21st Century Curriculum
Introduction: When thinking about the 21st century curriculum, what does this REALLY look like? How can we teach students to use technology effectively? How can we teach students to critically think and use tech tools to their advantage? This artifact shows how I would implement a class science project using technology to create choice, student ownership of work and also apply principals of engineering to a real-world situation. One benefit I gained from this project was thinking about the tools available in our middle school and how I could best take advantage of a range of tools while encouraging independent thought and creative solutions. Also, it enabled me to examine how to use a rubric that would fit different product outcomes while still informing the students of my expectations for their learning.
Enjoy exploring an example of a 7th grade science project that pushes students to use technology to communicate, collaborate and critically think up solutions for describing how a disease affects the health body.
Purpose: This project occurs three-fourths of the way through the year. Students have had the use of chromebooks the entire year, and are now offered a more gradual release of the teacher dictating the instruction and pacing of student learning. Students will work collaboratively to conduct research using the tools they’ve been exposed to throughout the year. They will engage in the engineering/design process to create a solution to problem created when a person becomes diseased and they will build on their prior knowledge around healthy cells and not healthy cells, to teach their peers about the implications of a chosen disease.
Title of Unit: The Cell & Diversity of Life ; Lesson: Disease & Balance; Grade 7 Science; Expected Length: 3-4 weeks
Digital Product Suggestions:
Google Sites Website
Google Presentation/Powtoon/Prezi
WeVideo/iMovie
*Student suggestions welcomed.Project Summary
Students will have just learned about the physical structure of the cell. They will then begin learning about disease and how disease is made up of virus’ and bacteria & the treatment and implication of these diseases can be very different. Students will be paired up and select a disease to research. Using their chromebooks, students will research the disease. Lastly, they will spend three days in the makerspace and design an assistive device tool to support an individual with the disease. They will present their research of the disease and their device to the class in a digital manner from a list of selected options or through a suggestion to the teacher of how they’d like to present their design/research. The class will then evaluate the devices on a rubric, providing feedback to one another before voting on the top device that will then be printed on the 3D printer.
Frameworks
MA Curriculum Frameworks
Technology/EngineeringETS1. Engineering DesignS1-1: Define the criteria & constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution. Include potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.DLCS Collaboration & Communication6-8.DTC.b.2 Collaborate synchronously and asynchronously through online digital tools.Research6-8.DTC.c.3 Gather, organize & analyze information from digital sources by quoting, paraphrasing and/or summarizing.6-8.DTC.c.5 Create an artifact, individually & collaboratively, that answers a research question and communicates results and conclusions.Digital Tools6-8.DTC.a.4 Individually & collaboratively use advanced tools to design & create online content.
ISTE Frameworks
Knowledge Constructor: 3a. Students plan and employ effective research strategies to locate information and other resources for their intellectual or creative pursuits.Innovative Designer4a. Students know and use a deliberate design process for generating ideas, testing theories, creating innovative artifacts or solving authentic problems.4d. Students exhibit a tolerance for ambiguity, perseverance and the capacity to work with open-ended problems.How this fits with:
The Technology Integration Matrix (Images & concept found HERE)
Active
Students are actively engaging technology in adaptation, transfusion, and transformational ways throughout the project. While the teacher will guide them to specific sites that would be useful for research, the students have choice in how to present their research and how to approach the design process of their assistive device. A few suggestions are offered for their final digital product, with the caveat that if a student team has a suggestion, a teacher is open to hearing it.
Collaborative
Students will be working in pairs to collaborate on research and their final presentation. Through the use of technology, they will be able to work on the same product while at home sharing a Google Doc for their research notes, and depending on the final presentation style, potentially a Google Site, Slide, Prezi, WeVideo etc. at the same time rather than the historical method of meeting up at someone’s house to complete the work. Additionally, while in class they will be able to work collaboratively with each having a chromebook and accessing these shared documents/presentations and the design of their assistive device.
Constructive
Students will be building on their prior knowledge of how cells work, how bacteria and virus affect the health of a cell, and create a product that explains this process in reference to the specific disease for which they are researching. They will take this a step further by developing an assistive device for someone who has this disease. To do so, they will use some low tech tools found in the makerspace, as well as have the choice to use the technology of apps and design programs found on their chromebooks to support their design of their device. In this way, students will be lingering between the infusion and transformational levels of using technology.
Authentic
In this lesson, while these assistive devices may not actually be put into use by someone who experiences the disease, students get to experience the engineering design process and could in fact share these products with people who have the diseases for which the student teams researched. The products printed with the 3D printer have the potential of also being actually functional. Because of this, the learning experience is an authentic one, just as the skills taught through collaboration and research can be transferred to the real world.
Goal Oriented
The seventh grade teachers use Google Classroom. This tool is set up in a way to provide calendar check-points for students to be able to demonstrate they are progressing in a timely manner throughout the project. Students can set alerts & reminders for themselves as well with their G Suite tools. They are familiar with using their chromebooks to work and have had practice with the self-paced option this 1:1 model affords them. Certain materials help with the progression of meeting their goals as well such as the designated time in the makerspace, the templates used for the design/engineering process that are available in Google Classroom for the students to download and modify throughout the year.
Click the button to the left to see how this lesson works in a classroom. Rubrics, digital guides, links for research etc. will all be provided on that page.