Transcript NECC 2005 Template 3

Fostering Collaboration and Developing
Higher-Order Thinking with Digital Video
Jennifer Charles, Ed.D
Educational Technology Consultant
Teaching Matters
NECC
June 2005
Project Description
Middle school digital documentary project
 research
 narrative script
 storyboard
 video production
Purpose
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Understand the role of collaborative learning in
problem solving and other higher order thinking
Examine how the creation of digital
documentaries can foster higher order thinking
 Collaboration (NCREL)
 Higher order thinking (Bloom’s Taxonomy)
Theoretical Framework
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Social constructivism
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manipulate information and ideas
discover new meanings and understandings
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(Vygotsky) social interaction and shared social contexts
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Tuckman and Jensen’s group dynamics theory
 Forming
 Storming
 Norming
 Performing
Research Questions
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What kinds of collective problem-solving and decisionmaking practices do students undertake while creating
documentaries?
How do digital documentary development processes
foster student collaboration?
How do these collaborative processes shape students’
understanding of historical issues and events?
What are the implications and outcomes of such student
partnerships?
Methodology
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Participant observation
Interpretive data analysis (socially constructed reality) –
• How the development of these collaborative groups affected
their ability to respond to key events
• How these events in turn shaped the development of problemsolving and decision-making strategies by these groups
Data Sources
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self and group assessments (baseline)
open-ended student and teacher surveys
student work
professional development field reports
professional development observational data
teacher interviews
Group
Name
Research
Organize
Research
into
Script/
Narration
Narration
Storyboard
Video
Learn about
collaboration
Group work
together as
project
advances
Most
important
thing learned
from making
documentary
Student 1
Student 2
Student 3
Student 4
• Created a matrix of student responses.
• Cross referenced teachers’ interview responses and professional
development observations with students’ responses.
Exploratory Study
Validity
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Triangulation of the data
Sample size
Representative subjects
What kinds of collective problem-solving
and decision-making practices do
students undertake while creating
documentaries?
Forming
Concern about how the group will work and what will be
required of them
 Teacher and student selection
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Class origin and class size
Sense of purpose
Timeframe
Exchange of information
Volunteer to do and share tasks equally
Identified a leader
 Prior knowledge of group process
 Teacher intervention
Storming –
Conflict related to individual differences, leader's role,
and the task
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Disruptive Individuals removed by the group
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Groups were reformed (teacher intervention)
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Tasks reassigned to others by group members
Group C
“We solved problems by appointing other students
to do what was needed.”
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Teacher supported students in developing collaborative skills
Norming
Group starts to function harmoniously, participants co-operate and mutual
support develops
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Work collaboratively to clarify their tasks
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Determine collaboratively what they need to do to accomplish the task
Group A
“Others have a different part to do to make a
video cause not everyone can do one thing. “
Group A
“We worked better as time went on as we got
to know each other and we all got into the project.
We hardly had problems.”
 Need to establish and reinforce rationale for each aspect of the inquiry
based learning process (build in-depth understanding)
Performing
The work really takes off and the group accepts a structure and method
for achieving the common task
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Relationship between groups and tasks constantly established
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Use a range of cognitive strategies
Synthesized and identified key ideas in research information.
Used these ideas to organize their script “piece by piece.”
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Use of metacognitive strategies
“We had a problem figuring out what’s important so we
ask the teacher. ”
“We used other groups’ work and see what they were doing,”
as a model to guide their own work.
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Teacher support fostered/enhanced problem-solving strategies.
“We learned how to apply our own personal experiences and
views to decide what was critically important about the topic.”
How do digital documentary
development processes foster
student collaboration?
Research
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Determine together what are key research ideas
Apply their own personal views and experiences to determine
what was critically important about a topic
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Divide research task into smaller parts and distribute tasks equally
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Interchange and share information
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Identify key ideas in their information and used these ideas to
systematically organize their script.
Script
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Mutual agreement in deciding information needed
Group A
“We all out our information together and just got the
important information.”
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Determine organizing principle – time, interesting biographical facts
– to structure their information
Group B
“Introducing then going into the past and then back to the
future.” “We went by the dates and put things we agreed on.”
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Discriminate between different pieces of information to tell the story
from their point of view
The script was organized in a scattered fashion since “the group
had problems not working together.”
Storyboard
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Established criteria jointly in assessing and making
decisions about images for the storyboard
Group B
“We got pictures to match our script. We all sat
together to see which ones look best.”
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Fostered consensus:
Group A
“We arrived at a decision by working together.”
Video
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Learned how to selectively utilize decision-making
skills to use information (the scope and length of their
video) to make content and scheduling decisions.
Group C
“We decided on timing and on how creative the
video should be.”
Group A
“We talked about when we were going to meet and
what was going into the video.”
How do these collaborative processes
shape students’ understanding of
historical issues and events?
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Events and issues were more relevant and meaningful.
“It is more interesting for you to find the
answer. You are the one doing it, how it
started and you are doing the research.”
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History became alive, authentic and fun. Students
clarified, visualized and verified historical events.
“When we went to George Washington’s house, I
didn’t know he lived in New York. I was in the
past and I knew what went on.”
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It supported development of research and writing skills.
“It helped us with making stories, to research better.”
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Students understood that there is a variety of ways to
understand the topics.
Implications
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Group collaboration has its own dynamic and
benefits from being fostered consciously.
Group collaboration evolves out of and facilitates
problem solving processes.
Collaborative learning should be encouraged and
taught in middle schools.
Collaborate learning should be included in preservice and in-service teacher training.
http://www.atschool.org/digidocs