INFO 250 Spring 2019

Project 2:

Umbrella to Question Start

A Cotaught Learning Experience Using a

Knowledge Building Center, a Think Model, and Technology

Teachers and professors often strive to bring students outside of a basic textbook/lecture environment and into the world of information and technology. This opens the doors for a teacher librarian to encourage students to inquire into the "real" world.

What Does This Mean?

For Project 2, you and your partner will take a basic "bird unit" and make it an exciting learning activity that could be co-taught by teachers (professors) and teacher librarians. The lesson you create will embrace a rich information and technology environment in order to help students deeper understanding and stimulate the development of 21st century skills. Meaning, your new unit will be turned into a Knowledge Building Center (KBC) where your students can access everything online.

The theory behind this is that the MLIS student will then be equipped to develop learning experiences with actual teachers and professors, as is the requirement of Project 5. Throughout the course, each one of these experiences will get more and more complex as the various partnerships learn to construct KBCs and Design Thinking experiences together.

Before You Begin

Read the textbooks, Beyond Bird Units and The Big Think. These two books have many many examples of transforming basic bird units into more advanced learning experiences. They are not formatted exactly the way you will format yours, but they contain the various elements you will include in your project.
Make sure you understand the 18 Think Models and the 9 Big Think models.
If you are in a state where this is applicable, look at the Common Core Standards. Additionally, you might look for the ESSA standards of your state for some guidance.

Project 2 - Umbrella Question Details

This is your first experience at collaborative co-teaching, so we try to make it a bit simpler and straight forward. You are learning the "Think!" models, how to use them in a Knowledge Building Center (KBC) created by a Google Site, and how to work with a partner whom you have never met.

Once you have a partner:

Select a unit on issues, people or places. These are very common units of instruction across education and are often in bird unit form. (Example: Ancient Egypt, The Founding Fathers, Immigration, etc. )
Select a Think Model from the text and follow it closely as you learn how to transform a learning experience. Basically, you will follow an example in Beyond Bird Units and The Big Think texts - to a different topic of your choice. If you feel comfortable, step out beyond the examples you are seeing.
You might look at a helpful tutorial for the Umbrella Question Model at: https://sites.google.com/vxciew/kbcumbrellaquestion/tutorial

Next Steps

You will construct your KBC using The New Google Sites. Don't use the classic version. It will be going away one of these days. Think through the following steps:

Once you understand how to construct your KBC and have decided on a topic, you and your partner will name the unit.
Your Home page will have a hook. What is a hook? A relevant and interesting photo, video, or graphic along with a question to pull the student into your lesson. (Again, refer to the Umbrella Question Model Tutorial under the Home tab).
Then, on a sub page (aka "room"), create the lesson plan section. This section is list of everything you will need to include in the plan. FOR PROJECT 2 YOU ONLY NEED TO BUILD THIS LESSON PLAN ROOM OUT! (i.e. no need to build "Tools & Tutorials" or any other rooms).
During a workshop, you will share the KBC with our class and the instructor for constructive comment before submission.
Thinking about the SAMR Model, employ a technology in your KBC that pushes toward the top two levels.
Include an activity using one of the Models from the Big Think text.

Deliverables

A KBC via your choice of Google site. Your KBC will have a home page with an enticing hook and one additional page with a fully formed lesson plan.

HAVE FUN WITH THIS - GET CREATIVE AND THINK WHAT WOULD ENGAGE YOUR STUDENTS MOST!

Double Check

Before submitting your KBC to the instructor, be sure to see the Transformation Rubric on the Tools & Tutorials page to check your work. You will be asked to re-work your transformation if it does not follow the the steps in the rubric and if the content of the unit has issues.

If two or three of you have worked on a single transformation, just one of you needs to submit it to Canvas. The instructor will send the comments back to that person and everyone will receive credit. When the leader submits, please tell me who the partners were.

Google Sites

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