Capstone+Rationale

Goal: To create a discovery based site to help the students become involved in the classroom and stay connected. By creating this site I will be meeting the goals of Authentic Intellectual Work.

Purpose: In today’s society students are more technology savvy then they used to be. I have decided to make my class more representative of the times. The students will be using Edmodo as a way to stay connected to the class, while using discovery learning as the primary learning theory in the room. I wanted a way to keep the students connected to class, a way for them to communicate with each other and myself, and a way to make the class more discovery learning based instead of teacher lead instruction. The students will benefit from using Edmodo in class because they can stay connected to the class at all times. The students will know what they are responsible for the class and will be able to submit the work when they have completed it instead of taking the time to lose the assignments. It also will allow the parents to stay connected to the assignments that are going on in class. The students will be able to use their own abilities to learn.

Impact: I see this project as a way for the students to learn and communicate by having discussions with each other more often. The students will be able to always know what they have, when it is do, and can turn it in. Our high school is one to one with computers and uses Edmodo as their main networking site with the students. The high school students get their assignments there and also turn in their work. By using it in my classroom, the students will be more prepared for what lies ahead of them. I believe that the students using the technology in the classroom, they will be building on the scaffolding that they already have. At first it will be some work to set up the sites for the students, but I believe that it will be a great way to foster independent thinking and logic in my classroom.

Why this inquiry? I choose to do this inquiry because I wanted to look deeper into use technology in my classroom. Next year for professional development at my school we will be doing Authentic Intellectual Work. I believe that by using the technology in my classroom, I will be meeting the goals of AIW. I want to use more technology in my classroom and use more discovery learning. In science there needs to be inquiry and I want the students to build on their scaffolding. []

Steps:
 * 1) Decide on which way to draw the students attention to their work.
 * 2) Research Edmodo, discovery learning, and Authentic Intellectual Work.
 * 3) Create a wikispace to organize information found.
 * 4) Create an Edmodo to start organizing the information that will be used next year.
 * 5) Continue to grow the sites.
 * 6) Introduce sites to students and explain the use of the sites.