Creativity tools allow students to take the content they have learned and use the knowledge to create a product to share that knowledge. They only work if the student truly understands the concept taught. There are many creativity tools available online and many are free to use. Some allow you to save files on the site, while some allow a pdf to be saved and then printed at a later time.
I looked at several different creativity tools during this activity. Some were easier to use than others. Glogster.edu allowed me to create a graphic poster with images and video from our summer vacation. I am including a link below to the glog I created for my practice project.
http://coolmrsd.edu.glogster.com/yellowstone-glog/
Two other items I looked at were for making comic strips. Professor Garfield Comics was easy to use and allowed me to make funny panels with different characters and backgrounds. It was fun taking the different characters from Garfield and giving them dialogue for various concepts in science. One of the things I did not like however, was the limited backgrounds. Most were rooms with different wallpaper which does not give students enough options to create comics about different concepts in science, especially if we are discussing biomes and ecosystems. The other site was Make Beliefs Comix. For this tool, I was able to not only add a variety of characters, but also many props and backgrounds. The tools allowed for flipping characters around and re-scaling them to fit in the panels. I did not like how you could not re-size the text in the bubbles, but was able to work around that with using different size bubbles. I created a comic strip about muscles. This is currently something we are learning about in class.
I have also used Photostory and even different online video creation tools for my lessons in the past. While some were easy to use, a few required more practice to make great presentations. Once you learn how they work, it is easier to create the presentations you want and share with others.
I chose this time to focus more on Glogster.edu. This tool gave me many different poster options and allowed me to upload video and image files for use in my glogs. Students would be able to use this creative site to make glogs about specific concepts, say biomes, and then add images, videos, and text to support their learning. They can share these with other students and present to the class.
This tool supports the constructivist theory that students are creative, innovative, and self-directed. By using their prior knowledge, they are able to create something that adds information to the filing system in their brains. Because it is self-directed, they are in charge of how much or little they actually learn. It can be centered around a specific concept in the content area you teach, such as human body systems. Students could be assigned a specific system in the human body and then find images and short video clips to present that information to others. If this is set-up in a teacher account, these presentations may be shared with all classes instead of the one that student is in.
I might also use this tool to give information I want students to know before they come to the next class. I did not have a chance to really look at this capability, but I imagine it would allow me to add hyperlinks to websites as well. For my english classes, I could see them using this tool to create an analysis of a book or short story we read in class. They could use images and videos to further analyze the setting and even characters in the story. We could also look at the author and create a poster on his or her life and achievements. I could see history teachers using a glog to present time periods and even specific events of historical importance. Through images and even short videos if available, they would bring history to life for others.
Creativity tools are enjoyable to use. Students can be as creative as they want and still learn in the process. It appeals to their desire to socialize with others and they want to share the knowledge they know. If we use these tools to motivate our students, they will want to learn more. When they learn more, they become more confident in their ability to learn and share. Standardized tests do not really give us a good sense of where students are in their learning. They are more of a snapshot of memory retention, but do not truly show if students are able to take that knowledge and think critically. Also, we give them choices and they just narrow down the options to the one they think most accurately answers the question. Most quiz tools only allow for assessing that same memory retention. Students will memorize the information required and then forget it right after they finish the test or quiz. I see it everyday in class. I have to refresh their minds periodically by going back and asking them to think about the concept and important points. That is what quizzes and online test tools do. They just make them remember concepts but not apply that knowledge to a deeper level of understanding. Some interactive games allow for a little more creative thinking, but they do not give students a chance to create something of their own. The knowledge they have is not shared with others. That is why teachers should search for different creativity tools to use in the classroom. Students will learn to use valuable tools that will allow them to be better prepared for the future when they are asked to become innovative and creative in their careers.
No comments:
Post a Comment