Designing Your Project
One of the mandatory final products for each class is the completion of a research project done in collaboration with a classroom from another country. You may of course also collaborate with other classrooms in your own country as well! This project can be very simple, or it can be developed and implemented as a full-blown, interdisciplinary project-based unit for a period of several weeks, a grading period, the entire school year, an After School Program, a Service Learning Project or an Independent Study.
Getting Started:
1. Complete Class Page. Once you have registered for the Food and Culture project we will send you a username and password to your personal class page within this web site. Please edit the page and include:
- Teacher's name
- Name of your school, the city, state/province, and country.
- Grade level and age of your class.
- Course or subject areas for your class, i.e., fourth grade self-contained, Chemistry, Family and Consumer Science, etc.
- How many students are participating
- Preferred areas of study - what issues or topics does your class wish to research
- What technology tools will your class have access to using? See the Web 2.0 Page.
2. Introduce the project idea to your class. All classes should begin by introducing the students to the book, Hungry Planet. Determine the best way to share the information and ideas in this book with your class. If possible, read part of it to the class each day. Put the spectacular photos on a big screen for class discussions. Let students begin thinking and asking questions. Keep the book in a place where students can have access to it at all times. This book can be the starting place for determining the issues or themes the class will investigate in their collaborative projects.
3. Select Issues or Themes to investigate. With your students review the Issues and Themes pages. Discuss them and select the areas you prefer to study. For each of these areas begin to develop some Big Questions which will guide the research. In other words, what is it about this topic that the students want to know? Post these on your Class Page so that we can begin to match classroom partners; you are also free to contact other classrooms with whom you would like to partner, and you are certainly not limited to one classroom. We also encourage you to assist all participants by going online, finding and inviting other classrooms from around the world to join. We need to utilize the power of all our social media contacts to make this project as global as possible.
4. Assignment of Partner Classrooms - creating the Teams. We will assist you in connecting with one or more classrooms with whom your class will collaborate during the project. As soon as these assignments have been made we will provide the teachers with contact information. You will then create a team name or a name for your particular project and create a Team Project Page page on the Food and Culture Wiki where you will collaborate.
5. Introductions - each class should create a video to introduce themselves to the other classes with whom they will be collaborating. Another possibility, depending on time zones, would be do introduce yourselves live via Justin.tv
6. Team Concept Mapping - Determine Content and Skills to be Learned - this is a process in which you will explore all the possibilities for this project. The best way to truly "brainstorm" this, and to get the best results, is to get a huge piece of bulletin board paper (I prefer to use the Fadeless Paper because it is 48' wide and it has wonderful colors - which helps! Use lighter, not dark, colors so you can see what you've written. We use Crayola Classic Broad Tip markers for mapping.) - probably 6-8' feet in length. Write the name of your project, or the issue or theme, in the center of the paper. Then begin concept mapping everything that comes into your mind. Remember - this is brainstorming - so during this process you are NOT supposed to be judging or eliminating any ideas. One idea may not be quite right, but it could eventually lead to a spectacular idea you may not have thought of otherwise! Do this with an interdisciplinary team of teachers if possible. Even if they aren't participating in the project - yet! - their input can be extremely valuable. Brainstorm what could be done with this theme in each discipline - what kind of math could be taught here? history? literature? botany? chemistry? geography? political science? and so forth. The following could be on your concept map:
- Connections to each discipline
- Activities
- Student products
- Culminating project ideas
- Resources - local to global
- Ideas for Big Questions, also known as Guiding Questions
Because this is a global, collaborative project you will need to share and continue this brainstorming process with the teachers in the other classes. You can share your maps online using the wiki, or Google Docs, or you can meet (free of charge) in a live, virtual classroom where you can see and hear each other, share documents and whiteboards.
Utilize the Curriculum Design Matrix/Rubric as you brainstorm. You may also access and utilize the Unit Design Tools which we use in our workshops at 21st Century Schools; this page includes links to all our templates and rubrics for designing a project-based curriculum. There are more resources, such as sample units and ideas for many unit themes on our 21st Century Curriculum page. This will ensure that you have the highest quality, 21st century project.
 Teachers brainstorming - (this paper is not big enough!) |
 Student concept mapping - Experts meet in Jigsaw Groups, and teach each other through concept mapping. Connecting ideas, communicating, creativity and collaboration . . . |
7. Develop Guiding Questions. Create a sub-page on your Team Project Page (on the wiki) where all classes in your team can post possible Guiding Questions. This will be a brainstorming and negotiation process in which you will brainstorm, then narrow down and refine the Guiding Questions which will guide your students' research. You should have three to eight guiding questions. We will be posting some sample Guiding Questions for each theme on the Issues and Themes Page. Also see this article on developing Guiding Questions. These questions will guide the students research and will provide a need for what the disciplines have to offer.
8. Identify and Organize the Major Learning Resources - once you have determined the focus of your project and the questions you wish to answer, you and your students will begin to search for resources to use in your investigations. As you go through this process you will very likely find that you want to refine your research questions even further, or you may find that you want to go in a different direction than you originally thought. This is normal and expected. You will find many resources, and after you have done extensive searching you can then narrow down a list of the specific resources your students will utilize in the research project. Be sure to provide opportunities for students to pursue independent research as well as working with their Expert Groups.
Note: Every time I design and implement a project-based unit I have Expert Groups and Jigsaw Groups; and I also require each student to write an independent research paper - even first graders! Yes, they get some help and guidance, but they can do it! Mu units are usually six weeks in length, so the students have the experience six times per year. Think of the writing and research skills they will develop! And when they are allowed to choose the topic, it is something they are really interested in, so their motivation is very high.
Create an index of Resources on your Collaborative Project Wiki.
Types of resources:
9. Determine Expert Groups - the research will be more interesting, and the learning will take place at much higher levels, if the students are assigned to Expert Groups which will then Jigsaw. This way you will avoid having every single student research the exact same question; it's not too exciting to be one of 40 that posts the same information on the wiki. Each student should be part of a small Expert Group; each Expert Group will be assigned to research a different facet of the project. Then the Expert Groups will Jigsaw and teach each other. Research has shown us that the greatest learning occurs when students teach others and make immediate use of their learning. (See Sample Curriculum Project to be posted soon.)
10. Determine Project Goals - what is it that your students will know, be able to do and be like after they have forgotten all the details?
11. Plan Learning Activities - what activities will students do which will help them learn the content and skills from the disciplines?
10. Create a Shared Team Calendar which will schedule:
11. Plan the Culminating Event
8. Identify and Organize the Major Learning Resources - once you have determined the focus of your project and the questions you wish to answer, you and your students will begin to search for resources to use in your investigations. As you go through this process you will very likely find that you want to refine your research questions even further, or you may find that you want to go in a different direction than you originally thought. This is normal and expected. You will find many resources, and after you have done extensive searching you can then narrow down a list of the specific resources your students will utilize in the research project. Be sure to provide opportunities for students to pursue independent research as well as working with their Expert Groups.
Note: Every time I design and implement a project-based unit I have Expert Groups and Jigsaw Groups; and I also require each student to write an independent research paper - even first graders! Yes, they get some help and guidance, but they can do it! Mu units are usually six weeks in length, so the students have the experience six times per year. Think of the writing and research skills they will develop! And when they are allowed to choose the topic, it is something they are really interested in, so their motivation is very high.
Create an index of Resources on your Collaborative Project Wiki.
Types of resources:
- Web sites - this is also going to involve teaching your students how to evaluate and reliability and validity of quality web sites. See Resources - Web Sites.
- Museums
- Organizations
- Government Agencies
- Businesses
- Experts - for example, an environmental scientist or a renowned chef, etc.
- Your school, public or nearby university library
- Universities
- Public television and radio stations
- Parents, friends and relatives
9. Determine Expert Groups - the research will be more interesting, and the learning will take place at much higher levels, if the students are assigned to Expert Groups which will then Jigsaw. This way you will avoid having every single student research the exact same question; it's not too exciting to be one of 40 that posts the same information on the wiki. Each student should be part of a small Expert Group; each Expert Group will be assigned to research a different facet of the project. Then the Expert Groups will Jigsaw and teach each other. Research has shown us that the greatest learning occurs when students teach others and make immediate use of their learning. (See Sample Curriculum Project to be posted soon.)
10. Determine Project Goals - what is it that your students will know, be able to do and be like after they have forgotten all the details?
11. Plan Learning Activities - what activities will students do which will help them learn the content and skills from the disciplines?
10. Create a Shared Team Calendar which will schedule:
- Major learning activities and due dates
- Block out a number of days for critiques and revision; these can be done by students, teachers and other experts participating with your class.
- Block out any testing days, holidays or other events
- Schedule several field experiences
- Schedule planning time for the teachers
11. Plan the Culminating Event
- Includes the exhibition or evidence of high quality work and writing from each student
- Provide the opportunity for every student to talk about his or her learning with a significant adult or audience
- Include a narrative of the project produced by students
