Inquiry Project

We finished our Inquiry Projects this week for class. I chose to do mine on Native Americans, particularly The Cherokee Indians. I decided to focus on fourth grade, so I used a Houghton-Mifflin textbook called Social Studies: Tennessee grade 4 - United States, The Early Years. I mainly focused on chapter 3 in the textbook, entitled "The First Tennesseans." This chapter had sections on the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Creek, and Shawnee Indians. I also found a website through Ehow with some "Cherokee Facts for Kids" that the students could utilize to answer the questions on the inquiry project. We created a Wiki with our questions and answers online and a paper handout that would be given to students in a class. 

For the handout, you must start with a name and date space at the top of the page. It is best to put these in the header section of the page, so you don't waste any of your space within the margins. Next, you want to title the handout. Mine was titled "Native American Research: The Cherokee." For younger students, it is best to add some sort of graphic to grab their attention, so I added a picture of Sequoyah, a famous Cherokee Indian. I then added clear directions for how to complete the worksheet. The directions must be able to stand alone, so no extra teacher direction is needed. After the directions, I gave the students the URL for the Ehow website to use for their research. Then, I listed about 5 simple questions (with space to write after each) that would be answered from the material on the website. Finally, I listed the standards for Tennessee and NETS•S that would be met through the activity. 

For this activity, the standards met were:

NETS•S: 3: (3b, 3d) Research and Information; 6: (6a, 6b) Technology Operations

Tennessee Social Studies, 4^th: 4.1.spi.1 (Pre-colonial Native American groups); 4.5.spi.1 (Cherokee, Creeks, Chickasaw)

This inquiry project is a great way to get students involved in learning, while still utilizing technology. You could even incorporate higher-thinking as well. This could be used at any level in elementary school; however, with younger children the formatting would have to be changed simply because they can't read or research as well yet. 

I also ended up finding a WebQuest that pertained to this Inquiry Project. I posted that in the Resources section of my website. 

Next week, we will be working on Web 2.0 projects with a partner. My partner and my project is on "Wordle." 

Wikis and WebQuests

This week in class, we focused on WebQuests and Wikis. We all got into groups (mine was a group of two other Elementary Education students), and created a Wiki about a particular gemstone. Our group chose the gem, Ruby. Then, we answered a few questions regarding Rubies, which is what our Inquiry Projects will be modeled after. For elementary-age students, 3 to 5 questions is sufficient. We were given a particular website (galleries.com) to use for our research. It is better for younger students to only be given one source for information, so they don't get confused or aren't searching a multitude of locations, which would be time-consuming. I found it very useful to use the Wiki because all the members of our group were able to go in and edit/add information without having to be in the same place. We could gather information independently and then, present it in one central location. We answered questions regarding the gem: what it looked like, where it could be found, interesting facts, etc. A Wiki would be difficult to use in young elementary-age students because they would need a certain level of technology knowledge and skill before they could be successful. I think Wikis could start being used around 4th grade.

Our Inquiry Projects will be modeled after these Wikis that we completed as a group. They will include a resource from which the students can gather information. The topic that I chose was Native Americans, and I will include 5 questions about this content area. This will become more specific next week and will be based on a 4th grade-level Social Studies textbook.

We also learned how to evaluate WebQuests. First, we looked at a WebQuest About WebQuests. You must consider the website itself (any broken links, easy to read, grade level, reading level, format, etc.), whether it is a group or individual activity, how much time it takes and whether it uses time effectively, and whether it promotes higher-level thinking for the students. We used this website to search for WebQuests with the QuestGarden search. I am still in the process of finding some WebQuests that I could use in an elementary classroom, but once I do, I will add them to the Resources section of my website.

Website Evaluation

This week, we learned about what is expected of a website that would be a useful tool in a classroom setting. A couple of key factors that make a good website are easy navigation, being easy to read (font and color scheme), being a credible source (who designed the website), and being educationally beneficial and interesting (factual information, etc.). We were provided with a long list of websites that are used in many classrooms, and the one I selected was ABCya! This particular website was created by a teacher who wanted to provide free access to online student games and activities. The website is sorted by grade from K-5th and has activities for multiple subject areas. I thought that these games and activities would be stimulating to students; however, they would be used for student practice, not as a teaching tool. The evaluation we did required us to delve into the website, checking for grammatical errors, searching for credibility, and really putting ourselves in the mind of a young student. Since I am pursuing a career in Elementary Education, I had to think about what Kindergarteners and First-Graders would be able to accomplish as early readers. This particular website, ABCya, would require some adult direction for most students wanting to use the website, even though the activities seem to be grade-appropriate. All they might need would be directions on how the play the game. Most of the games had audible instructions, which is beneficial since most that age would not be able to read directions. The only issue with that is they may not have the audio on; it could be classroom quiet time, etc. It was especially difficult for me to look at the website as if I were a 6-10 year old. I had to think about whether the font was easy enough to read, whether the navigation would be easy enough for an early technology user, whether the graphics were overwhelming or organized accordingly, etc. There were many factors that were brought to my attention that I would not have thought of otherwise. This is great knowledge for me to have because I predict that technology will continue to increase in prevalence and importance in classrooms everywhere, and I want to be tuned-in to current technology trends and tools in order to make my classroom the best learning environment for my students.

My Expectations for TPTE 486

This is my first blog post for TPTE 486! My expectations of the class mainly include learning about web tools and how to use them and apply them to a classroom setting. Already, we have done more than I was expecting to learn this semester. We have started a classroom website, which has been relatively simple to use. We did this through Google Sites, and the process has been quick and easy to catch on to. We also created a Wiki for our class called "All About Me," in which we learned how to create and use a Wiki while also learning about each of our classmates with a small biography. Now, obviously, we have created blogs, which we will be posting on at least once per week. My knowledge has already increased greatly, and I cannot wait to see what is in store for the rest of the semester!