Contemporary Teaching Project Description Contemporary Teaching in Social Studies Project - ECI 525 Signature Activity

For this project you will work with contemporary technology resources and related approaches to teaching social studies subject matter that reflect 21st century learning goals. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills (http://www.21stcenturyskills.org) describes these goals as resting in three skills categories 1) Learning and Innovation Skills; 2) Information, Media and Technology Skills; and 3) Life and Career Skills. This project will involve the investigation of particular instruction materials and their adaptation for use in an authentic 21st century teaching context. This activity includes three parts which are described below.

Part 1 The identification and description of innovative resources Given recent advance in technology, a number of innovative teaching and learning resources for use in social studies have emerged. Identify one resource that is meaningful to you and describe the potential uses of this resources in a specific classroom setting (either your class or the classroom of someone through whom you can gain access). The following are examples of resources you might find as innovative.

• Social studies gaming (e.g. Civilization IV or Cyber Nations - http://www.cybernations.net) 
  
• Digital History (e.g. American Memory http://memory.loc.gov) 
  
• Web-based geo-spatial presentations of information (e.g. Google Earth)

For this activity, you should take into consideration the following

1. information about the design of the resource,
2. the technology requirements for using the resource,
3. the levels at which the resource can be engaged,
4. the subject matter focus of the resource
5. the larger context or genre of this resource (e.g. part of a larger set of documents or one of many strategy-based military games, etc.)
6. the potential uses of this resource in the classroom include the appropriate grade level and adaptations that would have to be made for use in the classroom
7. the limitations of this resource in the classroom including cost, time to use, play or engage, et

Your work will be completed in two parts

Part 1  The development of instructional materials for using the innovative resource After you have developed a deep understanding of your innovative resource, plan an instructional activity for a specific class that either you teach or a class for which you have access. Your instructional plan should include the following elements.

1. An overview of the social studies subject matter for your lesson
2. A sample of specific objectives you hope to achieve through the lesson
3. 21st century skills your lesson will address
4. A description of the procedures you will use in your lesson
5. A description of the means by which you will determine if your students have meet the specific objectives and developed the stated 21st century skills.

This section should run 2-3 typed double-spaced pages in length (500 miniumu words)
Due November 6


Part 2  An examination of teaching and learning with the innovative resource Your work on this part of the project will take form as action research and reflection. I will expect you to implement the activities for which you planned in Part 2 of this project. You should collect assessment information on your students' progress as measured given your lesson plan. Report the student grades (if you are grading the activity) or summarize students' work given the objectives and related 21st century skills development. In addition, write a reflection on the anticipated and unanticipated successes and pitfalls of teaching your lesson. What did you learn and what would you do differently? Focus on the subject matter and the methods you implemented in the lesson.

This section should run 3-4 typed double-spaced pages in length (750 minimum words)
Due December 3


Criteria

1. The identification and description of innovative resources.
2. The development of instructional materials for using the innovative resource including information about subject matter, objectives, 21st Century Skills, procedures, and assessment
3. An examination of teaching and learning with the innovative resource in terms of student learning and the teacher?s reflections on their success and limitations

Posted by jklee ( Oct 24 2007, 05:37:38 PM EDT ) Permalink Comments [0]