Teacher's+Page


 * Joint Statement expressing understanding of what is required for the ICT Integration Project: **

Within our group we understood the assignment to comprise of three tasks.

Due to presentation allocations, our group began with the Proto-type lesson followed by the Planning section of the assessment, to finish with Publishing as the final product. Our group chose the year 10 level and consulted the Curriculum Framework to shape the content of the lessons. A Forward Planning Document is to be completed, outlining four lessons worth of content approved by the curriculum. Within these lessons there will be three or more uses of ICT. This technology will be used by the teachers as a constructive teaching tool and utilised by the students to enhance learning.

A combined presence and implementation of these technologies will form an effective resource for students in inquiry based learning, aiding them to further their learning by directing their research in a fun and interactive way. To achieve the final Publishing product of a Web Quest, prior steps are needed. The first is an organisational component, Planning; to simply clarify the needs of the overall assignment. It entails dividing tasks to share the workload and initial discussions between the group to recognise what is to be completed for the final project. An explanation will be given as to why particular ICT were chosen.

One of the four lessons of the Forward Planning Document was elaborated into a Lesson Plan Proto-type, which was presented in class to view and analyse the effectiveness of the activities designed for the particular year group. The feedback given for this section by both the students and lecturer will be taken into account for the final Publishing section.


 * Mind Map, indicating links to curriculum: **




 * Project Plan, indicating task allocation: **




 * Forward Planning Document for ICT Integration Project: **




 * A statement articulating which three ICT you intend students to use and why: **

Throughout the four lesson sequence required for this project, ICT is incorporated as both a teacher and student tool. The context of the content being taught is WWII. The Learning Area Outcomes as seen on the Forward Planning Documents will be covered in the scope of these lessons. ICT such as You Tube, Xtranormal, Brain pop, Spider Scribe and Wikipedia, will be utilised as teaching tools to engage students in their participation levels and comprehension.

Underlying the entire four lesson sequence will be a Web Quest via Wiki to guide on-task learning. The tasks, with prompts and resources, will allow for inquiry and structured research into the society that once was and still exists today.

Through the activities, research via the Web Quest, content learnt will be asked to be organised and presented into an oral presentation with a visual aid. The initial processes of research will be guided by a web based program called Spider Scribe. It is a program that has many benefits for student learning due to the simple fact students can organise clearly the information gathered from the internet or prior knowledge in their head into a canvas. This canvas can literally be manipulated and organised to suit the student’s preference. The control that students have via this program is beneficial to the engagement levels and gains their attention promoting higher learning.

In addition to these ICT, the oral presentation at the end of the Web Quest will be aided with a visual aid of the students’ choice; Power Point or Prezi. These programs allow students to organise their material into clear ideas, present problems in logical sequence or present case studies to their peers. Again, constructive control and responsibility of their work and its technological design allows pride in work.

The use of all these technologies, (inquiry or designed based), would not be possible without the information gathered by Google, Safari or Firefox. Access to this technology is invaluable to learning. Students can search for facts then comprehend these by searching for supporting and opposing arguments. The internet also allows extra research skills to be learnt by the student as they need to be able to recognise false, unreliable or discreditable information.


 * A statement indicating anunderpinning evidence based learning theory: **

The evidence based learning theory that underpins our project is constructivism. This is the idea that when students learn new information, the most effective way to remember or comprehend the information is to apply a situation to an experience they have lived or relate it to an opinion already formed from life experience. Therefore students are moulding and constructing the new information to connect it with their existing ideas.

The learning area of Society and Environment (SOSE) falls under the category of humanities. It is quite simply the study of society, culture, resources, organisational systems, citizens and interactions between these over time. Therefore it is easy to live this subject; students have been a part of ‘SOSE’ from birth with great background knowledge from which to base themselves when studying SOSE. The rationale set out for the learning area in the curriculum framework embodies this idea when it states:

Students are encouraged to apply their understandings and skills in their own lives, in developing environmental consciousness, social competence and civic responsibility. In doing so, they are engaged in actively exploring, making sense of and contributing to improving the world around them.

Therefore constructivism can be applied as above, to initially learn content, but once the students leave the classroom, SOSE can be applied again in everyday life. The content learned could also be seen in action in the local, national or global community where students can view and further understand the practical and relevant nature of SOSE.

An example specific to our content on lesser known historical figures in WWII could see students hear about the time period or personalities from their grandparent’s point of view. Information studied in class can then form conversations with the student and grandparents. This may lead to further discussion about their opinions on the topic and a deeper interest by the student as they experience the relevance of the subject.

At the conclusion of the Web Quest, research is to be presented as an oral presentation accompanied by a visual aid(PowerPoint/Prezi). Assessment of this task will also indicate to teachers if this activity has been a success in educating students.