EDLD+5364+Group+Reflection+contribution

We selected a simple activity to review the students prior knowledge of 2-dimensional shapes to help the students become comfortable with the topic we were introducing. We thought that by selecting a hands-own activity to introduce the lesson would help students recognize prior learning before we pulled them into the lesson with the technology-based activities. We selected a spreadsheet to record investigation findings because the teacher could design it for various learners and have it pre-loaded on the computers. The website activities were chosen because they get the students actively involved in the learning process, provide immediate feedback, and also provide clues when incorrect responses are given by students.

During the lesson, students will have the opportunity to record their observations on blogs that serve as milestones of their progress in the lesson but they also serve as easily accessible review documents that members of the class can share with one another to help facilitate collaborative learning. (Pitler et al., 2007) asserts that collaborative learning environments on the Web help to reinforce student learning and I agree (p.144). The various activities in our solution were chosen to engage students with differing learning styles and abilities and to encourage the students to investigate and explore geometric solids using their personal knowledge of geometry and their respective learning styles. We tried to select activities that would get the students interested and excited about geometric solids and help them to develop the knowledge established as goals for the lesson.  We also researched technology tools and activities that could help the teacher to differentiate the lesson to the learning abilities/disabilities of each respective student in the scenario class. Things such as technology tools for sight-impaired and hearing-impaired students and technology that would get and hold the interest of gifted students while not leaving slower learners behind. We also considered the teacher's computer skills and understanding of using technology in the classroom when we selected technology. We attempted to select activities and software that didn't require being a 'techy' to bring them into the classroom. Our experience has shown that if the teacher is intimidated by the technology, they will by hesitant to use it and we wanted to avoid this with our scenario teacher.