Group items tagged

Enter the Group is a new free service offering collaborative project management for groups. Enter the Group features a calendar, messaging, and file sharing for your group members. If you want to keep your project just between friends, you can create a private group. If you want the whole world to see your project, you can make a public group. Users can also login using FB login/passwords.  I'm interested in checking out the possibility of virtual classrooms and using it to manage PBL projects. This might be a good tool for SISUHSD's emphasis on PBL. 

"In Project Based Learning (PBL), students go through an extended process of inquiry in response to a complex question, problem, or challenge. Rigorous projects help students learn key academic content and practice 21st Century Skills (such as collaboration, communication & critical thinking)."

The Art Project powered by Google features interior tours of seventeen world famous art museums. Select a museum from the list on the homepage and you can virtually tour it using the same interface style you experience in Google Maps Streetview. Inside the museum just double click to zoom to a location. You can also open a floor plan overview and click on a room to navigate to that part of the museum. The best part of the Art Project powered by Google is the option to create your own artwork collection while visiting each museum. As you're touring a museum click on the "+" symbol on any work of art see it in greater detail, to add it to your collection, and to open background information about that work of art. To create a collection you must be signed into your Google account.

Information adapted from the Buck Institute for Education's (2011) PBL in the Elementary Grades: Step by Step Guidance, Tools, and Tips for Standards-Focused K-5 Projects

A project-based-learning teacher and coach writes about "the most effective tool for organizing content and motivating students to think hard."

"Will you ever just walk into class and ask, "Okay, what do you want to study today?" Of course not. Inquiry-based learning is founded on students taking the lead in their own learning, but it still requires considerable planning on your part. Projects must fit into your larger program structure, goals and plans, but the students will be actively involved in planning the projects with you and asking the questions that launch their individual inquiries." In thinking about PBL and other inquiry-based learning, this post and the graphic of the inquiry process are easy to connect with.

Problem-based learning and project-based learning provide a rich opportunity for students to deepen their knowledge, expand their repertoire of technical skills, and enhance their appreciation of thinking tools, processes and strategies. The larger goal is for enhanced performance under challenging conditions that demand strategic reasoning, insightfulness, perseverance, creativity, and craftsmanship to resolve complex problems.

Great information and a chance to watch a school pilot Chromebooks from the beginning stages of planning & implementation

Edutopia post on Project Based Learning & embedded video of Yong Zhao presentation at ISTE 2012, June 26, 2012.  "What makes someone successful in the 21st century is definitely not your ability to memorize facts. What will make someone successful is your relentless capacity to innovate, to create. It's your ability to network, to make friends from your own circle and from other countries. It's your ability to see through challenges, to look for opportunities in problems, and to take action to change things instead of waiting for someone else to do something, Meanwhile, he added, the U.S. is focusing on the wrong goal by aiming for higher standardized test scores. "Fixing the horse wagon won't get us to the moon," he said, referring to the current educational system as a holdover from an outdated era. 

A nice blog about PBL for Digital Citizens......

"History students in the Perris Union High School District can do more than adorn their classroom walls with cool projects and posters. PUHSD students join larger communities of activists, historians, and journalists to make the world a better place." And they did it with Chromebooks!

Check out the educational program @ http://www.mixbook.com/edu Students & teachers can make different kinds of digital books for a wide variety of projects and even publish them. Can also make yearbooks at very affordable prices with great flexibility in design - 3-5 day lead time for production & delivery

"The Commons is a great place to find images that are free of copyright restrictions. But, if The Commons doesn't have what you or your students need for a multimedia project, here are seven other places you can try your search."

Blog that encourages the use of multimedia to engage students. I like the "Free Resources" section on "Student News" and "Digital Storytelling". Some good ideas for students to do news shows. 

Has bullying self-assessment for students

Mission:   A free interactive math textbook on the web. Initially covering high-school geometry. I'm using it with 3rd graders for beginning geometry. I like the interactive aspects of it.