Introduction and Project Statement

Olson

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION AND PROJECT STATEMENT

Growing up as a kid in the early 1970’s and 1980’s I remember what it was like to learn without computers in the classroom. At that time the only computer that was widely available was the TV game Pong, and that certainly was not a learning tool for the classroom. I do remember reading stories as a whole class. We would all take turns reading a couple of sentences or paragraphs until we finished the chapter. There were very few times that I remember when we worked on projects in smaller groups. We would mostly do a lot of learning right out of the textbooks. We would read a chapter and then answer several questions at the end or in a workbook. Sometimes we would do these questions together as a class and other times we would have to do them by ourselves. For me this way of learning was not very fun. It wasn’t easy for the teacher to keep us students motivated in our own learning because there wasn’t anything that was keeping us engaged, other than just reading and answering questions, and that wasn’t very interesting to me.

My quest with this project is to make learning fun for my students by keeping them engaged in their own learning and also challenged enough so they will feel they have accomplished a reachable goal. Richard Stiggins states, “Your challenge as a teacher –indeed, the art and heart of your profession – is to take your students to their personal edges with enough confidence in themselves and enough trust in you, their teacher, to go ahead and step off when you ask them to. They must dare to risk failure.” Student-Involved Classroom Assessment, pg.47. This view is what I have set for myself in doing this project. I want my students to feel that they can do something that looks hard at first. I want them to feel that if they put some effort into a project, they can come through learning a lot more than if they had just read a book about the subject and answered a few questions. When students get the chance to be in charge of their own learning they are learning how to survive outside the classroom and solve problems on their own.

While students must be given the opportunity to solve real problems that have meaning to them, they cannot be left adrift without guidance in how to define problems and how to progress. If schools have conditioned students to see teachers as people who assume control for managing learning, then it is unfair to expect students to take the initiative with problem solving. The responsibility for learning must shift to the students if we expect them to solve real problems in and out of the classroom. (November, 2001, p. 46)

As part of the 2nd grade science standards we learn about the six simple machines and how they make work easier. The students will be able to demonstrate their understanding that change is related to the strength and amount of force of push and pull. To help my students get a better understanding of simple machines and how they are used I have created a WebQuest that will give them the opportunity to learn more about the simple machines while keeping them motivated as well as engaged in their own learning. According to San Diego State University’s WebQuest site, “A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented activity in which most or all of the information used by learners is drawn from the Web. WebQuests are designed to use learners' time well, to focus on using information rather than looking for it, and to support learners' thinking at the levels of analysis, synthesis and evaluation.” With the use of technology in the classroom I believe my students will become more engaged in their learning, be motivated in wanting to learn more, share ideas with their partners and be creative in their own thinking after they have finished this project.

…we can succeed as teachers only if we help our students want to learn. Motivation and desire represent the very foundations of learning. If students don’t want to learn, there will be no learning. If they feel unable to learn, there will be no learning. We must be clear about who’s in charge of the learning in schools. It is not teachers. Our students control their own success. (Stiggins, 2001, p. 338)

The focus of my WebQuest is the six simple machines. Students will be put into groups of two or three and will work together to meet the requirements of the task given to them, using the provided websites, books and other materials. The scenario is as follows: Congratulations, your class has been selected to create an exhibit on the six simple machines for the National Museum Foundation’s new museum in Washington D.C. There will be six rooms and your task is to create a room for one of the six simple machines and present your ideas to the board of directors as to what you want to include in your room. The purpose of this exhibit is to teach those that visit about your specific simple machine and how your simple machine makes work easier.

To accomplish this activity the students will be required to address the museum foundation using a formal PowerPoint presentation. This presentation will include four slides. Each slide has its own requirements and purpose for the activity. The first slide will be their title slide telling which simple machine they have chosen and the names of the group members. The second slide will name their simple machine and give a definition as well as some examples of how this simple machine makes work easier for people. The third slide will share a hands-on experiment that will be used in their exhibit to show off their simple machine. The last slide will be photos of everyday objects that use their simple machine and a few sentences to describe each photo. This PowerPoint presentation will be shared with the class and “The Board of Directors” at the conclusion of this WebQuest.

The use of technology in the classroom has always caught my interest because of the possibilities that are out there. It gives students fun ways to practice and it also lets students be creative in different ways that are sometimes not found in regular classroom activities. For example, there are programs that let students practice math facts using arcade style games. There are also productivity programs that let them create posters and pamphlets to show off what they have learned at the end of a unit. The many ways technology can be used in the classroom can help each individual student find a way that will keep them engaged in their own learning. This way of learning is far different from my experiences in 2nd grade where we just read and answered questions. It is my belief that when technology is used in the classroom my students will become more self confident, highly motivated and become actively engaged in their own learning process. They will find that using technology is a fun and interesting learning tool to use in the classroom. This WebQuest will let my students guide their own learning and find another way to build their own knowledge.

CHAPTER TWO

RATIONALE FOR THE PROJECT

Why is it important for students to use technology in their learning? What is technology’s best role in teaching and learning? These are two key questions that I will address in this chapter as I present a rationale for my curriculum unit and review the educational literature that defends the design and delivery of this unit.

In today’s classrooms we need to be thinking about how we prepare our students for the future. Even in 2nd grade they are learning skills that they will be using for many years to come. Not only are they learning math, language, reading and social skills, they are also learning how to use technology to prepare themselves for the future. Until recently, technology hasn’t played a big part of the classroom curriculum. I believe that times have now changed and we need to start using technology at an early age to better prepare our students for their own future in the work force. Using “drill and kill” computer practice has it place in instruction and can be fun for students, but I feel that to better prepare them for their future they need a different kind of instruction that will better motivate them and engage them in their own learning process yet still be fun at the same time. This drive to prepare students to face tomorrow is why I have created a Simple Machines WebQuest geared toward 2nd grade students.

The curriculum unit I created in the shape of a WebQuest is set up in a way that students get to work together in small groups and use the Internet and books to gather the information they need to solve an interesting problem. I feel that it important that students get the chance to work with others on these types of projects. Each student brings their own prior knowledge to the group and can share what they already know. Using the Internet and technology puts the world at their fingertips. The most current information can be found on a given topic and it is readily available for them to use.

Additionally, using technology gets the students motivated. Computers seem to catch the attention of many students and they want to be involved in any activity that has to do with computers. As a teacher we know how important it is to keep students engaged in their learning and also how important it is to let them know what we expect of them. When we give them specific targets to hit our students don’t have to guess as to what we are expecting of them. “Because we want to support students as they transform information into new understanding, using a question can access prior knowledge, thus activating pre-existing cognitive networks of meaning. In addition, questions can create the cognitive dissonance that leads to investigation and assimilation of a more robust understanding” (March, 2004). The question, or scenario and task of the WebQuest give the students this guideline to follow so they know exactly what they have to do for their final product. Showing them an example of a final product provides a useful scaffolding tool. They get to see what is expected and can get a better understanding of what kind of work is needed to create an expectable final product.

Each year it seems that the state and school district keep adding more and more requirements for students, and as teachers we are limited on the time we have in the classroom for instruction. To help make the best use of our classroom time we need to be creative in the ways we teach the required subjects. Using a WebQuest can help us accomplish this challenge. A WebQuest can be compared to using a whole language thematic unit in the classroom because many areas of the curriculum can be taught in a short amount of time. The difference is that WebQuests strategically use technology to increase how students learn about the specific subject of study.

According to Tom March, who wrote “WebQuests: Fulcrum for Systemic Curriculum Improvement” WebQuests aren’t anything new. What they are is a way to integrate a number of sound learning strategies while also making substantial educational use of the Web. Interestingly, while these educational theories have made good sense for quite a long time, it’s taken the Web and related communication technologies to chip away at the Berlin Wall of traditional education to make the above strategies not just good ideas, but essential. (p. 4)

My Simple Machine WebQuest has been designed so that many of the state standards my students are required to learn are covered in a way that keeps their attention. The standards that will be covered in this WebQuest are:

Physical Science:

·  Make predictions based on observed patterns and not random guessing

·  Write or draw descriptions of a sequence of steps, events, and observations

·  Understand that change is related to the strength and amount of force of push and pull

·  Understand that machines are used to apply push and pull to make objects move

Reading Standards:

·  Utilize titles and chapter headings

·  State the purpose in reading

·  Restate facts and details in sequence from text to clarify and organize ideas

·  Use table of contents and index to locate information

·  Begin asking clarifying questions about text

·  Restate facts and details in the text to clarify and organize ideas

·  Interpret information from diagrams, charts, and graphs

Writing Standards:

·  Distinguish between complete and incomplete sentences

·  Recognize and use correct word order in written sentences

·  Capitalize all proper nouns, beginnings of sentences, and titles

·  Spell selected high frequency words in written sentences

Listening and Speaking:

·  Speak in a manner that guides the listener to understand the presentation

·  Report on a topic with facts and details from at least one source

Local Technology Standards:

·  Hardware care

·  File management

·  Peripheral use

·  Publishing and presentation

·  Simulations

·  Online search tools

·  Copyright

Designing a WebQuest that combines the areas of state and local standards is an efficient way to teach my demanding curriculum. Though a lot of material is covered in this curriculum unit, the students enjoyed the experience and teaching it was fun. In the next section I will show how educational research supports my theories of using a WebQuest in the classroom. I will be touching on the topics of constructivism, brain based learning, assessment and technology use in the classroom and how my WebQuest will incorporate these styles of teaching.

Constructivism

There are many key ideas that I feel are important in a constructivist classroom. The areas that I feel are most important are: prior knowledge, student centered learning, being active participants and multiple assessment. I have come to realize how I can improve my own teaching style so my students will have a better learning experience.