Higher Thinking Skills Through IT-Based Projects
There are 4 IT-Based project conducive to higher thinking Skills & creating among learners ;
- Resource – Based Projects
The teacher steps out of the traditional role of being a content experts & information providers & instead let the students find their own facts & information. Only when necessary for the active learning process does the teacher steps in to supply in to data/information.
General Flow of Resource- Based Projects
- determine the topic
- Present problem
- Find the information go beyond the text book & curriculum materials & internet
- Organize information
- Requires that the students to relate gathered information to real words.
- The process is given more important than the project product.
Traditional learning model
* Teacher is expert & information provider
* Textbook is key source of information
* Focus on facts information is packaged in neat parcels
* The products is the be – all & end – all learning
* Assessments is quantitative
Resource - Based Learning model
* The teacher is a guide facilitator
* Sources are varied ( print, video, internet, etc.)
* Focus on learning inquiry quest/discovery
* Emphasis on process
* Assessment is quantitative and qualitative
- SIMPLE CREATIONS
Students are assigned to create their software materials to supplement the need for relevant & effective materials.
Ex. 1. Creative writer – Microsoft – Writing
2. Kid Work Delux – Davidson – Drawing and Paintings
3. Media weave – Humanities Software – Multimedia
In developing software there are 3 kind of skills/abilities.
1. Analyzing – distinguishing similarities & differences/seeing the project as a problem to be solved.
2. Synthesizing – making spontaneous connections among ideas, thus generating interesting new ideas.
3. Promoting – selling of new ideas to all the public to test the ideas themselves.
- 5 key task can may be recommended.
1. Define task – clarify the goal of the completed project to students.
2. Brainstorming – allow them to generate own ideas on project.
3. Judge the ideas – make an appraisal for or against any ideas.
4. Act – let them do & just facilitate
5. Adopt flexibility – allow to shift gears and not follow an action path rigidly.
- GUIDED HYPERMEDIA PROJECTS
The production of self-made multimedia project can be approach in two different ways.
1. As an instructive tool, such, as in the production by students of a power-point presentation of a selected topic.
2. As a communication tool, such as when students do a multimedia presentation ( with text, graphs, photos, audio narration, interview, video clips, etc, to simulate a television news show.
- WED-BASED PROJECTS
- Students can be made to create & post web pages on a given topic. But creating webpages, even single page webpage, may be too sophisticated & time consuming for the average students.
- It should be said, however, that posting of web pages in the internet allows the students ( now the web pages creator) a wider audience. They can also be linked with other related sites in the internet. But as of now, this creativity project may be to ambitious as a tool in the teaching-learning process.
