Eclectic Technology

If you are considering project-based learning, but have questions about just what to do, this post may assist you. There are many suggestions about practical PBL projects that are appropriate for students in grades K - 5.

The post also includes a quick overview of the stops in PBL as well as a list of read-aloud books that may inspire students to ways they might create a project that will help their community. You will also find a list of ten ideas for projects and three other sections:

* Inspire Projects with Hand to Heart/Paw/Earth

* Teach Students to Ask Questions/Research Across Texts

* Try Ready-Made Books and Projects with Heifer

Project-based learning provides authentic learning opportunities for students to be highly engaged and to focus on the four C's that the Partnership for 21st Century and Common Core would like us to address: Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking and Creativity.

Gorman begins this post by providing a definition of Project Based Learning that looks at the final project as the "desert." He states "In true Project Based Learning the project uncovers and facilitates the learning of significant content. In PBL there is a balancing of learning that occurs through out the project duration."

He discussed PBL in relation to the four C's (Collaboration, Communication, Critical Thinking, and Creativity) noting that often PBL becomes too focused on the four C's. There is also the need to make sure that there is sufficient scaffolding for the learners. To assist in learning how to plan there is list of ten ideas that may be considered in the planning process and the first three are listed below (quoted from the post):

* The entry event should show a relationship to the Driving Question promoting a “need to know” of significant content.

* The Driving Question should allow students to uncover the curriculum in a student friendly and understandable manner.

* The PBL planning sheet for students should line up with significant content in the curricular area being studied and assessed.

Gorman has also provided a link to a  PBL Planning Reflection Sheet. 

How often have you heard the term digital native or digital immigrant? Are our students digital natives because they were born after digital items were widely available? Does this factor mean that they understand how to use these tools effectively and that they are digitally literate? For me the answer to that is that they do not fully understand how to use digital tools effectively and they are not digitally literate. This is something we need to teach them.

This post does an excellent job looking at this issue. Specifically it looks at these areas:

* Students must learn how to evaluate online content - Think of this as a research skill.

* Students must be able to engage with others online and communicate - Think of this as a communication tool.

* Students need to learn how to create and projects can be digital.

These three areas come together and create the skill sets needed to digitally literate. More information is available about this in the post.

And if you happen to live in the New England area you might consider checking out the Massachusetts New Literacies Institute that will be taking place in at the Kittredge Center in Holyoke, MA from July 8 - 10. Information for this may be found at http://mnli.org/. This institute looks at three cornerstones: Online Content Reading, Online Collaborative Inquiry and Online Content Construction "preparing future-ready teachers."

This post is the first in series and discusses free resources that may be stored on a local computer or a network. The list includes Scratch, Sketc-Up, Gimp, 3 free office suites, Alice, a variety of tools that will help you make movies and more. Most are described in some  detail and there are links to additional resources to help you learn the tool.

Additional posts will discuss Web 2.0 apps that may be used on the Internet (and across platforms), web apps and sites that promote literacy and student publication and web sites that promote student creativity.