|
university, he has another e-mail address to a site he just found on a Gopher, where he can
“Ask-A-Geologist” his question.
As the teams go about their work, their teachers can be seen moving from group to group. They provide feedback
and assistance and keep track of problems and progress. They chat with students about their plans and decisions
about resources, strategies, and tools. A particular challenge emerges when two different groups receive
conflicting responses to a question posted to a newsgroup regarding the end of the glaciation period. Ms. Burgess
encourages the students to discuss possible reasons for the different answers. One student relates the
discrepancies to their earlier studies about differing and changing interpretations of tectonic plates. Another
student suggests that it would be easy for a source to make an error on an e-mail response if he trusted his
memory instead of checking the facts. Another suggests there might have been several glaciation periods, or that
there may be different periods for different regions of the country. Ms. Burgess encourages the students to find
out more, to go back to their sources and get substantiation, and to go to other sources as well. She agrees with
Steve that the problem could be based on different locales and suggests being very specific about the question
itself.
Aurelio’s group has already begun creating their final product. They’re using a multimedia
development tool called Media Text, which makes it easy for them to create a multimedia product
consisting of text, graphics, sound, animation, and video. They’ve decided to build a physical 3-D model of
a park and to create a tour guide. Numbered miniature flags will be attached at specific spots on their model. In
their Media Text presentation they will call up, with the click of a mouse button, the images and
special information about each of the numbered sites. The group seems particularly proud of their animated figure
who climbs the trail and points out interesting features.
As seen through the interaction between the teachers and the students, assessment is ongoing. The teachers have a
good idea of the kind of effort students made on the project because of the daily interactions with the groups.
Even if something turned out “wrong,” the teachers know the students are learning. At the end of the
investigation, the groups’ final projects will be evaluated, as will the students, both individually and
within their group. All of the products generated for the project serve as evidence of learning, but the teachers
also look for explanations that indicate the students have developed a solid grasp of scientific principles.
After the project presentations, the teachers will debrief with the students on what they learned in terms of
content, technology skills, and applications, as well as collaborative and problem-solving skills.
“Teamwork” means teachers and students are working together.
©1997-99 North Central Regional Educational Laboratory
1-800-356-2735 NCRTEC
|
