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This lesson has a possibility of two educational technologies that I am so excited about. I have just learned about Popplet, a great graphic organizer website that allows ideas to be fleshed out and shared. It is a great resource. One of the cool things about Popplet that I found, is that you can collaborate with other people on Popplet. Each popplet can be created and shared between people, allowing it to be a great collaborative brainstorming tool.
Creating a popplet account could not be easier. There are two different ways to approach it. You can download the iPad application, or you can get an account online. If you download the iPad application there are two options. One is Popplet lite. This is the free version of the app. With the free application you can only make one popplet. The full version allows you to make an unlimited number of popplets and allows you access to the online version. When you use the online version of the application on their website, this allows you to share and collaborate with other users.
Once you have decided which version you want to use, the next step is to create your first popplet! When you open the app you are brought to the home landing page to create a new popplet. You can choose the background color of your popplet and then it brings you to your new creation. To add a new "popple" which is the name they have for each bubble, just double tap. Your original popplet will be outlined in black. You can change this to one of seven different outline colors. You can either add text, a picture, or draw within the box.
Once you've decided on what to put in your first popple, you'll notice four circles outlined in grey on each the four sides of the popple. If you tap on one of these, it will add another popple on whichever side you choose. You can move around the popples to create whatever kind of diagram best fits your needs.
The versatility of this application made it one of the best choices for a project I am doing with my students. They have all just finished different dystopian novels. They have seen what kinds of governments obviously don't work. Now they will be researching and creating their own government. The project requires them to present their government to the class. The lesson plan and rubric for the project are attached.
When we finish all presentations, the students will enter into a debate about which presented government would be most likely to succeed in our current society. For this portion of the project, I will be using Kahoot. This is an interactive educational game site that teachers can use to play review games, and formatively assess their students that I used previously. Check out the tutorial I created on Kahoot here! There is another use for Kahoot that I have not previously explored. It allows you to create discussion questions. The students must vote, and it shows the results on the screen. I believe this would be a great way to tie this into my new lesson. I will be using it to add to our discussion. After our debate, it would be interesting to know which government the students would pick overall. I would really enjoy seeing which groups pick their own governments and which do not.
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