My Planned Technology Activity

I feel like I have already blogged about the activity that I planned to implement this school year because I implemented it quite some time ago. What I had planned to do was a research activity that allowed students to construct their own knowledge on a subject through the research process. In doing so, students would be utilizing technology resources in constructivist methods because they are taking technology use beyond basic product formation to knowledge creation through the resources they utilize.

The research process was actually completed in December with my sophomores when they each had the task of researching an invention and creating an outline line that details what that invention is, the history of the invention, advancements in that invention, and how that invention has been influential. Some students chose to research very basic inventions like the car or the gun, which was equally interesting for many of those students because they happen to enjoy cars and hunting. Other students took it to more complicated research topics, like the invention of laser optics or the invention of the Internet. Needless to say, these students had far greater difficulty researching these more advanced and obscure topics--however, because they were truly interested in that topic they were intrinsically motivated to work through their research dilemmas.

Throughout this year I have noted how my seniors have responded to the topic of valid and reliable resources. When completing the research process, my sophomores were also very responsive to this topic. Because they are from the technology generation, they were able to identify with the different types of websites and explain why some are more valid and reliable than others.

The most difficult part for all of my students in the research process was the nitty-gritty citation and references. It seems that no matter how many times I explained to them how to do it, they still couldn't get it right. I do feel that my seniors, now in their second round of career exploration research, as I have previously written about, are finally getting the hang of citations. It clearly has to do with the need for multiple opportunities to be exposed to the process--only then do they start to remember and understand the purpose.

Lastly, the other area where many students struggled was with searching methods. Often times students would try searching information using a particular search phrase, but if no results appeared that they found beneficial they were not sure of how to problem solve that situation. With my seniors, I problem solved this during second semester by having an day where we, as a class, brainstormed multiple ways to search for a particular topic.

Overall, though, I do feel the research process has been helpful. I think it enabled my students to view technology as a resource to use whenever they are seeking information, and developed better skills on how to effectively utilize those technology resources (including the Internet, databases, etc.)

Seniors back at investigations

So, I've decided to have my seniors finish out the year with Career Investigations similar to what they worked on during 1st semester. For this last Career Investigation, they are to use the Internet to write 3 papers that detail their investigations on particular in-depth topics related to the career they plan to enter. Some of the topics they may choose to research include: how the economy will affect their career, how the upcoming election will affect their career, innovations in their career, a famous person in their career, how their career has been in the news, employment opportunities, etc. The reasons why I provided them with the option to choose between these different topics is because certain topics are easier for certain careers--it just depends on the career.

I was surprised to see how much they remembered from 1st semester when we did some review at the beginning of this revisited unit. For example, we reviewed topics such as works cited, citation, and valid/reliable sources. Of all the topics we covered last semester, they remembered the information we had discussed about valid and reliable sources more than any other topic. They were easily able to identify what the different url address meant (such as .com, .edu., .org). They also knew the difference between reliable and valid, and how to tell if a site is either of these.

They still struggle quite a bit with their ability to find resources on the Internet. Our first couple of days in the lab involved lots of students saying, "I can't find any information," or "I'm not finding anything." After working with them one on one, I was able to show many of these students the different ways you can re-word searches to find information...and how some topics are just harder for some careers than others. Now, just one day before the first paper is due, it seems as if most students have been able to find some pretty good information on their particular topic.

On another note, I have also been using United Streaming quite a bit to find educational videos to show my seniors. In between research and typing days, I've been sprinkling in what I call "Focus on the Career World," where we have studied topics such as effective communication, emotional IQ, and as we did today, teamwork--all important areas to become skilled in to work effectively in any work place. On United Streaming there are many videos that relate to this topic--and while they are very cheesy, they provide excellent real-life situations and valuable advice. They also provide the students with examples of appropriate dialogue to use when they are in those situations.

I was very pleased today when one of my seniors in my 3rd hour said, "Why can't all our English classes be like this--I feel like what we do in here will actually be useful to me." I would like to think that their investigations into the workforce have much to do with her opinions on this.