Program Learning Outcome One:
Demonstrate knowledge and skills related to learning using technologyProgram Learning Outcome Two:
Demonstrate knowledge and skills in current and emerging instructional technologies
Introduction
In one MATLT course, an assignment was given to the
author of this paper to create a learning module. The author chose to create a WebQuest
entitled, “Think like a Monarch”. I
believe this assignment demonstrates attainment of Program Learning Outcome One
“demonstrate knowledge and skills related to learning using technology” and
Program Learning Outcome Two “demonstrate knowledge and skills in current and
emerging instructional technologies”. During
the first redesign, the WebQuest was updated with some additional resource
material, some corrections to the instructions to make them a bit more clear as
well as a name change due to the author getting married in March of this year. The second redesign came about after several
suggestions were made by peers when the first redesign was posted a discussion
post in Week One of EDU697. Both
redesign efforts are discussed in this paper as well as the instructional
design principles and theories used in the redesigning of the prior MATLT
activity. There were several challenges
with the redesign of the prior activity which will also be explained in this
paper.
Instructional Design Principles
and Theory
This activity
covers several basic principles, as listed by Dabbagh (2006). The first principle of Objectivism/Behaviorism; Learning can be
detected by observing an organism over a period of time is found in the
WebQuest itself with the students observing the Monarch life cycle during
various activities. The second principle
of Cognitivism/Pragmatism; Learner is viewed as an active participant in the
learning process is apparent in the design as the students are very active
participants in the WebQuest with recording their observations as well as in
creating a Windspark poem. The third principle
of Constructivism/Interpretivism; Learners build
personal interpretation of the world based on experiences and interactions is
observed in the way the students are interpret the world around them by
observing the Monarch life cycle inside and outside of the classroom. It is also visible in the collaboration
between the students as they work on this project together. The WebQuest redesign is a type of Constructivism/Interpretivism
instructional model.
Original Activity: EDU649 Learning Module-Think like a Monarch
A
research project was assigned for students needing to use technology to search,
collect and analyze information. After
the students participated in the research, a final report or presentation was
to be shared with an audience. According
to Lever-Duffy and McDonald (2011), the Internet has become a powerful tool for
teachers and students because of its simple point-and-click edge and convenient
links. The world’s knowledge base can be
positioned at the fingertips of all students (Lever-Duffy & McDonald,
2011). Because of the vast resources the
Internet provides, lessons can be created for students of all ages that are
more visually appealing and require higher level thinking skills. WebQuests are inquiry-oriented adventures,
generally created online, where some or most of the information learners’ use
is pulled from Web resources (Newby, Stepich, Lehman, Ottenbreit-Leftwich &
Russell, 2011). This learning module was
the basis for a WebQuest created on Zunal.com.
The WebQuest approach encourages cooperative learning as well develops
higher level thinking skills in the students who participate in the WebQuest
(Newby, Stepich, Lehman, Ottenbreit-Leftwich & Russell, 2011). According to Newby et al. (2011), WebQuests
can be developed for nearly any curriculum area or grade level. The learning module will detail the creation
of the WebQuest, the grade level, subject being taught, and the purpose and
learning outcomes. Many documents were
created for the WebQuest and will be shared within this document and in the
resource section of the site. The
principles of implementation for items created, documents created and an
evaluation tool for this module will also be discussed.
Learners
This “Think like a
Monarch” cross-curricular learning module and WebQuest was created for students
ranging from third to fifth grade. Due to
the technology tools selected for this project, it would be advised to use it
more for fifth grade students. It was
designed for all genders, cultures with English speaking backgrounds and
students of every socioeconomic status.
The students will have some background knowledge of the life cycle of
the Monarch butterfly, Glogster, VoiceThread and PowerPoint technology tools
and how to participate in Internet searches.
They also have prior knowledge of how to create Windspark poems because
they had worked on creating poems about various types of clouds earlier in the
year. The students have been watching
the life cycle of the Monarch butterfly unfold in the science stations set
around the classroom and have been very excited to learn more about this fascinating
creature. The students are motivated by
the topic but may be a little reluctant to write poetry about the life cycle of
the butterfly. This learning module
should reach the various learning preferences of the students in the class
including visual, auditory and kinesthetic.
Students with special needs may find this project difficult especially
if they have motor or visual issues. According
to Newby et al. (2011), a screen reader that will read aloud the text and names
of icons may need to be provided for those visually impaired learners. Switch-accessible software that allows the
motor impaired student control of the keyboard or cursor with a head nod or
puff of air may need to be supplied (Newby
et al., 2011).
Objectives
This learning module challenges
fifth grade students to research, observe, and record information in a literal,
descriptive (scientific) way, then write about that information in a new and
poetic way (Mollenhauer, 2010). The students will be divided into pairs. Each
pair will research the monarch butterfly to become familiar with its life cycle
and how each phase of the life cycle behaves.
The students will observe the monarch butterfly life cycle and record
the information as if they were a scientist.
In pairs, they will compose a Windspark poem, imagining what the monarch
egg, caterpillar, chrysalis or butterfly might think and feel. The pairs of
students will present their poems to the class and the poems will be posted on
the class website.
The learning objects are as follows:
- Using the bookmarked Internet sites and life cycle stations in the classroom, students will observe and record information on all of the stages of the life cycle of the Monarch butterfly within two class periods.
- Using the Windspark Poetry Final Form, students will compose a Windspark poem, imagining what Monarch eggs, caterpillars, chrysalis’ or butterflies think and feel based on the information recorded from the student’s research.
- Following the guidelines on the, “How to Write a Windspark Poem”, review page, students will correctly use parts of speech in written compositions with 95% accuracy.
Learning Environment
The
learning is designed to occur in various places around the school. The classroom will house the life cycle
stations where the students will take notes on what they observe. The computer lab will have a computer for
each student or set of students so that the WebQuest can be brought up for the
students to follow and research can occur.
The school garden/prairie will be available for the students to go
outside to for more recording of what is observed in the Monarch’s natural
habitat. Weather could be a factor and
time of day for outdoor viewing of Monarchs.
Lack of Monarchs to observe could also present a problem. Scheduling times for the class to be in the
computer lab is something that would need to be taken care of ahead of time so
that the lab is available. Students with
disabilities may have some issues with going outdoors especially if any student
is in a wheelchair or such.
Accommodations would need to be made to assist these students or have
them do their observations within the life cycle stations only.
Instructional Methods
The
following instructional methods will be used during this learning module:
- Presentation- The WebQuest will be shown so that they students know how to work through it and what is expected of them when they have completed it. Students will use the presentation method to share the small group poems they create.
- Discussion- An introduction, orientation and summary will take place through the discussion method. Students will need to be introduced to this learning module, oriented as to where to work and what is expected of them and a summary will need to take place once the module is complete.
- Cooperative Learning- This method will involve the students in active learning and promote collaboration between the pair of students working on the WebQuest.
- Discovery- The WebQuest will promote the discovery method as the students search for information within the suggested websites. The discovery method will also encourage higher-level thinking and self-directed learning skills.
Instructional Media/Materials
Various types of instructional
mediums will be used during this learning module and WebQuest. There will be several documents that will be
available online or can be printed for students to access. Projected visuals such as a projector and
screen will be used to view the WebQuest during the informational discussion. Real objects such as the garden and life
cycle stations will be used for student observation. Multimedia such as the computer, online
technology tools and Internet will be used during the presentation, discovery,
cooperative learning and discussion methods.
Microsoft software will be used for any students wishing to create their
projects in PowerPoint. Online tools
such as the poster making tool, Glogster or presentation tool, VoiceThread,
will also be used for those students who select these options for creating
final projects as well.
Implementation Phase
This activity will be broken
down into four phases and require the following materials:
Pencils, clipboards, notebook for observation records,
an LCD projector, screen, teacher computer, a computer in the computer lab for
each student or pair of students, a microphone (if needed), one of three
technology presentation options (Glogster, VoiceThread or PowerPoint), a Windspark
review document, a peer evaluation form, and a Windspark poetry form.
Phase One: Divide students into
pairs. Students are to imagine
themselves as scientists. Each pair will select two links from the sources
below and research the life cycle of the monarch butterfly. The pair will
decide which links each will look at separately. Both students will jot down
some notes about the life cycle and come back together to compare notes.
Student notes should be descriptive but no longer than a half of a page in
length for each.
Phase Two: After deciding which
two of the four stages of the life cycle each student in the pair wants to
observe, both will spend some time, in the science lab in the classroom,
observing the various life cycle stations that are set up. Each student will take
notes (on the other half of the notes page) and will record what was observed.
If eggs, caterpillars, chrysalises and/or monarch butterflies are present, both
may also add observation notes to the notebooks while observing the butterfly
garden outside of the classroom. Remind students that scientists use all of
their senses to observe/record their observations and the data scientists
collect while observing
insects include: what it looks like, how it moves,
what it eats, where it lives, etc. (Mollenhauer, 2010).
Phase Three: Both students must
compare observation notebooks and decide which stage of the life cycle of the
monarch butterfly the pair will create a Windspark poem about. Students will
use the observation notes to help them imagine themselves as one of the stages:
egg, caterpillar, chrysalis or butterfly. Provide an example of some questions
the pair may ask themselves such as; If they were to choose the butterfly
stage, they might recall observing a butterfly feeding. Students may ask themselves some of these
questions: Were they hungry? Did they get enough nectar or did they want more?
If they were the butterfly, what would they be thinking about or feeling?
Students are now ready to
create their poem samples. The two partners may create as many poems as they
would like but together they will only select one. A reminder of how to write a
Windspark poem is provided below for students to review. Remind the learners to
think back to when the class wrote Windspark poems earlier in the year when while
learning about various types of clouds. A Windspark Poetry Form is available in
print or online for the students to fill out the final poem the students select.
Instruct the students to turn in the poetry form when they present their final
project to the class.
Phase Four: Once student pairs have their poem complete,
they will have three options of how they would like to present their poem to
the class:
- Option one is to create a PowerPoint slide to share the poem while using graphics/images to help illustrate it.
- Option two is to create an online poster using Glogster to share the poem, again using graphics/images to make the poster appealing to the audience.
- Option three is to present the poem using VoiceThread while using sound and graphics/images to share the poem.
Remind students to think back to when the class was
instructed on using all three of these technology tools for previous presentations
earlier in the year. Tell the students to use the links on the WebQuest to take
them to the online sites and to click on the PowerPoint icon on the computer
lab desktop if they choose to create a PowerPoint presentation. Both students
in the pair need to verbally share in the presentation. Ask students to be
thinking of who will speak and at what times during their presentation. Instruct
the students to contact the teacher when they have their presentation complete
so it can uploaded it to the classroom website. Students will use the website
to pull up their presentations to present to their peers. The student
observation notes and Windspark poetry form need to be turned in on the day of
their presentation.
Evaluation Phase
There
are two levels of evaluation for this project. The first will be to allow peers
to informally evaluate the student’s work.
Listeners/viewers will have an evaluation form for the each group while
they are presenting their project. After their group presents their project,
the listeners/viewers will be given five minutes to fill out the group’s
evaluation form. This feedback will be valuable for all students and will give
them immediate feedback. Reminders will
be given to all students to give positive feedback while evaluating. No points
will be given for informal evaluations.
The
second level of evaluation will be done by the teacher following the rubric
created for this project. The project will be worth 100 points and will be
graded individually for each of students based on group effort, elements of the
Windspark poem, proper use of nouns, verbs and adverbs, and the overall look of
the presentation.
Documents Created
There
were several documents created for this learning module. The first document was a review page on how
to write a Windspark poem. It provided
students with an example of a poem and a template to use to create a poem on
their own. Another document created was a
final poem template for the students to use to formally write their final poem
which was to be turned in with on the day of their presentation.
The last document created was a
peer evaluation form for students who were viewing group presentations to fill
out within a five minute period afterwards.
The links to these documents are saved in PDF form for those
participating in the WebQuest and can be found in the process and evaluation
portions of the WebQuest. The link to
the “Think Like a Monarch” WebQuest is below:
Redesigned Lesson
During the first attempt at redesigning the WebQuest, it
was updated it with some additional resource materials, some corrections to the
instructions to make them a bit more clear as well as a name change due to the
author getting married in March of this year.
As the first redesign was posted in the EDU697 discussion post for Week
One, several peers commented with suggestions of additional material and
technology that could be added to the WebQuest project. A second redesign began with one of the
suggestions to make a change on the “process page”. This page contained a lot of material and it
needed to be broken down into either bulleted sections or spaced accordingly in
order for it to be easier for the students to follow. Also, adding some audio clips of the
directions would help to reach the auditory learners as well as the
visual. The second suggestion was to add
some sort of video of the Monarch butterfly to one or several of the pages to
bring the WebQuest pages to life for the students. The welcome page would be a good place to
start with adding a video of the life cycle of the Monarch to entice the
students to desire more as they further investigate this activity.
Challenges
The challenges with the redesigns of the WebQuest did not
come in the form of thinking of additions to the WebQuest but in how to
actually get started with the redesign process itself. This assignment was the first assignment in
the EDU697 course and the directions did not seem clear to the author of this paper. Redesigning an activity that seemed very well
put together to the author did not make sense.
After posting the first redesign to the discussion post during Week One,
the author felt better about the assignment when seeing other peers work and
reading their comments for improvement to the WebQuest. The final redesign of the WebQuest came when
the author had participated in several redesigns of prior MATLT activities
which made the final redesign of this activity much less stressful.
Time is and always will be the biggest challenge with
designing any project or activity. Time
was part of the challenge with the redesign as well. As a teacher, it is amazing how much time is
devoted to designing, creating, gathering materials for, and researching lessons
and projects to be presented to students. If that time could be calculated, it would
totally amaze this author and many, many others who devote so much time in the
effort to successfully educate the learners of today.
Conclusion
The first redesign of a prior MATLT was certainly the most
difficult due to the unknown. Posting
the redesign for peers to offer suggestions was a great idea by the
instructor. The suggestions helped this
author understand how to incorporate more technology into an activity which already
contained what was thought to have been enough.
The redesign activity helped the author dig deeper to find even more ways
to inspire and challenge the learners of the WebQuest activity. The first two Program Learning Outcomes were
met in the first and second redesigns of the WebQuest activity. Challenges appeared and were overcome due to
peer collaboration and interaction as well as digging deeper into the materials
of the MATLT coursework. The WebQuest is
more appealing to this author as well as more challenging to the learners who
will participate in it.
References
Caplan, S. (2009, August 04). Write
windspark poems on a wind twirler. Retrieved from
http://suite101.com/article/write-windspark-poems-on-a-wind-twirler-a136674
Dabbagh, N. (2006). Instructional design knowledge base. Retrieved from
http://classweb.gmu.edu/ndabbagh/Resources/IDKB/models_theories.htm Dumitru, P. (2005, October 07). Learning objects make learning
easier. Retrieved fromhttp://myeurope.eun.org/ww/en/pub/myeurope/home/news/headlines/los.htm
Lever-Duffy, J.,
& McDonald, J. B. (2011). Teaching and learning with technology.
(4th ed., pp. 34-37). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Allyn
& Bacon.
Mollenhauer, E. (2010). Journeys:
Learning activities from the monarch teacher network. Educational
Information & Resource Center, Global Connections
Newby, T. J., Stepich, D. A., Lehman,
J. D., Russell, J. D., & Ottenbreit-Leftwich, A.
(2011).Educational technology for
teaching and learning (4th
ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson
Education, Inc.
Education, Inc.
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