4.3 Diversity, Cultural Understanding & Global Awareness
Candidates model and facilitate the use of digital tools and resources to support diverse student needs, enhance cultural understanding, and increase global awareness. (PSC 4.3/ISTE 5c)
Artifact: ITEC 7445 Multimedia Design Project "We Have the Whole Globe in our Hands"
Reflection:
This multi-media project asked kindergartners to begin thinking about maps and globes and where they are on the globe. In this project there were many activities using technology that helped them meet this social studies standard and several math standards. The students were able to experience learning math and social studies in a fun, engaging, and authentic method. This project contained videos, songs, a story, and a task narrated by their teacher. I wanted to create something that even a kindergartner would be able to manipulate, therefore, I included large buttons that say “push” and quickly students began to recognize this word and use it as it applied to the project. When this media project was viewed on the SMARTBoard, it was extremely easy for the students to advance through the pages on their own.
Very often adults criticize using technology with young children and I wanted to prove with this lesson that this fear is unfounded. I believe this multi-media design project does that as I model and facilitate the use of digital tools and resources to support diverse student needs, enhance cultural understanding, and increase global awareness. Students experienced the project through large group activities, small group activities and independent activities. The project began with a simple question, “Did you ever want to be free from someone, like a big brother or sister?” This began the conversation about what freedom means. One of the activities included giving students a task card with the name of a country that corresponded with its picture in the project. The students then used Google Earth to find that country. Since the spelling was on the task card and with assistance from each other, students were able to type in their country’s name into the search bar of Google Earth. Google Earth gave students a global awareness that allowed them to see where they live in relationship to other countries. It also helped them create their own maps and globes and articulate the difference between the two. Distinguishing between a map and globe is one of the students’ social studies standards. This multi-media project was naturally differentiated and allowed each child to create their map to their own ability. As all the work was done in small groups, students had the freedom to work collaboratively and talk about the processes of their work. After their maps were completed, the students used gold fish crackers to measure various distances such as the length of land and water masses and the distances between these land masses.
The media project was displayed daily on the Smartboard and students were able to manipulate it on their own; singing the songs, viewing pictures, watching the videos and listening to the online story. This multi-media project helped the students understand that America is not the only country that celebrates Independence Day. The colorful visual displays of the project helped the students’ gain cultural understanding of the ways other countries celebrate their independence, their dress and where these countries are located on the globe.
This project was fun to create and to present, however, it was my first multi-media designed project and I learned a great deal. I would like to extend the project so that it covered more time and encompassed more learning domains such as science.
This artifact demonstrates mastery of standard 4.3 as it models the use of digital tools to enhance cultural understanding and increase global awareness. This activity was by nature differentiated for each student and I was able to use their work as evidence in our online assessment, GKIDS. I gathered evidence using anecdotal notes, photographs and student work to show their mastery of language, math, and social studies standards. Additionally, parents were able to view their child’s work at our scheduled student-led conferences. During these conferences students were able to recall what they had learned during this project and this demonstrates the impact the project had on student learning.
I was also asked to share this activity with other teachers at our weekly professional development meeting. Teachers were amazed how easy and effective it was to use technology in this project and I believe they saw how digital tools can expand opportunities for them and their students. Hopefully, this had a lasting impact and teachers will begin to think outside the box when using technology with their students.
This multi-media project asked kindergartners to begin thinking about maps and globes and where they are on the globe. In this project there were many activities using technology that helped them meet this social studies standard and several math standards. The students were able to experience learning math and social studies in a fun, engaging, and authentic method. This project contained videos, songs, a story, and a task narrated by their teacher. I wanted to create something that even a kindergartner would be able to manipulate, therefore, I included large buttons that say “push” and quickly students began to recognize this word and use it as it applied to the project. When this media project was viewed on the SMARTBoard, it was extremely easy for the students to advance through the pages on their own.
Very often adults criticize using technology with young children and I wanted to prove with this lesson that this fear is unfounded. I believe this multi-media design project does that as I model and facilitate the use of digital tools and resources to support diverse student needs, enhance cultural understanding, and increase global awareness. Students experienced the project through large group activities, small group activities and independent activities. The project began with a simple question, “Did you ever want to be free from someone, like a big brother or sister?” This began the conversation about what freedom means. One of the activities included giving students a task card with the name of a country that corresponded with its picture in the project. The students then used Google Earth to find that country. Since the spelling was on the task card and with assistance from each other, students were able to type in their country’s name into the search bar of Google Earth. Google Earth gave students a global awareness that allowed them to see where they live in relationship to other countries. It also helped them create their own maps and globes and articulate the difference between the two. Distinguishing between a map and globe is one of the students’ social studies standards. This multi-media project was naturally differentiated and allowed each child to create their map to their own ability. As all the work was done in small groups, students had the freedom to work collaboratively and talk about the processes of their work. After their maps were completed, the students used gold fish crackers to measure various distances such as the length of land and water masses and the distances between these land masses.
The media project was displayed daily on the Smartboard and students were able to manipulate it on their own; singing the songs, viewing pictures, watching the videos and listening to the online story. This multi-media project helped the students understand that America is not the only country that celebrates Independence Day. The colorful visual displays of the project helped the students’ gain cultural understanding of the ways other countries celebrate their independence, their dress and where these countries are located on the globe.
This project was fun to create and to present, however, it was my first multi-media designed project and I learned a great deal. I would like to extend the project so that it covered more time and encompassed more learning domains such as science.
This artifact demonstrates mastery of standard 4.3 as it models the use of digital tools to enhance cultural understanding and increase global awareness. This activity was by nature differentiated for each student and I was able to use their work as evidence in our online assessment, GKIDS. I gathered evidence using anecdotal notes, photographs and student work to show their mastery of language, math, and social studies standards. Additionally, parents were able to view their child’s work at our scheduled student-led conferences. During these conferences students were able to recall what they had learned during this project and this demonstrates the impact the project had on student learning.
I was also asked to share this activity with other teachers at our weekly professional development meeting. Teachers were amazed how easy and effective it was to use technology in this project and I believe they saw how digital tools can expand opportunities for them and their students. Hopefully, this had a lasting impact and teachers will begin to think outside the box when using technology with their students.