MEC Assignment #2

This post is all about the great projects we reviewed on http://gilligan.mec.edu/~groves. It was great to see some of the past projects other teachers have created. The first site I enjoyed was http://gilligan.mec.edu/~groves/erica. The site was called The Changing Earth. It is all about ersosion and glaciers, and how they change the shape of the land...which is my upcoming science unit! There are questions for the kids to answer and links to different websites about the topics. It is organized well, with different headings and sections for "caves, wind erosoin, glaciers, and a summary." There is also a teacher link with a printable worksheet for the kids to answer the questions. I do wish the links were displayed under each heading. Instead they are all grouped together at the end. I could see kids pontentially wasting a lot of time trying to figure out which link to explore for each question. The font is nicely organized and easy to read. I might pick a different background color, but overall it is very kid-user friendly.

The second site I enjoyed was a 3rd grade Wampanoag and Pilgrim Webquest (http://gilligan.mec.edu/~groves/heathbrook). While this is 3rd grade material, and I teach 4th grade, I like how the webquest is organized and it would be a great model for the webquest that I am hoping to create for my own project. The font, background, and graphics are all pleasing to the eye. There is a short introduction describing the webquest, then different "tasks." The journal is mandatory, then there are 7 other tasks and the students have to complete two. Each task is explained, with a link to research the assignment. Some of these assignments are research the Wampanoag tribe using primary sources and complete a fact sheet, create an alpahbet book of the pilgrims, and create an exhibit documenting the real first Thanksgiving (among others). What I really like is that these tasks involve critical thinking skills and creativity...they are not just a regurgitation of facts.