Collaboration

PBL Collaboration

How will you facilitate an authentic collaborative learning experience to promote deeper student engagement with content skills and concepts? As members of collaborative groups, how will you support students efforts to identify solutions to the problem you are using as the framework for your PBL instructional unit? What criteria will you use to assign learners to collaborative groups, including a rationale? What will be the size of the collaborative groups you will include in your unit? Which digital tools and websites are you considering for collaboration in your unit? How will you assess participation of the students in their collaborative groups?
 * Students will be collaborating to discover where ingredients for an apple pie come from. They will be using the Internet and Google Earth to work together to find the natural resources used for the ingredients, as well as information about the places. The students will also be working together to create a PowerPoint to share their findings.
 * The assignments that will be given during this problem based learning activity will allow students to build upon prior knowledge and work together as a team. Students will find the real-world problem engaging and meaningful. The reflection questions that I will provide critical thinking skill building opportunities, as well as self-directed learning skills.
 * To complete this assignment, students will work in groups of three or four students. Due to the fact that students will be using reading and comprehension skills, the groups will be heterogeneous based on reading levels. An advanced reader, an on-level reader, and a strategic intervention reader will be in each group and research the places in which the natural resources are found. By working in these collaborative groups, students can have the assistance of their peers while participating in an engaging lesson.
 * This assignment will be used to practice many content standards. Students will be using the Internet to search for places around the world as well as natural resources, as well as Google Earth. Also, Excel will be used as an organizational tool. As a culminating project, the students will put their ideas into a PowerPoint with their collaborative learning groups.
 * The students will be required to complete self-reflections in which they reflect upon their participation of the assignment, as well as on their learning. Students will be given examples of successful collaboration through modeling and role play. Also, students will be given before hand a rubric that offers expectations of the assignment.