Level 4a: Integration (Mechanical)

Do classroom management issues relating to authentic, problem-based learning impede your progress with this type of teaching and learning approach?

Description:
Technology-based tools are integrated in a mechanical manner that provides rich context for students' understanding of the pertinent concepts, themes, and processes. Heavy reliance is placed on prepackaged materials and/or outside resources (e.g., assistance from other colleagues), and/or interventions (e.g., professional development workshops) that aid the teacher in the daily management of their operational curriculum. Technology (e.g., multimedia, telecommunications, databases, spreadsheets, word processing) is perceived as a tool to identify and solve authentic problems as perceived by the students relating to an overall theme/concept. Emphasis is placed on student action and on issues resolution that require higher levels of student cognitive processing and in-depth examination of the content.

Classroom Observations:

• Students designed a school-based information kiosk to assist their classmates with various "safety" issues including map directions to school based on the time of day, neighborhood watch sites, and "just-say-no" strategies to use with strangers. The information collected for the information kiosk was supplied from student-generated surveys, field investigations, and personal interviews.
• Students organized a school fund-raiser to raise money for one of the international "solar cooker" societies based on their research, experimentation, and data gathering with homemade solar cookers.
• Students created a travel brochure for families traveling within the state of Florida that included: (1) a guide for selecting the best modes of travel based on the time of year, (2) recommended lodging based on information collected from various travel sites, and (3) a listing of the best destination sites based on criteria established by the students.

Teacher Comments:

• "The creation of the information kiosk idea was based on an existing unit that I borrowed from one of the 5th grade teachers."
• "I used an existing unit design published by a software company that provided an easy way to design my culminating performance task and the student experiences leading up to the fund-raiser."
• "The travel brochure which we used as a part of the culminating performance task was developed by a consultant with assistance from the 4th grade teachers."