2.+Planning+and+Preparation

**2. Planning and Preparation ** **//Planning //** **a.** //Knowledge Gaining//: The students will have multiple class periods spent in the computer lab to begin researching information. Prior to the first computer lab day, there will be a lesson on effective use of computers for research, as well as the proper etiquette for computer use (including what websites to use and which ones to avoid, along with the consequences for improper usage). The first couple of days in the computer lab will be focused around teaching the class how to research, the computer lab teacher or myself would go over what websites to use and I will give them a starter website for each inventor. Using the //internet// as the only source, the students will collect information in 3 areas: 1. Inventors Background: Including where they are from, their schooling history, and anything else the student feels necessary for giving a brief summary of their inventors life.

2. Interesting Facts: This is more of a free area with there only being a 4 fact requirement. Any information that is interesting to the student about their life, or how they became an inventor, will fall in this section.

3. Invention: Including what the invention is used for, some information on what lead to the invention's creation, and how we still use this in our world today.

**b.** //Knowledge organizing//: After collecting all of the necessary information, the students will create a Powerpoint presentation to organize their findings. Every powerpoint will have a title slide for the whole presentation, and then individual title slides for each of the 3 areas of research. Following each section's title slide, the student may use as many slides as necessary to write all of their information. There will be a few lessons on how to use Powerpoint, and at this time I will give the students a basic idea of how to list their information. (e.g. For background history to begin with date of birth and where they lived, before moving onto schooling, basically keeping a "chronological" order to some extent).

**c.** //Knowledge sharing//: Once the students Powerpoints are fully completed, we will spend one day of science devoted to "teaching" your inventor. There will be an equal, as possible, amount of students per inventor to ensure that the majority of the class doesn't choose just 1-2 from the list. The class will be grouped with 5 other students (whom all have a different inventor if possible) and they will take turns going over their slideshow with their group. The sharing activity will allow the students to show off their hard work, as well as being a learning experience for everyone. At the end of the activity, each student will have a brief understanding of the 5 inventors and their correlating inventions. There won't be any form of assessment on the other inventors, the sharing activity will be graded on participation.

**//Preparation //** Prior to begining the project, there will be a couple of lessons on two different famous inventors that aren't on the list of five. These lessons would be a kind of anticipatory set to the entire project and will hopefully garner some student interest. After these lessons, I would introduce the project and give the students a sense of autonomy of individualism. They can now take learning into their own hands to research an inventor that interests them.