|
Curriculum Project • Course Proposal • Project Self-Assessment
Proposing a Project
Overview
• Guiding Questions • Facets of
Understanding • Desired Results •
WHERE • Acceptable Evidence •
Learning Experiences • Design
Standards
Overview and Background
The overarching course proposal is a full
course intended for Middle School students that would extend over three
semesters. Although students could exit after one semester, interested students
could repeat the course for two more semesters. In each repeat, they would be
expected to build their knowledge in an area of their interests by proposing and
completing one or more projects.
A key unit
in the course for the first semester students is the project proposal. After a basic introduction to various
technologies, students will have to propose and complete one project. This unit
will help them create a valid project proposal. The final result of this
unit will be a proposal approved by the teacher, but that has had the benefit
of revision by the student as well as several evaluations by peers. Although
this unit is focused on the proposal, the ultimate assessment of the success of the
proposal comes at the end of the actual project. The learning will be very
obvious in students who repeat the course as they create proposals for more
in-depth projects.
The main introduction to the unit is "The Million Dollar Question,"
that is, how do you get someone to give you a million dollars for your ideas?
Top
• Overview
• Guiding Questions • Facets of
Understanding • Desired Results •
WHERE • Acceptable Evidence •
Learning Experiences • Design
Standards
Guiding Questions
- How do you get someone to give you a million dollars for your idea?
- Once you get the million dollars, what then?
- How do you know when you start a project?
- How do you know when your are finished?
- How do you know if you learned anything?
Top
• Overview
• Guiding Questions • Facets of
Understanding • Desired Results •
WHERE • Acceptable Evidence •
Learning Experiences • Design
Standards
Facets of Understanding
Explanation: Students will create a complete project proposal that
incorporates the elements of a good project. In addition, through the process of
peer reviews and teacher dialogue, they will explain why they have taken the
paths they have chosen.
Interpretation: The ability of students to predict what would happen
depending on the different choices they make for the course of their project as
they prepare the proposal will illustrate their ability to see proposals as a
sense-making idea.
Application: The final application will be the student ability to
follow their proposal through to completion on a project.
Perspective: The student, through actions and reflection, will come to
understand which parts are worth spending time on to revise and correct, which
parts require only a quick look, and which parts require additional research.
The last may also be thought of as the students coming to know what they don't
know.
Empathy: Students will learn to look at their proposals through the
eyes of somebody who does not know them. They will begin to understand how words
written on paper can represent them for better or worse.
Self-Knowledge: Students will have all revisions of their proposals
on file. Periodically, they will be asked to reflect on the differences between
revisions and also
to identify key learnings that they think the changes in the revisions
show.
Top
• Overview
• Guiding Questions • Facets of
Understanding • Desired Results •
WHERE • Acceptable Evidence •
Learning Experiences • Design
Standards
Identify Desired Results
Overarching understandings:
- Project plans are as much for others as for the people doing the project.
- Planning well requires several iterations.
- Project plans are useful.
Students' understanding as a result of this unit: Elements of planning
projects and creating proposals
- Idea selection
- Schedule development
- Idea presentation
Essential Questions
- How would you increase your knowledge if someone gave you a million
dollars?
- How do you get someone to give you a million dollars so you can increase
your knowledge?
Top
• Overview
• Guiding Questions • Facets of
Understanding • Desired Results •
WHERE • Acceptable Evidence •
Learning Experiences • Design
Standards
WHERE
|
|
Where are we headed
|
W
|
The ultimate goal is to take the project proposal and actually
implement it. The essential questions will help the students
realize that planning a project, which includes working with
others in the plan, enhances the chance for going further than
otherwise possible.
|
|
|
Hook
the student
|
H
|
Sell the Million Dollar idea! What ideas do students have that
somebody will pay them a million dollars for? What makes it a
challenge? Would they sell a million dollar idea if they didn't
believe in it and want to do it? What do they want to do in the
course and how much do they believe in it? Can it be their own
Million Dollar idea? |
|
|
Engage
the student
|
E
|
Students will be able to create their proposal either by
themselves or with others for a project they choose. The main key,
though, is that a student will be actually doing the project based
on the proposal.
|
|
|
Reflect
and rethink
|
R
|
Students will revise their proposals several times during the
unit. In addition to their own evaluations, they will have an
opportunity to do peer evaluations of other students' work as well
as have their peers evaluate their ideas. Although the teacher
will be providing input, the teacher's role is to help the
students' improve each others' work.
|
|
|
Exhibit
and evaluate
|
E
|
Final, approved, proposals will be available for anybody in the
school to see. Evaluation and revision will be ongoing until the
final is approved. The ultimate evaluation will depend on how well
it is implemented.
|
Top
• Overview
• Guiding Questions • Facets of
Understanding • Desired Results •
WHERE • Acceptable Evidence •
Learning Experiences • Design
Standards
Acceptable Evidence
Performance Tasks and Projects
- Students peer review two other project proposals using the criteria
provided.
- Students create a project proposal with several drafts using feedback from
peer reviewers and the teacher.
Prompts
- Did helping other students and peer-reviewing their proposals help you
with your own proposal? Why or why not?
- What parts of your project do you think will be difficult to achieve and
why? What other options did you look at and why were they less acceptable than
your current option?
- Re-read your first draft and final draft. How did revising your project
proposal several times improve your understanding of your project and your
proposal?
- Now that your proposal is finished, what is the main thing you would do
differently if you had the proposal to start fresh and why?
Other Evidence
- All drafts of the proposal.
- Student peer review comments on the proposal.
- Each students peer review comments to other students.
Student Self-assessment
- At the beginning and end of the unit: Explain what you understand a
project proposal to be.
- Use the peer review criteria on your own proposal.
- What more do you think you need to learn to be able to convince somebody
to give you a million dollars?
- At the end of the project, which is long after then end of the proposal:
How did your proposal help you and how did it make it difficult for you?
Top
• Overview
• Guiding Questions • Facets of
Understanding • Desired Results •
WHERE • Acceptable Evidence •
Learning Experiences • Design
Standards
Learning Experiences
Students will need to know:
- The main parts of a project proposal.
- What happens when a project is not planned.
Students will need to be able to:
- Do a proper peer review of a proposal.
- Break a project into tasks.
- Determine what a completed project looks like.
Teaching and Learning Experiences
- Divide the students into groups and have them create marble roller
coasters. First, do it without a plan. Then, have them plan a much larger one
and do it.
- Present brainstorming as an aid to generating ideas quickly.
- Present the essential questions of the "Million Dollar Idea" and, as a
class, brainstorm and discuss possible Million Dollar Ideas.
- Have students come up with what they would learn if somebody gave them a
million dollars.
- Have the students list their top three ideas for the project they would
like to do with them tied as closely as possible to what they would like to
learn if given a Million Dollars.
- Introduce task breakdown by having students individually create a task
breakdown for a common everyday task, then have another student try to follow
the instructions.
- Have the students work in pairs to break down their top three ideas into
at least six separate steps, then select the one that appears most "feasible."
- Present the main parts of a project proposal and help them see how their
previous activities form some of the outline for the proposal.
- Have students write their first draft of the proposal.
- Introduce students to peer review concepts and rubrics. Give them several
sample projects to peer review in pairs.
- Give students feedback on sample peer reviews by comparing their responses
to exemplar responses.
- Students peer review each others projects.
- Drafts revised based on peer reviews and teacher feedback.
- Students do another round of peer reviews.
- Drafts are revised again for the final product.
- Students do final self-assessment of the proposal.
- Project begins.
Top
• Overview
• Guiding Questions • Facets of
Understanding • Desired Results •
WHERE • Acceptable Evidence •
Learning Experiences • Design
Standards
| Design Standards Use the following design standards to evaluate this unit. Explanations for
each level are available by hovering over the radio buttons, but version 5.5 or
higher browsers are required for this feature to work, with Internet Explorer
providing more usefulness.
|
Top
• Overview
• Guiding Questions • Facets of
Understanding • Desired Results •
WHERE • Acceptable Evidence •
Learning Experiences • Design
Standards
Curriculum Project • Course Proposal • Project Self-Assessment
Format follows Understanding by Design, Wiggins,
Grant and J. McTighe, 1998,
Alexandria, Virginia, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development
Last maintained
08/23/2003 |