Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Introduction

Smart Presentations (Continued)

Let’s see some more wonderful presentations from classmates.

Learning Adventures Project

Today we are starting a new project, one that will continue until the end of the semester. We’ll be calling this the UGA Learning Adventure Project. You have all created lessons, digital stories, a personal website, blog sites and more. Now it’s time to integrate all your skills into one project.

Let’s Look at an Example

Before we get to all the details, let’s first look at some examples from past UGA students. You are basically creating a web site for students, parents, and teachers. The site is meant to guide a student through an adventure of your choosing (of course, it’s nice to offer them choices within your adventure as well).

Questions/Ideas

After looking at the examples, what questions do you have? How do you think the adventure could have been improved? Do you notice any missing elements of the adventure that could have made it better? Think on this – maybe as we work through the project, you will want to go about it differently. That’s okay! Just be sure to talk with me to let me know your ideas.

Partners and Groups

I would prefer you worked with a partner or a group of three for this project. It’s okay if you find yourself planning an adventure in a subject or grade different than the one you identified at the beginning of the semester. I am open to people working alone, but you need to be forewarned that this is a lot of work – being able to share the work load will help you stay on target. Before we think about choosing groups, let’s set up some expectations for working together on the project. We’ll record this in a Google Doc for future reference. You do not have to decide today who you’d like to work with, but be prepared to share this in class on Wednesday.

Project Rubric

Open this UGA Learning Adventure Rubric.  Talking through the rubric will help you understand what is expected of you throughout the project. It also contains a time line so you can keep on target. You will notice that the criteria for receiving full credit is part of the rubric. Let’s look at this together. We will also be creating our own criteria for the project as a class.

For Monday

Come prepared to work with a partner or group of three on Monday. You should talk with them about the topic you want to address for the project. It can be anything really. We will have time Monday to continue talking about the project and also time to brainstorm/talk with classmates.

You should have read Chapter 3. Spend the week creating a post in response to the reading. You can choose to respond to a question at the end of the chapter that interests you. If you’d like to write more freely about the ideas in the chapter or even around your own ideas about critical thinking and problem solving, this would be great too. Mostly, I want you to have fun with this last required blog posting. I’ve enjoyed reading all of your posts this semester, especially the ones where you felt free to write about what interests you most – keep it up. Next Monday I’ll ask you to start reading classmates blogs and leave a comment.