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Showing posts from June, 2016

WebQuests -- A reflection 6.3.4

WebQuests are an exciting and valuable teaching tool. A well-planned WebQuest has guidance for students, a creative end project with room for flexibility, and links that help answer questions and positively add to the project. A strong WebQuest is designed for students to work independently, allowing the teacher to be a facilitator in students' learning rather than the sole dispenser of knowledge.  WebQuests also have the the adaptive dimension, the ability to make adjustments in educational programs to accommodate students' diverse learning needs. They are the therefore a wonderful way of capturing students' imagination and allowing them to explore in a guided, meaningful manner.  Communication, group work, problem solving, and critical and creative thinking skills are becoming far more important in today's world than having students memorize predetermined content. This is an emphasis of the 21st century skills which are designed to effectively integrate our

Insight into my project work 6.2.4

In an attempt to state the curriculum objectives of the project with specific 21st Century skills and higher-order skills, I have written down the following: Objectives: Identify aquatic organisms in a water sample. (curriculum) Use sampling and counting techniques to estimate population size. (curriculum) Collaborate in groups to agree, with substantial reasoning, on the most appropriate sampling method to apply for each of the different water samples to be taken.(21st Century skill) Critically examine data on numbers of micro-organisms in the different samples and, considering other environmental factors observed, draw a conclusion about the patterns. (21st Century skill) Create a blog with content compiled by all learners, containing details of the story of the entire project, the observations made and the conclusions/hypothesis deduced.  (higher order thinking) Together influence the community to implement workable solutions which either guarantee the safe use of drinking

Introduction to Project Based learning

It is not news that too often we hear from pupils that school is boring and that they cannot relate to nor understand the material that is presented to them each day in class.   Project Based Learning: accommodates different approaches to learning; makes content more meaningful; develops higher-order cognitive skills, life skills, technological skills and self-management skills; Students are excited, engaged, enthusiastic and empowered about their learning dig more deeply into a topic and expand their interests; retain what they learn; make connections between different subject areas and other aspects of their life; gain confidence and improve social and collaborative skills. Project Based Learning To those of us who teach and love our subjects, it seems incomprehensible that students are not passionate about them.  Rather than feel disheartened, we need to understand that we have before us both a challenge and an opportunity.  Project-based learning experiences will help us f