Lesson 8

          Higher Thinking Skills through IT-Based Projects

In this lesson, we shall discuss four types of IT-based projects which can effectively be used in order to engage students in activities of a higher plane of thinking. To be noted id the fact that these projects differ in the specific process and skills employed, also in the ultimate activity or platform used to communicate completed products to others.

            It is to be understood that these projects do not address all of the thinking skills shown previously in the Thinking Skills Framework. But these projects represent constructivist project.

Key Elements of a constructivist approach:

        a) The teacher creating the learning environment.

b)      The teacher giving students the tool

c)      The teacher facilitating learning.

   Now let us see four IT-based projects conducive to develop higher thinking skills and creativity among learners.

I.   RESOURCE-BASED PROJECTS

  The teacher steps out of the traditional role of being an context expert and information provider, and instead lets the students find their own facts and information.

The general flows of events in resource-based projects are:

1. The teacher determines the topic for the examination of class.
2. The teacher presents the problem to the class.
3. The students find information on the problem/questions.
4. Students organize their information in response to the problem/questions.

TRADITIONAL AND RESOURCE-BASED LEARNING

II.   SIMPLE CREATIONS

In developing software, creativity as an outcome should not be equated with ingenuity or high intelligence. Creating is more consonant with planning, making, assembling, designing or building.

Three kinds of skills/abilities:

1.Analyzing- distinguishing similarities and differences/ seeing the project as a problem to be 

2.  Synthesizing- making spontaneous connections among ideas, does generating interesting or new ideas.·

3. Promoting- selling of a new ideas to allow the public to test the ideas themselves

The five key task to develop creativity:

1.Define the task- clarify the goal of the completed project to the students.

2.Brainstorm- the students themselves will be allowed to generate their own ideas on the project. Rather than shoot down ideas, the teacher encourages ideas exchange.

3.Judge the ideas- the students themselves make an appraisal for or against any idea. Only when students are completely off check should the teacher intervene.

4.Act- the students do their work with the teacher a facilitator.

5.Adopt flexibility- the students should be allowed to shift gears and not follow an action path rigidly.

1. III. GUIDED HYPERMEDIA PROJECTS
2.      The production of self-made multimedia projects can be approached into different ways:
3.  
4. As an Instructive tool - such as in the production by students of a power-point presentation of a selective topic.

1. As a Communication tool - such as when students do a multi- media presentation (with text, graphs, photos, audio narration, interviews, video clips, etc. ).

1. IV. WEB-BASED PROJECTS   
2. 
   
3.       Students can be made to create and post web pages on a given topic. But creating new pages, even single page web pages, maybe tool sophisticated and time consuming for the average student. 
4.      It should be said, however, that posting of web pages in the Internet allows the students (now the web page creator) a wider audience. They can also be linked with other related sites in the Internet.
5.