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Activity 2: Identifying best practice

Reading template: 30 min
Reading and reflecting: 3 hrs
Brainstorm with group: 1 hr

4 hrs 30 mins



 

What makes an effective research-centred unit?

The purpose of this activity is to provide you with an opportunity to observe and analyse successful research-centred units of work that involve learners working with information.

There are many different ways in which learners can work with information and it is our duty as educators to adopt those models that provide a good basis of information skills and practices that enhance lifelong learning. We operate within a curriculum framework that expects educators to develop learners to be of real value to our global information society.
Activity
  1. Read these guiding questions in the project analysis template. This will make your work in step 2 more focused.

  2. Spend at least 3 hours exploring these research-centred units and resources:

    Photo Set 1
    Photo Set 2
    Apartheid Project
    Energy Audit
    Boiling Point
    Paper or Plastic?

    As you explore them, bear in mind the guiding questions in the template and write down some thoughts as they occur to you. After reading about each one, think about what made them work, what made them effective, what made them worth doing? Complete the project analysis template as you work through the units. Save it as a Word document using the name unit analysis.

  3. Conduct a collaborative online brainstorm with your group. List the factors that make research-centred units of work successful.

  4. Return to this brainstorm tool periodically during the next week. Read the list of factors and consider the input from your group. If you agree with their input, update your list of success factors in the unit analysis template.

  5. Once you feel that you have a satisfactory list of factors, save your unit analysis file.

    Use your e-diary to make closing comments about the activity.

Advanced resources:

You may like to look at the complete set of project examples provided with this module.

ASSIGNMENT 1

You should attempt this assignment after you have completed Activity 2.

What to do:

Identify at least 5 units of work that have been successfully implemented by other teachers and are modelled on research-based learning (learning that requires learners to respond to open questions by finding information from various sources). Analyse these units and identify the principles of best practice that emerges from this analysis. Compile a list of 10 points as guidelines for the design of research-based units

Use the examples of units that appear on the CD. Your analysis document should be no fewer than 800 words.

What to submit:

Save your essay as <your_student_number>-Elective10-principles
e.g. 205654321-Elective10-principles

Send this saved document as a file attachment in e-mail to your tutor (using the subject heading "Working with Information - Assignment 1").

 

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Once you have completed this activity, click here to move to Before you start planning.
 
Working with Information
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