Practice: Building Skills and Understanding

Practice in Action

Activities typically involve students learning through a computer that is connected to the Internet or running a program designed to remediate or build skills in a specific content area. This practice can directly or indirectly support learning objectives for even the youngest students.

Review the computer programs available to you and determine if they are appropriate to your students' needs. Consider content, age-range, equity, appropriateness, format, language, technical requirements, user reviews, cost, and licensing. Select the best game, puzzle, or tutorial based on a student's needs and skills as well as overall curriculum goals. Verify that you have the proper electronic connections and equipment to maximize the technology experience. Read Guidelines for Choosing Appropriate Games, Puzzles, and Tutorials (PDF).

Use of these types of applications in afterschool settings needs to be intentional, selective, and done in moderation. That is, be purposeful and do not allow students to become bored or lose sight of the instructional goals. Because some students can become disengaged, distracted, or overstimulated by computer activities, carefully monitor students and they time they spend at the computer. Have students reflect on their learning, and plan a follow-up activity.

Remember that assessing student skills, completing the activity, and determining computer needs are all part of the planning process. Getting Started: Considerations for Activity Planning (PDF)will help you get underway.

Building Skills and Understanding works because computer-based learning can accommodate students in a variety of situations and with different learning styles and needs. Computer-based activities, such as games and puzzles, exert a magnetic attraction for some children. Research is not conclusive regarding claims that computer-based learning increases math skills or other content areas skills. However, used appropriately and with instructional intent, this type of learning can benefit many children.

Planning Your Lesson

Great afterschool lessons start with having a clear intention about who your students are, what they are learning or need to work on, and crafting activities that engage students while supporting their academic growth. Great afterschool lessons also require planning and preparation, as there is a lot of work involved in successfully managing kids, materials, and time.

Below are suggested questions to consider while preparing your afterschool lessons. The questions are grouped into topics that correspond to the Lesson Planning Template. You can print out the template and use it as a worksheet to plan and refine your afterschool lessons, to share lesson ideas with colleagues, or to help in professional development sessions with staff.

Lesson Planning Template (PDF)

Lesson Planning Template (Word document)

Grade Level
What grade level(s) is this lesson geared to?

Duration
How long will it take to complete the lesson? One hour? One and a half hours? Will it be divided into two or more parts, over a week, or over several weeks?

Learning Goals
What do you want students to learn or be able to do after completing this activity? What skills do you want students to develop or hone? What tasks do they need to accomplish?

Materials Needed
List all of the materials needed that will be needed to complete the activity. Include materials that each student will need, as well as materials that students may need to share (such as books or a computer). Also include any materials that students or instructors will need for record keeping or evaluation. Will you need to store materials for future sessions? If so, how will you do this?

Preparation
What do you need to do to prepare for this activity? Will you need to gather materials? Will the materials need to be sorted for students or will you assign students to be "materials managers"? Are there any books or instructions that you need to read in order to prepare? Do you need a refresher in a content area? Are there questions you need to develop to help students explore or discuss the activity? Are there props that you need to have assembled in advance of the activity? Do you need to enlist another adult to help run the activity?

Think about how you might divide up groups―who works well together? Which students could assist other peers? What roles will you assign to different members of the group so that each student participates?

Now, think about the Practice that you are basing your lesson on. Reread the Practice. Are there ways in which you need to amend your lesson plan to better address the key goal(s) of the Practice? If this is your first time doing the activity, consider doing a "run through" with friends or colleagues to see what works and what you may need to change. Alternatively, you could ask a colleague to read over your lesson plan and give you feedback and suggestions for revisions.

What to Do
Think about the progression of the activity from start to finish. One model that might be useful—and which was originally developed for science education—is the 5E's instructional model. Each phrase of the learning sequence can be described using five words that begin with "E": engage, explore, explain, extend, and evaluate. For more information, see the 5E's Instructional Model.

Outcomes to Look For
How will you know that students learned what you intended them to learn through this activity? What will be your signs or benchmarks of learning? What questions might you ask to assess their understanding? What, if any, product will they produce?

Self-Evaluation
After you conduct the activity, take a few minutes to reflect on what took place. How do you think the lesson went? Are there things that you wish you had done differently? What will you change next time? Would you do this activity again?

Sample Lessons

Resources

Ringstaff, C., & Kelley, L. (2003). The learning return on our educational technology investment: A review of findings from research.San Francisco, CA: WestEd Regional Technology in Education Consortium in the Southwest.

The following resources are related to the "Geography Puzzles and Games" sample lesson.

Map games http://www.maps.com/FunFacts.aspx?nav=FF#
Jigsaw Puzzle Gallery
 http://www.jigzone.com/g.php?3586....2B1...8
Earth View Simulator http://www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/vplanet.html
USA and World Puzzles http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/
Includes a variety of geography puzzles.

Test Your Geography Knowledge http://lizardpoint.com/fun/geoquiz/
This point-and-click activity provides several quizzes on all regions of the world.

Google Earth http://www.google.com/earth/
Google Earth combines Google Search with satellite imagery, maps, terrain and 3D buildings to put the world's geographic information at your fingertips.
Download a free copy of the application to each computer http://www.google.com/earth/

Guidelines for choosing appropriate online games, puzzles, and tutorials

Software Review Guides

Educational Software for Teenagers in After-School Settings:
https://secure.edc.org/publications/prodview.asp?1654
A Toolkit from the America Connects Consortium

Children's Software Review
http://www.childrenssoftware.com/
Unbiased reviews by teachers of educational video games, software, hardware, sites and tech toys. By affordable subscription - either online or print.

Other Online Puzzles And Games Multiple content areas

PBS Kids 
 http://pbskids.org/
Fun Brain 
 http://www.funbrain.com/
Brain Pop http://www.brainpop.com/(subscription required; trial available)

Reading

Star Fall 
 http://www.starfall.com
Tumblebooks 
 http://www.tumblebooks.com(subscription required; trial available)

Math (all levels)

A+ Plus Math http://www.aplusmath.com
Includes Homework Helper feature, which offers interactive multiplication and addition tables, and help tools in algebra.

Math Tools http://www.mathforum.com/mathtools/

Zoombinis Software 
 http://www.learningcompany.com/
Zoombinis Logical Journey is an epic adventure of math and skills through puzzle play. An inexpensive computer application.

National Council of Teachers in Mathematics http://illuminations.nctm.org/ActivitySearch.aspx
Math lessons and interactive tools for all levels.

The following resources are related to the "Learning Online (Tutorials)" sample lesson.

ESL (English as a Second Language) http://esl.about.com/
Review websites with games and activities appropriate to your students' age and understanding level. With older students, consider adapting some younger student games and lessons. Here is a helpful site that includes a variety of fun and engaging lesson plans for learning English in a variety of practical ways:
http://esl.about.com/od/childrenslessonplans/

Foreign Languages - All levels

French - http://french.about.com/
Spanish - http://spanish.about.com

American Sign Language

http://www.signingonline.com/courses/lessons/here-we-go

Online university courses and degrees

http://www.worldwidelearn.com/?s=ypi
http://www.elearners.com/?tsource=it&tid=68143

Tutorials on a variety of educational topics

http://www.khake.com/page67.html

For Fun

Learn Guitar- http://www.guitartricks.com/
Free Music Online- http://www.freelessons.org/
How to Do Almost Anything- http://www.ehow.com/
Wanna Learn- http://www.wannalearn.com/Just_for_Fun/