Goals Activities Data Insight Next Steps
Activities
I designed a curriculum to support collaborative learning opportunities and experience. It was the curriculum for learning through constructivist Project-Based Learning (PBL). The project had real world meaning and application to the students making them relevant and of interest. Students were introduced essential/big idea questions and desired understanding for this unit so that students understood what would be learned and why.
Students discussed what they wanted to learn from their peers in China, and then they wrote the questions in the following areas:
Subjects that the school offers
The number of classes a student is required to take each semester
Daily school hours
The length of the school year
The school vacation time
School sports
The way the students spent their leisure time
School cafeteria and food
Teacher/student ratio
Number of buildings and facilities in the school
Number of grades in the school
School uniforms
The school dormitories
The way by which the students get to school
The number of the students in the school
The attitude towards language learning
The perspective about the relationship between China and US
Students translated their own questions into Chinese.
Students e-mailed the questions to their peers in China.
While waiting for the answers from China, students discussed the questions relevant to their own school life.
After they received the answers from China, the students discussed the answers including the new vocabulary and grammar structure.
Students used multiple methods to research those answers that they did not understand - web, books, discussion groups, and their peers in China. That was the data they gathered for their reports.
Students analyzed the data from China and the data from their own school life, and wrote their reports.
Students peer taught and intuitively used the computer applications without formal training.
Students pulled all data, photos, and other information together to create a presentation.
Students used presentation software or video technology to produce and present their demonstration, including graphs, pictures, movies or other relevant information.