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Collaborating Across Cultures Level: Secondary --- Content: Social studies |
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Mrs. Brown and Mr.
Wright teach world history and geography, respectively, in an urban secondary
school. They register their classes to participate in an iEARN
(International Education and Resource Network) global online network project
to support the 21st Century goal of working effectively in diverse teams and
assuming shared responsibility for collaborative work. The collaborative
project management experience, and technology and expository writing skills
developed through such projects, are highly valued by both colleges and
employers. iEarn projects bring six to eight
teachers and their classes together in a virtual electronic classroom to
collaborate on a 14-week, subject matter-specific project, which culminates
in published examples of student work. Classes participate from countries
around the world. Students produce their published projects in English and
final project papers in their native languages. Country coordinators with
translation and curriculum skills from Russia, Colombia, Viet Nam, Nigeria,
and 94 other countries are available via email. Project text can be
translated through Google Translator and 31 iEarn
native language forums exist, which support project development, where
students can discuss projects in their native languages. The essential question
for the unit is, “How do culture and language influence thought and
behavior?” This question will be answered individually by each student at the
end of the quarter in a written expository report that incorporates evidence
and examples from the project experience. Since the students
will be working independently and the project involves multiple phases,
individual student and class progress is tracked and monitored through an
online project management tool called Teamness used
by both students and teachers. In addition, students in each class must post
their progress, questions and concerns to a daily online blog. Prior to the first
class meeting, the six teachers meet online to discuss their curricular
preferences from among the 75-100 Learning Circle projects. When the students
from the six classes meet virtually to launch the project, their first
collaborative task is to come to consensus on 2 to 3 projects from the
teachers’ preferred list of 10-15 selections. Examples of possible project
topics include: World We Live In
(reflects on how we interact with others and integrate into a global society) Local History Project
(Research history of their town and learn from peers) My Identify – Your
Identity (Traditional celebrations, famous monuments and landmarks from their
countries) Tagging My World
(Aspects of teen life across cultures) Using the online Intel
Visual Ranking tool, each class determines the order of preference and
rationale for their choices. The six class rankings and accompanying logic
are compared using the tool. Questions of evidence and cause and effect are
resolved through virtual-class formal debates structured by online critical
thinking tools. The first tool, Intel Seeing Reason has students working on
cause and effect relationships. The Intel Showing Evidence tool helps
students construct well-reasoned arguments supported by evidence, using a
visual framework. A final vote on the preferred project is conducted using an
online survey tool, such as Survey Monkey, and the results are displayed in
real time. Once the project is
determined, students must complete a series of assignments that scaffold a
published project and culminating paper. The published project will be a
contribution to a virtual poster fair highlighting interactive posters and
presentations created with a suite of online presentation tools. These tools
allow students to include music, text, audio, video, and still images to
create an interactive poster that seizes the imagination and captures the
essence of the project topic. Teams assemble elements of their posters online
and meet weekly via telephone (Skype) to establish processes and resolve
creative and content differences. The posters voted “Top
Three” will be displayed at assemblies at the participating schools and will
be submitted to a contest where the winners compete to attend the live,
face-to-face iEarn conference held annually in
locations around the world. The tasks that must be
completed before the end of the 14-week period include: Developing a rubric
for evaluating the interactive poster for content and technical skill (sample
rubrics reviewed in small groups followed by whole group voting on poster
criteria) Producing an
interactive poster that illustrates the essence of the project topic (small
group teams) Daily blogging and
monthly eZines (small group and independent work) Culminating written
paper answering the essential question from evidence gathered during student
project interactions Resources used in this
scenario: Tools used in this
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