Online Projects, Collaboration Sites, and Publishing Opportunities

Name: Breona Burns

Grade Level: Kindergarten/First
Content Area: Life Science
Standards Addressed: SKL1. Students will sort living organisms and non-living materials into
groups by observable physical attributes. a. Recognize the difference between living organisms
and nonliving materials. b. Group animals according to their observable features such as
appearance, size, motion, where it lives, etc. (Example: A green frog has four legs and hops. A
rabbit also hops.)
Title of Online Project/Collaboration Site/Publishing Opportunity: BugScope
URL of Online Project/Collaboration Site/Publishing Opportunity:
http://bugscope.beckman.uiuc.edu/
Describe how you would use the Online Project/Collaboration Site/Publishing
Opportunity in your classroom: This assignment will involve the site BugScope. The students
will go out and gather up some insects from home or from the school yard. They will then use
magnifying glasses and a microscope to look at what they gathered. This will give the children
the opportunity to work with different instruments. We will look at the insects together and they
will tell me what they are and where they come from. The students will then get their specimens
together and send them to the scientist and the University. The scientist will look over all the
specimens sent. They will then get back with the teacher to schedule a time to video chat with the
students about their specimens. They will see what the scientist thinks and they will get other
information in the specimen as well.
What technologies would be required to implement this proposed learning activity in a
classroom? The technology used in this activity would be the Internet on the computer and the
Interactive Whiteboard.
Describe how the following features are addressed in this learning experience (note: all of
them may not be addressed in the project, but most should be if you are reaching a high
LoTi Level.):
a. Collaboration with peers, near-peers, mentors outside their classroom and often
beyond their school: The students will be collaborating with a scientist from a
major University that will respond back to the students via FaceTime or video chat.
b. Student-centered learning and knowledge creation (collecting original data and or
producing original products as a result of engaging in the project): The students
will go out and collect their own insect specimens to do research on. The will send
their specimens to the scientist at the University.
c. Higher-order thinking: The students will be involved in higher order thinking
when they have to find the specimens and think about what kind of specimen do
they have. The scientist will give them more information on what to think about
their specimen.
d. Students publishing their original work to others who will use/care about their
product: The students will publish their own work for viewers to see. The scientist
from the University will see this work.

1
Blooms Level of Critical Thinking Required (check all that apply):
See http://epltt.coe.uga.edu/index.php?title=Bloom%27s_Taxonomy
Remembering Understanding Applying Analyzing Evaluating Creating
What Level of Technology Implementation best describes this learning activity and Why?
This project has a LoTi level of level 6. It will be a level 6 because the teacher and students took
the project beyond the classroom. The students had the choice to what specimen they wanted to
use and send to a scientist. The students had a mentor that was helping them with their project.
How could you implement this proposed learning experience and still comply with your
districts Internet Safety and Student Privacy policies? When implementing this learning
experience, I have to make sure that I get permission from the school board and see if it is
allowed in my school district. I then have to see if it is okay with the parents if the children are
using the Internet. I have to tell the school board why I think that using this material would be a
great learning experience for the students. I also have to tell the parents the dos and donts that
will be followed during this process. The children will not use full first and last name during this
assignment.