2.4 Higher Order Thinking Skills
Candidates model and facilitate the use of digital tools and resources to engage students in authentic learning experiences. (PSC 2.3/ISTE 2c)
Artifact
Reflection
The Multimedia Design Project was a webquest designed to engaged students through problem-based learning, involving use of higher order thinking skills and the 4Cs – collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity. This artifact was created individually using the Weebly platform. The project began with an introduction to the webquest, requiring acceptance of the mission to find the missing masterpieces. The task page provided further information about the mission, describing the steps to the process. The process page required students to use clues to solve a puzzle showing the image of their assigned painting, and then to collaborate with their buddy in use of technology to research and present their information through a Photo Story using Microsoft Publisher. The evaluation page provided a work habit rubric and a Photo Story rubric that guided students in whether they were meeting criteria for working successfully with their buddy in use of technology. The conclusion involved uploading the stories to OneDrive so that they could be shared with the school, and a questionnaire asking students to reflect upon their research and presentation. The teacher page described the webquest with an overview including the visual art standards being addressed. This page also included suggestions for implementation as well as differentiation and modifications that would support student understanding and achievement.
This artifact demonstrates my ability to model and facilitate the use of digital tools and resources to support higher order thinking skills, processes, and mental habits of mind through design and implementation of a problem-based project through the Weebly platform. Use of the Weebly platform required modeling of how to work between pages, use buttons, access outside resources, follow the rubrics, and form a reflection. Facilitation of activities occurred as students moved through the pages on Weebly and accessed external documents and websites, such as the linked recording sheet and clues to solve the puzzle and research the assigned painting. These efforts supported use of higher order thinking skills and processes in that students had to understand and agree to the task at hand, solve a problem to discover their assigned painting, research the painting, and create a Photo Story based upon what they had learned. The collaborative aspect of the project supports mental habits of mind in that students of various grade levels worked together to solve a puzzle that determined the next step of the project, and communication supported critical thinking in problem solving and presenting new knowledge through a Photo Story.
From completing this artifact, I learned how to use the Weebly platform to organize a problem-based learning experience for my students. In doing so, I also learned how to enhance higher-order thinking skills, in that students had to make choices throughout the experience and use various websites outside of Weebly to solve the problem of their missing masterpiece. Within the Weebly platform, I learned how to create pages and buttons that would enhance the student technology experience, as well as how to enhance the 4Cs through technology. To improve the quality of the artifact in the future, I would make the process more seamless by not repeating items within the task and process and providing a rubric that students can work through along the project and not just as a culminating activity.
This artifact impacted school improvement in that students were required to think critically using the creative process which benefits out school in moving from STEM to STEAM. Student learning was impacted by collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity within the process of problem-solving. This impact can be assessed through student completion of both the work habit and Photo Story rubrics, as well as through observation of student interaction and student reflections.
The Multimedia Design Project was a webquest designed to engaged students through problem-based learning, involving use of higher order thinking skills and the 4Cs – collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity. This artifact was created individually using the Weebly platform. The project began with an introduction to the webquest, requiring acceptance of the mission to find the missing masterpieces. The task page provided further information about the mission, describing the steps to the process. The process page required students to use clues to solve a puzzle showing the image of their assigned painting, and then to collaborate with their buddy in use of technology to research and present their information through a Photo Story using Microsoft Publisher. The evaluation page provided a work habit rubric and a Photo Story rubric that guided students in whether they were meeting criteria for working successfully with their buddy in use of technology. The conclusion involved uploading the stories to OneDrive so that they could be shared with the school, and a questionnaire asking students to reflect upon their research and presentation. The teacher page described the webquest with an overview including the visual art standards being addressed. This page also included suggestions for implementation as well as differentiation and modifications that would support student understanding and achievement.
This artifact demonstrates my ability to model and facilitate the use of digital tools and resources to support higher order thinking skills, processes, and mental habits of mind through design and implementation of a problem-based project through the Weebly platform. Use of the Weebly platform required modeling of how to work between pages, use buttons, access outside resources, follow the rubrics, and form a reflection. Facilitation of activities occurred as students moved through the pages on Weebly and accessed external documents and websites, such as the linked recording sheet and clues to solve the puzzle and research the assigned painting. These efforts supported use of higher order thinking skills and processes in that students had to understand and agree to the task at hand, solve a problem to discover their assigned painting, research the painting, and create a Photo Story based upon what they had learned. The collaborative aspect of the project supports mental habits of mind in that students of various grade levels worked together to solve a puzzle that determined the next step of the project, and communication supported critical thinking in problem solving and presenting new knowledge through a Photo Story.
From completing this artifact, I learned how to use the Weebly platform to organize a problem-based learning experience for my students. In doing so, I also learned how to enhance higher-order thinking skills, in that students had to make choices throughout the experience and use various websites outside of Weebly to solve the problem of their missing masterpiece. Within the Weebly platform, I learned how to create pages and buttons that would enhance the student technology experience, as well as how to enhance the 4Cs through technology. To improve the quality of the artifact in the future, I would make the process more seamless by not repeating items within the task and process and providing a rubric that students can work through along the project and not just as a culminating activity.
This artifact impacted school improvement in that students were required to think critically using the creative process which benefits out school in moving from STEM to STEAM. Student learning was impacted by collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity within the process of problem-solving. This impact can be assessed through student completion of both the work habit and Photo Story rubrics, as well as through observation of student interaction and student reflections.