Collaboration

In both cases, technology collaboration will be key to facilitating a team/community approach, so email communication can help kick off the projects. Sending links to teachers for application in their classrooms, and then in-room tutorials on how to login and sign up for collaborative 2.0 tools on the web will be one big starting point for the 12th graders. For the 7th graders, bringing in the iPad and attaching it to the SmartBoard to turn them on to the applications will certainly psych them up to get started. Many of the visuals are the same as those they will see on NASA websites available on any computer, so they can reaffirm what they see in class when they get home to work on it. My first discussion with the teachers would be about how the solar system has been presented in the past, what key ideas have worked well, how the students have responded to different approaches, and how to apply the project to the standards. Then I would discuss how to delegate the different duties of the project, based on available technology and skill strengths. Writing of assignment assessment rubrics would be a big part of the discussion, so as to include as much of the unit details as possible. Because the project will take creative juices, time, and team collaboration, we'll want to cover as much of the material as possible.