Creation and Design. Likewise, creation activities provide students the ability to develop creativity and problem-solving skills by displaying their mastery in profound and meaningful ways. Teachers at McKeel Elementary Academy in Lakeland, Florida, integrate the use of technology for student-created digital media into all areas of curriculum:
Kindergarteners create image-based movies on recycling and insects;
First graders develop PowerPoint presentations for “My Time to Teach” projects to share with the class;
Fourth graders prepare for their statewide standardized writing assessment by developing elaborate digital storybooks on free web 2.0 sites such as Storybird (www.storybird.com) or StoryJumper (www.storyjumper.com).
Fifth graders collaborate to launch a Web Safety Wiki to teach other students worldwide about digital citizenship (wildcatwebsafety.wikispaces.com).
The projects created are excellent tools for formative and summative assessment. Yet more than that, through creation activities, students design products that make them active partners in constructing learning experiences in the classroom and beyond. In demonstrating their skills and knowledge, they become more confident in their own abilities and their own voices.