Reflection #6

1. Discuss how technology tools can encourage students to be reflective and evaluate their own strengths:


Technology tools can encourage students to evaluate their own strategies through blogs by offering them space where they can reflect over time about what they are learning, through ProfilerPRO that allows students to identify  the learning characteristics among group members through strengths, interests, and weaknesses, and also through SurveyMonkey and Zoomerang which allows students to track trends and help see how their self assessment compares to the larger group. All of these are great technology tools that will help students reflect and evaluate their strengths.


2. Describe several ways in which you can get your students' mind ready for a project:


There are several ways in which we can get our students ready for a project. Some ideas include: a KWL chart, encourage students to explore and think about the topic, having guest visitors, give the idea time for it to settle in their imaginations, design research questions, and much  more.


3. Discuss the elements of teaching fundamentals first"


Teaching the fundamentals first is very important. If there are things that students don't know about in the project, it is important to relay meaning and importance to the topic. Teaching the fundamentals leads our students in the right direction when they go to start their project. This is all a part of the inquiry stage in where they will build their skills gradually before taking on a large project with little knowledge about the topic.


4. Describe the important steps in preparing students for using technology in a project:


There are many important steps when preparing student for using technology in their projects. One big thing to think about is what resources are available and how the students can use them. Another thing that is important is asking yourself: what tools are best for the job? What do students already know how to do? What will they need to know? These are all important questions to ask yourself when preparing for the use of technology with your students.




5. Discuss ways to promote inquiry and deep learning:


Guiding students while they start their project is an important part of PBL. Having students come up with their own questions about a topic allows the students to engage in deeper learning. It is important to let our students explore and let them come up with their own ideas and thoughts. Let students plan out their investigation and let them get involved and excited in what they are doing.


6. Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your project/topic:


This chapter relates to our project in many ways. This chapter relates when it talks about how we need to be prepared with and what resources we need available. It also relates to this chapter when it talks about inquiry. We want our students to be able to come up with their own ideas and research throughout the course of the project.