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, and Twitter.
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, and Twitter.
Education Research has a problem the work of brilliant education researchers often doesn't reach the practice of brilliant teachers. Classroom Caffeine is here to help. In each episode, I talk with a top education researcher or expert educator about what they have learned from their research and experiences. In this episode, 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, global for diverse learners.
Speaker 1:Hiller has conducted extensive research, teaching and engagement with teachers in China, for which she has received North Carolina State's Jackson A Rigny International Service Award. She led 10 delegations to China, partnered with Beijing Royal School since 2010, and co-created Shuzhou North American 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's also Founding Director of Margie's Booksorg. That's M-A-R-G-I-E-S-B-O-O-K-SO-R-G. For more information about our guest, stay tuned to the end of this episode. So pour a cup of your favorite drink and join me, your host, lindsay Persan, for Classroom Caffeine Research to Energize your Teaching Practice. Hiller, thank you for joining me. Welcome to the show. So, from your own experiences and education, will you share with us one or two moments that inform your thinking now? Sure.
Speaker 2:One big moment was about 18 years ago, when I had an epiphany with my literacy instruction with teacher educators. I knew that reading and writing to learn was a solid pedagogical approach for teacher education and I had been using that approach. But I wanted to go further and center the idea of creating to learn and specifically, I wanted to utilize the affordances of emerging Web 2.0 tools at the time. So I pondered how do I come up with a process that would allow teachers and students to generate ideas and use the power of imagination in order to learn? They would generate and create content as a means to learn new information. At that time, there were many bodies of work to draw from Library and information sciences. They were using an online framework. Dr Don Lu was using a new literacies framework for online comprehension. Others were using project-based and problem-based learning frameworks. So in my new literacies and media graduate class, I came up with an approach that I called project-based inquiry, or what I usually refer to it as PDI, and it used a five-phase iterative process for generating new knowledge. Those phases are ask a compelling question, gather and analyze sources creatively synthesize claims and evidences, critically evaluate and revise content and then finally share, publish and act.
Speaker 2:I was taken with the idea of inquiry as a means to create knowledge because it centered the learner as a driver of the learning process, and I was also taken with the many affordances of emerging digital technologies that could be used with inquiry cycles of learning.
Speaker 2:But I was also aware at the time of the caveats around inquiry learning based on what we knew from cognitive science.
Speaker 2:So I knew that I needed to design instructional scaffolds so learners would not be so frustrated that they would actually give up during the inquiry process. So over the years I committed myself to this PDI process and centered it in everything that I was doing in my graduate classes, professional development with teachers in schools and sessions with K-12 students, and each time that I used the process I would learn something new from my participants about how further to apply the process. So that was one big moment. And then a second big moment that goes right along with this was when I traveled to China for the very first time I had read Thomas Friedman's book the World is Splat and I became energized by the idea of engaging students and teachers to collaborate across time, space and cultures to co-create new knowledge. That's when I added the global component to my project-based inquiry model, so I added the global aspect to signal two components. Number one collaborating with educators and students from different cultures and countries, and or using the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals as a content focus.
Speaker 1: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 in translation right, particularly if we just read one of your books or even read an article. I think that somehow it's like it freezes our ideas Once we put it into that kind of text, and so I love the way that you talk about how you develop this framework, and then had another moment in your educational career that kind of changed the way that you thought about that. I also love the way that you talk about PBI framework as something that can really support learners of any age to continue to ask questions about the world and then gather information in order to develop solutions that they can share with others. So it's really important stuff, and I feel as though quite often in schools these days this isn't at the center of every conversation, this idea of learner centered or learners at the center of the learning process. So that's one thing I really love about your work.
Speaker 2:Yes, I totally agree, and I learned over time and it really was through trial and error, right, and that's what it all gets down to trial and error. You know that putting the learner whether it's the teacher learner or the student learner in the K-12 classroom, putting them at the center, it's magical, it's just absolutely magical. And then, of course, there's so much that you can do with that and take cues from the learner and adjust the different kinds of lessons that you're doing in different frameworks. But it's very, very important. And you know the whole idea about the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Speaker 2:I felt like when those came out it was so exciting for me because you know we had been using the grand challenges here in the United States. But when we got the UN Sustainable Development Goals this idea that representatives from countries across the world had come together around consensus about what the most pressing challenges of our times were I thought that was galvanizing and it was just very, very exciting for me. You know, for example, clean water and sanitation issues, poverty, gender equality, climate action, just to name a few but they were so exciting to think about and have that point of reference of the world, not just for everything being US-centric, so that really did galvanize the work, I think.
Speaker 1:And what an important point to highlight in this work, because I think that it is so easy to get trapped within, kind of our own mind and our own context, particularly when we're in the day-to-day demands of education and the school climate. So I think that stepping outside of that to say what matters not just to us but globally, what is an issue that we can all tackle together, I think it creates such a different sense of what education is and what it can be right. Whenever we sort of get out of the standards a little bit, because I tend to believe that all good education comes back to standards. Particularly if the standards make sense right, if they're sensible and if they are well-defined for us, I feel like it's actually quite easy to tie learning back to the standards.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and one of the things that we learned through using this model over time and using these 17 UN sustainable development goals is that you can design the instruction so that the students and teachers are engaging in these topics both locally and globally, and that's very magical when they can see how these topics apply in their backyard, but they're also applying in developing countries and all around the world. It's quite powerful.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely so. On that note, hiller. What do you want listeners to know about your work?
Speaker 2:Well, as I mentioned, I embraced the practice creating to learn and have centered PBI Global as a pedagogical approach in teacher education, really for the last half of my career. I've just been very stubborn about it and just stayed with it. You know, and everybody knows, that inquiry based teaching and learning is challenging but it's also very rewarding for both teachers and students. Marie Hines, who is a research associate and director of the new literacy, is collaborative at the Friday Institute. She's been one of the key collaborators with me on this PBI Global model and over the years we've learned a few things. Number one teachers need to create what we call a PBI Global Village. So if you're going to do this work, don't just try to do it as a lone ranger. It just doesn't work. It's important for teachers to assemble a support team of administrators, coaches and external experts. You need the administrative support or it really can fall flat. You know you just have to have that support and leaders are just so important in the school but they help facilitate class scheduling, being responsive to impromptu needs and real important, bringing together the community members for the student showcase and, you know, taking the lead on that and really galvanizing folks to come together to celebrate the learning. Coaches support the student teams to stay on task and be goal oriented. So if you can include coaches, that's also very, very important. And we really emphasize having external experts to provide that specialized content knowledge, because students can do the online research. They can read and read and read and read. But having another person who has expertise in a particular area, like climate change or whatever area you're focusing on, is so valuable, and those experts can be in person, they can come in the classroom or they can be a virtual and both work extremely well. We've seen them both work extremely well.
Speaker 2:And the second area is what we call create balance. It's important to be intentional about project goals while remaining adaptable. It's key to embrace the tensions that always occur as a natural part of the inquiry and cross cultural collaboration process. For example, shared responsibility is frequently a challenge during collaborative inquiry. Oftentimes there will be asymmetry in student teams efforts. So you have to address that and some of the strategies that we found that work include pre selecting some student teams, assigning roles to students within a team and having students conduct both self and peer assessments regarding the project contributions. So supporting student choice of inquiry topics helps with both accountability and quality of the outcomes of the project, which we think are very, very important.
Speaker 2:So those are two things that we think are important. The next one is students can be change agents. We have learned that firsthand. Angela Meyer says that the greatest gap in education is the under estimation of student genius and their capacity to contribute, and I love Goldie Muhammad's book on cultivating genius using an equity framework and I think that she's just right on target there. Our students in a former PBI project his name is Nick, as a student in he said our generation isn't prepared for the future, our generation is shaping it, and I love that self awareness and it really came about through a PBI global process. So PBI global is one way there are many ways, but this is one way to support student genius and engage students to understand the power of agency.
Speaker 1:I really love everything you're saying, hiller, and I think it's such an exciting way to think about education and in my mind it is in so many ways the antithesis of what so many of our systemic kind of mandates tell us to do in schools.
Speaker 1:It is the opposite of standardization of knowledge, it is the opposite of learning for the past. Because I think that what you're talking about here, when we encourage young people to identify their big questions about the world, to identify the problems in the world and how they want to see that future shaped or reshaped for them, it's so empowering. But I think, even beyond that it allows us to we talk about how we don't know what we're preparing students for. Right, it's an unknown future, but I love the quote that you shared with us from Nick they are in fact shaping the future, and so who are we to try to guess what we're trying to prepare them for? Why not hand the learning over to young people? Because they often are truly the experts, but we just sell them short, right? We just don't really give them that kind of credit, we don't give them that kind of power in their own education.
Speaker 2:I totally agree and just from the work I've been engaged in, I see it time and time again. That's not to say that there aren't many, many challenges with this process. You're always going to have the student who you just can't get going. But what we found is there are just so many ways that you can engage a student and create those conditions. Create those conditions for engagement and create empowering conditions. More times than not you will get these students engaged.
Speaker 1:And I think that's really key there is that. Does it reach everyone 100% of the time? I'm not sure anything really does right, but I do think that this type of approach to learning it certainly engages more learners more of the time than the rote, standardized sort of education that I think so many young people are offered.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and what the students tell us is that it's memorable. It's like they'll say we'll never forget this learning experience. We'll be talking about it when we're adults because we remember how it made us feel, and I think that's so important.
Speaker 1:That it is and it's exciting right. It brings a lot of energy back into education. The other thing that I think is so important to highlight is this idea of a global village and how we can help young people to feel more connected to their immediate communities, but also to young people around the world who are potentially thinking about some of the same challenges in life that they may be thinking about, and we talk a lot about the connections and disconnections of young people, particularly in today's technological world, how we are so close together yet sometimes worlds apart. But I think that this creates an entirely different sense of engagement with others, an entirely different sense of community and how we might work together in ways that maybe we haven't even considered yet.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and what we found, too, is that the students that we're working with here in the US, when they start working with students like we've worked with a lot of students in China over time because of all of my connections in China, and I helped create a state-of-the-art high school there what we see is that they come to realize that they have even though they're different in a lot of ways, they come to create shared knowledge and they also very often have shared challenges, even though they might look a little differently. That is quite empowering. I know when we did a water project and students in actually Raleigh, north Carolina, were testing water samples here, and then we also had the students in Suzhou, china. They were testing water samples and then they compared them. They were amazed at some of the same challenges with the water that they were experiencing. So it is a quite eye-opening and valuable experience for students, I think.
Speaker 1:That's really neat. That definitely does speak to that idea of a global village and how we are creating global communities, so really good stuff. Is there anything else you'd like for listeners to know about your work?
Speaker 2:Well, I think the important thing to know is that I'm passionate about this work. It has sustained me over many years and every day I'd get up and just be excited to get to do the work and connect with teachers. I think teachers are the greatest people to collaborate with. I just love teachers and students. It definitely keeps you young.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's for sure, that's for sure, and I love that idea of how this kind of work can be sustaining, because we know the energy it takes to be a teacher to tap into that daily. It takes a lot, so it does help if you can find something you're passionate about and continue to work at discovering new knowledge and putting new pieces into those ideas that help to sustain that energy. So, along those same lines, given the challenges of today's educational climate, what message do you want teachers to hear?
Speaker 2:Well, I think Nelson Mandela said it best Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world. Teachers make the world go round. Over my 43-year career in education, I've witnessed the passion and dedication teachers demonstrate on a daily basis. So I have three messages for teachers. Number one first and foremost, teachers, take care of yourselves. It's very difficult to engage and inspire students to learn when you are burned out. There's plenty of reason to be burned out, but you have to be creative and dig in and figure out how to take care of yourself first, so important. Number two enroll your students as creators and co-creators of their own learning. Create the conditions for students to shine and take ownership of their learning. It's not always easy, but so worth it. Then, finally, on a little different note, check out margysbooksorg.
Speaker 2:I recently founded Margie's Books to provide books to under-resourced educational communities, and I named it after my mother, margie Spires, who passed away in 2019. I'm from a small town called Hearthsville, south Carolina, and I'm a first-generation college student in my family. My mother was my biggest supporter and cheerleader throughout my educational journey, so I decided to honor her through the work of Margie's Books. As long as I've been in education, teachers I have encountered have needed and or wanted certain books that they did not have the resources for, and oftentimes they had to use their own funds to make the literacy events happen. Margie's Books seeks opportunities to fill these needs for teachers, so check it out.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Thank you so much for that resource. That is very exciting and I hope that our listeners will take a look at margysbooksorg and we'll put that in. It'll be in your bio and the show notes for your episode as well. So thank you so much and thank you for doing that work and thank you for sharing your ideas with us. I also want to thank you so much for your time today and for sharing your ideas. You gave us so many concrete ideas as to how we could get started with project-based inquiry, how we can connect with others and how we can really bring this kind of rich learning into our classrooms. So thank you so much for your time and for sharing your ideas. It was my pleasure.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Dr Hiller A Spires is known for her research in the areas of digital and disciplinary literacies, and project-based inquiry, or PBI global, for diverse learners. Hiller has conducted extensive research, teaching and engagement with teachers in China, for which she received North Carolina State's Jackson A Rigny International Service Award. She's led 10 delegations to China, including a three-city study abroad trip for education students in 2019. She has partnered with Beijing Royal School, one of the leading schools in China, since 2010. She co-created the Suzhou North American High School as a state-of-the-art high school in Suzhou, china, which embraces the best of Eastern and Western educational practices. She continues to serve as their honorary principal. Her collaboration with educators in China resulted in her groundbreaking book Digital Transformation and Innovation in Chinese Education, published by IGI Global. Her publications have appeared in Journal of Educational Psychology, cognition and Instruction, journal of Literacy Research, reading and Writing, and Interdisciplinary Journal Computers and Education and the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, among others. She was guest editor for the International Special Issue of Journal of Media and Communication on the topic of critical perspectives on digital literacies in 2019. She is lead author on Read, write, inquire Disciplinary Literacy for Grades 6 through 12, published by Teachers College Press and co-edited with Dr Shay Kirchoff on critical perspectives on global literacies Bridging Research and Practice, which was published by Rutledge this year. Dr Kirchoff is also a former classroom caffeine guest. Hiller served as founding director of the William and Ida Friday Institute for Educational Innovation, an executive director and associate dean from 2019 to 2022. She is currently executive director and professor emerita at North Carolina State University, as well as founding director of margisbooksorg, which provides children and young adult books for under-resourced educational communities. You can connect with Dr Spires at https. Colon. Backslash backslash c, e, d, dot, n, c, s, u, dot e, d u. Backslash people backslash h a Spires. For the good of all students.
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