Bloom's

Lesson evaluation:

I currently teach a Science/Biology unit in which students learn about the systems of the human body and the ways the systems work together.  In our school, we have three 5^th grade classrooms, and we put students from each of the classrooms into groups to work together on the final product, which is an expository website.  Systems are divided into four parts:  expository writing, technical drawing, an experiment about the system, and suggestions/ways to keep the system healthy.  Each group of students is assigned a different part of a system, and they provide the piece for the website. 

Currently, we plan time into our schedule for student groups to meet.  The only time they can work together is at school.  This has the inherent problem of students being absent or not available to work during school work time.  I believe I could re-write this lesson and use a wiki for groups to collaborate.  If they had the opportunity to work on their projects after school hours, but could still work together via the wiki, they could finish their products faster and with less hassle.  Some students tend to play when given the opportunity to work together in person, but may take it more seriously if they are working online.  Also, most wikis give the administrator the opportunity to view when work was done and by whom.  This would insure fair grading procedures for all members of the group.  Also, if students cannot work on the project from home, they could use work time at school, or media time, to work on the project via the wiki. 

All work could then be submitted electronically, thus reducing the time spent to re-type or scan work into the computer to be placed on the website.  This will also save time at school that can be used for learning.  Overall, I think a wiki will be a great alternative for collaborative groups when completing the final product for our human body study.