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Steven Caringella. Using Thinkquest.org in Collaborative Student Projects. What is Thinkquest.org ?. Thinkquest.org is a password-protected, student-safe online learning community. https://www.thinkquest.org/en_us. What is Thinkquest.org ?.
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Steven Caringella Using Thinkquest.org in Collaborative Student Projects
What is Thinkquest.org? • Thinkquest.org is a password-protected, student-safe online learning community. • https://www.thinkquest.org/en_us
What isThinkquest.org? • Allows students to publish, blog, share documents, communicate, and collaborate. • Free access provided to schools by the Oracle Education Foundation.
How to AccessThinkquest.org • Teachers at accredited primary and secondary schools can apply. • Oracle Education Foundation requires site principal’s approval.
How to AccessThinkquest.org • If you are the first at your site to use Thinkquest.org, you become the site administrator. • You can then add other teachers at your site.
Online safety • Teachers who use Thinkquest.org with their students must monitor student content. • Teachers must teach students how to stay safe online. • Must have parental consent.
Thinkquest.organd Student Projects • Thinkquest.org is ideal for use in inquiry-based, cross-curricular student projects. • Environmental Concerns in the Community • What Makes Me Unique? • Intercambio Entre Russell y CMLP
Thinkquest.organd Standards • Thinkquest.org can be used to help students meet California content standards. • Thinkquest.org meets ISTE National Technology Standards. • http://cnets.iste.org/students/
Inquiry-Based Learning • A learner-centered process that begins with questioning and investigating. • Children have a desire to discover and finds things out. • Exploring, asking questions, searching for new understandings.
Project-Based Learning • Students investigate a real-world problem, working collaboratively. • They use technology tools, gain skills and knowledge, and end with a learning product.
Environmental Concerns • Students used Thinkquest.org during research, for reflection, to communite and collaborate, and as an eportfolio.
ECIC Overview • Multi-classroom: Students from three Northern California schools collaborated using Thinkquest.org. • Cross-curricular: One school focused on science and two schools focused on language arts.
Essential Question • How do we become aware of environmental concerns and how can we make a difference?
Communicating WithThinkquest.org • Students from all three schools wrote bios about themselves, then “met” each other online. • Throughout the project, students read, reviewed, and evaluated each others’ work.
Collaborating WithThinkquest.org • Almaden Fourth graders wrote letters and posters in response to the River Glen newsletters that they viewed and discussed. • http://ourenvironmentproject.org/almadenschool/FellowsStudentWork2.htm
Collaborating WithThinkquest.org • Fifth and Seventh grade students included the Fourth graders’ water quality data in their research.
Collaborating WithThinkquest.org • Zanker Fifth graders created web resource lists during research that were shared by team members for the essays and the PSAs.
Reflective Blogging • Throughout the stages of the project, students reflected on their learning process by writing reflective blog entries.
Thinkquest.orgas eportfolio • Throughout the project, students uploaded finished learning products, reflected on them, and received teacher and peer review and feedback.
What Makes Me Unique? • Multi-classroom collaborative project. • Participants included teachers and students from two middle schools and two elementary schools. • http://my-ecoach.com/project.php?id=10446
What Makes Me Unique? • Students explored their dominant learning styles, using the Multiple Intelligences theory, and apply this knowledge to how they approach learning.
What Makes Me Unique? • Cross-classroom partners were formed, and the project was organized in the Thinkquest.org project pages.
What Makes Me Unique? • Students used Thinkquest.org to post learning and reflections, and respond to their project partners at each stage of the project, including group audio podcasts as a culminating activty.
Intercambio • Language and culture exchange between Thomas Russell Middle School students and high school students in Callao, Peru. • Thomas Russell students practiced their written Spanish skills with Peruvian partners. • They also learned about Peruvian culture.
Intercambio • The Peruvian students from Leoncio Prado practiced their written English skills and learned about the culture of American youth. • The student partners corrected each other’s written work using the collaborative feature of the project pages. • In the future, live video chatting could be added using Skype.