ICT Department News

What is Australia? - SOLO Collaborative Group Research Task using Lucidchart

 
Hình của Mark Callagher
What is Australia? - SOLO Collaborative Group Research Task using Lucidchart
Bởi Mark Callagher - Friday, 26 September 2014, 2:40 PM
 

One of my Year 9 classes was  recently starting out on a new topic broadly covering Australia with their Social Studies teacher. We decided together to team up. As their ICT teacher I gave the class an investigation using an ICT diagramming tool where, in groups, they would research and present to the rest of the students a diagram answering the broad question "What is Australia?". There were constraints of course explained here in the SOLO Task description.

The satisfying outcome from ts task was that, when each group explained to the class why they had added the content and linked ideas as they had, they were all completely different.

What is Australia? by Rishabh, Kaleb, Omar and Antoine (below) shows a wide range of content, well explained and easy for someone who knows little about Australia to absorb.


mind mapping software

(Zoom in or Expand for easier viewing)

What is Australia? by Aidan, Kevin and Doug is another that shows a wider range of content, however their diagram demonstrates that you can give a lot more information in a simple and clearer way and colour, when used sparingly, can be ghly effective.

What is Australia? by Finn D, Finn M, Jeffrey and Ronan has the group taking a very different approach. The diagram at first appears less visually appealing showing a narrower range of topics covered. However, a closer look at what they are saying demonstrates a deeper and gher level of understanding through their connections (by linking) witn the diagram. They even make observations of irony when it comes to core values and rights of groups witn Australia.

Ts task goes to show teacng can often be about giving students authentic and challenging tasks to extend their tnking. Ts, supported by great digital applications and good exemplars, means that the teacher's role is to make them self available to guide and challenge the students as they work on the tasks. My students loved working on ts task, both in class and at home, wch makes Lucidchart a great collaborative and accessible tool to enhance teacng and learning.