Phase+1

Defining the problem
In this series of lessons the Learning Manager discusses the problem with the learners and defines what it is. The Learning manager informs the learners that this is a problem they are capable of solving themselves. The Learning manager attempts to instil positive attitudes and perceptions about classroom tasks and encourage the learners to believe they will have the ability and the resources to complete this task (Marzano, R. J., & Pickering, D. J.,1997). The Learning manager initiates a discussion with children about their claims on the issue of their playground being too crowded at lunchtimes and suggests to the students that they will need to collect eviden ce to support their claims. Their evidence will need to come from a range of perspectives.

The Learning Manager informs the learners they will have to use a variety of ICT's to be able to complete this task and in order to do this, it is important to cover all the aspects of working legally, ethically and safetly online. These websites have relevant information to help the Learning manager cover this topic. [|Net Alert] [|Cybersafety] [|Smart copying] [|Cybersmart schools]

The Learning Manager will facilitate a lesson for students in setting up a class blog that provides information for parents informing them of current classroom activities and inviting them to make comments and suggestions. The children will become authors of the blog so that they can continually add information over the duration of the unit; this will also become a part of the reflection process. [|Example.] The Learning Manager will facilitate a lesson for students to set up a class wiki (example). Students will use the class wiki for different activities throughout the learning journey; they will continuously record reflections of personal learning. Pages from this will be printed and added to students portfolios as evidence of their learning outcomes.

In groups students will collect evidence to back up their claims using iPod's and an iPod app called cellspin. They will take photos, and video evidence. This information will be posted to the class blog. It will be essential for permission to be gained before any recognisable photo or video footage can be taken and posted to the blog. When students have completed collecting evidence, they will come together as a class and look through the class blog, using the interactive whiteboard to discuss their findings.

The Learning manager will scaffold a thinking strategy by setting up a Bubbus mind map onto an interactive whiteboard in the classroom to represent the problem as a whole. This will be a collaborative task involving all students with Teacher as facilitator. This ICT tool will assist students to get a visual representation of their thoughts and ideas about the problem of the playground and some possible solutions. The mind map will be posted to their blog for parents to see, as well as a large printout made to hang in the classroom for students to refer to. [|Example]

Students will complete a P.M.I. chart (Frangenheim, 2010) within the class wiki giving their own personal responses to the plus, minus, interesting of the ICT tools they have used so far. Example