Celynne's Education 340 Blog

I do not know a ton about project-based learning but I do personally love projects and think that it is a great way to teach students and assess their understanding without just giving them a lecture and then a written test. I remember specifically in elementary school doing a lot of different projects and I found them to be super fun and exciting, One project that I remember doing was we got assigned a country and our group of 3 or 4 students had to set up an area in the gym with a poster about our country and soemthing we were "selling" to people that was from our countrys pecifically. A bunch of other students as well as parents came for this day and it was one of the best assignemnets that I had througout elemenary school that everyone loved! This was a great way to teach about countrys and still keep stduents excited and engaged in what they are learning about. Project-based learning is also a great way to have students answer compelling questions using collabo...

1. Compelling Question: How did the peoples' cultures influence them to take the Oregon Trail? Supporting Questions: 1. What were the cultures of the people who traveled the Oregon Trail? 2.Why did people choose to take the Oregon Trail? 3.What were the people's goals for traveling the Oregon Trail and how did their culture reflect their goals?  Compelling question answer: Their culture centered around American ideals, such as individuality, family, hard work, and determination. Most of them were pioneers who wanted to create a better life for themselves. Many people also chose to take the trail to escape from their economic problems. Although the journey was long, 2,000 miles, and 20,000 people died, the beliefs and hopes of these people enabled them to take a risk. 2.We chose this compelling question because it is not too broad but also gives lead way for students thinking and their answers so their answers wont all the be the same. We spent a lot of time trying to come u...

    My understanding of social studies inquiry has totally grown during this module. When we first started talking about social studies inquiry I didn't really know what exactly that meant. I had guessed that it just meant to ask question's regarding to social studies, which is partly what it means but we learned about it much more in depth and now I understand what it means a lot more. I now understand that with social studies inquiry we can ask students compelling questions to then help them learn not only the answer in a simple form but to learn a ton of information along the way and answer the question very in depth. It seems like a really great strategy that I will defiantly use in my future classroom to help my students think deeper rather than just give a one word answer.      There is a huge importance on giving both compelling and supporting questions in an IDM. When using social studies inquiry you have to give compelling questions along with supportin...