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3 Benefits of Giving Students Space to Create

A few weeks ago on the blog, I shared some big news from PebbleGo. They recently acquired Buncee, the popular EdTech tool for student creators and are pairing this technology with their platform. Coming in early 2022, you can unlock your K-5 students’ creativity with PebbleGo Create

PebbleGo Create is designed for elementary school-aged students. It’s an entirely new tool you can add to any PebbleGo subscription. PebbleGo Create provides a digital workspace for student creators to share their learning. For example, students can capture what they’ve learned creatively after reading passages from PebbleGo.

Before we dive into how PebbleGo Create works, let’s examine some of the benefits of giving students space to create!

Student creators can share their learning with the new PebbleGo Create platform to help student readers capture ideas and questions.

Giving Student Creators Space

How do your students share their learning? In my new book, EdTech Essentials: The Top 10 Technology Strategies for All Learning Environments (ASCD, 2021), I have an entire chapter dedicated to the idea of creation in the classroom. Here’s a short excerpt from page 50:

“ ‘Getting creative’ is an essential part of any type of problem-solving activity and an important component of how we apply what we have learned. In tech-friendly environments, student creators can use digital tools to capture ideas, organize information, and create something that simply did not exist before. The ability to create in a digital space is an essential skill regardless of the product students dream up and share with the world.”

There are many benefits to giving students time and space to create in the classroom, including connections to curiosity, critical thinking, and student portfolios.

It’s the next step for curiosity

Regular readers of the blog might remember this post on intellectual curiosity. Teachers can tap into student creativity in many ways, from posing discussion questions to giving time for students to wonder. When students have a chance to create something new — including a response to reading in PebbleGo Create — they have a new space to share their learning and showcase topics they want to know more about.

Student creators can share their learning with the new PebbleGo Create platform to help student readers capture ideas and questions.

Students can demonstrate critical thinking skills

Within PebbleGo, there are short passages on a variety of high-interest topics for student readers. When given a chance to create an illustration, add details to a mind map, or capture their thinking in a different way, students can synthesize information from a few different places and decide on which pieces of information to include. After they read, you might ask students to talk about their ideas with a partner before diving into the digital workspace to create a product of learning.

Portfolios document student learning

A student portfolio can organize their work and demonstrate their growth over a school year. Creative products allow students to share their learning in many different ways — and these ways might evolve throughout the year. A portfolio provides students with a chance to showcase their learning in authentic ways. You can use student portfolios in addition to or in place of traditional assessments.

Getting Started with PebbleGo Create

PebbleGo Create officially launches in early 2022. So it won’t be long before students can read a text within PebbleGo, then share their learning with this new creative tool. 

PebbleGo Create makes it easy for students to respond to what they have just read in PebbleGo. After reading a short text, they can easily draw, type, and record a video as part of their response. Students can choose from thousands of stickers, animations, and templates to capture their learning.

One feature that makes PebbleGo an excellent choice for this age level is the single login option built into PebbleGo. This means that students can use one login to access their PebbleGo subscription, their PebbleGo Create workspace, and previous work from earlier in the school year. Everything is organized into one place. So students can easily share their creations with their teacher after reading on the platform.

Student creators can share their learning with the new PebbleGo Create platform to help student readers capture ideas and questions.

When teachers log in to their dashboard, PebbleGo Create gives them easy access to each students’ creations. This digital tool provides real-time learning insights, which means a teacher can see what students are working on right away. They can provide support and feedback as students work on their creations. As I mentioned earlier, the products students make are perfect for authentic and portfolio assessment, too. This space gives students a chance to show a deeper understanding of the text as they represent their learning in different ways.

Ready to learn more about PebbleGo Create? This landing page includes information on the new PebbleGo Create. And while you wait for it to launch officially, you can dive into the reading passages from PebbleGo right away. Learn more about this exciting new tool available with PebbleGo!

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Blog Author and EdTech Consultant Dr. Monica Burns

Monica Burns

Dr. Monica Burns is a former classroom teacher, Author, Speaker, and Curriculum & EdTech Consultant. Visit her site ClassTechTips.com for more ideas on how to become a tech-savvy teacher.

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