EDN113- Living and Learning with Technology

1. 3a EDN113- Living and Learning with Technology

2. The Environmentalists Group Members: Tanja le Roux Jasmine Fair Carrie-Anne Crannage

3. The Assignment Content: Earth and Space Sciences http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/Science/Curriculum/F-10#level=6 Year level: Year 6 Time Duration: 9 weeks (One lesson per week due to other subject requirements) We are designing this task for a class of 24. They will get into groups of 4 so there will be 6 groups. This will allow for each group to have a different topic. Learning Outcome: The students will gain a positive relationship with the environment, through understanding the impacts nature can have upon human society. They will also gain knowledge on geography and experience with I.C.T.(information and communications technology).

4. Teachers Package: Natural Disasters Students are to research one of the Natural Disasters topics then make a presentation to the class E.g. PowerPoint, Poster etc. These include: Volcanoes Earthquakes Tsunamis Cyclones Floods Wildfires

5. Teacher’s Package The students will be given a task sheet in which the first lesson would be dedicated to going through the sheet and explaining to the class what it is and what is expected. Student Task Sheet.docx

6. Facebook Group As an interesting and engaging activity the students will be given the chance to set up an in-class ONLY Facebook account in which they may only add class members to their collective of friends on the social networking site. This will give the students a chance to communicate better with their group members when outside of class and allow a collective place to store any research they have found. This allows all group members to have access to the same information as it is a group assignment.

7. Facebook This is an example of where the students could share their research and talk to their group members outside of school. This is the letter that would go home to the parents to explain the use of in-class Facebook Letter to the parents explaining the use of classroom Facebook.docx

8. Teachers Package The assignment will be completed over NINE in-class lessons Lesson One: Introduction to assignment Lesson Two: Facebook Group Set-up and discussion Lesson Three: Research Lesson Four: Research Lesson Five: Research Lesson Six: Group Work Lesson Seven: Group Work Lesson Eight: Presentations Lesson Nine: Presentations Detailed description of where the students should be in their assignment by each lesson Teacher's Outline of Student Progress.xlsx.docx

9. Problems Our original plan was to get the students to research about native animals from different continents as part of Society and Environment. Although after looking at the governments education curriculum we realised that it was too simple and not age appropriate for a year 6 level. Link to Curriculum Council Year 6 level: http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/Science/Curriculum/F-10#level=6 This then allowed us to create an approved, age appropriate assignment for a year 6 class. Samples and marking structures of what level Year 6 students are at: ..\Desktop\AC_Worksample_Science_6.pdf

10. Problems Other problems we encountered throughout this assignment was the use of Wikispaces Editing our Wiki page proved difficult when only one person could edit at a time or all work the last person saved would be erased. Link to our Wiki Page: http://edn113-2012-groupproject.wikispaces.com/The+Environmentalists We worked through the problem by getting together and only allowing one person to edit at a time while the others worked on external features such as Teacher Outlines and finding resources.

11. Enjoyable? We liked the idea of doing this in a group. The different ideas and perspectives from each group members was helpful.

12. What we Learned Through this assignment our group learned that it is important to refer to the curriculum council outlines for what level the students should be at during each year and what they should be learning. This would help teachers significantly when creating class assignments and learning activities. We also learned through creating our own assignment that it is important to create a detailed structure of what you expect of the students and where the students should be up to in their course work at a particular time throughout the term. And finally we learned… That a Hurricane and Cyclone are the same thing!?!?!?!?!?!?!

13. Resources The Learning Federation websites very useful in terms of finding interactive activities that can be projected on to an IWB with the right technology. It allows the students a chance to learn independently and actively. After registering, you can access many helpful resources and interactive materials such as - Tsunami Information - A collection of digital curriculum resources about tsunami’s Interactive Activity - A short interactive activity that includes building a script about bushfires for a television show. Sort through facts and pictures on the topic of wildfires. Though the resource says it is aimed to years 7,8 and 9 With the right technology, this can be put on an interactive whiteboard. This link shows how to create an group on Facebook http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xmuffq9X124 This link is for the teacher to teach them how to use the interactive whiteboard http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75-7UqTy040

14. Thanks for Listening