Kahoot and Science (Geography)

Hello teachers!  I'll show you an idea of how to use Kahoot program, a free software game-based learning platform designed to create questions and interact with them in the classroom through different devices. When a session is created, Kahoot gives us a password, and by that password all of us can enter in the same session and compete and learn from each other at a time. In this case we will use Kahoot to study the political map of Europe.

Target audience

The activity created is thought to be developed with third key stage (5th - 6th grade).

Aims:

- To revise the unit we have been learning about the last sessions, the political map of Europe.

- To create a game in groups and play with their peers in class

Competences:

-          Management of information and digital:  the students use the computer or other devices.

-          Knowledge and interaction with the world:  is a Geography class, specifically we are working the political map of Europe.

-          Interpersonal:  In groups, they have to cooperate and respect the opinion of others

Classroom Management

Having worked the political map of Europe in previous sessions, all students will be disposed in groups of 3-5 students with a device per group that they will use to create the activity. They will have 20 minutes to think about the 5 questions that will make to the other groups. The teacher will go group by group observing that the questions are well made and are not very difficult. When all groups have all ready to ask the questions, each group will make to the other groups five questions and go counting the points. At the end of class the group that has most point wins.

Material: One device per group

Assessment

The teacher will take into account the process of creation of the game by the groups, not only the final result of the competition. The teacher also will observe if all the members of the group participate actively in their groups during the creation of the game, if they create the questions in English correctly, if they need much help or not and if they treated properly the computer or the device.

Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy

This activity is mainly a HOT in the Bloom’s Taxonomy because the students have to identify which contents they can use to make the questions in order to create the questions.  Finally, when we have created the game, they use LOTS because they remember what they learned on the previous sessions.

Four English skills

The creation of this game involves mainly reading and writing. In order to create the game all of them they have to read the unit about the political map of Europe and write on the device the questions correctly in order to make the questions.  Although we could also use the speaking and listening if we added a variant that students have also read aloud to his peers the question.

Advantages and disadvantages

Advantages: it’s a very motivating game for the students.  Easy to use and very intuitive. We don’t need to create an account, simply with a PIN we can play. They learn playing.  

Disadvantages: if the internet connection doesn’t work we cannot play. Sometimes they get focused on the competition and forget the real aim of the game.  Another problem may be the lack of participation of some students in their respective groups. 

WEBQUEST

Hi there, classmates!

I’m Elena Joaquin and I am going to present a wonderful project called “Let’s plan a trip to London!” for 6th Graders.To be honest, it was a bit difficult for me to think with something that goes further than just creating a game, but finally I came up with a project that I hope you like it and enjoy it as same as me and, of course, a project that you can carry out in your classroom.

In order to do this project, I’ve created a WEBQUEST, which must be used with laptops. What do you know about it? I will give you a brief description just for you to have an idea about it.

With WebQuests, students create meaningful projects that they share with others via oral presentations, posting to the web, etc. WebQuest tasks go beyond simply answering questions; they require higher order thinking skills such as creativity, analysis, synthesis, judgment and problem solving.

Another key component of WebQuests is that the students’ have to be focus on using information rather than looking for it. The teacher gives this information previously. Many teachers avoid using Internet resources with their students because of how long it can take students to actually find useful information when searching the Web. They also worry about students accessing inappropriate sites. WebQuests avoid these roadblocks because the Internet resources are identified and evaluated by the WebQuest designer (teacher) ahead of time. This eliminates the need for wasteful searching by the students.

In terms of creating one, requires a lot of hours but it worth it, trust me! A part of creating one for the ICT’s subject, I created one 4 years ago and put it into practice with my students. It was just amazing because it was something new for them and it increased incredibly their motivation about what we were working on.

Believe me, when students are motivated, they are likely to put in more effort, and their minds are more alert and ready to make connections. 

The webquest that I’ve designed is to address problems that students have to solve it using real, timely resources instead of dated textbooks and materials that are only presented from one point of view. It allows them to use:

- Higher level thinking

- Critical thinking

- Cooperative learning

- Up to day information and resources

- Integrate technology into the classroom in an effective way

When using WebQuest, the limitations might be:

- Limited Internet access.

- Devices do not allow access to the websites needed, in case they are working outside of the class.

- The timing the WeQquest is going to take depending on what you are asking to do to your students.

If you click here, you'll be able to see the WebQuest I've created and see what kind of activities they have to do. I took a screenshot of the introduction just for you to have an idea about it.

This project takes into account the four skills because they must listen the teacher instructions, his/her advices to work on. They must read the tasks from the WebQuest in order to do their cooperative work, read through all the information that they need to find, speak and discuss each other to do their best, and agree with the answers, and create and write a final presentation. 

In terms of Bloom's Digital Taxonomy, this project offers the opportunity to put into a practice everything.

- Remembering specific vocabulary related to a journey, choosing the relevant information depending what task they are in charge, showing real prices, places and so on.

- Understanding the oral message and the written one.

- Applying and practicing the previous vocabulary depending on their findings.

- Creating their own presentation related on their findings to demonstrate what they have done. 

In relation to assessment, they would be assessed through observation during the activities individually and cooperative work. They would have the chance to assess themselves through rubrics. 

Hope you like what I've created, and let me know about the improvements, please! 

CREATE A SPECIAL GIFT!

Hello girls!

Here is my last blog entry! This time, I’m going to present one activity that I’ve designed with one of the resources we discovered at the beginning of the subject with Yolanda Scott-Tennent. In those sessions, in order to do some research on interesting ICT resources & tools and to re-think the way we use them we were asked to do a task. It consisted in choosing a content topic of the English Classroom and presenting some resources explaining how they could be used. I chose “Describing people” as my topic and I shared with my classmates some ideas of how to use different tools such a video, an online board game, a Snake and ladders board creator, a video quiz with Educaplay.com and a Hot Potatoes activity. But the one I’m going to share with you in this entry is a WORLD CLOUD CREATOR named TAGUL. Below is the explanation of the activity, which I’ve entitled as “Create a special gift!”

We are in Year 5, it is a group of 24 students who have quite a good level of English. They do two hours of English per week plus another hour of Science (CLIL).

Christmas is getting closer and we have been working on the topic “Describing people” during the previous sessions. We have worked the basic structures to describe (“He/She is” & “He/she has got”), vocabulary related to physical appearance and to personality and comparatives and superlatives. But with this activity, the goal is to expand this vocabulary in a more meaningful and motivating way for the students.

The activity basically consists in creating a world cloud with adjectives. It would be the closing activity of the unit. As a Christmas present students will have to choose someone they love, to look for different adjectives to describe this person and create a special and personalized word cloud. 

First, students will have to create each one a list of adjectives to describe the person they choose, they should use some of the words they already now and also they must add some new using the dictionary. Then, after each student has its list, all together we will share and pool the new words that they have come up with creating a Popplet with the IWB of the classroom (interacting and creating it in a collaborative way). So we are creating a vocabulary bank to which everybody can have access. 
This is a good way to expand vocabulary because it comes from the students'need. Moreover, when asking them to share the new words they have learnt they are creating something together that can be useful to everybody, which adds a meaning to the whole process. If we want it the Popplet could be printed and hung on the wall of the class. 

This could be an example of the Popplet: 

Then, using the computers room of the school, students will have to create a world cloud with their adjectives with the tool Tagul. They can choose the shape and colours which best represent the person they are describing. Finally, they will have to send it by email to that person, writing a short Christmas greeting.
With this activity we are taking into account the affective part of our students, since they are creating something for someone they love. In addition, presenting them the creation of this world cloud as a final result makes all the process of looking for the words more motivating.

These could be some examples of the world clouds:

Finally, each student will present briefly its creation with the help of some scaffold language (i.e. “My _________ is ________ because__________” / I love my ________ because he/she always ___________. He/she is very ______________). This oral part will be also used to assess the students. To assess the oral presentation we can use a rubric. 

Regarding Bloom's Digital Taxonomy, the activity can be classified primarily as a LOT, but also includes a small creative process, so you could say it is too a HOT. Firstly, when listing the vocabulary and creating the mindmap all together they are remembering and understanding, and they are also applying their ICT skills both when using Popplet and Tagul. And secondly, as the world cloud is a personal creation that they have to design, it inlcudes some creation.  

Why is it approppiate to use these ICT resources and what ICT contributes to the activity?

Well, first I must say that I strongly believe that the use of ICT make the children more involved and increase effectiveness of learning. In this case, the use of Popplet makes everyone feel involved and participant of the learning of all the group, so it can increase students' confidence and motivation. Then, the use of Tagul makes children assume greater responsability for their own learning and makes the outcome of they effort appear in a funny, visual and beautiful way. The combination of the two activities, also enables us to work both collaboratively (creating Popplet with the participation of all) as well as individually.

Useful advice

Unfortunately I haven't been able to realize this activity in a real context, but if you would like to carry out it, you should take into account some possible problems you may encounter. 
For instance, one possibility could be that when you ask them to share the new words, there are many that are repeated. In that case, you could ask questions about their family and friends, prompting new adjectives to look for the meaning.
Also you should bear in mind that you will have to give them some basic instructions before starting using Tagul. It's true that they are digital natives and some of them can get how to use it in few minutes, but it is always better to provide the informtacion needed and make clear what you expect from them.


Now you are ready to go to your classrooms and carry out this activity! I hope you like it and do not hesitate to ask if you have any doubt or want some more specific information.

It has been a pleasure to share ideas and learn form all of you.
Thank you!!!

XXX

Andrea Malagarriga

KNOWLEDGE KILLS FEAR –A post to work on racism, segregation and multiculturalism through the integration of ICT and the promotion of Bloom’s Taxonomy Thinking Skills

INTRODUCTION

During the first part of this Master’s Degree ICT subject, we explored a variety of tools to work on the different Bloom’s Taxonomy Thinking Skills through the use of new technologies in the class. These tools were presented to us by Yolanda Scott Tennent,  ICT expert and director of the Tarragona (Spain) EOI (Escola Oficial d’Idiomes).

In order to put into practice some of the ideas and tools introduced by Yolanda, I have created a mini-project on multiculturalism, racism and segregation. The name of this mini-project is “Knowledge kills fear”. And it is designed to be implemented with sixth graders. The project starts by prompting some thinking about the topic. Goes over different activities that help understand racism and appreciate multiculturalism. And ends with the creation of a final product that intends to reflect on what students had learned. 

In this post, I first briefly present some of the things that can be done with ICT around this theme, and then I develop in greater depth one of the activities that can be done to create the final product of this project or unit. The following activities don’t necessarily need to be implemented in the order in which they are presented in this blog entry.  And as not to overuse new technologies, I strongly recommend to  select some of the following ideas and include them in your own unit, or alternate them with other activities no ICT-related. Remember, the good use of ICT in the class remains within the ability to introduce them in the right moment and weighing the added value when doing it.

 QUICK OVERVIEW ABOUT WHAT 
CAN ICT DO FOR THE TOPIC  

1.  “Let’s prompt some thinking!!”: 

Nowadays, we have access to a rich variety of media resources, and these are powerful enough to engage students and open a debate. Using photos, videos and ideas from different blogs I intend to make students think about the concept of racism and segregation. Moreover, with this activity we can find out about their previous knowledge on the topic. 

1.1. An example of photos which could be used. 

1.2. An example of videos which could be used.

Father of White Girl Rejects Black Boyfriend | "What Would You Do?"

This Will Change The Way You Think (Racism Experiment)

*After the presentation of these resources (both photos and videos) we can debate or brainstorm. We can also show a short video and stop it at some point and make students write predictions about what is going to happen next. What do you think is going to happen? What do you think is happening?Who do you think these people are? Why?

1.3. Ideas from blogs.

If we were working with younger children I would recommend doing this experiment/ demonstration extract from this blog. You take two eggs, one white, and one brown. Ask them how they think they are going to be inside, the same or different and why. You gave them the structure to make predictions “I think they are going to be the same/different because…” I have done this experiment/ demonstration in P5 and it was a success. They love it, and it really makes them think. 

By presenting this idea in an ICT blog, I mean to show how blogs from fellow educators, and platforms like Pinterest and Krokotac can inspire and help teachers do creative and simple things in their classes.

2. “Brainstorming 

What do you think racism is?”: To make a brainstorming, we could use a platform like Tagxedo. Here you can find other tools to online brainstorm with your class “15 tools for solo brainstorming”.

3. “Movies”

Movies and videos are a powerful resource. They take us back to other times and make us walk in other people’s shoes. They are the perfect resource to create empathy among the students and the topic. In this case, by presenting shortcuts from different movies we can prompt reflection, approach this reality to the student, ignite intrigue and work upon the history of slavery and racism.

Kieran Donaghy, one of the speakers of the 2015 APAC (Associació de Professors i Professores d'Anglès de Catalunya) ELT Convention, has on his website, some great ideas about how to exploit short video segments in the ESL class.

To create these shortcuts from a longer existing movie, the teacher needs to use programs like Movie Maker or Pinacle. These tools do also allowed the addition of subtitles. Highly recommended if the level of the students is not too high. Click here to download to shortcuts from the movie The Help (2011).

4. “Real Experts. Research”.

After introducing the topic, checking previous knowledge and reflecting upon the phenomenon, children are now ready to make some research. This research can be done to answer their existing questions around the topic. Questions that may have been evoked by the presentation of the previous videos, photos, and activities. 

Since the network is too big, to help them research, we could narrow the search to a few websites. Some ideal websites to research on the topic of racism throughout history are the BBC history for kids website (interesting sites in this web Schools Primary History, Genocide, Martin Luther King  and The Nazi Germany ). This web page includes plenty of information, videos, and games. Moreover, they could also find some information in the website History for Kids and the YouTube channel Crash Course.

One the other hand, nowadays, children are exposed to a constant bombardment of information. That is why it is so important for them to learn how to discriminate reliable sources from no reliable ones. We could encourage them to do free searching. Nevertheless, to guide them in this apprenticeship the teacher could create and give them a Chart or Checklist to verify the reliability of the source.  Angela Bunyi,  and her post “Identifying Reliable Sources and Citing Them”, can give us some ideas on how to create this Chart or Checklist and how to address this topic with children.

5. “Timeline. Synthesize & gather all the info”.

Children could do a timeline as to synthesize, gather and display all the found information around the topic of racism throughout history in a clear and appealing way. To do so I have chosen the web page Read Write Think, because it is easy to use and allows the introduction of pictures. However, many great different tools can be found to create timelines with your class. For more ideas, check the post “8 excellent free timeline creation tools for teachers”. 

6. “Knowledge kills fear”. 

Ones the students know about racism and segregation throughout history, it is time to learn about multiculturalism and the richness of cultural diversity.

To do so they can learn about different cultures and countries in the outstanding National Geographic Kids website, they can use Google maps to travel around the world (6 Sites To Get Kids Excited About Google Maps) or they can learn about the gastronomy of different countries (International Gourmet Recipes for Kids).

 OPTIONS FOR THE FINAL PRODUCT  

7. “Create. What have we learned?” 

To create a final product in this project or unit, I have chosen 3 different tools. They could all be offered as an option. Letting children be the ones choosing the one best fitting their abilities and interest. Or we could choose the one that better fits our project or class. In this blog entry, I am going to develop in depth the activity 7.3. Create a Podcast.

7.1. Create a Digital Storytelling.
7.2. Create a Comic.
7.3. Create a Podcast.

The activity:

Create a Podcast on racism, multiculturalism and segregation.

Bloom’s Taxonomy:

Level VI: Creating (create new products or points of view): This activity gives the students an opportunity to plan, design, invent and produce a podcast which integrates the knowledge they have acquired during the Project/ Unit.

Grade/ target users/ level:

6th grade/ Senior level (5th and 6th grade).

English level, between A2 and B1.

Context:

Semiprivate school, Barcelona. Upper middle class families.

Four hours of English a week + 3 hours of Science in English (CLIL)

Context topic:

Racism, segregation and multiculturalism.

Unit/ Project:

This activity is conceived as the final product of a PBL (Project Based Learning) or unit on racism, segregation, and multiculturalism. The name of the unit/ project is “Knowledge Kills Fear”. The Project arises from the idea of educating the student in the idea of seeing cultural diversity as something rich and beautiful. 

* Why this topic? This is a school with a great cultural and race variety because of the neighborhood and the services the school provides. However, the school doesn’t work on this topic. Due to some conflicts and comments the English teacher decides to create this Project as an opportunity to reflect upon this topic, give the students a space to share their family culture and address multiculturalism in a positive way.

Possible link with other subjects:

History, Geography, Ethics/Religion.

Skills:

Listening, speaking, writing and reading

Audio podcasts are a piece of recorded audio about a specific topic. To create these pieces of audio, our students will have first to listen and read some examples (to have a model to imitate). It is important to choose examples adequate to their English level. If the podcast language is above their level we can give them the script, go over it beforehand and them listen and read the podcast at the same time. Doing this, we can also go over the characteristics, format and structure of the podcast.  It would be ideal if the podcasts use as models are related to the topic, if not we should look for podcasts of the students’ interest.

Then, they will have to write the script of their podcast and recorded. To write the podcasts, they will need the teacher guidance, language scaffolding (maybe a series of preset sentences). To encourage autonomy we could use some dictionaries like Merriam Webster Visual Dictionary Online, Shahi Visual Dictionary or the BBC Pronunciation Dictionary.

Resource used:

Laptops with an Internet connection

Tool:

To create a podcast, there are many WebPages offering a large variety of tools to create Podcast with your class. Most of them are free and easy to use. In this case, I chose School Podcast because it is specifically designed for schools. Therefore, the tool is intuitive and easy to use. The web page guarantees a secure exchange and sharing format within the educational community. Podcasts can be shared with other schools from all over the world. Moreover, the webpage allows you to categorize the podcast by school subjects and topics.

However, Be careful !! This is not your tool if what you want is to embed your podcast in the school website or any other already existing website. This tool only enables the dissemination of the podcast within the same website.

They are plenty of options and ideas on the topic. Here I attach some useful links, How to Create a Class Podcast in 5 Easy Steps, Educational Podcasting, Teacher’s Guide on the use of Podcasting in Education, How to Record Streaming Audio and Create a Podcast from Your PC.

Added value:

To implement this activity without the use of ICT, we could create a “radio studio” in the class and pretend to be radio presenters, collaborators, guest or journalist. However, the creation of a real podcast gives the activity added value for many reasons.

The use of technological tools for the creation of real products is engaging and motivational. Recording speech gives reason and opportunities to focus on language and pay attention to pronunciation. The creation of a podcast offers the possibility to share their work with the world. This will make them want to do their best and will make them feel their opinion is worthwhile. By sharing their work in certain platforms, they may get some feedback. This can be very motivational and give the whole activity real meaning.

Basically, in this case, the use of ICT gives them the opportunity to be real experts in the field broadcasting to the world!!

Students’ roles:

Students will be working in groups of four. They all will provide ideas and participate in the correction of the final script. Nevertheless, while drafting the script, two students will be writing and two others will be looking for words and expressions on the dictionary. Every half an hour, they will switch roles. In this way, all the students will have experienced both roles.

Management:

If we want to use ICT for the management of our class, we can always use ClassDojo. ClassDojo is a free app that allows you to give feedback points to your students and message the parents. Students can customize their avatars and parents can easily track the progress of their children.

Feedback points will be given for participation, fellowship and use of the English language. Students will be able to win and lose feedback point for themselves or for their groups.

Evaluation: 

The process and the final product will be taken into account to evaluate this activity. To evaluate the process, the teacher will use an observation grid. This observation grid will contemplate vocabulary, structures, use of the language and participation. To evaluate the final product, the teacher will use a checklist of requisites. This checklist will be given to the students beforehand to help them create their podcasts.

Moreover, the teacher will use the self-assessment to make them reflect upon their work and role in the group.  

Example of an observation grid, by María Sánchez Lerena and Andrea Malagarriga Perea