I believe that cooperative learning is a perfect example of what is talked about when looking at social learning theory. The reading this week talked about different examples and projects that students could work on and "build together." My favorite and one that I plan to incorporate into my seventh grade classroom is the website creation project. It involves students researching a city , making a multimedia presentation on it, creating a website, present a proposal to the class on how to basically draw more tourism to the city and finally even contact the city's Chamber of Commerce for feedback and to let them know they have it up and running. (Pitler 2007 ) By working together and building a website, this also helps them take ownership, which in turn will help to retain more about the city or area. My plan is to change it over to a country in a region we are studying or capital city/major city of a country. My brain is still going through the motions as to how it would play out.
The other idea that I loved, which would work for my class, was the introduction or inclusion of Civilization III, a web-enabled multiplayer simulation game. The students would, according to the description, "have to work together and match wits against some of history's greatest leaders as they employ exploration, construction, diplomacy, and conquest to build and rule and empire to stand the test of time." (Pitler 2007 ) This works great because it hits on culture, economics, geography, inquiry and many other important Social Studies ideas and concepts. I think it would be a great tool because it also has them not only working, but learning together, which is really what the social learning theories are all about. Just not sure how or where to put it in? Thanks in advance for the feedback!
References
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Program eight. Social Learning Theories [Motion picture]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore: Author.
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Mike,
ReplyDeleteWhile reading your blog this week, I can tell how excited you are to begin using what we have learned in class, in your classroom. While reading about you plan to do regarding the student websites, I couldn’t help but think about the different levels of Rigor and Relevance (R4) that you are using to challenge your students. Whether you realized it or not you are also incorporating numerous pieces of the frame work that is presented through the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21). I mentioned both of these items (R4 and P21) in my VoiceThread this week. You are really pushing your students to grow their brains in ways that exceed what most teachers even think about doing. It is my belief that through these problem-based assessments/projects students will gain the skills needed to be successful on the ever-looming standardized tests. What do you think, will your students be better equipped with problem solving and analysis skills that will help them to achieve the needed scores on high stakes testing? I too am a social studies teacher so I realize that social studies has yet to make the pages of the tests used for No Child Left Behind (NCLB), but the realization is that the skills I teach in my classroom can definitely contribute to the students’ tools and strategies he/she uses on these tests. What do you think, do the skills and tools we equip our students with in the realm of social studies aid our students in the standardized testing environment or do the social studies become a moot point in relationship to standardized testing?
Thank you for your thoughts, ideas, and the excitement you shared through your blog this week. I look forward to hearing about your students progress in this project. If you have any other great ideas that you’re willing to share let me know, I would love to bounce around project-based assessment with a twist of technology!
Courtney
Here are the links to the R4 and P21 websites in case you are interested in taking a closer look at some of the criteria I was talking about. By the way, does your district work with either of these frameworks in professional development?
R4: http://www.leadered.com/rrr.html
P21: http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/