Higher Thinking Skills through IT- Based Projects

There are four types of IT-based projects which can effectively be used in order to engage students in activities of a higher plane of thinking.

These projects represent constructivist projects, containing the key elements of a constructivist approach to instruction, namely:

a.) the teacher creating the learning environment

b.) the teacher giving students the tools and facilities, and

c.) the teacher facilitating learning

But in these projects, it is the students themselves higher thinking skills and creativity by means of:

-searching for information

-organizing and synthesizing ideas

- creating presentations

THE FOUR IT- BASED PROJECTS:

I. RESOURCE- BASED PROJECTS

The teacher lets the students find their own facts and information. Only when necessary for the active learning process does the teacher step in to supply data or information.

 The general flow of events in resource- based projects are:

1.       The teacher determines the topic for the examination of the class

2.      The teacher presents the problem to the class.

3.       The students find information on the problem/ questions

4.      Students organize their information in response to the problem/ question

5.    Relating to finding information, the central principle is to make the students go beyond the textbook and curriculum materials. Students are also encouraged to go to the library, particularly to the modern extension of the modern library, the internet.

6.       Furthermore, the inquiry- based or discovery approach is given importance.

Finally, the process is given more importance than the project product.

The table that will follow can provide the difference between the traditional and resourced- based learning approach to instruction.

Traditional learning model	Resourced – based learning model
The teacher is expert and information provider	Teacher is  a guide and a facilitator
Textbook is key source of information	Sources are varied ( print, video, internet, etc.)
Focus on facts Information is packaged in neat parcels	Focus on learning inquiry/ quest/ discovery
The product is the be-all and end-all of learning	Emphasis on process
Assessment is quantitative	Assessment is quantitative and qualitative

II. Simple Creation

Students can also be assigned to create their software materials to supplement the need for relevant and effective materials.

In developing software, creativity as an outcome should not be equated with ingenuity or high intelligence. Creating is more consonant with planning, making, assembling, designing, or building. Creativity is said to combine three kinds of skills/abilities:

    Analyzing- distinguishing similarities and differences/ seeing the project as a problem to be solved.

     Synthesizing- making spontaneous connections among ideas, thus generating interesting or new ideas.

     Promoting- selling of new ideas to allow the public to test the ideas themselves.

         To develop creativity, the following five key tasks may be recommended:

      1.       Define the task.

      2.       Brainstorm

      3.        Judge the ideas.

      4.       Act

      5.       Adopt flexibility 

         III. Guided Hypermedia Projects

      The production of self- made multimedia projects can be approached in two           different ways:

1.       As an instructive tool, such as in the production by students of a power point presentation of a selected topic.

2.       As a communication tool, such as when the student do the multimedia presentation (with text, graphs, photos, audio, narration, interviews, video clips, etc.) to simulate a television news show. 

       IV. Web- Based Projects

Students can be made to create and post web pages in the given topic.

It should be said, however, that posting of web pages in the internet allow the student (now the webpage creator) a wider audience. They can also link with other related sites in the internet.