Online Projects, Collaboration Sites and Publishing Opportunities

Lesson Idea Name: Bugscope

Content Area: Science
Grade Level(s): 4th grade
Content Standard Addressed: S4L1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the roles of
organisms and the flow of energy within an ecosystem.

Technology Standard Addressed: Global Collaborator

Selected Online Project/Collaboration Site/Publishing Opportunity: Bugscope

URL(s) to support the lesson: http://bugscope.beckman.uiuc.edu/

Describe how you would incorporate an Online Project/Collaboration Site/Publishing Opportunity in your
classroom: In my classroom lessons, online projects and collaboration sites will be incorporated because they
offer a different level of engagement that can’t be offered in the classroom. By participating in online
projects, students have the opportunity to explore a wider range of topics that in class we do not have time to
expand on further. By using these tools, students are able to understand topics to a different degree, which in
turn, promotes higher levels of thinking. The use of these sites are helpful in developing student
understanding, as well as promoting student’s creative thinking and imagination. These interactive and fun
activities encourage students to share their ideas and interests with each other, as well as other students and
teachers from around the world!

What technologies would be required to implement this proposed learning activity in a classroom? :
The required technology for this learning activity would be a computer, a projector, and a video chatting
application such as Skype.

Describe how the following features are addressed in this learning experience (note: all of them may not be
addressed in the project, but most should be if you are reaching a high LoTi Level).
a. Collaboration with peers, near-peers, mentors outside their classroom and often beyond their
school: In this learning experience, students are to collaborate with their peers, as well as collaborating
with the Beckman Institute in order to develop a better understanding about the role of insects in our
communities.

b. Student-centered learning and knowledge creation (creating original data and or producing original
products as a result of engaging in a project): The students will be asked to create a food web with
their insect findings and identify what the insect eats, as well as what eats the insect. The student will
be asked to draw their model and label the parts.

c. Higher-order thinking: Students will have to analyze the findings from our insect specimens and relate
that information to how they benefit our communities and what their role is.

d. Students publishing their original work to others who will use/care about their product: Although in
this activity students do not directly publish their work; the teacher will be able to publish the
student’s findings on their classroom blog once they have finished their classroom analysis.

Bloom’s Taxonomy Level(s):

☒ Remembering ☒ Understanding ☒ Applying ☒ Analyzing ☐ Evaluating ☐ Creating

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 Online Projects, Collaboration Sites and Publishing Opportunities
Levels of Technology Integration (LoTi Level):
☐ Level 1: Awareness ☒ Level 2: Exploration ☐ Level 3: Infusion ☐ Level 4: Integration
☐ Level 5: Expansion ☐ Level 6: Refinement

Universal Design for Learning (UDL):

The lesson can support the learning experience for all students by creating a fun, interesting, and interactive
activity that will keep the attention of students that have learning disabilities such as ADHD. Because of its
level of engagement, the activity will keep students focused and on task for longer periods of time. This
activity will also help students who are visual learners because of our face-to-face analysis with the Beckman
Institute. This activity will help the students to see the different parts of the insect close up, as we understand
their functions and purpose in our community.

Lesson idea implementation and Internet Safety Policies:

This lesson idea can be implemented while following Internet Safety and Student Privacy policies by keeping
the student’s identity confidential. During our face-to-face meeting online with the Beckman Institute, the
students can create their own masks to wear during the interview in order to keep their identity secure. Also,
when putting the student’s analysis and findings online on the teacher’s classroom blog, the teacher has the
option of getting the parental consent of the student or using a pseudonym in place of the student’s real
name.
Reflective Practice:
After completing this lesson idea, I feel that the activities created impact student learning because it gives
them a better understanding about the role of different organisms in the environment by allowing them to
get up close and personal with a magnified model of a chosen insect. By identifying insects and their purpose
in the environment, we are able to better understand the flow within Earth’s ecosystems. To further extend
this lesson, the students could be asked to create a physical model of one of the ecosystems talked about in
class and identify some of the different insects that are a part of the community.

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