MEDA+5400+-+FA2013+PBL+Lesson+Plans

Campbell || [|On Your Mark] || The link included is a lesson for high school math students. Students will look at the results of the 100 meter dash during the 2000 Olympics. Students will apply related rates to determine the fairness of having a race based on the heights of the participants, versus the standard 100 meter dash. Students will be allowed to apply various methods to determine the fairness of each style of race. Group discussion will allow for students to share ideas and compare their findings. This lesson plan can be updated by gathering newer data for the races, and can also be an opportunity to introduce students to mathematical software that they may use later on in life, i.e. using JMP to create scatterplots for students to examine. || Although this is not the app I was speaking of, I have included a link to a virtual cell video that could be very useful, in case you wanted to see what I was talking about. [|Virtual Cell] || The students will create an Amazing Race challenge. Students are put into groups to create a show segment for The Amazing Race. Each group will represent the different United States regions. The students will investigate the various types of geographical regions (e.g., political regions, economic regions, landform regions, vegetation regions), create a digital poster or poster board presentation to be posted on classroom wiki for study reference, and include an “artifact” (e.g. geographic tools/ technologies, stories, songs, and pictures) to further describe their specific region. The students will present their final product and regional artifacts to another class as an Amazing Race challenge. Ultimately, the students will reflect on what they learned and write about how other regions in the United States influence their lives. ||
 * ===**Name**=== || ===**URL Link to Lesson Plan**=== || ===**Description of Technology Integration Methods in this Lesson Plan**=== ||
 * Michelle Childress || [|Spiders: Good Guys or Bad Guys?] || This fully developed lesson plan is currently using West Virginia content standards for 4th grade Science. However, there are many easily modified sections of a thoroughly completed project-based lesson plan which could be altered easily to fit other curriculum standards in a different state. There is a wealth of resources, projects built-in, rubrics, technology integration, and a total unit concept from which an educator could pick and choose different approaches to the topics. Internet resources are hyperlinked and easy to access and all is written in an easy to view, well-organized table on the Internet. This is part of a larger clearinghouse of additional lesson plans in many different grades/topics. ||
 * Rachel Ayers ||  ||   ||
 * Jordan Brooks || [|Creating an Exercise Program] || This lesson is for high school students in Physical Education. The project is for them to create an exercise program for middle school P.E. students. The cool thing about this website is it breaks down the lesson into the essentials of project based learning. This lesson provides a great way for students not only to learn more about physical activity and how to implement it into their own lives but how also to share that with others! This website is focused on the whole child and believes that each person "deserves to be healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged." This lesson plan integrated technology in their presentations by using videos, podcasts, Powerpoint, or whatever form they preferred. The students also got to choose what type of lesson they wanted to teach, so depending on the lesson more technology integration could have occurred during the actual teaching, for example the use of pedometers. ||
 * Kayla Bussell || [| French Connections] || The link I added is a high school-level lesson plan for intermediate to upper-level French students. They go to the American Association of Teachers of French website and read in French and in English about aspects of French culture and even good reasons why they should learn French. They will be using internet research skills as well as developing reading and writing skills in the target language. The website from which I picked this lesson plan is the National Endowment for the Humanities, and it has a lot of good lesson plans in several areas of study, for a few different levels. ||
 * Josh
 * Tina Collins || [|M&M Math] || This lesson plan is for 4th grade math. With a few modifications, it can be used for 3rd grade as well. It complies with Tennessee Common Core Standards and NEST.T. Students will love this lesson because it actually incorporates candy. I few changes that need to be made is students need to use Word and Excel instead of Word Perfect and Quattro. This lesson has the students evaluating data and creating and discussing graphs. ||
 * Teresa Cunningham || [|Trash to Treasure] || This lesson plan is based on the second grade language arts content standards for West Virginia.It is a great combination of science, media, technology, language arts, and reading. Students work together to discover and solve problems of how to use recycled items. The students are guided to create a new product using about 50% of recycled materials. The product is presented and a multi -media presentation is expected to highlight the process. This is great higher order thinking skills and I love the way the students are solving a problem and using content area skills to do so.This fosters an attitude of collaboration and problem solving to allow for solutions based learning and making quite a difference in our world. ||
 * Anna Dowell || [|Pitchin' History] || This lesson plan currently complies with eighth grade West Virginia content standards. It mixes history/social studies with economics, geography, marketing, and tourism to help students understand their local history. Local history is so important, because it is vital for everyone to know where they have come from to know where they are going. This lesson will also help students understand how major historical events impacted their state and hometown, such as the Civil War. When the students are researching the tourist attractions, they will see how important historic preservation is as well. It will also help students understand the tourism industry and how that relates to their state’s economy and local history. The students will use technology and digital media to do a presentation on what they have learned about local history, the economy, and the tourism industry to share with their classmates. The students can also use technology to learn about and visualize tourist attractions that they may not be able to visit. ||
 * John Dunbar || Climate Change || I think that this lesson is an excellent example of project-based learning. I found it on the Envision Schools Project Exchange website, and there were numerous other PBL lessons as well. This project is related to numerous fields. It relates to digital design, science, and social studies. I think it would be good in a history class or a science class. Climate change is an important issue in today's public discourse, so students should be able to relate to this project in a realistic way. The project is a study of how industrialization has affected climate change, and how nations are handling these ongoing issues. According to the lesson plan, students will use a variety of methods to reach their conclusions and complete the lesson. Students are to create a solar powered oven, which will allow them to see an example of an alternative power source. Students also implement power points, computer models/programs, etc. into their final presentations. Numerous skills are also developed through this lesson, such as group collaboration and critical thinking. ||
 * Jessica Fedor || [|Bug Study] || Kindergarten students are constantly engaging in active, hands-on learning. The "Bug Study" project based learning project is an excellent way for Kindergarten students to learn and explore in a meaningful way. It is essential that students apply what they learn to real life. This project is great way for Kindergarten teachers to teach about bugs, life cycles, making observations, conducting experiments, exploring by hands-on projects, and more. The Bug Study is great for higher order thinking, developing hypothesis, writing, creating displays, presenting oral presentations, and performing research. The Bug Study is a cross-curricular projects that hits standards in Science, Language Arts, Math, Social Studies, Art, Music, and Gross motor skills. Students are responsible for all research, investigations/observations, developing questions, and exploring through hands-on projects. This is a wonderful opportunity for collaboration with peers and great for presenting oral reports to a large group. ||
 * Bryan Harrison || [|Genetics Study] || I believe the study of Genetics is so interesting. Although, my forte is English and Language Arts, I love knowing why we are designed the way we are. Genetics help us study diseases, and can even help find cures when studied. The students use internet searches as well as iPads and Netbooks to determine the family history in this lesson. I think the internet is used vitally by helping the students study, the history of the disease as well what research has been done. This lesson also gives student the chance to use iPads to study genes as well as finding information as to why some families choose the course of care for family members. (This family has certain religious beliefs). Students then give an oral presentation after finding all of the correct information about genetics. ||
 * Victoria Head ||  ||   ||
 * Justin Herald || [|Cells] || This lesson all about the introduction to human cells. "Eukaryotic". I really love this lesson plan because it incorporates all the important aspects an educator would need to talk about when it comes to cells. It is very project based as well by involving candy, cookies, and other food items to be used as decorations when building a replica of your own cells. It addresses two of the most important things in Cell Bio, the cells composition and how they obtain their energy, as well as how to read the cells genetic code. This lesson incorporates technology by providing links to "virtual cells", which students could access on their own time at home to study, or to be used during class time with a smart board. I have downloaded one of these "virtual cell" apps onto my iPad and they are great to use. You can rotate the cell 360 degrees, which gives you an even better vantage point when trying to look at the different structures. There are also places where technology could be implemented even better, such as the use of a video microscope. Some microscopes now, (I know, I own one), will record the video of what the objective lenses are looking at. This would be great for the students to observe and record when looking at live or preserved specimens.
 * Rachel Howell || [|Community Helpers] || This PBL plan on Community Helpers is intended for Kindergarten. It covers Social Studies, Language Arts, Math, Technology and Art standards. This lesson plan helps students learn about a variety of community helpers, and their job responsibilities. Technology is incorporated into this lesson plan in many ways. Students must learn to communicate with others using digital tools, and create a presentation using digital tools. At the end of the project, students must present on one type of community helper in the form of PowerPoint, Storybird (online book), glogster, or some other type of technology presentation. ||
 * Brandon Lewis || [|Industrial Revolution] || This PBL lesson plan focuses on educating ninth grade students about the industrial revolution that took place in Great Britain in the mid to late 1800's. This lesson plan focuses not just on the historical aspect of the revolution but the political, social, geographical, and economical aspects as well. This lesson also uses quite a bit of technology throughout the lesson via power points to introduce the subject matter to the students, and online research by the students on the subject. The lesson begins with a brief power point introducing the students to the subject, the history as what lead to its beginning, and the social ramifications that the revolution had on the British peoples. After this the students are split into two groups: the indultrailists and the artisans. Give each group some primary sources and have them research their subjects and prepare for a debate. The debate should be set up like a mock parliamentary debate, to demonstrate the social tensions of the time, the industrialists are defending the use of machines and the artisans are arguing against the use of industrial machinery. Have a debate between the two groups with the educator acting as a judge. After the debate, have the class discuss why the industrial revolution would have caused such a debate in the government and the repercussions the industrial revolution caused. After guiding the class to come to the correct conclusions about the transition from urban to city life, the expansion of suffrage for the working classes, and even early labor laws all being tied to the industrial revolution end the lesson with one last assignment. Have the students split back into two groups with each group creating a graph one depicting the increase in population overall in Great Britain during the revolution and another depicting the increase in urban population and rural decrease in population over the same time frame. I think this lesson is an exciting one that will make the students excited about learning a piece of history. The research and preparation for the debate I believe is the high point for the lesson, and I think some incentive to do well in the debate could make the debate an even more intense part of the lesson. Perhaps a little something for the winners if there is a clear winner in the debate. This lesson really shows how technology has more than just the effect of making life easier it shows that it can quite literally change the face and social aspects of an entire country, and it makes the students piece that puzzle together themselves. ||
 * Emily Lowe || [|Harry Truman on Trial] || This PBL lesson plan uses West Virginia content standards and is designed for 6th grade Social Studies. This lesson plan teaches students how to deal with conflict, problem solve, and understand the impact that strong leadership can have on History. This lesson is really fun and interesting because the students get to perform in a mock trial and role-play. The student’s will be engaging in research on the History of mass destruction, and gaining knowledge on different atomic massacres. They will be doing a mock trial on President Truman in class as a guideline to determine if his actions on using atomic weapons was necessary or not. The students are divided into different groups: prosecution, defendants, witnesses, and jury. The students will act out the trial, take notes, and then take what they have learned outside of the classroom. Students must learn to communicate with each other by researching online, making electronic documents, and creating a multimedia presentation (PowerPoint, moviemaker, video clips, etc.) Students will role play in different world leaders and research if their character portrays strong or weak characteristics. The students can then record themselves, present their video presentations, and inform the other students in a creative way. This is an exciting way to incorporate technology with a history lesson. The students will not only learn the impact and importance that events can have on history, but students are able to learn in a creative and technology friendly enviornment. Being creative provokes students to want to learn, and this lesson is a perfect example on positive uses of incorporating technology within a classroom. ||
 * Shelby Morris || A Study of Bones || This PBL is focused for a bi-lingual elementary class to have an in-depth study of bones. The semester-long project is split into three phases that are unveiled as the project and questions develop. First, the teacher allows students to brain storm through scenarios and personal stories to come up with questions they want answered about bones. The students were split in groups studying different bone questions. Each group decided a particular area they wanted to study. The class went to clinics, used microscopes, studied and made diagrams, took surveys, studied x-ray machines, and more to answer their questions for each group. As the phases unfolded students were able to learn about their own bones, bone health, bone structure, animals with and without bones, and finished the study with a fun trip to a bone museum.This lesson plan currently does not have much technology encorporated into it, but could easily be used by making diagrams, using videos, Skyping with doctors or bone specialists, and much more. Even with the lack of technology and the fact that the original plan seems dated back to the 90s, this lesson plan was extremely engaging – I even want to take part in it -- and could easily be molded into a up-to-date lesson plan with technology influences. ||
 * Gracie Morton || Roll the Presses || This is a grade 6-10 lesson designed to help students think about how the written word has evolved over the centuries. Students have projects where they create 15th century woodblock cut-outs and use them to write messages. They will also role-play as various early Modern European historical persons while keeping diaries about their experiences. This lesson plan is a long and involved one that will carry the students from Gutenberg all the way to the US Constitution and their own school newspaper, with a number of sub-projects along the way. ||
 * Kayla Stacy || Claymation || This is a project based learning assignment that integrates technology and it is an art lesson! I thought it was going to be really hard to find an art lesson that fit both categories, but this one is great! The assignment is to make a simple claymation video in groups. The students will take photos with a digital camera as they manipulate clay models, and then put the photos together using a comouter to make a short video. ||
 * Stephanie Unbewust || The Amazing Race || I was attracted to this particular lesson plan because I think it would be so much fun! Some, if not all of the students could relate to this particular show and would enjoy being able to make a sequel, if you will, of their own and introducing it to another class. Technology can and is utilized in this lesson plan by executing the research of the different regions of the United States, possibly using a digital poster (or PowerPoint), and/or demonstrating a particular technological "artifact". Although this lesson is targeted toward Social Studies, I believe it also demonstrates many forms of English, since the students are expected to write, take notes, and revise their findings. I feel this is a great lesson plan and could see myself using it in the future. Below is a brief summary of this lesson plan.
 * Scott Weatherman || [|Layers Upon Layers] || This lesson plan is for Earth Science students grades 6 -7. The link I provided takes you to a summary page on a lesson for stratigraphy, the layering of the Earth's crust. It gives objectives and vocabulary to remember before giving the lesson plan as a downloadable document. The other good think about this link is it has many other lessons to the right side of the page in a sequence. This whole site is great because it has all kinds of science lesson plans for all grade levels and subject matter. There are many areas where Technology can be added to the lesson and used.The lesson is very similar to a lab that I in fact have done before in some of my Geology classes for my B.S. degree. The use of photographs can be related to Technology by having the children see the photos on a Smartboard or from a projector onto a white board. The design of the squeezebox is linked in the sources section. There are also many other links that can be used as examples in this lesson as additions. There are a multitude of videos and pictures dealing with this subject. Geology is a very hands on subject but there is always room for Technology to make it easier to understand. ||