http://www.galapagos.com/gal_history.htm
A. B. & M. L.
C. F. & M. D.
J. F. & E. M.
J. O.
T. E. & C. P.
Description of Project
This project was inspired by a holistic philosophy of learning and teaching. Students learned more about the whole topic, in addition to their specific component, than they would have learned solely by individual research. Considerable collaboration was essential between the teacher and the media specialist, as well as among students, as their learning curves increased throughout the project. Also, these students are leveled into the third of four ability levels (with level one as honors and level four as special education inclusion), so their performance for this challenging project was a great success.
Objectives / Learning Outcomes Achieved
§ Students will be able to demonstrate competency in gathering information on the location, climate, and features of the Galapagos Islands via both traditional and electronic sources.
§ Students will be able to summarize Darwin's main ideas concerning natural selection and fitness and connect these theories to the Galapagos Islands.
§ Students will be able to describe how El Niņo and ocean currents affect the climate of the islands, and how this has impacted natural selection.
§ Students will be able to describe three threats to the Islands and current conservation efforts.
§ Students will be able to organize, edit, paraphrase and sequence material on these topics through the creation of a storyboard in hard copy.
§ Students will be able to analyze a variety of sources and select information (textual, visual, sound, video) to include in each PowerPoint slide.
§ Students will be able to properly cite all information -- textual, visual, and auditory -- using proper citation methods that indicate the original sources of the information.
Collaborative Planning Process
The classroom teacher and media specialist met to discuss studying the Galapagos two years ago as a library research report. After the initial run of this assignment without a significant technological component, we got together to reflect on how it went and decided that it needed some improvements, especially on the technological end. We wanted the students to benefit from the research of everyone in the class, and it would be too difficult and boring for students to read each other's paper reports. The media specialist suggested a way for students to graphically display their learning of main ideas through the use of PowerPoint, which gave the team a starting point for integrating technology into this traditional research project.
Last spring, the classroom teacher and the media specialist planned the unit from the beginning using technology as an essential component. We decided that we wanted the learning to be as much fun as possible, so we planned and practiced the inclusion of creative aspects of Power Point, such as adding audio and special graphics into the students' work. We planned daily lessons in the library to help all students utilize both print and computer resources, and taught them how to paraphrase correctly and organize their research so that they could keep track of their bibliographic information and URLs, and be able to synthesize information from multiple sources later.
The media specialist demonstrated the proper ways to cite text, images, sounds, and videos in order to give credit to those whose work we used in our projects; this became a required element of the project. After a few days of research and demonstrations in the library, the teacher and the media specialist team-taught in the computer lab, introducing basic PowerPoint skills to the entire class. This enabled us to work one-on-one with students who had individual questions or problems, and helped students to see their classroom teacher as a technology expert as well (and not just the librarian!).
After students handed in their "first drafts" of the PowerPoint project, the teacher and the media specialist met during planning periods and after school to assess the students' projects. The next day, the media specialist visited the classroom and gave technical feedback to the students, and the classroom teacher followed with feedback on content and resources used. Students were given comment forms to reflect on their successes and difficulties to date, and to give the teachers tips on how to improve this project for the next year. The next week, the teacher and the media specialist collaboratively evaluated the final projects and assigned grades together, based upon objective criteria that we had previously developed and agreed upon. After discussing, commenting on, and assigning a grade to students' final storyboards -- which assessed both the content and the technological components to make up the final grade -- we distributed the grades to the students as a team. Students were able to show their slide shows to each other during the last days of production, and the media specialist archived their shows into web pages.
After complementing this teacher on her "bravery" in attempting such a technologically involved project, other teachers were able to see the value in bringing their classes to the library for similar research. To date, our media specialist has done this kind of project with 450 other students in the past two years, in World History, Graphic Arts, English, Electricity, Biology, Environmental Science, and Robotics. This project has been demonstrated to be equally successful with Special Education students in resource room or inclusion classes as well.
How Resources Were Used
Two months before the project, the media specialist pulled print materials from the collection and typed up a list of web sites about the Galapagos Islands, its species, and Darwin and his theories. The teacher and the media specialist decided to start early in collecting these sources because we had a feeling there was not much in the collection on the Galapagos at all, and definitely not of the specificity that the students needed. The teacher reviewed the print and electronic resources selected, and made recommendations for additional information that would be needed. Then the media specialist searched other libraries' catalogs and procured additional books through interlibrary loan.
After reviewing the available materials, the team assembled a cart of fifteen "core sources" for students, and numbered these sources with removable labels at the top of each book's spine. This helped keep track of the materials at the end of each class (a random student was selected to put the books in order at the end of each period). This also gave the media specialist an opportunity to talk about handling library books with care, and respecting others' property, as most of the books were from libraries across the country. Since many of the interlibrary loan books were loaned from colleges and universities, students were required to use materials that were sometimes of a more difficult reading level than they were used to. We were also a bit surprised to notice that the students' time on task was far greater than we expected. By the end of the project, students exhibited increasing self-motivation and levels of engagement with the material, and many of them went right to the cart or to the computer to get started at the beginning of each period, without being told to do so. Students were able to use both the classroom teacher and the media specialist as resources for content information and searching tips.
In addition to the information resources, we feel we fully took advantage of the available technology in our school, which had been recently acquired through a bond referendum. Students logged on to the network, searched the Internet, saved onto the hard drive and to disks (this year, students will have the ability to save to a network drive), and learned to troubleshoot their workstation and the software when something went wrong. Also, since their PowerPoint presentations were so large, students got much practice sequencing their slides onto several floppy disks. The technical elements required of them from the onset were quite advanced, and unlike any other project done for school at the time. We feel most, if not all, students left the project feeling like multimedia "experts" among their peers.
Basic Project Requirements
12 slides, including title page, bibliography
All text, images and sounds must be cited with proper format indicating their source,with hyperlinked URLs, including bibliography as the last slide
At least 8 slides explaining and demonstrating content knowledge of species
At least one slide each on Darwin and the location of Galapagos (including a map)
Sound of animal or other appropriate illustrative sound (downloaded music or self-recorded narration, see media specialist to borrow the microphone)
Appropriate and illustrative custom PowerPoint animation of objects & text
Optional project element:
Downloaded video of your animal in its natural habitat, with proper citation
How This Project Met Information Power Goals
This project met the goals of Information Power in a variety of ways. Our objectives were designed with the information standards in mind, and we believe that almost every student met almost every objective successfully. We believe this is due to thorough and collaborative planning, and our continuous evaluation and adjustment of our methods and materials when necessary to meet the students' needs.
For the duration of this project, students worked together in groups, and rotated their time on the computer with time researching in the print materials in our library. Our objectives for this project truly became learning outcomes for our students. In fulfillment of the Information Power standard, our students participated effectively in groups to pursue and generate information in both the research and production phases of this project.
Our first objective requires that students access information efficiently and effectively. We achieved this by reviewing the materials in advance and determining their suitability for various aspects of the assignment. By giving students a "core" of print and electronic sources to start with, we helped them make better use of their library time. Students were not merely handed the information, but they had to use a variety of information skills to "get at" the information contained in those sources. Most students went beyond the core sources to get details of their species from reference books on animals or to search for sounds and video using the advanced features of search engines.
Our second, third, and fourth objectives, which require students to demonstrate content knowledge, connect to the information standard in which students must evaluate information critically and competently. Because some sources might be biased about the theories of Darwin, students needed to evaluate their sources and present the most objective view of this often controversial issue. Our students also needed to use critical thinking skills to determine whether threats to the Islands or from El Niņo were the result of propaganda or scientific research.
Our fifth objective, in which students needed to organize their technological presentation on paper first, involves several information skills that are reinforced by the standards of Information Power, as well as our state-mandated testing standards. Students must use information effectively and creatively in this step, and select a proper combination of facts, images, and multimedia elements to convey the necessary information in the most effective way for their readers/viewers. We emphasized that the non-print information in their presentations must support the content on the page and must be appropriate to the topic at hand.
Our fifth and sixth objectives also required that students strive for excellence in the seeking of information, combining and relating that information, displaying that information to show real understanding of the topic. Information that was "sketchy" could not possibly convey enough details to the reader/viewer, and this was noted as feedback on students' first drafts of their storyboards. Also, PowerPoint technical elements that did not work, or that were not "professional-looking" were required to be removed.
Our seventh objective, which requires proper citation of all print and multimedia elements, enabled students to successfully practice ethical behavior in regard to information and information technology. Undocumented sources were met with stiff penalties if they remained on the final product. Students were surprised that they had to give credit for the images they copied from the Internet. This became a heated topic for discussion and provided the media specialist with a teachable moment to explain copyright and intellectual property.
This pursuit of excellence at each stage of the project helped every student achieve success with a highly-polished product of which they could be proud!
Student Comments
Students were asked to answer nine questions anonymously after handing in their first drafts
and before receiving any formal evaluation of their work. Here are some of their comments:
