Educational Technology (Pt. 2)

First we discussed the importance of teaching your students about what technology is. Then we discussed TPACK and how it all ties into each other. We also discussed Project based learning, which is what I’m deciding to go into more detail about.

My first time learning about project based learning was exciting. I knew the basics of it, however, I didn’t realize how in depth it was. The article, The Difference Between Projects And PBL, points out the differences between regular projects and project based learning. The first one that caught my eye was how project based learning was “organic and open-ended”, whereas projects are “pre-planned and clear”. It’s important that you as the teacher are focusing on not the project, but how the students are adapting and learning new material; How they are using different skills, including teamwork to create something from the real world.

[embed]The Difference Between Projects And PBL | TeachThought What's the difference between projects and PBL? In PBL, the focus is not on projects but the process of learning…www.teachthought.com

In project based learning, you can use this for any grade and any subject, sometimes combining multiple subjects into one. The example that I am going to use is a project based learning lesson for fourth graders who are learning about literature. As a teacher, I would have my students read a few different pieces of literature, mainly focused on nature, a few different poems, books, etc. I would then do a few activities with that and then later have my students go outside and take photos of nature (they can choose to do it at the school or at home) and then come back the next day and write their own piece of literature about nature. They will then create different slides of each picture that they chose and underneath, have their literature piece, using descriptive language. The important part is to let the children explore and choose what they want to capture and how they choose to write about it. This lesson gives the students a lot of free will and experimentation and is open-ended. This ties into technology as well from what the students are using to take the photos and when they create the slides as well.