Online Projects, Collaboration Sites and Publishing Opportunities

Lesson Idea Name: Let’s Journey North!

Content Area: Science
Grade Level(s): 2nd
Content Standard Addressed: S2L1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the life cycles of
different living organisms.
1. Ask questions to determine the sequence of the life cycle of common animals in your area: a
mammal such as a cat, dog or classroom pet, a bird such as a chicken, an amphibian such as a
frog, and an insect such as a butterfly.

Technology Standard Addressed: 3 – Knowledge Constructor

Selected Online Project/Collaboration Site/Publishing Opportunity: Journey North

URL(s) to support the lesson: https://www.learner.org/jnorth/monarchs

Describe how you would incorporate an Online Project/Collaboration Site/Publishing Opportunity in your
classroom:
I would use Journey North in my classroom because it gives opportunities for students to learn about
different areas of the world. One specific thing that I would focus on in this lesson would be the monarch
migration patters. Journey North has a lot of great information about this on their website and I would
definitely use it for my lesson. Through Journey North we could track the migration, look at pictures from it,
and have discussions based on what we find on the website. This would be a great way to keep the students
engaged and involved in the discussions and lesson.
Journey North also has a lot of other great options that could be used in the classroom. There are many
different ways that I could incorporate this online project into future lessons, not just this one. There are also
other online projects, collaboration sites, and publishing opportunities that would be great options to use in
my classroom as well. I will do this through lessons that involve the students putting out their work for others
to see, maybe even others in a different country. This will be an exciting and fun thing for the teacher and
students to do in the classroom!

What technologies would be required to implement this proposed learning activity in a classroom?
To implement this in the classroom I would need access to Journey North through a computer. This could be
just the teacher computer that is projected to the front of the class or through a class set of computers where
every student can access the website.

Describe how the following features are addressed in this learning experience (note: all of them may not be
addressed in the project, but most should be if you are reaching a high LoTi Level).
a. Collaboration with peers, near-peers, mentors outside their classroom and often beyond their
school: This would be addressed through the discussions within the class/interactions with peers in the
classroom. This could also be done through Journey North where you have the opportunity to interact
with peers in other places.

b. Student-centered learning and knowledge creation (creating original data and or producing original
products as a result of engaging in a project): I will have the students create their own poster boards
for this project with facts about monarch’s and their migration patterns. This will be done in small
groups and presented to the class.

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 Online Projects, Collaboration Sites and Publishing Opportunities
c. Higher-order thinking: The students will engage in higher-order thinking when they study the
migration patterns of the butterflies. This will be done in a whole class setting through discussion and
individually when looking for information for their projects.

d. Students publishing their original work to others who will use/care about their product: The students
will have the opportunity to video their presentations to the class (with parent permission) and post
them for others to see and study.

Bloom’s Taxonomy Level(s):

☐ Remembering ☒ Understanding ☒ Applying ☒ Analyzing ☐ Evaluating ☐ Creating

Levels of Technology Integration (LoTi Level):

☐ Level 1: Awareness ☐ Level 2: Exploration ☒ Level 3: Infusion ☐ Level 4: Integration
☐ Level 5: Expansion ☐ Level 6: Refinement

Universal Design for Learning (UDL): All of the students in the classroom will have opportunities to stay
involved and engaged in this lesson. Their interest will be recruited through the Journey North website and
discussion of the butterflies and their migration patterns. Their comprehension will be assessed through their
group work and presentations. They will express and communicate with others through potentially posting
their projects/a video of them presenting their projects.

Lesson idea implementation and Internet Safety Policies: This lesson will follow the rules of the district that
it is being implemented in. For the videos, no student will be recorded without parent permission and no
names will be used. If students can not be recorded, pictures of their project without their name on it will be
used instead.

Reflective Practice: I think that these activities could impact the student learning by motivating them to learn
more about something that they never thought about. This lesson could be further extended by studying the
migration patterns of other animals or doing a different lesson focusing specifically on the different aspects of
monarch’s. Journey North could be continued to be used throughout these lessons or a different online site
could be used to further their learning.

Spring 2018_SJB