Technology Unit

Unit Overview
One of the units in 4th grade Science is Animal Habitats.  As an introduction to this unit, I had students complete a United Streaming lesson.  In this lesson, they were instructed to watch a video and look at a web link to research a given habitat (biome).  Once they had their storyboard filled out, they created a VoiceThread as a culminating activity.  Students were able to dissect a frog as part of the exploration of adaptations for body parts on a specific animal.  I thought they would be "grossed out" by this part....but they LOVED it!!  They actually asked if we could dissect more animals! :) The kit itself was then taught/explored.  Students learned about three specific habitats: Soil, Pond, and Ocean.  During this classroom unit, students were divided into small groups and created a poster specific to their given region to show what is needed in these animals' habitats.  As a follow-up to the unit, I created a net-vibes webpage that students used as research to find further information about their habitat.  The webpage included a Google Form for students to complete.

Classroom Website (This shows all resources used in Unit)
Discovery Education  (This is the lesson used as the introduction)

VoiceThread  (This is the culminating Activity):








Netvibes Site (This is the follow-up activity)
Learner-Centered:
Much of the planning and creation was done by myself which didn't allow for much learner-centered opportunities.  However, I did have several students want to explore more and created different outcomes for themselves.  This wasn't part of their assessment so as I would like to say, they led their own learning and outcomes, they didn't have an opportunity to do this.
Relation to Core-Content:
This unit comes straight from our curriculum and Science Kits.  I added technology to enhance their learning and push them to explore these habitats through their own research.  Students used technology in a variety of ways, from research to projects.  They even had the project rubrics and directions straight on our class webpage.
21st Century Skills:
As stated above, I believe that technology was used to enhance this unit.  Students were held accountable for their own research and discoveries.  Technology was used to help them succeed in the learning objectives.  The technology used here was project-based and required them to comprehend material, be creative, and respond to questions to analyze their learning.
Pedagogical Change:
I don't think I had to change a lot in the way I teach to allow my students to complete this unit.  Again, it was something I was teaching any way.  One thing that I found helpful was using VoiceThread.  All of my students had been in TRICKS classrooms the previous year and had the experience with this tool before.  This cut a lot of my explaining/teaching out.
Reflection:
I really like giving my students a task and letting them "run" with it.  The introduction to this unit really allowed students to do their own research (using the resources provided) and complete the information based on what they found, not what someone was telling them to look for.  Many of them questioned this because they are so used to being told what to think and look for the one correct answer.  This project gave them more freedom to really discover their own learning.  I wish I has started it earlier.  Not all of my students had a chance to complete their VoiceThread.  This was poor planning on my part.  Another regret that I have is taking pictures of them completing the assigned tasks.  I wish I had more to show what they actually did.  I do have the posters they completed and plan to add them on here.
Student Work Samples:
See above VoiceThread....Pics will be added soon! (We are still in the process of finishing the unit!!)