
You can support the show bysubscribing, liking and
reviewing this podcast throughyour podcast provider.
Connect with us on social mediathrough Instagram, facebook and
(25:20):
Twitter.
On our website at classroomcaffeine dot com, you can learn
more about each guest, findtranscripts of our episodes,
explore topics using ourdrop-down menu of tags, request
an episode, topic or potentialguest, support our research
through a listener survey orlearn more about the research we
(25:41):
are doing on our publicationspage.
We would love to hear from you.
As always, I raise my mug toyou.
Teachers.
Thanks for joining me.
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