U.S. History, Inquiry Based Learning & a Chromebook
My students need Chromebooks to learn in a way that is compatible with the 21st century world they will be entering after high school.
$600 goal
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Hooray! This project is fully funded
My Students
I work at a very diverse, high performing school in the heart of the Bay Area. Our students challenge themselves with Advanced Placement courses, extra curricular activities and volunteering. An impressive number of our students are accepted to some of the top universities in the nation.
My students are twenty-first century natives and thinkers, but confined by twentieth century classroom materials and an academic structure.
A traditional classroom doesn't enrich the lives of my students and they struggle to find a way to connect to the material.
My Project
To encourage students to investigate history themselves, it is imperative that they have access to a variety of resources. Having Chromebooks will open up the door to all different type of materials. This will also help students foster an understanding of how to check a source for reliability.
The history class of the past should be left in the past.
Teacher-provided material and lecture followed by an assessment of material doesn't create critical thinkers or inspire much curiosity. With the advent of technology, most of the material on exams can easily be Googled. Why should we expect students to memorize the material or form an authentic connection to the material? We need students to understand the history of America and to find themselves connecting to that history in a real way. I want my students to appreciate the journey that our nation has undertaken from perspectives beyond that which our textbook can afford.
I hope to challenge students to investigate history and join it with a self-created thesis statement. Instead of using a traditional lecture format, I intend to utilize a PBL approach. As students learn material, they will be simultaneously building a portfolio of historical evidence that addresses their thesis statement.
These Chromebooks will become the textbook and help move away from teacher-centered learning. Chromebooks would allow students build a deeper understanding of history, cause/effect, and allow for them to organize their digital portfolio.
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