| 2002 Design Teams |
| The
2002 RTT Design Teams consisted of pre-service teachers, Graduate
Program in Teaching faculty, Arts and Sciences faculty and partner
district teachers who collaborate in a curriculum design process to
integrate technology into authentic teaching units. Below are descriptions
of the 2002 Design Team Curriculum Units. Comprehensive
Grammar School-Grade 8-Genetics
Dean Gaudet, Kathleen Hubert, Kathleen Kelly (CGS) John Wren (UML)  Two
eighth grade science teachers teamed up to design a technologically
based unit dealing with genetics. They used technology from the
beginning of the unit and followed it through to the culminating
project. Assignments such as illustrated glossaries and punnet squares,
which were previously completed by hand, were enthusiastically completed
by the students using Microsoft Word and Power Point. To complete
the unit, the students, through the use of I-Movie, conferenced
with the Genetics Institute in Andover, MA to gain further knowledge
of the topic Comprehensive Grammar School-Grade 7-Southeast Asia Dean Gaudet, Heather Holbrook, Lorraine Levinson, (CGS) John Wren (UML)
Methuen High School-Grade 10 -The Vietnam War Diane Dandreta, Frank Gurczak, Eileen Hayes, Michael Hughes, Gail Watts (MHS) Andy Alfano, Christopher Carlsmith, Andrea Mitchell, John Wren (UML)
Byam School, Chelmsford-Grade 1-Weather and Plants Barbara Costello, Judith Goffin, Marilyn Sweeney (Byam) Katelyn Cuipa, John Wren (UML)
Westlands School, Chelmsford- Grade 4-Industrialization/Immigration Kristin Howe, Mary O'Gorman, Marilyn Sweeney (Westlands) Lawrence Gross, Patricia Fontaine, Jennifer Randall, John Wren (UML)
Butler School, Lowell-Grade 7 -Graphing Calculators Susan Lamontagne, Maureen Sweeney (Butler) Joy Prout, Marvin Stick (UML)
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A
science and geography teacher teamed up to infuse technology into
an existing multidisciplinary unit that focuses on Southeast Asia.
As a guide, each student was asked two essential questions: “What
are the main characteristics of the cultures and economics of East
Asia and the Pacific?” and “How is the region affected
by its geography?” The culminating project for each student
is a Power Point show and a role play of the “CGS Nightly
News”. Groups of students were assigned topics affecting the
region and the jigsaw puzzle came together. The teachers created
an I-Movie of the students presentations as their final project.
The
MHS History teachers have created a video documentary about the
Vietnam War and the anti-war protest movement, focusing specifically
on the Lowell Moratorium of Oct. 15, 1969. This event included a
large pro-peace march from Lowell State (now U Mass Lowell) through
downtown Lowell culminating in a candlelight vigil at Shedd Park.
For the documentary, the MHS teachers prepared several hundred MHS
students to reenact the Lowell Moratorium by dressing in costume,
making signs, and then performing a mock march on school grounds.
This reenactment was combined with actual TV footage of LBJ and
the Tet offensive, in addition to interviews of Moratorium organizers,
Vietnam veterans, and others involved with the protest movement,
creating an hour-long video that teaches students about both sides
of this vital conflict.
Teachers,
graduate student and technology specialist reviewed and enhanced
the weather curriculum by integrating technology into the existing
weather program. Children use software, videos, and the internet
to learn about weather. Students learn about temperature, seasons,
seasonal changes, reading a thermometer, daily weather and temperature
logs, water cycle, clouds, precipitation, rain
gauge and testing fabrics for water penetration.
The
industrialization/immigration unit uses the theme of technology
to interrelate physical science concepts of technology related to
machines, motion and design, with the 1880s period of industrialization,
urbanization and immigration. The unit objectives are drawn from
the Science and Technology Curriculum framework and the History
and Social Science Curriculum framework. As a design team we integrated
technology by student use of relevant software, conducted interactive
TV discussions between fourth graders and U Mass professors, videotaped
student explorations in Motion and Design, created a web page and
used Inspiration to make family trees.
The
seventh graders incorporated graphing calculators into the curriculum
this year. The culmination of this effort was a showcase for parent's
night. The students presented 6 mini lessons of various mathematical
topics while their parents used the graphing calculators to reproduce
outputs generated by their children.