TPACK & Creative Problem Solving Project

*Original Lesson
Teacher’s Name: Mary Forgione Grade Level: 1st

Content Area: Social Studies (How can I be cooperative and responsible in my community?)

1. Time Frame: 2 (45 minute) Content Blocks

2. Learning (Lesson) Objectives:

SOCIAL STUDIES OBJECTIVE(S): The student will be able to:
● Identify the rights, responsibilities and choices that students have in the neighborhood.
● Demonstrate ways to work together to maintain a clean and safe neighborhood.

3. Assessment/Evidence:

Use the poster to determine if students can identify the rights, responsibilities and choices that
students have in the neighborhood, and demonstrate ways to work together to maintain a clean
and safe neighborhood.

4. Learning activities/procedures:

1. Project the application Google Earth. (See video How to use Google Earth).
2. Type in “United States” and discuss what happens to the picture.
● What are all the lines that come up on the map? What do they represent?
3. Narrow your search term to “Maryland.”
● What happens to the map?
4. Continue to narrow your search until you get to the neighborhood level.
● Search city
● Search school address
5. Once at the neighborhood level, enter the street view and travel around the neighborhood.
● Have students identify common places in the neighborhood: houses, stores,
playgrounds, churches, schools, etc.
6. Ask and discuss, “What is a neighborhood?” and “What makes a neighborhood?”
7. Show the cover of the book, Recycle Every Day by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace (2006). Introduce
the book to the students. Give a brief statement about the book. Explain to students that we
are reading this book because it is about helping the community. Define any vocabulary
words your students may not know.
8. After reading, allow time for students to turn and talk to discuss the book. These prompts
may help:
 TPACK & Creative Problem Solving Project

- How was Minna a responsible and cooperative member of her community?

- How else could Minna help her community besides recycling?
- How can we help our community?
- How does our school already help the community? (i.e., Pennies for Patients, Green Team)
9. Explain that students are going to work in pairs to create posters about helping the
community. Set expectations for the poster and model how to complete one. Possible
expectations:
- Include a sentence about how we can help
- Include why that action is helpful
- Include a colorful picture
10. Pairs share their posters with the class.

*Lesson Redesign
Teacher’s Name: Mary Forgione Grade Level: 1st

Content Area: Social Studies (How can I be cooperative and responsible in my community?)

1. Time Frame: 3 (45 minute) Content Blocks

2. Learning (Lesson) Objectives:

SOCIAL STUDIES OBJECTIVE(S): The student will be able to:
● Identify the rights, responsibilities and choices that students have in the neighborhood.
● Demonstrate ways to work together to maintain a clean and safe neighborhood.

3. Assessment/Evidence:

Use student conversation and finished ToonDoo products to determine if students can identify
the rights, responsibilities and choices that students have in the neighborhood, and demonstrate
ways to work together to maintain a clean and safe neighborhood.
 TPACK & Creative Problem Solving Project

4. Learning activities/ procedures

1) Project the application Google Earth. (See video How to use Google Earth).
2) Type in “United States” and discuss what happens to the picture.
 What are all the lines that come up on the map? What do they represent?
3) Narrow your search term to “Maryland”
 What happens to the map?
4) Continue to narrow your search until you get to the neighborhood level.
 Search city
 Search school address
5) Once at the neighborhood level, enter the street view and travel around the neighborhood.
 Have students identify common places in the neighborhood: houses, stores, playgrounds,
churches, schools, etc.
6) Ask and discuss, “What is a neighborhood?” And “What makes a neighborhood?”
7) Show the cover of the book, Recycle Every Day by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace (2006). Introduce
the book to the students. Give a brief statement about the book. Explain to students that we are
reading this book because it is about helping the community. Define any vocabulary words your
students may not know.
8) After reading, allow time for students to turn and talk to discuss the book. These prompts may
help:
- How was Minna a responsible and cooperative member of her community?
- How else could Minna help her community besides recycling?
- How can we help our community?
- How does our school already help the community? (i.e., Pennies for Patients, Green Team)
9) As a class, create a chart of all the way students can work together to maintain a clean and safe
neighborhood.
10) Tell students that they will be working in pre-determined partners to create a “ToonDoo”
(using the laptops) to portray a problem in their neighborhood/community and portray how they
can solve that problem. The criteria for “ToonDoos” is as follow:
 The cartoon must be two separate pictures.
 The parts of the cartoon must be labeled as “Community Problem” and “Community
Solution”
 One picture must portray a problem that is in the community and the other picture must
portray how the problem can be solved.
 The solution must be one that can be realistically achieved by students with or without
adult help
 Must be able to verbally explain the pictures and why/how that problem and solution are
important to the community
11) Students will present their ToonDoo cartoons to the class and to the principal. It is expected
that students explain to the audience why their problem and solution are important to the
community.
 TPACK & Creative Problem Solving Project

12) If allowed, the teacher and principal will take the students’ ideas and discuss the logistics of
turning one or more of the ideas into Student (Community) Service projects.

*Reflection
For my lesson redesign, I felt “ToonDo” was an appropriate technology to compliment the

collaborative pedagogy and responsibility in the community content. To ensure creative problem

solving was targeted through the lesson, it was important to give students the opportunity to

work together in partners to create a fun product. Since first graders are still learning what

problem solving means and looks like, they are better able to problem solve when they can work

together. By pre-determining the partners, instead of allowing students to choose their partners,

I would be able to match certain student problem solving strengths with weaknesses. The

creativity piece comes into play in my lesson redesign by allowing students to have the freedom

to pick and choose an appropriate setting, depiction of people, and objects that portray both the

problem and solution of their choice. By giving students full choice in what they put in their

cartoon, they are required to think critically and problem solve to determine which chosen

aspects best portray their ideas.

In my lesson, I ensured that students were motivated to creatively problem solve by giving

them the opportunity to evaluate the real problems in their community. This makes the lesson

so much more meaningful to them because it is not hypothetical. They are not told how to solve

their given problem. They are required to really think about what they can do to help, and that’s

what shows true responsibility in the community. I will be submitting this lesson redesign to my

principal to start the conversation about implementing this lesson in replace of the original lesson

for next year.