Final Project Choices

 

Recommended:

1. Using technology, develop a web quest type unit. Refer to the activity in class. Include roles, sample questions, web sites, final product expectations (e.g. a multimedia presentation, a debate, an oral presentation, a power point presentation, an enactment etc.) Indicate the time of year this might occur, what the prior knowledge and skills of students.

2. Develop a unit of instruction (8-10 lessons) which uses multiple strategies. Use strategies from at least two different families. You may want to include lessons that do not fit an actual strategy pattern. Write a brief paragraph about that activity, so it is clear how it fits into the unit and connects to the other lessons. Do not count it as one of the 8-10 strategies. Provide a rationale for your unit.

Other possible projects:

3. Use one piece of content. (American Picnic example.) Plan four different lessons using strategies. Strategies need to be from at least two different families. Analyze how the use of different strategies affects the content. (Do this twice for a total of eight lessons.)

4. Choose one strategy to teach in depth. The purpose is to actually teach the strategy to the students so they "own" the strategy. Thus each time the strategy is taught, new aspects of the power of the strategy will unfold and be pointed out to students. The same content discipline area may be used or different content areas may be used. Each lesson should be explicitly related to the previous lesson/learning. Provide a brief overview/ introduction that shows how the lessons build upon one another. (8-10 lessons)

5. The California school population is becoming more diverse. Develop a paper and/or unit that directly addresses this issue. e.g., What strategies might best be used with diverse populations? Which strategies lend themselves to greater multicultural understandings? (Be sure to differentiate between multicultural understandings and second language acquisition.) (Unit = 8-10 lessons; paper 12-15 page; use APA format.)

6. Research a topic that particularly interests you that involves instructional strategies e.g., discovery learning--how effective?--or--teaching for concepts--or--effective strategies with technology--or?? (12-15 pages, include a bibliography; use APA format.) Topic must relate to instructional strategies or instructional issues.

Investigate and report on a strategy or approach we have not "covered", e.g., law related education, futures education, debating, moral education, global education, teaching controversial issues. (12-15 pages, include bibliography, APA format.)

APA Format:

Within the text you are writing:

Sample One

Johnson (1987) notes numerous examples of effective cooperative learning strategies.

 

Sample Two

Several researchers have studied students' achievement related to levels of teacher's questions (Gall, 1978; McKeown, 1975; Ryan, 1973).

 

Within a bibliography:

Book:

Johnson, D. and Johnson, R. (1987). Learning Together and Alone, 2nd. ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

Article:

McKeown, R. (1975). Accountability in responding to classroom questions: Impact on student achievement. Journal of Experimental Education, 45, 24-30.

Chapter in a book:

Atkinson, J.W. (1965). The mainsprings of achievement-oriented activity. In J.D. Krumholtz (Ed.), Learning and Education Process, 25-26, Chicago: Rand-McNally & Co.