Cycle 3: Connections to the World

An important part of the data collection for Cycle Three is students' presentation, the final product of a project-based learning, Your School and My School. This final product was the demonstration co-created by the students. The data shows that students' communication with their cross-cultural buddies in China was an on-going activity that supported the primary, essential learning question of the unit.

Students were introduced essential/big idea questions and desired understanding for this unit so that they understood what would be learned and why. Students discussed what they wanted to learn from their peers in China , and then they sent the questions to China, and received answers from their Chinese peers. The final product was the demonstration co-created by the students. Communicating with their cross-cultural buddies was an on-going activity that supported the primary, essential learning question of the unit.

The students' reflections on this project-based learning showed us that students commonly found this learning experience fun, helpful, and/or conducive to improving their communication skills in Chinese. I found from the data analysis that with collaborations that involved the native speakers, students had a real-life purpose and motivation to construct their knowledge and develop their language skills.