Final Project

Zachary Webb
EDT5410
June 23, 2009

Final Synthesis Project
Lesson Planning with Online Telecommunication Tools

Target Audience-

The target audience for this lesson plan is both 7th and 8th grade science students at Timberland Charter Academy. The students that would be receiving this lesson are both male and female and are between the ages of 12-15. They have had experience working with graphs on computers as well as on calculators and paper. Many students in this population have special education needs which are not accommodated by an aide. There are anywhere from 18-22 students per science class with 4 classes per day. This lesson would be taught to all science classes. The reason why I chose this age group is because that is exactly what I teach on a daily basis and I wanted to create a lesson that I could connect with and potentially use.

Context-

This lesson is designed to be executed in a charter school environment. I teach at Timberland Charter Academy which is a public charter school located in Muskegon, Michigan. Timberland accommodates approximately 550 students in grades K-8. The school is fairly new, opened in 1998 and is chartered by Grand Valley State University. There is no tuition to attend this school however; students are required to wear uniforms. There is a variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds of students that attend Timberland. At times, it can be challenging to grasp the interest of and appease all.

Learning Objectives-

After this lesson, students should be able to interpret data from a spreadsheet and create a graph that corresponds with the data collected. Students will have learned that they can use online tools, such as SUMO Paint to create graphs, they can save them to their student ID numbers, and they can share them with friends. This is an important objective to learn because scientists collect, analyze, and interpret data on a regular basis. This is also an area where many students struggle on the MEAP. Students need to be familiar with various ways to create graphs. With this assignment, students will be able to do just that with also adding a bit of their personality into the creation of their graph.

Detailed Description of Lesson-

o The online tools that will be used in this lesson are Google Docs (forms specifically) and SUMO Paint. Google forms are a way to email people of interest and ask them a question or various questions using a questionnaire form. You can specify what format of the question you would like the participant to see—multiple choice, yes/no, or short answer. Google Docs will then tally up the results in a spreadsheet format. The other online tool, SUMO Paint is very similar to the Microsoft Paint application, but has many more features. Students would then interpret the data collected from the spreadsheet and create a graph on SUMO Paint. Students really have the ability to get creative with this because there are so many different ways to create the graph using paint. There are many different brushes to use, filters, colors, and adjustments to make. What is so great about both of these online tools is that they are absolutely free!
o As the instructor I would use the Google Docs to create a questionnaire to email students: What are your summer plans? The results would be tallied in a Google Docs spreadsheet and we would discuss them as a class. After our discussion and interpretation of the results, students would then be responsible for creating a graph to display these results using SUMO Paint. As a brief tutorial I would use the EMLO cart to guide students through a “how to use SUMO Paint.” Many students are already familiar with Microsoft Paint and Photoshop and I would be confident that they would know exactly what I expected of them. After students were completed with their graphs, they would save them to their student ID numbers on the network and/or print their graphs. Students would have opportunities to share their work and/or display it in the classroom.

Artifact-

The artifact I chose to share is an example of what a student may create as their graph using SUMO Paint. What is so great about SUMO Paint is that you can save your work directly to your computer or to a free SUMO account. Check out my blog for the link to this artifact or click here for a direct link.
http://z1webb1.blogspot.com/

http://www.sumo.fi/files/images/aideddzdpfegihgm.png

Justification-

When recalling the concept of Computer Imagination from week 2, I feel as though the incorporation of online tools as opposed to low-tech alternatives are the way of the future. The online tools that I chose to document in this assignment appeal to students and teachers. Students are interested in this type of assignment because they can use the technology to get creative and show how they are different from others. It also appeals to teachers because there are not necessarily several print outs to correct. Everything can be kept in a central location. It saves time for the teacher and saves money for the school district. It is also environmentally friendly by eliminating paper waste. I can recollect from Siegal that these tools can create a community of users which means multiple people can access the same information and share ideas. With this type of lesson, students are able to share information, interpret each other’s findings, and grow as learners.