Lessons Summaries
Standards for science, language, and technology
Resources- Links and Downloads
Assessment and Student Samples


INTRODUCTION:
The big idea of this unit is to give students the task and opportunity to do the kind of research, decision making, and implementation that teachers do for all important learning. The teacher provides the guideposts and then works as much as possible as a facilitator and “librarian”. Student teams are responsible to schedule and teach with both web and hands-on learning activities, in order to pass on the expertise they have gained in their research on a focus area.

Fully implemented, this unit is a rich breeding ground for higher level thinking, increased independence, and deeper compassion for the challenging work that teachers and students do.
It does demand preparation by the teacher and librarian in finding book and web resources to supplement the list given, and improves if students have regular and extended access to web resources.

This thinking and doing process of : “ Question > Answer > Teach “ is very interesting to watch kids grapple with. They are much more used to “listen > answer > turn in”, and it’s a wonderful and visible brain buster for them to work through….. “how can I get the other kids to learn this stuff as well as I know it, but in less time?”

It is not geared towards the teams working hours on making powerpoints, but rather in carefully selecting the best resources on the web, in videos, and from lab books, to give the other students a chance to build learning. Each team works with the teacher on how best to assess learning from the activities. Suggestions for assessments that they understand and can lead students through are listed in Assessment.