During my first year in third grade, I often found myself at odds with the curriculum to be taught and the current means of teaching that information. Worksheets and readings out of old textbooks were how "things have always been done". I knew that my students needed to be energized with the content. After all, it was the 4th quarter and summer was on everyone's mind.
As I began to process the Social Studies unit on Pennsylvania that I needed to teach and my goals for the end of the year, I soon realized that a culminating year end project would force students to synthesize the information that had been learned throughout the year. And so, with the help of our school librarian, we created a webquest on Pennsylvania.
The purpose of this webquest was more than just to cover a unit from our Social Studies curriculum. It enabled students to synthesize various learnings throughout the year. Students used reading skills, oral speaking skills, technological skills, research skills, and numerous other skills...
On Winning $5,000 . . . Or Was It Actually Much More?
By Kyle Schutt, teacher, grade 3, Pine Forge
The end of the year can be a very busy time in any elementary school, and my 3rd grade class has been no exception. During the month of May, my 3rd graders utilized a Pennsylvania WebQuest developed by Rebecca Hart and myself with the purpose of generating student-created Photostory presentations about any number of Pennyslvania topics. A WebQuest requires analysis, synthesis, judgment, creativity, and problem-solving through the gathering of information from the World Wide Web. Ideally, a WebQuest should include an authentic experience.
In 3rd grade our authentic task was to attempt to win 5,000 pretend dollars by creating the best Photostory travel brochure related to various topics in PA! Photostory is a software program similar to PowerPoint, but easier for students to use. The students collected pictures and narrated them using the research they found.
In order for the 3rd graders to then demonstrate their skills, parents, grandparents, and friends were invited to the Pine Forge Library on June 6, 2008 at 2:00 PM. At that time, third graders gave their Photostory presentations about Pennsylvania. Along with sharing their Photostory travel brochures with friends and family, my 3rd graders also answered a few questions about their experience. Below are the four questions asked with a number of student responses:
1. What was your favorite part of the Pennsylvania Photostory project?
“My favorite part is when I got paired up with Nick, getting to know each other better, and recording. I liked recording because you would get so nervous and say the wrong thing or say something funny that you weren’t supposed to say.” –Tesia
”My favorite part of the PA Photo story was that we got to work with partners and we had fun but, as we had fun we learned.” –Summer
“My favorite part of the Pennsylvania Photo story project was when we got to record on the microphones.” -Haley
“My favorite part of the web quest was learning how to up load photos and finding the photos.” -Jennifer
2. If you could do the Photostory again, what would you change?
“Get a different topic.” -John
“If I could change the photostory, I would be a little more louder.” –Dylan
“I would change the pictures and the way I was speaking I sounded kind of weird.” -Trevor
“I would change the music.” -Eric
3. What was the most important thing that you learned from completing the PA Photostory Project?
“Taking your time and patience.” —Trevor
“The most important thing I learned is that economy isn’t just money, but it is also agriculture, farming, services, and more.” -Tesia
“I learned how to work as a team.” -Nick
“That you learn to work together.” -Shjon
“I learned about the plains. I also learned that I had to work hard.” -Eva
“I learned to take time and patients [sic.].” –Ethan
4. What other comments would you like to share about the webquest?
“ . . . we had a fun time every minute we were in the computer lab.” -Tesia
“I enjoyed the webquest, because I learned that the Delaware River is really big.” –Eva
“I had fun, and I LERNED [sic.] lot[s] of things about PA.” -Matthew
“It was very fun and I really think more kids should do this.” -Trevor
Great post! I'd love to see a sample project or two. Team digital storytelling projects like this one are a perfect example of developing the synthesizing mind. There are so many elements and angles and approaches. Students' overall understanding of a topic is so much richer.
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