Online Projects, Collaboration Sites and Publishing Opportunities

Lesson Idea Name: Lifecycles

Content Area: Science
Grade Level(s): 2nd
Content Standard Addressed: S2L1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the lifecycles of
different living organisms

Technology Standard Addressed: knowledge constructor

Selected Online Project/Collaboration Site/Publishing Opportunity: Planting Science

URL(s) to support the lesson: plantingscience.org

Describe how you would incorporate an Online Project/Collaboration Site/Publishing Opportunity in your
classroom:
For this lesson the students will be working in groups to explore the lifecycles of different living organisms.
Each group of students will have a different plant type to research. This research will be done under
supervision and beforehand we would have gone to the media center to get a lesson on internet safety. Each
student will spend up to a week researching and creating a presentation.

After the students have created their presentation we will share with the class. This is an opportunity for the
students to learn from one another. We will then be submitting their projects into plantingscience.org. This
will excite the students and get them to work really hard on their research and presentations. Lastly, we will
be exploring this cite to share our classroom research and learn from another classroom’s research. It is a fun
opportunity for the students to get to learn from other students not in their school.

What technologies would be required to implement this proposed learning activity in a classroom?
We would need access to a computer lab or set. These can be rented from the school library and then we will
also need some sort of Smart Board for them to share their presentations on.

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: The students will be collaborating with their peers to do the research and create the
presentation for this lesson. There will also be the collaboration form plantingscience.org.

b. Student-centered learning and knowledge creation (creating original data and or producing original
products as a result of engaging in a project): The students will be creating their own original projects
with the help from research. The students will be using their previous knowledge of creating
presentation with their new knowledge that they have about the lifecycles of plants.

c. Higher-order thinking: Students will be researching the lifecycles of their given plant type. They will
then analyze their research to figure out what is most important or not along with evaluating it. It is
important for this higher-order thinking to happen for their projects to be most beneficial for the
students learning.

d. Students publishing their original work to others who will use/care about their product: Their entre
class will care about their work because it is benefiting their learning. The people on
plantingscience.org will also be benefiting from the student’s products.

Spring 2018_SJB
 Online Projects, Collaboration Sites and Publishing Opportunities

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): The students will all have access to computers or iPad to complete this
project. They are able to read or listen to the information they find as many times as they need to understand
the content.
Lesson idea implementation and Internet Safety Policies: This will be approved by the school before
implementing in the classroom. It is important that the administrators and the parents know how beneficial
this is in the students learning. The students will have also gotten a safety course on the internet form the
media center before starting this project.
Reflective Practice: I created a lesson that is very beneficial for the students learning and understanding. This
lesson would take time and several classes to complete but the students are able to explore their own
learning and that’s very beneficial. I do not think another technology tool could make this project better. They
could potentially make an iMovie with the information, but that wouldn’t really enhance their learning.

Spring 2018_SJB