This week I had the opportunity to observe students working on a project that linked literacy and science standards. The students are reading a book about Rachel Carson and learning about how she studied the ocean ecosystem. Their goal was to choose an ecosystem in a specific area, research it and create a presentation to share with the class.
What standards did you observe? How did the teacher meet this standard?
- Facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity
- Design and develop digital age learning experiences and assessments
- Promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility
The teacher allowed the students to choose the ecosystem they wanted to learn about and encouraged students to choose something that interested them and allowed them to decide which software they wanted to use to present their project.
She designed the activity to give the students opportunities to do internet research and assess their learning by giving them four requirements that must be in the final project, also created digitally.
She went over technology expectations before they began and reminded them that they should be doing research. She also helped a student who stumbled onto a site that wasn't appropriate for school (a brewery named after the location she was researching) and reminded her that she should just quickly exit the site and gave some tips on how to read the listings that you get from a google search to gauge if that site may be helpful in your research.
I think the lesson was effective. Most of the students were able to choose an ecosystem and find 2 of the 4 criteria needed for their project within the first 30 minutes given to work on their assignment. After additional time was given the next day, most of the students had their criteria and were ready to work on a presentation.
What were the students doing in the lesson? Were the students engaged, thinking critically, collaborating, and communicating?
The students were actively researching and taking notes on a graphic organizer for their project. They were engaged, offering advice to students at their table groups and seeking guidance on their topics of research when they had trouble.
Were there any changes you would make to the lesson? Explain.
I might have provided a graphic organizer on a preprinted worksheet (at least for some students) rather than having them draw the web themselves. Several students that struggle with executive function had trouble getting started simply because drawing the organizer in their spiral took a long time.
What learning model do you think the teacher was using in his/her classroom?
I would say that she used the inquiry based learning model which includes these steps:
- Ask questions
- Probe into various situations
- Conduct analyses and provide descriptions
- Communicate findings, verbally or in writing
- Think about the information and knowledge obtained
