Recent Changes

Shih, C., Chen, L., & Shih, C.T. (2011) Assisting people with disabilities to actively improve their collaborative physical activities with Nintendo Wii Balance Boards by controlling environmental stimulation: Research in Developmental Disabilities, 33: 39-44
Wuang, Y., Chiang, C., Su, C., & Wang, C. (2010) Effectiveness of virtual reality using Wii gaming technology in children with Down syndrome: Research in Developmental Disabilities, 32: 312-321

PleaseGrant Proposal: Wii Consoles to Increase Physical Education in Special Needs Classrooms
Background Information
In the world of special education, more attention needs to be paid to physical education and developing children’s physical skills and mobility. Children with both mental and physical disabilities often have deficits in hand eye coordination, physical and motor skills. Also, these children are not receiving the same amount of participation in sports and other physical activities that their peers are getting. According to Shih et al. (2011), physical activity is a common problem among people with disabilities. In order to address these needs, educators need to look to technology. Specifically, the Nintendo Wii would serve as an excellent tool for developing the motor skills, encourage physical activity among students with disabilities, and increase their self-esteem and independence. The Nintendo Wii is a video game system that allows users to interact with game applications using physical movements with a wireless controller that can sense position and motion. Another key component of the Wii is the Balance Board, which contains four pressure sensors that are used to measure the person’s center of balance. Research has shown that the Nintendo Wii as a whole, has been successful in assisting people with disabilities improve their fine motor skills, physical activity level, and self-esteem, due the easy nature of the Wii. The following will discuss two studies that illustrate the benefits of the Wii on people with disabilities. The first study will focus on the effectiveness of virtual reality using Wii technology (VRWii) on children with Down syndrome in improving sensorimotor skills. The second study will discuss the Wii Balance Board and how it can increase the collaborative physical activity of teenagers with developmental disabilities.
The first study, conducted by Wuang et al. (2010), is a quasi-experimental study that compares the effect of standard occupational therapy with the effect of virtual reality using Wii technology on children with Down syndrome. According to Wuang et al. (2010), children with Down syndrome, have significant delays in motor skill attainment, sensorimotor deficits, and perceptual dysfunctions. These children often have trouble with limb control, decreased motor proficiency, and their perceptual-motor skills are often slow. The sensorimotor difficulties that children with Down syndrome possess often decrease their participation in school activities, academic performance, independence, and acceptance from peers (Wuang et al., 2010; cited from Hamilton, 2002; Pivik, McComas & LaFlamme, 2002). Therefore, it is important to develop effective therapy for children with Down syndrome, so they are better able to integrate into daily life, participate more in school, and have independence.
According to Wuang et al. (2010), traditional approaches such as Sensory Integrative Therapy, the Perceptual-Motor Approach, and the Neurodevelopmental treatment, are repetitive and offer very little stimulation to keep the young mind occupied. The researchers suggest that a virtual reality approach using Wii gaming technology (VRWii) can be much more effective at providing a wide variety of activities and scenarios for movements. Virtual reality is defined as, “A means to user-computer interface that consists of real-time environmental simulation, that is, the users could interact with the scenario or environment via multiple sensory channels” (Wuang et al, 2010; cited from Burdea, 2003). Therefore, VRWii can be very useful and beneficial for sensorimotor training. In this study, the researchers hypothesized that VRWii will be effective at enhancing sensorimotor functions compared to standard sensorimotor training among children with Down syndrome (Wuang et al., 2010).
The participants of the study included 160 children between the ages of 7 and 12 who were diagnosed with Down syndrome. Researchers designated three groups: two intervention groups, one that participated in VRWii and the other that participated in SOT, and the control group, which received no treatment. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the three groups and the two intervention groups received a one-hour session, two days a week, for twenty-four weeks. Treatment was conducted on individual level, and each child was randomly assigned to two therapists who either administered SOT or VRWii. Various sensorimotor tests were administered to the children before and after therapy. The results revealed that there was a significant difference in post yourintervention test performance among the groups. The VRWii group significantly outperformed the SOT group on three tests, which covered fine motor integration, upper-limb coordination, and running speed and agility (Wuang et al., 2010). Also, the SOT and the VRWii groups outperformed the no treatment control group on most sensorimotor measures post intervention. Ultimately, this study revealed that VRWii improved motor proficiency, visual-integrative abilities, and sensory integrative functions for children with Down syndrome.
The second study, conducted by Shih et al. (2011), sets out to assess whether people with developmental disabilities would be able to improve their physical activities collaboration by following simple instructions and walking to designated locations using Nintendo Wii Balance Boards. It is common for people with disabilities to be physically inactive and according to Shih et al. (2011), people with disabilities can gain numerous mental and physical benefits from being active, such as promotion of health and prevention of disease, improvement of self-esteem and social interaction, and maintenance of a higher level of independence.
The participants in this study included four teenagers, who were obese and had developmental disabilities. All of the participants had poor walking ability, moved very slowly, and lacked a desire to exercise. The researchers adopted the latest software technology with three Wii Balance Boards that could detect the participants’ collaborative physical activities and assess whether they would be able to increase their collaborative physical activities (Shih et al., 2011). The participants were given instructions by a control system to walk to a designated location and stand on one of the three Wii Balance Boards. The three Wii Balance Boards were set up in a right triangle formation at a distance of about 150 cm from each other. Once the participants stood in the correct location, they received a six second stimulation period, then they were given new instructions to stand at another location, and so on. This process was repeated until the end of the test time. The stimulation period contained the activation of a favorite stimulus, which consisted of videos provided by the parents of the participants. Prior to the intervention phases, participants participated in baseline phases, where they were given instructions to stand in a designated location on a Wii Balance Board, but were not given any stimulation.
The results showed that all four participants’ correct independent responses to instructions greatly increased during the intervention phase, due to the six-second-stimulation period. Participants were much more likely to respond correctly when they received the stimulation period rather than in the baseline phases where no stimulation was given. Participants in this study actively increased their collaborative physical activities. According to Shih et al. (2011), this study suggests that Nintendo Wii Balance Boards can be used to offer people with developmental disabilities a choice to actively increase their collaborative physical activities by following simple instructions, and by standing on the Wii Balance Boards to activate the desired environmental stimulation. Ultimately, this study reinforces that assistive technology devices can give people with mental and physical disabilities more accessibility, more independence, and achieve higher functional ability (Shih et al., 2011).
Project Description
By purchasing the Nintendo Wii gaming system and gaming accessories, including but not limited to games and various specialized controllers, teachers will lead activities associated with the pre-existing game software. These activities will be based on the individual game purchased, the available controllers, and the number of students participating at a given time. The types of games purchased will be interactive sporting games in both individual and team categories, dancing-emulation games, and other popular commercial games that by nature of the Nintendo Wii System become physically engaging.
The goals of these activities are to improve physical hand-eye coordination, increase teamwork and communication skills, enhance physical dexterity, and engage special needs students in activities they are typically unable to participate in. The hope is that these activities will allow the students to feel a sense of inclusion amongst their peers, motivating them to continually better their physical performance. The activities implemented will include individual goal and performance skill based activities, team-building and communication skill oriented activities, and activities centered around fundamental sporting events.
The performance skill-based activities will use the built-in tracking system available in Wii systems that monitor a student’s progress, achievements, and personal bests in different components of physical movement and dexterity. Students will be asked to track this progress and continually improve, within reasonable expectations and standards.
The team-building and communication skill oriented activities will focus on games that allow for multiple students to engage simultaneously in an activity. By grouping students into teams, they will seek to develop positive communication skills and good sportsmanship through their interaction with peers.
The activities centered around fundamental sporting events will involve game packages that include traditional sporting games such as baseball, soccer, basketball, football, etc. Students will not only be able to engage in games they are normally unable to participate in, but they will also learn the various rules, strategies, and movements required to play the sport.
The Nintendo Wii technology system will be utilized in these activities as the main device through which the students will be able to engage and participate in. In addition to the main system, additional controllers, some specially made for students with specific disabilities, will be used to encourage group participation. A variety of games will be purchased, all with a physical-educational purpose, for which teachers can construct a wide range of lesson plans around. The games will also include several different elements of testing physical movements and dexterity, so that students will find themselves constantly challenged and engaged.
This grant proposal hereand initiative seeks to put three Nintendo Wii units in each school within the district, nine Nintendo Wii units in total. In addition to the units provided, each school will have access to their own set of controllers (both regular and customized for students with special needs), controller accessories to participate in each game, and two collapsible projection screens and projectors. There will be six projection systems in total within the district. The collapsible projection screens will provide a larger viewing experience that will engage up to four students simultaneously, but will also fold to provide easy storage.
With the technology provided, and the assumption that there is at least one television in the classroom already, our hope is that at minimum, between six and twelve students can be engaged in physical activities simultaneously. This is based on the fact that each Nintendo Wii system can accommodate four students and Wii controllers at once. We hope to have twelve students engaged simultaneously. This can be achieved based on the assumption that in addition to the two projectors and screens, each school will also have a television.
In order to have all students participating in the same activity, each game will need to be purchased so that there are three copies per district. The hope of this grant proposal is that each school will take turns working on different games and activities based on a set and agreed upon inner-district curriculum. The games will be grouped into sets of three so that only one school will have access to the three games at once. These sets will go through rotation throughout the district so that each school will have the opportunity to utilize the games in turn. Because of this system, the district will be saved considerable expense since only three copies of each game will need to be purchased.
This plan will be implemented by purchasing all nine Wii systems, three sets of controllers, three sets of accessories, and three sets of, at minimum, three types of games. Projectors and projection screens, a total of six for all three schools, will need to be purchased as well. Current physical educators will need to be trained on how to play each game, and use the customized controllers for students with specific disabilities. In addition, a curriculum between the three-schools will need to be established so that the games can be equally rotated and the schools lesson-plans won’t overlap one another.
This grant application will also require the use of pre-existing equipment such as a television and power cables for the projector. Also, there is the assumption that there is a classroom space, or reasonable amount of floor space that can be utilized for the Nintendo Wii system activities.
Management
Because the Nintendo Wii system was developed for the general audience, it is simple to operate. The professional development for this project will not require extensive training. Instead, the teachers will be self-trained. Once all the equipment has arrived, the teachers will meet three times for two-hour long training sessions. Together, the teachers will familiarize themselves with the consoles and refer to the user’s manual if they have any questions. In the first session, they will need to experience the set-up of the equipment. This includes the connection of the console with a monitor, as well as identifying settings. During the second session, they will familiarize themselves with the games and activities, as well as the equipment included, such as the customized controllers and balance board. In the last session, they will develop a yearlong lesson plan, divided into three periods. These periods will each have their own focuses such as hand/eye coordination, balance and reflex, and sports education. Theses focuses can overlap, however the activities involved cannot. The three programs cannot be taught at the same time, as the teachers will need to rotate some equipment and game programs.
The teachers are both leaders and staff in this project. Together, their roles are to familiarize themselves with operating the system, develop a lesson plan, implement the system and corresponding lessons into their classroom, and monitor student progress. At the end of each period, they will meet again. In addition to exchanging equipment and game programs, they will share the successes of their activities as well as discuss areas for improvement.
The teachers in the project will become skilled in operating the game console. They will also be evaluating the effectiveness of their programs by monitoring the progress and improvement in students’ abilities. The other skills needed include the ability to oversee a large class participating in activities at different paces, making appropriate modifications to meet students’ needs, evaluating individual student progress, as well as reflecting on the class’s response to the activities.
Evaluation
For a typical physical education class the children are assessed once a twice a year on various scales. How fast they can run a mile, how high they can jump, their reach, and pull ups. Their results are compared to what the average is for their grade level. However, in special needs classroom physical education cannot be measured on a scale in comparison to their peers. For children in special education physical education is assessed on their own personal improvement. Instead of measuring where they fit on the average scale it is more important to track their improvement and achievements. The same assessment idea will be used in measuring the special needs children who will be introduced to the Wii System.
Prior to introducing the children to the Wii System, teachers of the children will document where they are at in terms of physical development individually on a scale of one to ten. This scale will be determined by their care professional based solely on each child’s own physical ability. They will be documenting their hand eye coordination, ability to work and communicate with their classmates, physical dexterity, and how engage they are in their current physical education activities. By assessing each child prior to them being expose to the Wii console, the teachers can go back and compare future results to ensure that the Wii is helping the children improve in each category. Each child will continuously be assessed and measure on this scale throughout their interaction with the Wii console.
After each special needs child is assessed to determine where they are physically they will again be assess the first time they use the Wii System. This will give further data for their caregivers to compare to future data of them after a duration of time using the console. The children will be assessed twice each term, once half way though and another time at the end of the semester. By the end of the year their teachers will be able to go back and look at their growth throughout the year and how the Wii has helped them improve on each category being measured.
With all the documented assessment and measurement of each child it will be easy to look through and determine if the Wii console has truly helped improved physical education for each child. Their hand eye coordination can be measured through various sports game such as baseball, how quickly they react to the ball being pitched and the time it takes them to swing the bat. Their dexterity can be determine base on how sturdy they can hold onto the remotes and sport equipment. Engagement to the physical activity will be assessed on the duration of time they stay interested and engage in various physical activity and sport games on the Wii. Team work and communication will be measured based on how they interact with their peers while playing on the Wii console, if they are able to understand the concept of a team, taking turns, cheering for one another and motivating their teammates to do better. By assessing each child based on their own progress and achievement the teachers will be able to determine the level of growth for each student and pin point what area each child needs improvement on in.
Reference
Shih, C., Chen, L., & Shih, C.T. (2011) Assisting people with disabilities to actively improve their collaborative physical activities with Nintendo Wii Balance Boards by controlling environmental stimulation: Research in Developmental Disabilities, 33: 39-44
Wuang, Y., Chiang, C., Su, C., & Wang, C. (2010) Effectiveness of virtual reality using Wii gaming technology in children with Down syndrome: Research in Developmental Disabilities, 32: 312-321

PleaseGrant Proposal: Study Island
Background Information
Study Island is a web based educational program that is simple to use and easy to train and install on any existing computers. It is a well-known product for its variety of educational resources that can benefit students of any age and grade level. By purchasing this program, it will address this school’s continual issues that surround the California Content Standards Mastery and California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE) year after year. “Study Island is a web-based standards mastery program that combines highly specific and dynamic content with real-time reporting to create a customized assessment, diagnostic, and instructional program based on each state’s standards” (Magnolia Consulting). Studies show that working with Study Island showed a 28% increase in students test scores when using this program frequently and effectively (Study Island). The customized assessments cover state standards while using technology to advance education and engage students. The main goals of the CAHSEE are to improve students’ ability to achieve, and to demonstrate that they are able to successfully pass an examination consisting of reading, writing, and mathematics before they graduate high school. The growing need for CAHSEE preparation is substantial in tenth grade because students are not passing this exam, and are unable to graduate high school as a result. It is beneficial to our school to purchase Study Island for the tenth grade remedial English class to further enhance and reinforce students’ skills to better prepare them for the CAHSEE exit examination.
Study Island is easy to navigate through, as well as virtually interactive for students to practice any subjects needed. It is an installed software program that is distributed to each student individually with a purchased code per child. Our school already has the main technology needed to run the Study Island software, yet training for the instructors will be necessary. With the funds, we intend on purchasing software codes for all struggling students in these tenth grade classes, which will allow them access on a daily basis through our school’s computer lab. Educators equally benefit from this program, due to the ability to customize topics, check students’ progress, input grades, post your grant proposal here.comments and generate preparation assignments. With all the teaching being conducted virtually through Study Island, teachers are able to spend time addressing questions, or evaluating results. This educational program provides many other benefits that assist students through feedback or questions and detailed explanations. Study Island uses multiple different teaching methods that can engage students and build their confidence level. With plenty of interactive games, practice quizzes, printable worksheets or study guides Study Island follows all California Content Standards and CAHSEE Blueprints. “The user-friendly interface allows students to move through the program step-by-step. Each section has a pre-test and a post-test, as well as topics that cover each of the CAHSEE Blueprints and California Content Standards” (Study Island). By extensively training students how to use the program, they will be able to track their own progress, complete assignments, ask questions and win prizes/awards. Students benefit exclusively by learning specific CAHSEE topics, while having fun interacting with technology.
Additionally, Study Island provides immediate feedback for users so they can learn from their mistakes as they go without a teacher’s explanation. Study Island software offers mock tests, lesson plans, sample questions, and explanations to reinforce the concepts and skills that are necessary to be successful on the CAHSEE. It creates similar test questions that the CAHSEE will cover unlike many benchmark products that focus on state exams; every test assigned through Study Island is specifically anchored from the California Content Standards. This is extremely beneficial to their success because they will be familiar with terms and format as well as practicing test taking skills before the official examination. Students will be more confident when going into the CAHSEE exam with knowledge of exam expectations and similar test questions that they were exposed to on Study Island.
Project Description
There are many activities available to support the goals and objectives of this project. As a school, the main goal is to give the students the resources to pass the California High School Exit Exam in order to graduate high school. At this high school, there is a low percentage of students who pass the CAHSEE on the first try, so there is a great need for Study Island. The main activity that will be implemented to help the students is the program itself. The program will teach the students major concepts of the CAHSEE as well as strategies to follow during the test. The tenth grade remedial English teacher is in charge of the implementation. She will have five classes of remedial English, each class with thirty students for a total of 150 tenth graders. Each one of her students will receive a license for Study Island. Throughout the school year, she will continuously use Study Island with the students to better their math and reading comprehension proficiency.
The Study Island program is not the only activity that will be implemented. Study Island will be a supplement to the actual learning. Many would be complacent with the students solely using Study Island. However, a better, more beneficial plan is to use Study Island to help reinforce topics taught by the teacher or to use Study Island to introduce certain topics to the students. The teacher in charge of using this program at the school will administer diagnostic tests both in paper form and through Study Island. Study Island contains a pre-test and post-test for each section of the Online CAHSEE Preparation Program (Study Island). She will review the topics that the students had a difficult time with. She can then create a lesson plan pertaining to those topics. Study Island will be a great asset to the teaching process.
The teacher and students will have access to the technology at all times. Study Island is a web-based system, so wherever the students have access to computers, they will have access to Study Island. The English teacher in charge of implementation will also have access to the on-campus computer lab. She will be implementing Study Island mostly through work in the computer lab. During class time, she will take her students to the computer lab and every student will work on their own computer.
The technology can be used in different ways. The teacher has leeway in how she uses Study Island during class time. One way to implement Study Island is to teach a lesson that coincides with one of the sections of the program and have the students work extensively on this lesson. Afterwards, allow the students to go through the section in Study Island that coincides with the lesson. This will reinforce the learning from the lesson that the teacher taught. Another way to use the technology is to flip it around. In other words, the teacher can introduce a topic with Study Island, and then teach the students a lesson about that same topic after Study Island introduced them to the topic. A third way to implement Study Island is to assign sections for homework, or to allow the students to go through many sections before a deadline so they can go at their own pace. Overall, there are multiple ways to use Study Island to prepare students for the CAHSEE.
There is a timeline for this project. Study Island will be implemented in the beginning of the school year. The California High School Exit Exam takes place during the second semester of the sophomore year. This means that there is a time limit from the beginning of the school year to the start of the CAHSEE to build proficiency in both language arts and mathematics through Study Island. Although Study Island is geared more as a self-paced program, teachers can guide students through the program (Study Island). The English teacher will voice her expectations and review students’ files to make sure they keep at a constant pace through the program. The timeline will be met and Study Island will be completed by the students before the test.
There are other resources that will be used to support this project. The math teachers at the school are willing to review topics that need to be reviewed. The English teacher and the math teachers will work together to formulate lessons that need to be taught. Also, there is a wonderful after-school program at the high school that is open to all students. There are volunteers as well as paid staff to help students with any homework they have. Overall, there are many personnel that are at the students’ disposal.
Management
As to managing the facilitation of Study Island to the students, a slight amount of responsibilities will need to be taken to ensure a smooth transition to this new product. As for the person who is to head the project, we will have the tenth grade remedial English teacher supervise the program, for, as has been mentioned, her role would be to carry out the program with the students, facilitating it in the classroom and training the kids to learn with it. The reason for it being the remedial English teacher is because he or she would most likely be teaching the students who would struggle on the CAHSEE and the greatest advantage to using Study Island would be found among the students in the remedial English class. In terms of other roles needed to implement Study Island, we will utilize our own computer teacher to install the software onto the computers. Furthermore, although only one of the teachers will be instigating Study Island in her classroom, we will train other teachers, including all of those in the English department, remedial to advanced, as well as the Math department teachers. The reason for this is so that we will have back-up teachers who can work Study Island if something were to happen with the current remedial English teacher. Also, having other teachers be trained with the program, specifically the Math teachers, will allow them all to be on the same page with each other and know what is going on with the students.
As far as skills that the teacher will need for the project, the teacher is required to have thorough knowledge of Study Island itself, including standards and what will be required of the students to know, adequate computer skills, as well as thorough knowledge of the CAHSEE and the standards it requires for the students to pass it. The teacher will need to ensure that students are learning appropriately with Study Island so that they can apply the skills that they learn to the test. As far as training for the staff, we will allocate $400 for on-site training for a two hour, hands-on session from an expert field trainer. Out of the $400 will come the on-site training as well as providing a facility for the trainer to stay at during his or her stay. This training will be provided by a professional Study Island Training Consultant. In order for this to be possible, the trainers at Study Island ask that we provide one computer per participant, a projection device, as well as a computer with Internet access for the trainer, all of which we have access to provide for those that will be involved in training. Additionally, the users must already be registered before the training date. Training will begin with the New User Basic Features Training, which involves learning about student and teacher-driven use of Study Island, provides an introduction to Class Manager and School Stats, and uses the teacher and student views (Study Island Training Brochure).
Evaluation
The way we will know if this software has made a difference in the school is by waiting until we reach the end of the year and look at the students’ test scores. We will compare and contrast these test scores with scores from previous years to see if there was a high percentage, a low percentage, or no change of either passing or failing of the test. Since students are given three chances to pass the CAHSEE test, we will take that into consideration and thus focus our attention more on the fact of whether more students pass the CAHSEE the first time or not. This way we do not make teachers and students feel anxious about absolutely having to pass the CAHSEE the first time because they are using the software. Once we have this information, we will know for sure if the continuation of this software for the future should still be implemented or not. The types of measurement tools that we will use will consist of making bar graphs that will mark the trend of students passing or failing the tests.
Bibliography
Study Island. “California Standards Mastery, CAHSEE Preparation, and Common Core
Standards Mastery.”
http://www.studyisland.com/demoAsk.cfm?myState=CA.
Study Island. “Study Island Research: Magnolia Consulting.”
http://www.studyisland.com/demoAsk.cfm?action=FS&myState=CA#research.
Study Island. “Training Brochure/Train-The-Trainer Brochure.”
http://www.studyisland.com/demoAsk.cfm?action=T&myState=CA

Please post your.
Mini-Grant Proposal [Educ 131]
Physical Education Breaking new Grounds in High School
5/23/12
Background Information
Obesity is an epidemic that is affecting children of all ages. Our group is specifically addressing the issue by stressing the need for physical education in high school students. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, obesity amongst adolescents between the ages of 12 and 19 increased 13% from 1980 to 2008. The excess weight has both immediate and long-term health effects. Immediate effects of obesity include a 70% of obese youth developing a type of cardiovascular disease and it also increases the risk for joint problems. Long-term health effects include a higher risk for different types of cancer, heart diseases, and strokes. In addition, the unhealthy lifestyles due to poor diet and lack of exercise lead to approximately 300,000 deaths every year. This epidemic is not only affecting the individuals gaining the weight, it also affects the society as a whole. American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry states that an estimated $100 billion is the annual cost spent on treating individuals with obesity. In order to tackle this epidemic, prevention is key. Therefore our group is proposing new technology in high schools to stop obesity from developing among children.
The two components we will stress are healthy eating and physical activity. We plan to use pedometers, arcade stimulated activities, and online nutritional websites to reach our goal of instilling lifelong healthy habits for high school students to maintain. A general assessment will be given at the beginning and at the end of the school year to test the program’s effectiveness. By tackling obesity through awareness and physical activity, we hope to slowly decrease this widespread epidemic.
Pedometers are devices that are typically secured on one’s waist by a clip, some can be strapped around the arms. They are meant to record the number of steps an individual takes. Although, fancier pedometers are able to track the distance one walks and calories burnt they are most likely inaccurate and expensive, according to a PBS article. The article continues on to mention that an ordinary pedometer will do since it is only needed to ensure that we are taking 10,000 steps a day which is the recommended. In addition, Jacalyn Lea Lund, PhD, and Mary Fortman Kirck, PhD notes that pedometers are also great for assessing participation levels, making it an even more attractive reason as to why we would like to distribute 1/3 of our funding to these devices.
Often when we think of obesity we think of sedentary activities such as video games being one of the causes behind it. However, by taking these games to another level, that is the physical level we can help students learn how to enjoy physical activities while promoting a healthy lifestyle. Thus, the incorporation of arcade stimulated activities such as kickboxing, nascar/motor cross station, or Dance Dance revolution (DDR) will be necessary to start such a trend. In support, Mr. Weaver, a teacher at Jersey Shore Area Middle School emphasizes how the innovated arcade stations have made nontraditional PE students (students that don’t particularly like PE) more excited about physical fitness. Hence just like physical exercise is the key component to the decrease in obesity, motivation is the key component to exercise.
Additionally, raising awareness is also a very important component of obesity prevention. Many high school student become obese because they intake more calories than the amount they burn off in a day. Therefore, to address this problem we propose to have teachers educate their students about healthy lifestyles through an online supertracker. The program allows students to input their daily activities and daily intake, then the site calculates the numbers and tells the student how healthy they are. Based on the result, an individual goal will be set for each student to achieve. The website also gives nutrition facts about all types of foods and makes recommendations on how to live a healthy life. Students can create individual plans, write journals, set goals, view sample meal plans, and more. It is very accessible and has a lot of useful information that can educate students about how to live a healthy lifestyle.
All in all, our group proposes to keep aspects of traditional physical education while incorporating new aspects through technology. By using pedometers, arcade stations, and online food/physical trackers, we hope to create an innovative and fun environment for students to play and learn in. We believing tackling obesity through various ways will help us cater to the needs of each student. By focusing on physical activity and healthy eating, we strive to create a program that will inspire high schools to continue long-standing healthy lifestyles even in their later years.
Project Description
Physical education is a crucial form of prevention that can fight against the obesity found in children. It does not only give students a chance to exercise daily, it also exposes them to different sport teams while promoting physical fitness. Knowing the importance of physical education as prevention, we propose that in our program, high school students be split into two interchangeable groups; an outdoor and an indoor group. Students in group 1 will be placed indoors for the first half hour of the class and outdoor for the second half. Group 2 follows the same procedure, but begins with the outdoor activities instead of the inside ones.
The majority of the grant proposal here.funding will be distributed towards the indoor activities which includes various arcade stimulated games such as a kickboxing, nascar/motor cross, and DDR, as previously mentioned. In the kickboxing station students will be given the opportunity to increase the flexibility of their arms and leg muscles in addition to their sense of hand-eye-coordination when punching or kicking the lighted areas. Once the students spend a good 15 minutes at the kickboxing station they can then move on towards the nascar/motor cross or DDR station. Both these stations are good for cardio exercises because they require the students to use their leg muscles to either pedal or dance, giving their heart a gradual workout. Such activities expose these students to a completely different construct of physical education that they never in their lives would have imagined to be of benefit to their health.
As for the outdoor activities they will include your average physical education involving sports and track and field activities. Since the program is not extensive, we want to vary the sports based on their articulation. For example, rather than having soccer and basketball which are very similar in concept we want to have tennis and basketball or baseball. For three days of the week the students will focus on a sport and two other days, track and field activities during their second half of their class of course. Pedometers will be used throughout this half of the class to keep track of the number of steps students are taking when engaging in these activities.
Since the PBS article mentioned that 10,000 steps per day is the recommendation for living a life of longevity and helps to decrease in risk of diseases we’ll have the students make daily recordings of their steps. Thus, for the duration of our 3 month program we will have the
students carry around “mini-notepads.” These notepads will have the recordings of their daily food intake along with their pedometer results and duration/type of exercise. Before bedtime the students will update their profile on www.choosemyplate.gov’s SuperTracker with the information found in their notepads as their homework. Training will be provided on the very first day of this program about the usage of the SuperTracker. Teachers will ensure by the very end of the program’s first day that each and every child will already have a profile. The first week of the students’ updates will merely be a trial. Students are also expected to come up with 5 reasonable goals by the end of the first week to meet once the program is over. Students will be encouraged by teachers to speak to their virtual coach on choosemyplate.gov when they feel that no further improvements are being made to their health.
Accessibility should not be of an issue since the equipments will be left in the school's gymnasium over the duration of the program. Teachers are also encouraged to be role models and participate in this program with their students, so they too must create a SuperTracker profile. Students who do not have the additional resources such as computers, laptops, or ipads to record their daily information before bedtime are welcome to use the school’s computer. However, students may only utilize this resource before or after the start of the program to record the previous day’s information. This will be highly enforced since we do not want to cause a distraction during the program activities that might defer students from exerting their fullest capacity toward the activities. We strive for them to develop a sense of responsibility and dedication when assigning them to update their profile daily for homework. By developing such responsibility and dedication we can hope to ensure that students will make a habit of living healthily.
Management
In order to manage the program we will have three people from our program to monitor the arcade stimulated games so that they will not be misused. The regular physical education instructor will manage the outdoor groups as they normally would during the school year. However prior to beginning the program, the principal will gather the Physical Education instructors/educators for a mandatory meeting. It is up to the principal themselves, of course, if they will opt to choose to implement our program in their schools or not. If the choice is to accept our program then we will conduct it for three months. The principal may choose to stop the program when he or she feels that it is of more harm towards their students than of benefits, we will respectfully oblige to their choices. In general, all students enrolled in Physical Education classes will be a participant to our program and as well as the instructors for each class. Other staff members we hope to involve is the cafeteria staff. We will send in our request for replacing not so healthy choices for healthy choices. Vending machines, for example, will provide fruits rather than junk food. By changing such options we hope students will choose to invest their money in our healthy products rather than bringing junk food from home.
As for the roles of the faculty, they will be as follows: Track the students’ running times, check student’s pedometers daily to ensure no malfunctioning problems has occurred, and recording the results as it is. They can also help those from our program monitor the arcade stimulated game if they feel like they’d like a change in environment. We then will switch one or two of our program leaders from the indoor activities to monitor students in the outdoor activities. Their main role, as to ours is to keep these students on track and to provide necessary assistance when needed. Overall, staff members are expected to maintain a safe yet educational environment to help instill healthy life long habits even after the program.
To coincide with building a safe environment, we will provide training for faculty towards the usage of our equipment. Training will extend until all staff members are almost experts in our equipments. We will hire developmental psychologists to help faculty members and our program leaders build a strong sense of communication skills. These communication skills will be highly implemented since the lack of motivation falls into one of the many reasons for obesity.
Evaluation
In order to conclude if our technology has made a difference we will base it on naturalistic observations. After the program, when the arcade stimulated games are taken away that is we will continue to watch the students’ SuperTracker profile to see who is still making updates. We will also distribute a survey at the end of the year to see how many are exercising and eating healthy outside of their Physical Education classrooms. Our questions will include such things as inferring on the amount of times students devote to exercising per week or their daily intake of fruits and vegetables. To avoid faulty responses we will personally conduct phone interviews with their parents or guardians to confirm the students’ answers. Finally, we will compile their student reports from the SuperTracker immediately after the end of our program to see if many, some, or very little progress has been made for each individual student. Once we gather all the reports, surveys, and observations after a year and see significant positive changes in the majority of these students’ lives we can infer that our program has some sort of effect. However, to ensure that our program really did make an impact we can have a longitudinal study where we track these students into their freshmen year of college, most known as “Freshmen 15.” Therefore, if by the end of their freshmen year in college and our students are either able to maintain their weight or not gain any at all we can be more credible than before in saying that our program does work to help decrease obesity.
Works Cited
"Adolescent and School Health." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 15 Sept. 2011. Web. 16 May 2012. <http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/obesity/facts.htm>.
"America's Walking: Pedometers." PBS. PBS. Web. 19 May 2012. <http://www.pbs.org/americaswalking/gear/gearpedometers.html>.
LelandT21. "Technology In The PE Classroom (XRKADE)." YouTube. YouTube, 13 Sept. 2010. Web. 14 May 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlcqVLlATNw>.
Lund, PhD, Jacalyn Lea, and Mary Fortman Kirk, PhD. "Using Pedometers to Assess Physical Activity Participation Levels." Humankinetics. Web. 14 May 2012. <http://www.humankinetics.com/excerpts/excerpts/using-pedometers-to-assess-physical-activity-participation-levels>.
"Obesity In Children And Teens." American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. Mar. 2011. Web. 18 May 2012. <http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/facts_for_families/obesity_in_children_and_teens>.

Please post yourBackground Information
Computer Literacy is one of the most important skills that a person can have in this day and age. With the growing field of technology, more jobs in the United States are being created in the technical sector or have requirements that employees be proficient in knowing how to use technology. Students that attend schools in underprivileged communities are at a strong disadvantage in their future endeavors because they are usually exposed to technology at a much later age or not at all.
Lincoln Elementary school in San Bernardino, California is home to one of the most underprivileged communities in California. The school does not have a computer lab and there are a few classrooms that are equipped with a few old Macintosh G3 Desktop computers which were first released in 1997. The computers have one educational video game called number crunchers on it that helps the students with their arithmetic skills and the students are able to learn how to type on the outdated keyboards. These old Macintosh computers are not adequate enough for students to be able to learn the skills necessary to succeed in the future.
Mr. Xander Wilson, a 5th grade teacher at Lincoln Elementary has a vision to teach his students how to be proficient with technology and to teach them using the guidance from the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) that was released by the International Society for Technology in Education (ITSE). According to the ITSE there are six essential skills that students should have in order to prove that they are proficient with technology and have skills to be successful.
There are six core skills that the International Society for Technology in Education has set as performance indicators. In general these skills are: Creativity, Collaboration, Research Fluency, Critical Thinking, Digital Citizenship and Technology Operations (ITSE). A student must have these core skills in order to be successful in the age of technology. These skills can be utilized and tested in the classroom by incorporating them in different subject areas in subsequent lesson plans. The specific learning need that Mr. Wilson is addressing here is Computer Literacy, and he plans to do this by incorporating technology into lesson plans for other subjects as well. As a general example of a lesson that Mr. Wilson can incorporate with technology is California’s history standards. Mr. Wilson would plan to teach his students how to do a group research project that would teach the students how to be creative, work as a team, measure their ability to research and think while at the same time teaching the students about United States history and Technology Operations (California State Standards).
In order for Mr. Wilson’s dream of helping his students become proficient in technology and helping them with these essential life skills, Mr. Wilson plans on purchasing 25 Dell Desktops from Dell’s Education Program if he was to gain approval from this grant. The school already owns a license for bulk licensing for its Microsoft Office Student Edition Suite, so the students would have access to the tools they need in order to learn how to type and create power point presentations. In addition to these Microsoft Tools there are a number of free educational games, and tools that are available for the students to be able to use in order to incorporate other aspects of the classroom into Mr. Wilson’s lesson plans.
The price for each All-In-One Dell desktop is currently $468 dollars each and with 20 computers is well within the Grant Proposal’s budget. The school does have internet access that can be connected to all of the computers using ethernet hubs which would cost $50 dollars. Mr. Wilson minored in Computer Networking while in college as has experience setting up the computers and connecting them to the internet. The plan is to also teach the kids about internet safety and citizenship and making it a requirement that the students pass a test before they are allowed to use the computers and internet at school. Having the students pass these internet safety and etiquette tests will teach the students about digital citizenship as well as internet safety which would already help the students with all six of the core ITSE standards.
The future job market in an emerging, technology driven society means that people need to be able to know how to use technology in order to survive. Without funding for new computers and teaching kids at a young age how to be proficient at research skills and other ITSE standards, the students at Lincoln Elementary will be at a serious disadvantage and will not be prepared for their endeavors into Middle and High School which would seriously hinder their chances at attending prestigious colleges and ultimately would limit them in getting good jobs. Providing these students with a computer lab will bridge the technology gap and help level the playing field for students at Lincoln Elementary.
Project Description
One of the most important technological skills is the ability to type. To have the students meet the goal of knowing how to type, teachers can use The Typist, a free app on the iTunes app store or on Google Chrome. The app helps students build their typing skills to be faster and more proficient through various typing activities. To prepare them for the real world and future higher education, students need to know how to research and create presentations. Teachers will properly teach and train students how to find information on the World Wide Web for their research using Google Scholar. As well as using Microsoft PowerPoint, we also plan on having our teachers teach students how to use Prezi, a free online site that allows students use their creativity to create a powerpoint presentation. Communication is an important skill in the real-world. In almost every classroom, there are one or two students who are either shy or have a language barrier. To encourage these students to talk, we will use a free online program called Voki. It allows for students to create their own avatar and add voice to it. This is a fun way to use technology and it motivates all students, including the shy ones, to participate in discussion.
Teachers will either create or adjust lesson plans to use the technology and the programs that will be made available. Many educational websites such as Voki, have a lesson plan database that teachers can use to implement the technology and programs. Instead of having students write down their ideas on a sheet of paper, teachers can have their students improve their typing skills by having them type up their ideas. Many of the times when teachers assign research projects to students, the parents end up doing most of the work and putting the poster board together. Using the online Prezi program, students will want to work on their presentation by themselves and want to keep on going even when teachers tell them to stop because students love to get their hands on technology.
The computer technology will be available for teachers and students to use during school hours. Many of the programs that will be put onto the computers are at no cost through online websites or the app store. If students or teachers would like to download or install a program on any of the thirty computers purchased, they will have to get it approved that the program is for educational use first. Students and teachers will be able to use the internet on the computers as long as they follow the acceptable use policies.
After receiving the grant proposal here.and purchasing thirty desktops, the school district's information technology department will be contacted to set up all the computer stations with internet connection and block sites for safety. Educational Microsoft software will also be purchased for the technology specialist to install on each of the computers. Afterwards, an instructor will be found to train the teachers who are interested on how to use the technology for educational purposes. The teachers will be introduced to new educational websites such as Wordle, Prezi, Khan Academy, Voki, and much more. When the teachers have become educated of the many educational websites out there that they can use to engage students, we will inform our students of the acceptable use policy for using the desktops at school. Students will have to get parent waiver form signed and returned before they are allowed to use the desktops and engage in many of these educational websites.
To support this project, teachers will need to attend a training event held by an expert or teachers will need to take some of their own time to learn how to use the technology. We will also need to purchase the educational Microsoft Office program which the children will use to learn to type up assignments, make Excel spreadsheets, and use PowerPoint. To allow the students to be able to search for information through the Internet, we will need to contact the school district to get a wireless network set up at the school. A computer specialist will be needed to set up all the programs on the computers and will be needed if any technological problem occurs on any of the thirty computers. The computer specialist will also have to block websites for the safety of the students.
Management
The head of this project will be Xander Wilson who has a degree in computer science. He will be one of the teachers helping out with this project. However, he will see and manage all the details in the project. These details will include teacher-calendar planning, making sure the adequate technology/software needed for the classroom is appropriate. He will make sure the teachers who will provide the lessons/activities for the classroom/lab will be provided with the adequate training. He will also work closely with any information technology staff the school district and school department has provided to facilitate things are going smoothly in the project.
The other roles that are going to be involved in the implementation of the project will be an information technology staff specialist provided by the school department who will help out with any malfunctions and updates needed on the desktops or software. The information technology staff specialist will set up all the programs on the desktops. The school department will also provide the classroom with the setup of the wireless network in the lab/classroom. Also, the school district will also have a role in providing the classroom/lab for the teachers. The school district will also provide the filtering and blocking technology for student’s safety.
The roles and responsibilities of the teacher Mr. Wilson in this project will be to take into account the needs children who attend at risk schools. Provide activities that will help at risk children bridge the digital divide and enhance their learning.
The skills the teacher in this project needs are how to work various different websites and how to work with Microsoft Office programs. They will need to know how to use desktops. They will also need to be up to date on their technological skills. Thus, the teachers will need training to provide their students with the adequate skills needed to be successful.
The training will be provided by Xander Wilson who is a specialist in computer science and also the teacher head of this project. He along with some other staff from the school district will set up a training event during the summer, once the classroom/lab is ready for students, to educate them on proper and adequate programs, and websites. These training events will be continually given every summer so the teachers are up to date on their technological skills so they can give their students the sufficient skills needed for them to be successful in bridging the digital divide.
Evaluation
The teachers can incorporate measurement tools or assign an end of the year project that tests the student’s skills and knowledge. For example, the teacher can create a simple account to Poll Everywhere to see the students’ progress within the class. This allows the teacher to create a question that is either multiple choice or free response, which the students are able to answer them by taking a quick poll. The teacher also has the ability to control the poll as well as, view the student’s responses. By viewing the responses this allows the teacher to focus on students that are struggling with a specific subject.
Survey Monkey is similar to Poll Everywhere where teachers are able to create a free account that lets them generate a survey up to ten questions. After the teacher is done entering the survey questions the website will provide a link in which they can copy the link onto an email. The students can log on to their email address and click on the link that will directly take them to the survey. The teacher can log back on to see some of the responses and also view the data. The students can make their own surveys and put them on the class website where they can spend time to answer each other’s questions. This will allow the students to think critically by developing their own math or reading questions on the website. The teacher can check if the students know the material or not by looking at the questions and responses.
The Typist is a free app from iTunes or Google store that teachers can download to help students learn how to type. This program allows the students to type without looking at the keyboard and also lets them record their speed. If the students need to improve on their speed they can get more practice. At the end of each lesson the program displays the results, where the students can see how fast they were typing. After the students are done with all the exercises they can see their progress and what they need to work.
The instructor can show the basic skills of how to use Microsoft office and assign an assignment that test the students’ knowledge. For example, the teacher can tell the students to make a propaganda poster from the 1950’s in Microsoft word. This will test and challenge the student’s prior knowledge by allowing them to be creative where they can play around with the font size as well as, the style. Also, the students can explore and use different programs like clip art and templates.
Bibliography
1. http://www.iste.org/standards.aspx
2. http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/histsocscistnd.pdf
3. http://www.dell.com/us/k-12/p/desktop-deals

Please post yourSection 1:
Middle school is a crucial time period in which the student is expected to master new concepts in preparation for entering high school. In doing so, it is vital for the students to interact and become engaged in their learning environment. Due to the necessity of the interaction, it is highly important to receive a grant proposal here.in order to provide the students with the best learning tools that they will need.
Roosevelt middle school, an intermediate school located in the District of Columbia is seeking to obtain a grant in the amount of ten thousand dollars to provide learning tools to the students for an upcoming field trip. Details of the tools for the project will be provided upon further reading of this proposal. The dole purpose of this academic field trip to the historic sites in the District of Colombia is to allow for visual learning and first-hand experience for the students. It will assist them in preparing for their high school education and to allow them to appreciate the history of this great nation. The curriculum in Virginia states that the students are required to learn and master the history of the United States in seventh grade. For this reason, our grant is specifically for tools for the seventh graders to use on their field trip.
Many concepts are taught throughout the seventh grade academic year, but a few are key concepts that will be highlighted on their trip. The learning skills that will be the sole focus of the field trip are communication, writing, history and creativity. In order for the students to enhance their communication skills, they will be required to approach and interview various people at different historical landmarks. Such landmarks will include the grounds of the Whitehouse, the Lincoln Memorial, The United States Capitol Building and the United States Department of Treasury. The will be interviewing questions based on the content standards that were taught in class to further develop their knowledge. The student will choose a topic related to the landmark they are visiting, and using their knowledge about it and information they have collected from the participant, will create a final project on the particular topic. As previously stated, detailed information regarding the project will be identified.
Another skill that the students will be working on will be their writing skills. After completion of their interviews, the students will be required to write notes based on what they have learned on the tablets that have been provided to them for the field trip. By doing so, it will allow the students to deepen their understanding by putting together their thoughts and information into an essay format. It is vital for their learning that they have this interaction with people because it will help them remember the information, enhance their communication skills and help them put into words how the experience made them feel.
A third skill that will be important for the seventh grade field trip is to focus on the historical aspect of the trip. It will allow them to review what they have learned throughout the year and focus on a topic they have found most interesting and relevant to the trip. Such concepts that have been taught in the curriculum are, but are not limited to; distinguish between relevant and irrelevant information, formulate an informed, carefully reasoned position on a community issue, identifying the purposes for the Constitution of the United States as stated in its Preamble, describing the role of the Electoral College in the election of the president and vice president, examining the impact of the media on public opinion and public policy. It is important to gain this first-hand experience in relation to these topics to understand the opinions of others, outside in the real world. By opening the student’s minds the environment, they may understand these issues in a different way.
The last skill that will be enhanced is the students’ creativity. They will use their knowledge to create a presentable project in form of a PowerPoint through their tablets, or using special programs such as Wiki or Comic Life. They will be able to choose the program to use to enhance their autonomy and creativity.
Minimal research has been conducted in the field of education in regards to students using tablets in the classroom. However, the research that has been produced has shown that tablets are actually beneficial to student’s learning. The first example is a study conducted by Corn and Oliver (2008) which sought to understand if student’s using technology for activities and special programs did better in the classroom throughout the year than those that were not using the same technology. More specifically, they sought to determine if they had greater satisfaction with technology at the school, more exposure to technology-supported classroom activities, more technology use in different subject areas, and greater technology skill. At the end of the year the students answered a questionnaire regarding the technology.
The results showed that after one year with tablets, several differences in students’ technology use and skill were documented, including: higher satisfaction with school technology, greater frequency of technology use in specific subjects such as math and science, greater frequency of certain classroom activities such as two-way communicating, and greater technology skills on competencies such as editing collaborative wikis. Progress of student collaboration was evident after implementing the tablet program, including sharing notes and co-editing wikis.
Another study conducted by Rismark and Solvberg (2012) the use of wireless technology in the classroom proved very effect as the students were thrilled to be able to use it. They found that it increased learning due to the fact that students found it very easily mobile. Their responses of the technology stated that they enjoyed using the mobile technologies, such as the tablets because it provided new studying opportunities. Although this research was conducted at the university level, it is very applicable to students at the high school and middle school levels. One positive aspect of the technology was the flexibility of being able to study at any time and any place.
It is difficult to interpret the long-term effect of the tablet devices, due to the modernization of them. It is important to note though, that the impact of the tablets have been positive compared to negative. It will be very interesting to see the benefits of the tablets in many different schools around the country. But, for now, we will begin our tablet journey at Roosevelt High School in Virginia.
Section 2
This project will last for a total of one school week. The ten 7th grade students, the one 7th grade teacher, and one parent volunteer will be visiting Washington, D.C. for two days at the beginning of the week and conducting interviews with different people in the district and visiting the famous memorials/monuments. Students will have the freedom to interview people from a handful of places in the district. Students will have predetermined questions that they will ask that follow different Virginia content standards for the 7th grade Social Studies requirements. These questions will already be approved by the teacher before the trip in order to ensure that the interviews are successful and that the students are learning different aspects of history in person. Wednesday and Thursday the students will work together outside of the classroom to produce their videos, finish their journals, and create another visual project. Students will have access to the school computers and also have access to their own computers to facilitate the technological component of the project. On Friday, the students will present their videos and creative projects to the rest of the class in the afternoon. Through these interviews, students will use the four major educational skills----reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Students will film multiple interviews and then create a visual project displaying their results to the rest of the class the following week.
While visiting in the district, students will also be writing at least four journals about their experiences during the trip. Students will use tablets to record the interviews, take pictures, type their journals, and have extra applications to make their projects easier. As for reading, the students will collect their favorite brochures from the different historical places. These brochures must include detailed information and a creative design that present United States history in a different way than just reading from the school textbook. Students will have the tablets for the week and then they will be returned back to the classroom for other students to use during the rest of the school year. The teacher and the parent volunteer will not have tablets, due to the cost, but are more than welcomed to have their own cameras and other digital devices to record their experiences as well.
From the grant money, we will need twelve Metro tickets for two days for the entire group. We will also need ten tablets and necessary cables for the students to use for the week. In order to fund the creative project, we will provide the students with gift cards so the students can buy various applications to make the project flow easier. We will of course need there to be willing employees to be a part of the student interviews. We hope that this will be an enjoyable experience for both the Roosevelt Intermediate School students and the different employees within the district.
Section 3:
Leadership skills, roles and responsibilities
This project will revolve primarily around the supervision of 4 adult student teachers who will guide the students in the use of the purchased tablets in order to enrich their learning experience interviewing the people of Washington D.C.
Ruth Byer will be the leader of this project, as she will provide her expertise as a history degree major to make sure students are recording information accurately. She will also be the brains of this operation so any problems the students or assistant staff might face will consult her for her opinion on the matter. Ruth has proven to be a competent leader and will surely fulfill her role as team leader to best of her extent.
One of the lead student teacher assistants will be Lindsay Rejniak who will direct the students to potential hotspots for them to dig out information from busy local vendors. Lindsay will also research places like museums and natural landmarks that will perhaps provide some insight into the history of our nation’s capital. She will also map the public transportation route that the students will take in order to reach their required destinations with time to gather information.
Michael To will be the class maintenance advisor to make sure all of the students’ apps and tablets are fully functional and ready to be used. He will also act as the progression tracker to make sure students do not fall behind or move on ahead too soon as they advance their project. He will be on standby at each location at certain time intervals, but if a student at another location needs him his cell phone will be ready to take incoming calls from students who need help.
Maribel will be the class advisor meaning she will communicate with the head consultants of the vendors and museums the class will be visiting in order to set-up a special deals and accommodations for our students. Maribel will also be a stop gate and fill in the missing roles that might or might not be needed during the trip.
b) Staff skills, roles and responsibilities
The teachers will serve as guardians and guides during this project where a large group of children will be exploring the world outside the classroom for two whole days. The teachers will also watch as students try to interact with the environment and see them progress with not only their social and comprehension skills but also their ability to use their newfound technology in a positive way. Then they will return to the class and help the students further their understanding of their country’s history while also learning how to use the latest technology made available to them through this grant.
The teachers will need a specific skill set to fulfill their roles in this project. Ruth is our history expert as she has her degree in social science from the University of California Irvine and has the leadership skills to take this project and take off with it. Her ability to control potential conflicts makes her the perfect choice to lead this project. Lindsay’s expertise in the use of directional technology along with her savvy planning skills allows her to plan out the route the students will take in order to complete their assignment under the time allotted while also getting the most out of the experience. Our tech expert Michael will use his ever expanding knowledge of technology to keep our student’s tablets in working condition while helping educate students on how to work every aspect of their personal device from the camera to the apps itself. He will also keep track of the time that each destination is given and make sure the project runs smoothly. Maribel will act as our voice to the multiple outlets that we will use for this trip. She will find us the best deals out there in order to save us money by inquiring on potential deals that can be pre-arranged for large groups such as ours. She will also fill in multiple roles that might be needed during the trip such as a emergency nurse with the skills to apply first aid when needed.
c) Professional Development
The training required for this training will include information on where the project will take place, which Lindsay will take care of and lecture her other colleagues on in order to ensure a safe and sound trip. Maribel will receive instruction on how to apply first aid to students who get injured while working on this project. Michael will do research into the tablets’ primary and secondary functions so he can fix any problems that might arise from this new technology. He will also research the apps we will be using so that he can fix any problems that might correlate with that. Ruth will not need any training and will work using her intuition and knowledge she has acquired through years of training.
The training will be supplemented by either the teacher themselves or given by outside resources. For Lindsay she will use multiple online sources to procure her information on the many outlets and locations in D.C. As for Maribel she will get training in first aid use from our school nurse who will show her basic and intermediate ways of taking care of an injured or sick student. Michael will mostly do research on his own by reading the instructional guides that are available online from the company that makes the tablets.
Aside from the nurse instructing Maribel on first aid, most of the learning resources will be learned online. The internet will be the main educator to our staff as they take the most efficient techniques to make sure this project is a success.
Section 4:
Throughout the course of this project students will be given several assessments that will cover different areas. The first assessment/evaluation that will be administered to the students will cover areas of motivation and interest in the subject covered through this project. The participants of this project will be the most at-risk seventh grade students. Students will be administered a survey generated through SurveyMonkey, which will contain questions designed to measure students' motivation and interest in school. Students will be administered a pre-project assessment to establish a baseline of students' motivation and interest in school and in the project. The post-project assessment will measure whether students' motivation and interest levels has increased, which is one of the aims of this project.
In addition to measuring and evaluating the students' levels of motivation and interest regarding school, this project will also involve an evaluation and comparison of students' grades. The students who will be taking part of this project will be at-risk, which means that evaluating their post-project grades and make a determination of the influence of this project on the students' grades and performance. Since students participating in this project are expected to get more interested and motivated in learning and having a better performance in school, which would be reflected in the students generating better grades than the ones they were obtaining before this project. The grades will be compared to the end of the year grades that the students earn.
Students will be graded on the assignments they are expected to complete in the duration of this project using specifically designed rubrics for each of the assignments. Students will be graded on terms of their writing skills, communication skills, and creativity in the final products that they generate after the project is completed by the students. Students' final written products (the journal compilation of the interviews) will be evaluated on overall writing quality, grammatical errors, and relevancy to the assignment. Students' video presentations and additional presentation will be evaluated/graded on terms of how creatively they present the data (interview, brochures, and video) they gather during their trip. Students' grades will also include a section in their presentation skills, when presenting to their classroom peers their presentations. Students will also be graded on their ability to make connections between the material being learned in the classroom and the assignments they generate out of this project.
References
Corn, Kevin M. & Oliver, Jeni O. (2008). Student-reported differences in technology use and skills after the implementation of one-to-one computing. Educational Media International, 45(3), 215-229.
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Solvberg, A. M., & Rismark, M. (2012). Learning spaces in mobile environments. //Active learning in higher education, 13//(1), 23-33. </span>