Having a role in education during this transformation of teaching and learning is exhilarating! Not only have educators adapted learner-centered strategies, but they have incorporated technology in their daily lessons, and students are largely benefitting from both.
Students in Mrs. Rounsaville-Houchens’ science class conducted research on a disease, condition, or disability. Milana Klopouh, a seventh grader at Ridgely Middle School, shares information about the process. “We are able to choose from a list of diseases, or Mrs. Houchens says she will approve something not on the list, if we have other ideas. Our group is researching Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, ALS. We are curious about it because of the several Ice Bucket Challenges online, but we really don’t know too much about it besides what we see in the videos that have gone viral.”
Students in Mrs. Rounsaville-Houchens’ science class conducted research on a disease, condition, or disability. Milana Klopouh, a seventh grader at Ridgely Middle School, shares information about the process. “We are able to choose from a list of diseases, or Mrs. Houchens says she will approve something not on the list, if we have other ideas. Our group is researching Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, ALS. We are curious about it because of the several Ice Bucket Challenges online, but we really don’t know too much about it besides what we see in the videos that have gone viral.”
Student, Milana Klopouh
Milana explained that students are given a scenario about the need to raise public awareness on the topic. She shares that there is extensive criteria to provide in a PowerPoint or no-tech option. The criteria includes, “a description of the disease, causes, incubation period, communicability, signs and symptoms…,” she adds. The list goes on. Also, students are to identify affected body systems, the present state of research, and how the disease progressed through history. The impact on family adds a personal touch to the project, according to the student. In many cases, students went to neighbors or loved ones to get a personal perspective on the topic. “Someone in our group has a mom in nursing, and my parent is a pharmacist, so they were able to weigh in with some personal experiences,” Milana said.
The actual process included receiving instruction from the library media specialist around research and citations. Then, it is up to the students to gather information. Milana explained that students are expected to save notes on all the criteria, rather than dividing it up. “Mrs. Houchens said that all of us should research all of the criteria because we are reading different articles. She didn’t want us to miss anything. Microsoft 365 allows us to share our notes with each other, and it also allows multiple group members to edit our PowerPoint at the same time. It’s definitely better than facetiming on our phones.”
Mrs. Rounsaville-Houchens and her colleagues at Ridgely are making students 21st century-ready. Learning with critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity is making a difference for our students.
The actual process included receiving instruction from the library media specialist around research and citations. Then, it is up to the students to gather information. Milana explained that students are expected to save notes on all the criteria, rather than dividing it up. “Mrs. Houchens said that all of us should research all of the criteria because we are reading different articles. She didn’t want us to miss anything. Microsoft 365 allows us to share our notes with each other, and it also allows multiple group members to edit our PowerPoint at the same time. It’s definitely better than facetiming on our phones.”
Mrs. Rounsaville-Houchens and her colleagues at Ridgely are making students 21st century-ready. Learning with critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity is making a difference for our students.
One slide (Causes) of Milana’s group’s presentation.
The list of citations from which Milana’s group gained research.
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