Lesson 8

Higher Thinking Skills Through IT-Based Projects

•          Resource-Based Projects
•          Simple Creations
•          Guided Hypermedia Projects
•          Web-Based Projects
•      Resource-Based Projects

-          In these projects, the teacher steps out of the traditional role of being an context expert and information provider, and instead lets the students find their own facts and information.

The general flow events in the resource-based projects are:

•      The teacher determines the topic for the examination
•         The teacher presents the problem to the class
•         The students find information on the problem/questions
•        Students organize their information in the response to the problem/questions

Inquiry or Discovery Approach

-          This requires that the students, individually or cooperatively with members of his group, relate gathered information to the real world.

Traditional learning model	Resource-based learning model
Teacher is expert and information provider.	Teacher is a guided and facilitator.
Textbook is the key.	Source are varied.
Source of information	(print, video, internet, etc.)
Focus on facts information is packaged I neat provider	Emphasis on process
Assessment is quantitative	Assessment is quantitative and qualitative

Simple Creations

-          Students can also be assigned to create their software materials to supplement the need for relevant and effective materials.

-          Creativity is said to combine three kind of skills/abilities:

·         Analyzing

·         Synthesizing

·         Promoting

Analyzing

•  Distinguishing similarities and differences/seeing the project as a problem to be solved.

Synthesizing

•            Making spontaneous connections among ideas, thus generating interesting or new ideas.

Promoting

•             Selling of new ideas to allow the public to test the ideas themselves.

To develop their creativity, the following five key tasks may be recommended:

Define the task. Clarify the goal of the completed project to the student.

Brainstorm. The student themselves will be allowed to generate their own ideas on the projects.

Judge the ideas. The students themselves appraisal for or against any idea. Only when students are completely off track should the teacher intervene.

Act. The students to their work with the teacher a facilitator.

Adopt flexibility. The students should be allowed to shift gears and not follow an action path rigidly.

Guided Hypermedia Projects

• As an instructive tool, such as in the production by students of a power-point presentation of a selected topic.
• As a communication tool, such as when students do a multimedia presentation (with text, graphs, photos, audio, narration, interviews, video clips, etc.) to simulate a television.

Hyper Studio

• It is a software produce by Roger Wagner Production and an example of multimedia software.

Web-Based Project

• Students can be made to create a post webpages on a given topic.