Reading Reflection #6

1.  Technology can be great for students while evaluating their own strengths. One student will have different strengths than another, but they can collaborate and use the tools that they both know best and help each other out. Technology can also help students stay organized and on tasks. It can also allow students to give and receive feedback not only from teachers, but also evaluations from other students.

2. First things first, it is important to get an understanding of the students' prior knowledge in order to get their minds ready for a project. It's also important to instill passion on whatever topic the project is on because if you are passionate about it, chances are your students will be too. Encouraging students to think about the project and giving them a few days to explore the topic is also a great idea to get students' minds ready for a project. This gives them time to brainstorm and think about how they want to pursue the project.

3. Teaching fundamentals first is all about teaching prerequisite knowledge and skills in order to succeed in the project. Once students understand the fundamentals, they will have their own independence to explore the project and come up with ideas on their own. If students have a basic understanding of the topic, they can then plan investigations for the project from their prior knowledge.

4. It is important for students to realize that technology is not the whole project, but simply a tool to help complete a project. Technology is for learning, however sometimes it requires additional planning. To prepare the students for technology with a project, it is your job as the teacher to identify exactly what technology will best benefit your students. Flexibility is also important when preparing for technology.

5. To promote deeper learning for your students, you must ask the right questions. With the right questions, students will have to think on a deeper level to understand the project and other related aspects of it. Teachers should design collaborative activities for students to help them with their research and findings. The book mentions guiding your students to think like scientists--encourage them to analyze the data they are finding.

6. This chapter, like the others, is relevant to our project because we can use all of these ideas while planning. This lesson talks a lot about the preparation for a good project and finding the right technology that will benefit our students--and that's exactly what we are doing in our project. We want to find technology that will help them complete their project and also find ways for them to analyze their data and promote a deeper learning.