WEBSITE AND CLASSROOM BLOG CREATION TOOLS

Name: Caroline Motes

Directions: Using the template below, describe how students could use a blog, wiki, or other website-
creation tool to learn required learning standards in your content area: For an A grade provide an idea that
reaches a Level of Technology Implementation of 4 or above. Remember higher levels (4-6) require that
students assume adult/professional roles; engage in higher-order thinking; and use technology
create/publish original content for their classmates and/or others beyond their school/classroom. The
learning activities and products should be engaging and meaningful to the students and to others who will
view/use/benefit from students’ work. Review your handouts on Engaged Learning, Authenticity, and LoTi.
Grade Level: 7th Grade
Content Area: Life Science
Technology Used (check all that apply):
Blog Wiki Other Website Creation Tool (list): EduBlogs
Content Area/Grade/Standards/Topics Addressed:
S7L4. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to examine the interdependence of organisms
with one another and their environments.
c. Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for how resource availability, disease, climate, and
human activity affect individual organisms, populations, communities, and ecosystems.
Brief Description of Learning Experience: What learning standards will be addressed? What will
students and teachers do? What products will students create? How will the project be introduced? How
long will it take to complete? What audience will use/care about the product(s) students are creating? How
broad is this audience? (Overview should be a minimum of 2 paragraphs).

Within this lesson, students will be focusing on the standard that discusses how disease affects individual
organisms, populations, communities, and ecosystems. Because this lesson is student-centered, the students
will be engaged with their projects while the teacher acts as a facilitator. This lesson will consist of students
choosing one disease out of the eight options (AIDS/HIV, Tsetse Fly, Dengue Fever, Cholera, Rift Valley
Fever, Malaria, Ebloa, Zika Virus), researching that disease, and creating a PSA blog using EduBlogs.
Questions to help guide the students’ research include:
• What is the name of your disease? How did it get its name?
• Where and when was it first discovered?
• How many people does it infect each year?
• What does it do to the human body?
• Is there any treatment or cure for the disease?
• How is the disease transmitted between people?
• How can infection by the disease be prevented?

The project will be introduced as their STEM project for the nine weeks, connecting with what they are
doing in math, reading/ELA, and social studies. This project will take approximately 3-4 days. This will
give students time to research their chosen disease and use their creativity to publish their public service
announcement. The students’ blogs will be seen by the STEM ambassadors, teachers, and peers. These
blogs will not be fully public, so the audience is limited.
Bloom’s Level of Critical Thinking Required (check all that apply):
See http://epltt.coe.uga.edu/index.php?title=Bloom%27s_Taxonomy
Remembering Understanding Applying Analyzing Evaluating Creating

1
 WEBSITE AND CLASSROOM BLOG CREATION TOOLS
Student Engagement/Level of Technology Implementation (LoTi): What LoTi would this lesson be and
Why?

This lesson would reach LoTi level 4: Integration. This is because students are applying learning to real
world, learning is authentic and relevant, and teaching is student-centered.
Importance of technology: Why is using a website-creation tool critical to the project? Could the project
be completed without this technology? What would be lost without using it? What other types of
technology, if any, are going to be used in the learning experience?

Using a website-creation tool is critical to this project because it allows students to showcase their research
in different ways than in a PowerPoint or on a poster. This project could be done without the website-
creation tool, but the end products allow for high levels of creativity while using technology as well as have
the potential to be shared publicly which would reach a new and more broad audience. Without using
EducBlogs for this project, students may not be as engaged.
Inspiration (optional): If you used existing example as a model for your project (whether in part or
whole), include the URL(s) so we can visit. Explain what concepts you “borrowed” from others.

Internet Safety and Student Privacy: Briefly discuss some possible issues surrounding Internet safety and
student privacy that could arise while implementing this learning experience and explain how you would
(1) minimize risks to students/yourself; (2) alleviate any fears by parents/administrators, and (3) follow
common Internet Safety/Acceptable Use Policies.

Possible issues surrounding Internet safety and student privacy could include: students’ personal
information being revealed and not properly citing their resources. These issues can be prevented or
reduced by having students refrain from using their full names, such as using their first initial and last
name. Also, students will be given a list of databases they may use for their research (Galileo, NewsELA)
to keep their research refined and appropriate.
Describe your personal learning goal for this activity. What are you trying that you have not tried
before? What do you hope to learn from this activity? How do you hope it will help students learn?

For this lesson, I am trying EduBlogs for the first time. I hope to learn more about what EduBlogs has to
offer, as well as the different features it comes with. I hope to learn how well blogs work within the science
classroom, as well as keeping students engaged and using high Bloom’s and LoTi levels. I am hopeful that
students will learn more about the diseases, realize how fast these diseases can spread and their impact on
human life, and use their creativity while designing their final products.
Other comments about your proposed activity: This activity’s purpose is to allow students to learn more
about real-world diseases and how they impact the human population.