“Visualize, Visualize, Visualize: Designing Projects for Higher-Order Thinking”

Hannah Kim
EDUC 422
Professor Joan Hanor
5 September 2006

“Visualize, Visualize, Visualize: Designing Projects for Higher-Order Thinking”
By Pearl Chen and Dianne McGrath
Chen, P, & McGrath, D (2004). Visualize, visualize, visualize: designing projects for higher order thinking.
Learning and Leading with Technology, 32, Retrieved September 5, 2006, from http://www.iste.org//Template.cfm?Section=December_January_No_4_&Template=/MembersOnly.cfm&ContentFileID=2417


1. As a visual learner myself, I am able to relate to the ideas that the authors presented in this article. I think that it would be helpful for a teacher to not only have students answer questions out of a text book, but also to visually explain the answers by making a graph, drawing a picture, etc. in order to go more in depth into the material. Not only will students be encouraged to get more involved in actually understanding what they’re supposed to be learning, but they will also learn to question, criticize and to research.

2. Project-based learning (PBL) is defined as a learning method that provides students with an effective method that not only helps students to “process knowledge content in a deeper and more mindful manner, but also learn valuable thinking skills, something about their learning processes, and about how to learn (pg. 55).” The PBL method will challenge students to not only be involved with what they are learning, but also to understand how their own minds think and also to effectively apply what they learn. The critical thinking exercises would help the students to think deeper than just trying to find the right answers to questions. The exercises would help the students to question why and how they came up with the response that they did.

3. An example of higher-order thinking could be seen through a classroom project that moves beyond the stage of a “simple project” to that of a project which includes, as the authors say “specific cognitive and metacognitive learning goals (pg. 54).” In other words, a project could move from a “simple project” to a “higher-order thinking” project by utilizing the different tools provided by the authors in Table 1 to aid students in going beyond what a project physically requires.

4. Curtis, D (2001,November, 1). Start with the pyramid. The George Lucas Educational Foundation, Retrieved September 5, 2006, from http://www.edutopia.org/php/article.php?id=Art_884&key=037
-In this article, the author gives examples of classroom projects which follow along with the PBL method. She says that project-based learning allows students to ask and answer questions that go beyond the scope of the immediate project. PBL also helps student to do in depth investigations of real world issues and apply them.

Pearlman, B (2006, June). New skills for a new century. George Lucas Educational Foundation, Retrieved September 5, 2006, from http://www.edutopia.org/magazine/ed1article.php?id=Art_1546&issue=jun_06#
-In this article, the author is in support of PBL. He states that in the present day, student will need to develop skills such as learning and thinking skills, communication-technology literacy skills and also life skills. Students will need all these skills in order to be competitive in the 21st century.

Point/Counterpoint: Are Wikis Worth the Time? By Dean Shareski and Carol Ann K. Winkler

http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Publications/LL/LLIssues/Volume_33_2006_2005_/December_January_No_4_1/33406s.pdf


Hannah Kim
EDUC 422
3 September 2006
Assignment 5 – Journaling/Wiki

1. Post-Impressionism: In this article, I found information describing an introduction to this topic, links to different art terms relevant to post-impressionism, examples of artists and their works from this era, short critical and historical reviews, along with notes and references at the end. Although for general references this article could be useful, for in-depth information, more research would have to be done.

2. Interior Design: This article was also useful in giving a general introduction to the topic. The article started with a simple definition of what interior design is and continued with explanations of The Profession, Specializations, Styles and links to more information about the topic.

3. Science Fair: Although I am not very knowledgeable in the area of science, I know that someday as an elementary school teacher, I will be working with students and their science fair projects. This article gave an overview of the history of science fairs and was also useful in providing links such as to the Discovery Channel website to find good science fair project ideas.

After searching through Wikipedia’s database for different research topics, I have found that it was useful in providing general and concise information, but also directing you to different websites that could be of more service. As a public website that receives its information from anonymous submitters, there is always the chance that the information that you read could be illegitimate, but one must be careful not to rely on just one source of information. I believe that if used in the right way, Wikipedia could be a very useful in aiding your research of information.