Beyond-the-Basic Productivity Tools (BBPT)

Lesson Idea Name: Three Branches

Content Area: Social Studies
Grade Level(s): 3rd Grade

Content Standard Addressed:

SS3CG1. Describe the elements of representative democracy/republic in the United States.
a. Describe the three branches of national government: executive (president), legislative (Congress),
and judicial (Supreme Court of the United States).

Technology Standard Addressed:

ISTE Standards 1 and 6
Selected Technology Tool: Bubbl.us

URL(s) to support the lesson (if applicable): https://bubbl.us/11261762

Bloom’s Taxonomy Level(s):

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

Levels of Technology Integration:

☐ Infusion Level: Students may work at a higher Bloom’s Level, but they do not have any “Voice or
Choice” during the activity and most of the decisions are made by the teacher.

☒ Integration Level: We would like to see ALL lessons/activities reach this level. The project is
student-driven. Students have “Voice and Choice” in the activities, selecting the topic of study
and determining the technology tool to demonstrate mastery of the standard. The teacher
becomes more of a facilitator.

☐ Expansion Level: The projects created are shared outside of the classroom, publishing student
work and promoting authorship. This could be reached by showcasing the project on the school’s
morning newscast, posting the project to the classroom blog, or publishing via an outside source.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL):

The activity I planned for students was guided by the UDL principles to ensure all students’ individual
needs are met. The technology tool I chose, Bubbl.us, is a great tool that all students can use. Bubbl
can enhance the student’s learning experiences in many ways. On this website, students can work
together on the same site, even if they are not sitting with one another, teachers can join the Bubbl
and add in immediate feedback for the students about what they are writing, and Bubbl allows
students to watch instructional linked videos without even leaving the website. Bubbl is supported
by the UDL guidelines because it allows for multiple means of engagement, and multiple means of
representation or action. My lesson involves a lot of student-led thinking and researching, and Bubbl
is a great place for students to organize their research and final thinking into one area. The activity I
chose is a research project, and while the students will be assigned their topic to research, they have
the freedom to choose which sites they will explore to find the necessary information. The activity
was guided by the UDL principles and it allows for multiple means of student engagement, action or
expression, and representation. Students will work in small groups and they will be able to choose
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 Beyond-the-Basic Productivity Tools (BBPT)
how they present their final presentation, how they will engage with the content, and how they will
choose to conduct their research. Students will also choose a Basic productivity Tool to display their
final presentation about the topic they researched. My idea was to have students use a BBPT to
organize their research, and then use a BPT to display their findings; this is a great way to show how
these tools can go hand in hand with learning. Bubbl will be the perfect BBPT to guide my student’s
research and thinking and help them to create a final presentation using a BPT of their choice.

Lesson idea implementation:

I chose to create a lesson based around the 3rd Grade standard SS3CG1. Describe the elements of
representative democracy/republic in the United States substandard a. This substandard is all about
identifying the 3 Branches of National Government and understanding what each Branch does. To
begin the lesson the students and I will go over what the 3 Branches of government are using a quick
BrainPop tutorial video. The BrainPop video is a great introduction to our topic and will allow
students to have some information about our topics going into this project. I will allow students to ask
questions after the BrainPop to make sure all students needs are met, and that all students feel heard.
Then, I will put the students into 6 groups; each Branch of government will be used twice. I will
display the Bubbl page I have created on the bard and allow students time to look at it by themselves.
This allows students to create their own questions and spark any background knowledge they might
personally have with the content. Students will then get with their research groups develop a plan for
their research. This project will take 5 days. One day to learn about the topic and discuss with
research groups, two days to conduct research, one day to create presentation, and the last day is for
presentations.
Student learning will be assessed in man different ways. As I am walking around and observing
student research, I will be formatively assessing each student through questions and conversation. I
will be sure to give each student individual feedback, and each group feedback as a whole. Final
student assessment will take place during the presentations of the research projects. The final product
of these projects will be differentiated because each groups presentation will look different from one
another, and the Bubbl will be full of different view-points on the research topics. Having the students
use the same Bubbl will allow them to see what their peers are saying about the topics and allows
them to compare their answers and learn from each other. To extend the learning a higher level I will
as the students higher order thinking questions to get them thinking about the content at an advanced
level. Higher order thinking questions are great to use after a lesson, and during a lesson to spark
student thinking, and student conversations about the content. After all of the students present, the
lesson will conclude by me asking the students what they have learned, and they will participate in a
quick discussion about the content.

Reflective Practice:
After designing this lesson, I feel that the activities I created will impact student learning in a number
of different ways. Students had the chance to work with their peers and create an artifact during this
lesson. I want students to take this experience with collaboration and creation and implement this
throughout their whole education experience. I want the students to see how great it can be to lead
your own learning experience and see the great results that come from it. Students used BBPT’s and
BPT’s together in this lesson, and I hope that they saw how great these tools can work together to
help them learn a topic, and create amazing things.

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 Beyond-the-Basic Productivity Tools (BBPT)

SBooker, 2020