CEP 816 Dream Project for Colleagues
For most young learners, science is fun, interactive, and engaging. An ideal lesson may include students using their sense of taste to distinguish the difference between liquids or mixing baking soda with vinegar and watching the reaction spill over the sides of a cup. When students are expected to learn science concepts by reading a student textbook and write in answers to questions on a worksheet, it is hard to believe that students would be fully engaged and master concepts. At my elementary school, this is what the average science lesson looks like in addition to suggested read alouds that are related to the topics but not provided for teachers to use. One of the science units that I will be teaching is on the life cycles of animals and plants. I have decided to pick this science unit for my CEP 816 Dream Project. Unfortunately, I will not be able to have frog eggs in the classroom or a garden to plant pumpkin seeds for my students to actually see the stages of the life cycles happen. But by integrating this unit with technology, I believe that my students as well as the other first graders at my school will be able to master the unit ideas and enjoy learning the concepts at the same time.
This unit is intended to be used by the first grade teachers at my elementary school. There are four first grade classes. I decided to design a website that includes a large variety of resources that can be found all in one place that include videos, quizzes, downloadable worksheets, games, powerpoints, and online read alouds. I decided to include worksheets in addition to the other resources that can be printed because worksheets may appeal to some students’ learning style although it is not a new media tool. Of course, teachers would not use every resource that's on the site but teachers have the option of picking the activities that will meet their students' needs. If teachers decide to complete an activity with his or her class, it it's the teachers responsibility to provide his or her class with the materials necessary and become familiar with the activity before using it with students. There are directions with the activities that teachers should read to make they understand how to implement the activity. (This typically happens when teachers write their lesson plans.)
My original idea was to create a website that first graders would be able to navigate on their own. When I had this idea, I wanted to use all or mostly visuals with voice overs to help students move through the site. I know many of my students are at the early emergent literacy stage. I know that having a site full of words explaining ideas would not fully benefit my students. Unfortunately, I was not able to include voice overs with Weebly. After putting more thought into this project, I decided to make a website that teachers could use with the whole class and then guide students into using the site for certain activities such as watching the videos, playing the games, and the brainpopjr.com activities. These are all links that students can follow by clicking on an image or key words that they can read such as here or try this (still with guidance from the teacher). This site was not designed for to go to on their own and navigate the site individually. Ideally, each lesson would be taught as a whole group with the teacher reading the short passages or sum up the passages. There’s many opportunities for students to explore the site on their own after being exposed to where things are such as the links.
This unit is intended to be used by the first grade teachers at my elementary school. There are four first grade classes. I decided to design a website that includes a large variety of resources that can be found all in one place that include videos, quizzes, downloadable worksheets, games, powerpoints, and online read alouds. I decided to include worksheets in addition to the other resources that can be printed because worksheets may appeal to some students’ learning style although it is not a new media tool. Of course, teachers would not use every resource that's on the site but teachers have the option of picking the activities that will meet their students' needs. If teachers decide to complete an activity with his or her class, it it's the teachers responsibility to provide his or her class with the materials necessary and become familiar with the activity before using it with students. There are directions with the activities that teachers should read to make they understand how to implement the activity. (This typically happens when teachers write their lesson plans.)
My original idea was to create a website that first graders would be able to navigate on their own. When I had this idea, I wanted to use all or mostly visuals with voice overs to help students move through the site. I know many of my students are at the early emergent literacy stage. I know that having a site full of words explaining ideas would not fully benefit my students. Unfortunately, I was not able to include voice overs with Weebly. After putting more thought into this project, I decided to make a website that teachers could use with the whole class and then guide students into using the site for certain activities such as watching the videos, playing the games, and the brainpopjr.com activities. These are all links that students can follow by clicking on an image or key words that they can read such as here or try this (still with guidance from the teacher). This site was not designed for to go to on their own and navigate the site individually. Ideally, each lesson would be taught as a whole group with the teacher reading the short passages or sum up the passages. There’s many opportunities for students to explore the site on their own after being exposed to where things are such as the links.
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The homepage introduces teachers to the unit and the standard for the unit. Before learning about life cycles, students must understanding what things can have life cycles. They must know if something is living or nonliving. This is a lesson that should have already been taught but can be reviewed depending on the students. I choose the video with Cookie Monster because it was short and straight forward. Cookie gives examples and of course kids would find Cookie funny. It’s a great unit opener. At the bottom, I included three pictures that show life cycles and some questions. I included this here to get students to start thinking about unit concepts and activating their background knowledge. These are activities that can be done as a whole group. Teachers may use use the questions with the Think Pair Share Strategy by having students think about a answer to the question, talk to a partner and the teacher may pick a pair of students to share their answers with the group. Although this is not on the webpage, this is a strategy that many teachers are familiar with at my school.
Lesson one includes more activities for students about living and nonliving things. With the help from a colleague, I was able to include a drag and drop activity for students to decide if objects are living or nonliving. Once students sort the pictures, they are able to check their answers. If teachers decide to use this activity they may complete it as a whole group or have students complete it individually. Once students understand the difference between living and nonliving things, they are able to think about life cycles by using their personal experiences as a foundation. I decided to include a powerpoint presentation that the students can go over as a class. I would recommend going over the entire powerpoint as a group and giving students some time to think about the order to put the pictures in and then pick students to put the pictures in order using a projector for the rest of the class to see. After this activity, ideally, students will have some understanding of the concept of life cycles. Lesson two includes life cycle activities of plants. My school has a subscription for brainpopjr.com. Many of the brainpopjr videos introduce students to concepts, expand on the concepts, and include a variety of activities for students after watching the video such as games, quizzes, reading passages, jokes, drawing options and more all about one specific topic. After watching the video as a class and discussing the video, I would let students work in groups, pairs, or individually in playing the game and exploring the site. When revisiting the unit, I would show the students another video about the life cycle of apples for students who may have been overwhelmed with the brainpopjr video. As a class, the teacher may decide to complete the flowchart or purchase the life cycle of an apple craft. I included similar activities for the life cycle of a pumpkin. I included a video of a read aloud for students to go back and listen to if they decided. I decided to integrate some writing for students to demonstrate their understanding in another way although this is not a digital tool. I decided to use a venn diagram for students to be able develop a general understanding of the life cycle of plants. Lesson three introduces students to life cycles of animals. Again, I included brainpopjr videos for the life cycle of frogs and butterflies. I included a game for both animals that students can complete individually or as a class. I also included a few other tools that students may enjoy. Depending on students’ curiosity about butterflies they may enjoy learning more about caterpillars and butterflies by exploring the other links and games. At the end of the unit, there are two venn diagrams for students to complete with guidance from the teacher for students to develop a general understanding about the life cycles of animals and butterflies. I don’t want students to only think about the life cycles of apples, pumpkins, frogs, and butterflies but about plants and animals. At the very end there are quizzes that students may take to demonstrate their understanding of the life cycles of plants and animals. By completing the venn diagram activity as a whole group, students will be able to participate in a discussion to help them form generalizations about life cycles. The venn diagram is at the end of the lesson. The students will already be familiar with the vocabulary and have an understanding of the terms in relation to life cycles. |
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All classes has a variety of learners and all learners have different learning styles. To ensure that all learners are able to master this unit’s content, I decided to include multimedia learning. Multimedia learning ranges from text to videos to online images (Mayor, 2009). I did not want to limit my students to only using digital tools to express their understanding. This is why I included downloadable worksheets that included cut and paste activities and some opportunities for students to express their ideas through writing. I also included material that can be used in whole group activities, small group, partner work, or individually. I personally would complete the majority of the activities as a whole group first to introduce students to concepts. Most of the worksheet activities I would allow students to complete in small groups. The online games I would give students the option to work in pairs or individually. Students would complete the edpuzzle quizzes individually. I decided to use videos for students to have a visual that allows them to see the actual life cycles since they are not able to see the cycles in “real life”. I decided to include the Brainpopjr into this unit for many reasons. Brainpopjr videos are ideal for young learners. The videos usually includes some kind of humor that students are able to understand, enjoy, and holds their attention. The manner in which the material is presented is in a kind friendly manner and encourages students to think critically. I like how the videos give background information on a topic, covers a topic and challenges students thinking. I think the videos appeal to students in different ways depending on where they are in their understanding of the content. The first time watching the video may be overwhelming for students but with guidance from a teacher, the material can be manageable. I also like how the website includes a variety of activities that students can explore in the order that they would like to as well as the voice overs the website has for students to be able to navigate the page even if they are not able to read the different tabs (text boxes). By using Brainpopjr,I tried to include opportunities for students to experience LICRA visual reading. On the site there are different activities that students can complete that will expand their understanding of plants and animals not limiting them to only life cycles. They will be able to learn other ideas related to plants and animals. I also created LICRA opportunities by including the games for caterpillars and butterflies. The idea of camouflage is very interesting and I’m sure it will be appealing for some learners. Exposing students to the idea that they can learn other things at the same time as learning about a specific topic happens but not very often. Most times, young learners are taught a small amount of information at a time on one specific topic. With these resources, students will be able to learn what they are expected to learn and learn about concepts that are related and interesting. By introducing young learners to LICRA, they will become familiar with learning different aspects of the same topic. I decided to include several drag and drop activities. The sites are fairly easy for young learners to use. Many of my students are still in the process of developing their computer skills such as using the mouse, navigating sites, etc. The drag and drop activities also checks their understanding and they are able to receive feedback instantly and correct their mistakes. In terms of cognitive load, a learner could be overwhelmed with learning the content. This is why I decided to organize the content into three lessons that should be broken into mini lessons determined by the teacher depending on the students’ understanding of the content.By providing students with the right amount of guidance that they need, I believe that the unit can be mastered by students at different levels in their understanding. I also believe that students will enjoy learning about life cycles using these resources. |