Africa Report Ideas Africa Report Outline Africa Outline Addition Word Table Data Word Table Format Africa Geography Report Asia and Africa Data Asia and Africa Data Search Asia and Africa Data Sort Africa Data Subtotals African Highways Report Africa Continent Format Africa Continent Adding Slides Africa Continent Animation Africa Continent Hyperlink 4 Congo Picture Slide 5 Congo Mask Lulua Mask Hyperlink Africa Continent Weblink Map of Eastern Africa Link Water Quality Indicators Africa Continent One Note Edit Tree Central Africa Tam Tam Drum Africa Continent Final Periodic Table Integration Project Files Collaborative Writing Unit Plan Newsletter Styles Lesson Plan Population Mathematics Lesson Plan Climate and Weather Lesson Plan Thinking as a Poet Lesson Plan
More important than a “one size fits all” definition for PBL is a description of what elements provide a good Project Learning experience for your students: Students are at the center of the learning process as recognition of their inherent desire to learn, their ability to do important work, and their need to be taken seriously. Students engage with the central concepts and principles of a discipline. The project work is central rather than incidental to the curriculum. Students investigate provocative issues or questions that lead them to in-depth exploration of real-world, important topics. Essential and skills, including technology, facilitate learning, self-management, and project management. Specific products that solve problems, explain dilemmas, or present information are generated through investigation, research, or reasoning. Projects yield multiple products that permit frequent feedback and consistent opportunities for students to learn from experience. assessments communicate high expectations, present rigorous challenges, and require a range of skills and knowledge. Students collaborate in some form, either through small groups, student-led presentations, or whole-class evaluations of project results. The body of research on Project Based Learning is growing and supports its use to cut absenteeism, increase motivation, and improve standardized test scores . The Principles of Design in Project Learning Planning for PBL is based on five dynamic principles, illustrated in Figure 1 below and briefly described in the following narrative. Figure 1. Design Principles of Project Based Learning Design Principle #1: Begin with the End in Mind
Conceptualizing the project by its goal helps students understand the rationale and meaning behind what they are asked to do. They will retain more information, be more motivated to participate, and will be able to apply their knowledge more skillfully. Some examples of end goals you might identify include To create individual investment portfolios, with accompanying business plans and product prototype. To educate the public about point source pollution. To understand the underlying causes of the Civil War. Design Principle #2: Develop the Driving Question A good driving question addresses authentic concerns and focuses on the application of content within the real Good questions require students to draw upon content and personal experiences, lead to other questions posed by students, and are deliberately counterintuitive, and sometimes controversial . Design Principle #3: Plan the Assessment Project assessments should come in multiple with activities that are diverse enough to include all students, yet specific enough to provide relevant and meaningful. Think about the process of triangulation: Multiple assessors. Students, peers, the teacher, and mentors. Multiple units of assessment. Individual students, groups, the whole class. Multiple formats. Written work (formal assignments and informal journal entries), observations (of group activities and individual work), presentations, informal discussions and questions, project designs, and the final media product . Expect your students to master the core content, conventions, and vocabulary of a topic. Design Principle #4: Map the Project Similar to a lesson plan, the project map helps you identify skills students need to perform, develop a timeline, and identify resources necessary to project implementation. Design Principle #5: Manage the Process The teacher as facilitator must be able to guide students through ®the learning process as well as keep the project focused and moving forward. You may have to learn or hone these skills as part of your own introduction to PBL. Source, Figure 1 and Primary Source, Design Principle Information: As noted, one of the elements of effective PBL experiences is collaboration. Collaboration is not just among students, but also is between students and the teacher, and conceivably between students and other community members . The following section describes collaboration and one of its forms, cooperative learning, in more detail as components of Project Based Learning. Classroom Collaborations and Cooperative Learning as Components of Project Based Learning
Type the search term Africa in the Search for: box and then click Go. You will soon see available clip art from which you can select. Choose one of the two following samples: MS Office Word: Sample Clip Art for Search of Africa Move the cursor over the clip art you selected and click the mouse. Select Insert. Note that the graphic may be inserted in an odd place so that you have to resize and move it. Precisely click the graphic – not on any portion of a text box – to open the Picture Tools, Format ribbon. Go to the Arrange section and click Text Wrapping. Click Tight or Square. You should now be able to resize and move the graphic to a position below the right side text box. Resize and position the graphic so that it fills approximately one-half to three-fourths of the available space and is pleasing to the eye. It is now time to remove the outline around the text boxes. Place the cursor over a text box outline until the cursor changes to crosshairs. Click the outline. If necessary, click Format under the Text Box Tools tab to open the formatting ribbon. . Go to the Text Box Styles section, click Shape Outline and then click No Outline. Your report is now ready to distribute online! Close all files and close Office Live. The tasks below were addressed in this unit. Be sure you understand the terms used and are able to complete the tasks listed. Review Me – Create outline and draft text
Teacher-Led Activities Students have worked in social studies to divide the countries of Africa into regions. They will now conduct internet research to identify the type of climate for each country and that is predominate to each region. Review regions of Africa briefly as indicated on maps that students have created. Divide students into groups of two. Provide each team with assignment handouts to explore two climate and influencing factors in one region per team. Make sure that each team is able to access Internet and Excel African continent database. Monitor and assist as needed. Student-Centered Activities Discuss assignment and divide work responsibilities. Define and describe weather and climate terms included on worksheet using Encarta reference library. Conduct research to determine influences on climate types. Access website and identify predominate climate in each country in assigned region. Add climate type and description to Excel database. Create 1-page write up to describe climate in assigned region. Resources Needed Content resources (books, articles, speakers, handouts, materials, etc.) Software/Web Resources etc.) Assignment instruction sheet that includes climate terms to define. Map of African countries divided into regions or Excel database listing regions. Climate of African continent by country. MSN Encarta Reference Library from MS Office 2007 applications. Hardware (computers, TV, DVD, etc.) Other media, video, satellite, etc. Computer lab with minimum of 25 desktops or mobile lab with individual laptops. Student Assessment Strategy Formative assessment as students complete activity. Evaluation of 1-page write up of climate in assigned region. Responses to questions related to climate definitions on unit test. Responses to questions related to influences on climate on unit test.
Note: In order to access a remote desktop, the Sleep or Hibernation feature of the remote device must be disabled. Explore: Accessing a Shared File on a Remote Desktop “But, Mrs. I did my homework, but I left it on my computer at home!” Have you ever heard that? In fact, most of us have heard or said something like that at one time or another. In this activity, you will access your partner’s desktop to open a document for review, to edit, and then save. If necessary, log on to Live Mesh. Make certain that the file, [Your] Africa Continent One Note Edit, has been added to your Live Mesh project folder on your desktop. You should have received an e-mail from your partner inviting you to share a folder with Live Mesh. Open that e-mail. Click Click here to view the invitation, which will take you to the following screen. Live Mesh Invitation Screen