Here is the Essential Question for our course this semester:
How can technology be used most effectively to support and assess student learning?
Students use technology everyday because it is a part of their lives. I believe we can make learning much more meaningful to students if we use their strengths. Technology is definitely a strength for the majority of students in schools today. Allowing the students to use technology as a learning tool opens the door for more meaningful learning. I think about my project-based lesson and try to imagine how it would have been without the use of technology. My students' projects would be limited to what they could find in a text book. But, by allowing students to use the endless sources and communication that is available through technology, my students can produce a product that is worth something to them.
Technology can be used for collaborative communication with google hangouts or google documents. We can use technology that allows students to create a multimedia project that expresses a student's own perspective on a topic. Technology is a great source for students to gather information and organize it by using websites like Symbaloo. One additional way technology can be used is to keep students on task and focused. This can be done by using online checklists, providing peer feedback, and by teacher comments on blogs.
I also believe that learning is not all about the technology. In order for technology to be effective, teachers must identify what technology tools will be the most useful in a particular project. We must allow students to be creative and express themselves in different ways. Technology is great for this, but we don't have to use technology exclusively. There are many ways that technology can be used in a project-based lesson that are used for support of the project development instead of the main focus.
When planning my student sample, I really had a hard time picking what the sample should be. Should I have a presentation that shows a summary of the student's findings or a news article that explains the students findings as a publication. I decided that the presentation would be the most appropriate choice, since the students assume the roles of scientists. This would give them more of an authentic experience presenting their findings to the community instead of adding an article in a newspaper.
I also quickly realized that I must keep the project open enough to where the different groups have different products, but there are clear expectations as to what should be included in their presentations. I'm still trying to find the best way to relay those expectations to my students, so that is a work in progress. I need to make sure that my students include our Curriculum-Framing Questions with answers in their presentation. I have already changed some of my content questions because of my student sample. I also want my students to add the objectives to this presentation so they know what they are expected to know by the end of this project.
Here are my 21st Century Skills I hope to cover in my project-based lesson:
Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
Leadership and Responsibility
Productivity and Accountability
Communication and Collaboration
I believe that using groups and asking the groups to present their findings will cover these 21st Century Skills. The students must think critically in order to design a response plan to eradicate a disease. The students will assume the leadership role as a scientist, explaining and teaching the community. The students will be held accountable with checklists and understanding checks throughout the project. The students will communicate with one another and come up with the best solution for their disease response plan.
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