Tools and Resources for Educators Winter 2006
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Designing Effective Projects A Guided Tour of the Expanded Web Site "When projects start, I'm tearing around facilitating lots of activities at once. Project days are harder than paper and pencil days, but the kids are so charged, so deeply engaged, it's worth it." Lisa-Helen Shapiro, First grade teacher
Dip into Designing Effective Projects, part of the Intel® Innovation in Education Web site, to gain deeper understanding of how the project-based instructional model engages students in authentic learning by weaving real-world problems into classroom studies. Read the latest research on higher-order thinking and why critical thinking skills are so important in the 21st century. Peruse 60 updated unit plans developed by a team of experienced teachers to give you exciting new tools and ideas for creating technology-rich projects. Learn how multiple assessment strategies focus the project work on important learning goals. Review an array of instructional approaches that keep students learning at a high level. A deeper exploration of Designing Effective Projects will even take you behind the scenes in Shapiro's first-grade classroom to see how a traditional life science lesson on frogs was transformed into an exciting "thinking classroom" project relevant to students' lives. To begin, take a look at the four main building blocks of Designing Effective Projects: "Project Design," "Thinking Skills," "Unit Plan Index," and "Instructional Strategies": "Project Design" describes the benefits of project-based learning and offers five ways to help teachers think about instructional strategies that fit their own classroom and curriculum:
"Planning Projects" helps you design a project-based unit for your own classroom, or find ideas and ways to improve existing project-based units. "Thinking Skills," the second building block of Designing Effective Projects, reviews current research that helps teachers "think about thinking." Follow the links for information on types of higher-order thinking skills, how beliefs and attitudes influence thinking, skills and strategies necessary for critical thinking and problem solving, and effective ways to address individual learning styles. The "Unit Plan Index," with 60 examples of technology-rich classroom projects, is the heart of Designing Effective Projects. The viewing tool at the top of the page can take you straight to a unit that applies to the grade or age level of your classroom, or you can browse by subject. Projects are organized by grades around mathematics, science, language arts, social studies, and interdisciplinary studies. "Instructional Strategies," the fourth component of Designing Effective Projects, explores the multiple instructional strategies proven to help students achieve success and learn at higher levels: prior knowledge, graphic organizers, cooperative learning, feedback, recognition, questioning, modeling, and managing technology.
A Behind-the-Scenes Look into a "Thinking Classroom"
"Anatomy of a Project Plan" examines how a standard curriculum unit can be transformed into a rich, project-based classroom lesson that engages students in authentic learning. Four unit plan examples, each for a different grade level, are used to illustrate how Essential Questions and Content Questions bring relevancy and excitement to the classroom, and how teachers identify and overcome the challenges involved in making the transition to project-based teaching.
For example, in the K-2 life science unit, "Pond Water and Pollywogs," Lisa-Helen Shapiro's first-graders rear frogs from eggs and create an informative brochure for a new amphibian exhibit at the zoo. Instead of simply focusing on the environment and life cycle of frogs, however, Shapiro poses an Essential Question to make relevant, real-world connections for her students. The question-
One of the challenges Shapiro faced in teaching the unit was time management, which she handled by dividing students into small cooperative groups to help them stay focused on tasks, and calling on volunteer parents and upper-grade buddies to help with computer use and brochure design.
"Inside Projects" looks at four unit plans in even more detail, examining how each unit is student-centered, aligns with standards, poses important questions, carries relevance beyond the classroom, uses varied assessment practices, applies multiple and ongoing assessments, encourages authentic work, measures demonstrations of learning, promotes technology-enhanced learning, develops higher-order thinking skills, and employs varied instructional strategies.
For example, the analysis of "Pond Water and Pollywogs" highlights the fact that Shapiro used varied assessment strategies to measure student learning and performance. Each first-grader kept an observation journal to record the progress of the project. Feedback in the form of questions and comments kept students on track. Finally, a scoring guide created by the class at the beginning of the project was used to assess their final products: a mural, slideshow, and brochure for the local zoo.
To learn more, visit Designing Effective Projects
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