UNIT 3 GROUP ASSIGNMENT: WEB DESIGN AND LESSON

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Unit 3 Group Assignment: Web Design and Lesson
Deborah Bradbury, Ryan OConnor, and Stephen Penney
EDUC5105
http://calgarybridgereno911.weebly.com
Cape Breton University/Memorial University of Newfoundland
Presented to: Professor Diane Janes
August 24
th
, 2014
















UNIT 3 GROUP ASSIGNMENT: WEB DESIGN AND LESSON
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Calgary Bridge Reno 911 is an interdisciplinary project that uses a hands-on, project-
based learning (PBL) inquiry model of student learning. It was created as a Grade 7 project that
focuses on a challenge/scenario that requires a team of students to respond to a Request for
Proposal (RFP) by designing, building, and presenting a bridge model. There are many
ongoing stages and student tasks throughout this project that require the students to focus on
the process of learning curricular outcomes in addition to building a model bridge. For the
purposes of the Unit 3 Web Design project, this lesson plan will focus on the introductory
research, community walk, and bridge design and building. The correlating webpage for this
lesson plan can be found at http://www.calgarybridgereno911.weebly.com.
PBL is a model that organizes learning around projects (Thomas, 2000). The three
designers of this project felt that PBL was the best pedagogical approach for this challenge.
Specifically, the designers followed the philosophical approach to PBL as outlined by the Buck
Institute of Education. The significant content for this project is from Alberta Education
Programs of Study including Science, Social Studies, Math, English Language Arts, Career and
Technology Foundations and Art. 21st century competencies such as problem solving, critical
thinking, collaboration and communication while working in their engineering groups/businesses
to respond to the bridge RFP. Students are presented with a driving question that is open
ended. This allows them them flexibility, gives them a voice, and personal choice throughout
that is guided by the teacher(s). Students proceed through an in-depth inquiry while making
their way through various tasks and see the need to gain various pieces of knowledge and build
skills to answer the driving question. Finally, students have multiple points throughout the
project to critique and revise their work based upon ongoing formative and summative
assessments.
Our learner tasks have been designed to incorporate constructivism. McInerney and
McInerney (1994) state, that within a domain of knowledge, there may be a number of
individually constructed knowledge representations that are equally valid. The focus of teaching
UNIT 3 GROUP ASSIGNMENT: WEB DESIGN AND LESSON
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then becomes one of guiding the learner as they build on and modify their existing mental
models. The focus of constructivism is to construct new knowledge rather than knowledge
transmission (McInerney and McInerney, 1994). This is evident throughout the exploration and
task of bridge designing, where the students have constructed their own understanding of
forces, structure and nature and demonstrate their learning through the physical bridge model.
Additionally, our website offers an array of digital resources from various authors. Each
resource adds an additional perspective to the same body of knowledge, bridges and bridge
building. This helps students understand that each person forms their own representation of
knowledge, building on their individual experiences, and that there is no single correct
representation of knowledge (Von Glasereld, 1984).
The student website also includes an interactive map routing the field study path and the
bridge structures students will visit. This map allows students to go on a digital journey prior to
the practical field study and record and discuss their personal perspectives on the digital
experience visiting the bridges in their learning journey. Additionally, students will be asked to
compile their thoughts and share with other classmates in the discussion area. When students
return from their practical field study they will again reflect on their experience and discuss how
their perspectives and views have changed based on viewing the bridges in person. They will
compare and contrast the two experiences (digital and practica), and discuss how both
experiences shape their new knowledge of bridges. They will discuss with their group if they felt
both the digital and practical experiences led to a clearer understanding of bridges or if they
could have acquired that same knowledge and perspectives with only the digital or practical
experience. This dual digital/practical experience supports Piagets theory that students learn
through active exploration and that exploration uncovers inconsistencies between their current
knowledge and their experience (McInerney and McInerney, 1994).
To help develop the constructivist pedagogical approach the authors of this lesson plan
had to be creative and develop a method of delivering a singular concept (bridges), in a variety
UNIT 3 GROUP ASSIGNMENT: WEB DESIGN AND LESSON
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of ways. To engage our students, we developed the digital interactive field study on Google
Maps so they could compare a digital journey to their practical, in-person field study. We
embedded various videos to cover each aspect students would need understand in order to
construct a bridge model. Included on our site are two physics based bridge building Edugames
and Bridge Designer software used to test theoretical bridge models with a load. Finally we link
to the popular site www.brainpop.com where students must explore their curriculum based
online activities and report their results with our digital submission tool.
According to Moran, Kornhaber & Gardner (2006), to promote learning across student
intelligence profiles, teachers need to offer students rich learning experiences. This task
encompasses many of the multiple intelligences which will differentiate instruction, and cater to
students personalized learning styles. At the beginning of the lesson, students are taken on a
field walk/community exploration to look at various bridges and the river banks in their
neighbourhood. This activity lends itself to both the visual-spatial learner who learns best
through spatial judgement and the ability to visualize an object, and the naturalistic intelligence
that relates to the ability to distinguish objects and phenomena in nature (Moran, Kornhaber, &
Gardner, 2006). The components of the project related to the design and prototyping of the
model relate to the logical-mathematical learner. Logical-mathematical intelligence consists of
the capacity to analyze problems logically, carry out mathematical operations, and investigate
issues scientifically who does well when being challenged with logic, reasoning, numbers and
critical thinking (Smith, 2002). Finally, this project is rooted in group work and collaboration
from beginning to end. This relates highly to the interpersonal intelligence which is concerned
with the capacity to understand the intentions, motivations and desires of other people (Smith,
2002).


UNIT 3 GROUP ASSIGNMENT: WEB DESIGN AND LESSON
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Project Name Calgary Bridge Reno 911

Subjects Science
Social Studies
Math
English Language Arts
Career and Technology Foundations
Art
Learning Level Grade Seven
Authors Debbie Bradbury
Ryan OConnor
Stephen Penney
Purpose

Students will be asked to respond to a
change in their community after the impact
of the 2013 floods that devastated
Southern Alberta, including Calgary.
Specifically, the Grade 7 class will look at
reconstructing bridges to adapt to the
significant changes experienced by
riverbanks following the floods.
Curricular Outcomes

Science
- recognize and classify structural forms
and materials used in construction
- describe and compare example
structures developed by different cultures
and at different times; and interpret
differences in functions, materials and
aesthetics
- investigate and analyze forces within
structures, and forces applied to them
- investigate and analyze the properties of
materials used in structures

English Language Arts
- Students will listen, speak, read, write,
view and represent to explore thoughts,
ideas, feelings and experiences

Career and Technology Foundations
- I make decisions in responses to
UNIT 3 GROUP ASSIGNMENT: WEB DESIGN AND LESSON
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challenges
- I adapt to change and unexpected events
- I design in response to challenges
- I follow safety requirements associated
with occupational areas and related
technologies
- I communicate my learning
- I describe how my actions affect learning
- I develop skills that support effective
relationships
- I collaborate to achieve common goals

Required Background Knowledge

This project is based on a real-work
situation that is relevant to students. There
are several key concepts for each subject
area that will need to be covered before
starting this task. These include:

Science - Structures and Forces Unit.
Key concepts include: joints, forces on and
within structures, structural stability and
material strength.

Math - Shape and Space Unit
Key concepts include: the characteristics
of 3-D objects and 2-D Shapes and the
relationships among them.

Social Studies - Local and Current Affairs

English Language Arts - Reading, writing,
viewing and representing.

Career and Technology Foundations
Key concepts include: Designing, Creating,
Appraising and Communicating.

Art - Creating and Representing
Learner Tasks

- introductory research and exploration
- field study/community walk of community
bridges
- respond to a Request for Proposal (RFP)
UNIT 3 GROUP ASSIGNMENT: WEB DESIGN AND LESSON
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for the bridge
- designs/plans for bridge
- creation of physical bridge model
(including public art component)
- compilation of engineering report
- throughout project students keep learning
journals that document the process of their
learning, development of skills, areas of
success and areas for growth.
Student Interaction

For this project, students will form teams
of 3 - 4 people. Within the teams students
will collaborate by taking on roles within an
engineering team and within a business
where they will model specific roles such
as a project manager, construction
manager, an accountant and so on.

Assessment/Evaluation - Specific and clear criteria will guide and
evaluate the students understanding of the
task including the design specifications as
outlined in the RFP, and the understanding
of the identified Program of Study
outcomes.
- there will be various reflection and
feedback opportunities provided to
students in a formative and summative
nature including: conferencing with teams,
learning journals, self assessments,
engineering report, bridge model,
marketing pieces and peer/team
assessment.

*Assessments are included on the
website*
Technology Integration:

- Learning Journeys are created using a
digital platform selected by the student.
(Ex: Blog, wiki, website, Prezi)
- Students create the design prototype
using Google Sketch-Up
- Students research the impact of the flood
using the internet.
UNIT 3 GROUP ASSIGNMENT: WEB DESIGN AND LESSON
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- Students use a digital platform to create a
pitch to the judges.
Student Expectations:

Skills:

Business marketing & management,
enterprise & innovation, financial
management]:
- collaboration
- an ability to use and evaluate marketing
skills to promote a business
enterprise
- managing and communicating data
effectively
- creating and managing a budget
- understanding and managing billing
according to services offered

Design and Construction:
- measurement
- sketching/: can manually create some
basic pictorial type drawings; basic
sketching and labelling; basic
dimensioning skills of a technical drawing
- model and prototyping skills
- exposure to a simplified design thinking /
problem solving methodology
- managing and communicating data
effectively

Safety considerations:
- safety for bridge construction [will depend
on tools available to students]
- proper and safe tool usage for bridge
creation [again, will depend on tools
available to students]







UNIT 3 GROUP ASSIGNMENT: WEB DESIGN AND LESSON
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Figure 1: Website Site Map

To conclude, we did not encounter any copyright issues during the creation of our
project, individual tasks and website. To create our website we used Weebly, a web hosting
and website creation builder. All instructional materials are taken from public domain websites
such as YouTube, Alberta Education and Calgary Herald and are meant for public use.
Additionally, the pictures used on our website were from open source content suppliers that
allow their pictures to be used on the internet.
UNIT 3 GROUP ASSIGNMENT: WEB DESIGN AND LESSON
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References

McInerney, D. & McInerney, V. (1994) Educational Psychology: Constructing learning. Sydney,

Australia: Prentice Hall.

Moran, S., Kornhaber, M., & Gardner, H. (2006). Orchestrating multiple intelligences.

Association for Supervision. Retrieved from:

http://prodev.dadeschools.net/MINT/Orchestrating%20Multiple%20Intellingences.pdf

Smith, M. K. (2002). Howard Gardner and multiple intelligences. The encyclopedia of informal

education. Retrieved from:

http://sts.schools.smcdsb.on.ca/UserFiles/Servers/Server_6/File/Secondary%20Schoo

ls/STS%20-%20St.%20Thomas%20Aquinas/PLajoie/Gardners%20MI%20by%20Smit

h.pdf

Thomas, J. W. (2000). A review of research on project-based learning. Retrieved from:

http://w.newtechnetwork.org/sites/default/files/news/pbl_research2.pdf

Von Glasserfeld, E. (1984) An introduction to radical constructivism. In Watzlawick, P. W.
(Eds.) The invented reality (17-40). New York: Norton and Company.