Lesson 8

Higher Thinking Skills Through IT-Based Projects

Key Elements of a constructivist Approach

to Instruction

The Teacher creating the learning environment

Key Elements of a constructivist Approach

to Instruction

The Teacher gives students the tools and facilities, and

Key Elements of a constructivist Approach

to Instruction

The teacher facilitating learning

Four IT-Based projects conducive to Develop Higher Thinking Skills and Creativity Among

Learners

Resource-Based Projects

Simple Creations

Web-Based Projects

Guided Hypermedia

Projects

Resource-Based Projects

In these projects, the teacher steps out of the traditional role of being an content expert and

information provider, and instead lets the students find their own facts of information.

Only when necessary for the active learning process does the teacher step in to supply data or

information.

The General flow of events in resource-based projects are:

1. The teacher determines the topic for the examination of the class. (e.g. the definition of “man”)

2. The teacher presents the problem to the class.

3. The students find information on the problem/questions.

4. Students organize their information in response to the problem/questions.

Relating to finding information, the central principle is to make the students go beyond the textbook and curriculum materials. Students are also encouraged to go to the library, particularly to the modern extension of the modern library, the internet.

Furthermore, the Inquiry-based or Discovery Approach is given importance in resource-based projects.

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

the ‘real word’

The process is given more importance than the project product.

What matters are the varied sources of information, the line of thinking and the ability to argue in defense of their answer.

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

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

Brainstorm. The students themselves will be allowed to generate their own ideas on the project.

Rather than shoot down ideas, the teacher encourages idea exchange.

Judge the ideas. The students themselves make an appraisal for or against any idea. Only when

students are completely off track should the teacher intervene.

Act. The students do 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.

The production of self-made multimedia projects can be approached in two different ways:

• 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 news show.

WEB-BASED PROJECTS• Students can be made

to create and post webpages on a given topic. But creating webpages, even single page webpages, may be too sophisticated and time consuming for the average student.

• It should be said, however, that posting of webpages in the Internet allows the students (now the webpage 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.