a. How did you have to adjust what you had planned?
I had planned to introduce PowerPoint and give step-by-step instruction about how to use the program. I had to adjust this because everyone already knew how to create a PowerPoint.
b. Did students meet you understanding goal?
Yes. Everyone successfully created a PowerPoint Presentation with information that they synthesized from their research on the Internet.
c. Did the technology help students achieve the goal?
Yes. I wanted students to analyze the impact that twentieth century Californians had on the nation's artistic and cultural movement. I also wanted students to locate, analyze, evaluate, synthesize and ethically use information from a variety of sources. This project allowed students to accomplish these goals. From the evaluations I learned that I should include step-by-step directions for the students that want more structure. Also I could sort the website by ease of accessibility.
d. Did they use higher order skills?
Yes. The students had to synthesize information that they retrieved from the Internet.
e. Did their tech skill/s improve?
Since I tried this lesson with our class I think everyone was already familiar with PowerPoint so this did not improve our classes skills. But if I were to implement this is a fourth grade class then this would improve their research and technology skills.
f. What did you like about the project? What did your students like?
I like that this project gets the students involved in the history of their community. I also like that it teaches them skills that they will use throughout their school career, such as researching and synthesizing information. From the evaluations I learned that they liked that students could pick their own topics and that it challenged students to access websites, analyze text and create original work.
g. What could have gone smoother?
I think I would have explained the my learning goals better. I was preoccupied with explaining the project and I feel like I left out why they were doing the project.
That's ok! You let us know later. It was a great project...one that students would be very motivated about. Another idea that popped into my head (and since most kids now have digital cameras), it would be neat to get an image from the internet (historical) and go to the same spot and take the photo...to compare how the are looked in the past, and how it looks now. Some things might be the same, some may be very different.
ReplyDeleteI like the assignment, and can imagine enjoying doing it myself.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure exactly what you were referring to when you said you "explained the project" but left out telling the students "why they were doing the project" and/or your "learning goals."
In explaining the project, you must have told them that they were to distill and/or synthesize information about what Californian's contributed to the artistic/cultural richness of the U.S. at a particular time in history. Do you think they really need to explicitly know that you also have in mind that they (1) appreciate the history of where they themselves live and (2) hope they improve their Power Point skills, or even (3) are contributing to your learning about tech use? My personal opinion is that the last goal might be fun for them to know. The first two can be elicited from them, versus given to them. Linda Glass