Chapter 4 Reflection: p. 59-74

There are four types of potential pitfalls in project design. These are: long on activity and short on learning outcomes, technology layered over traditional practice, trivial thematic units, and overly scripted with many, many steps. The first potential pitfall, long on activity and short on learning outcomes, is where the project is too busy and extends more than it should but doesn’t reach most of the learning aims that it should. The second potential pitfall, technology layered over traditional practice, is where students only research a topic on the Internet and are forced to present it in an electronic slideshow that doesn’t express any other thinking than presenting a research report. The third potential pitfall, trivial thematic units, is where teacher’s use a cookie cutter routine from year to year, instead of creating new worthwhile experiences for students to unify all the year’s projects to make connections. And in the last potential pitfall, overly scripted with many, many steps, is where students results of their projects look the same and their outcomes do not justify the steps that the students are required to do. The best projects share a plethora of qualities: are loosely designed with the possibility of different learning paths; are generative, causing students to construct meaning; center on a driving question or are otherwise structured for inquiry; capture student interest through complex and compelling real-life or simulated experiences; are realistic, and therefore cross multiple disciplines; reach beyond school to involve others; tap rich data or primary sources; are structured so students learn with and from each other; have students working as inquiring experts might; get a 21st century skills and literacies, including communication, project management, and technology use; get at important learning dispositions, including persistence, risk-taking, confidence, resilience, self-reflection, and cooperation; lastly, have students learn by doing. Good ideas for projects are everywhere. Many successful projects will often lead to another, and the continuation of productive projects will carry on. The first step in designing a good project is to revisit the framework. This means that a list is finalized of learning objectives, decide on specific 21st-century skills that want to be addressed, and identify learning dispositions that want to be enabled. Next is to establish evidence of understanding. This is taking into consideration what students would know or be able to do once they have learned. Third step is to plan the project theme or challenge. The goal of this is to strive for “optimal ambiguity”, which is both structure and flexibility to serve the needs of the project. Lastly, the final step is to plan the entree into the project experience. We ask ourselves the question, “what will captivate your students?” This concept relates to my group’s topic through the use of researching topics, whether they are someone else’s ideas or new ones. We used a previous used topic and added on to it to meet the needs of our project. The “Square of Life” was a concept that was a website where classrooms around the country were able to communicate and express their findings in a collaborative community. We added in that they would communicate with their sister school, and any other classrooms they wanted to, every month their findings where they express their findings and compare other classroom’s findings with theirs. I thought their idea was a great idea and was worthwhile to use as a starter for our project.