Edutopia

I liked the article and video about the Geo-Literacy Project. http://www.edutopia.org/geo-literacy-forging-new-ground  I thought it was an impressive way for an elementary school teacher to integrate several different subject areas using so much classroom technology. The part I liked best was that the third-grade students were really leading the project. They chose what they wanted to study, they interviewed the workers at Rush Ranch, and they took the pictures. Judging from the video, the students really seemed to have a handle on the technology, but the project also included members of the high school technology club to help with the more advanced technology. As their teacher, Eva La Mar, said, the high schoolers were the experts with the technology and the third graders were the experts on the artifacts. The students also get practice with a variety of technologies. Besides working with the cameras, the students also get practice with things like Alpha Smart keyboards, which they used to type up their research. It really seemed like the third graders were genuinely interested in the project and learning a lot from it. I’m sure it’s exciting for them to see their own work up on the internet. It is also much more engaging and memorable for the students to go on field trips and conduct interviews, rather than read about it in a book or on a computer. Overall, I was very impressed with the time and effort Eva La Mar must have put into the planning and implementation of this project. It looks like a very effective and interesting teaching technique.