Activity Three for: Cooperation in the Classroom

Using Social Software to Investigate the Salt Marshes of Maine with Fourth Grade Students

Goals:

• To familiarize students with the utility of electronic collaboration platforms (wikis), which provide each student the opportunity to become a member of an intellectual community of practice.
• To introduce students to the different roles and responsibilities inherent with group work.
• To develop the students understanding of the diversity of plants and animals found in Maine salt marshes.

Objectives:

• To provide students with instruction and on-line practice for accessing, navigating, editing and publishing electronic information on a designated wiki website.
• To describe the roles associated with group collaboration: facilitator, scribe, contributing member. To describe the responsibilities associated with each role.
• To ensure that each student can describe at least two common plant species and two common animal species associated with Maine salt marsh ecosystems.

Description:

• Assign students to groups of four. Have group member select their group roles and review role responsibilities.
• Provide students with on-line/classroom time to research common plant and animal species of Maine salt marshes.
• Student groups select two plant and two animal species for in-depth on-line exploration.
• Introduce student groups to the wiki website. Provide initial directions for access, navigation, editing and publishing tasks.
• Students in each group use electronic communication with the wiki to exchange information and make revisions on the selected topics. The final product is published on the wiki for other class groups to peruse. [This gives students opportunity to share, compare and ask questions with of other groups that have selected the same species. It also offers a chance to enhance research skills by querying other students regarding sources of information.
• As an extension of this study, groups and classes will research other schools around the country with which to share, compare and learn about other salt marsh habitats.

Assessment:

· Each group anonymously rates their own final wiki product and the products of the other groups, using the assessment rubric established at the beginning of the unit.