Claire Mracek

2.4 Higher Order Thinking Skills

Candidates model and facilitate the effective use of digital tools and resources to support
and enhance higher order thinking skills (e.g., analyze, evaluate, and create); processes
(e.g., problem-solving, decision-making); and mental habits of mind (e.g., critical
thinking, creative thinking, metacognition, self-regulation, and reflection). (PSC 2.4/ISTE
2d)
Reflection
I created this lesson plan project as a blended unit of study for fourth grade math
students. I worked alongside a fourth grade teacher to implement this unit. Throughout
the blended unit, students explored estimation and multiplication using large numbers.
Standard 2.4 states that candidates will model and facilitate the effective use of digital
tools and resources to support and enhance higher order thinking skills, processes,
and mental habits of mind. This project provided multiple occurrences for modeling
and facilitating effective uses of digital tools through instructional video creation, using
tools such as Google Apps for Education, Camtasia, iMovie, and YouTube Video Editor.
I co-taught this project alongside the lead teacher to best model and facilitate routines of
a blended classroom. These routines included tools and resources that enhanced
higher order thinking skills, processes, and habits of mind, such as: accessing
instructional videos, analyzing videos for specific content, applying knowledge through
Google Forms, evaluating content, and student video creation. In this particular lesson,
students were reintroduced to the partial-products algorithm through a teacher made
instructional video. Students viewed this video from home the night before the lesson and
summarized their understanding on a shared form through Google Drive. This form was
shared with the teacher and allowed students to reflect on the video and ask questions
about the concept. The teacher used this form to respond digitally to students and to
gather information about the students understanding. During class, students applied their
knowledge through practice problems, collaborative games and activities, and
instructional video creation on the partial-products algorithm. Students chose their own
multiplication problem (1, 2, or 3-digit multiplier) to model, storyboard, collaborate, and
record an instructional to share video on YouTube for others to view. These videos were
posted to the teachers website for students to review with positive feedback.
Through this project, I learned that students need structure and repetition through the
beginning of blended studies. I would absolutely recommend this project to other
teachers. I would highly advise teachers to give students ample time to storyboard and
plan their video scripts, as this is where true analysis and evaluation take place. I believe
this project worked so well because students have seen multiple instructional videos
leading up to this lesson, and they were able to analyze those and use effective elements
to create their own. This project also worked well with fourth graders because of their
technological skills and prior experience with Google Apps. This project could be
adapted, though, to meet the needs and interests of younger students, too. This project
required students to become the teacher and own their own learning, which can be

applied across curricula.

This lesson was extremely meaningful for students and directly impacted their learning of
multiplication strategies. This project challenged students to explore the partial-product
algorithm through a robust process of analysis, evaluation, and creation. The students
developed such a well-rounded understanding of this strategy and were able to identify
quickly when they did not understand a step of the process. Through this project, I was
able to coach a teacher through video creation and blended learning experiences,
improving her understanding of twenty-first century teaching practices. We hope to gift
these videos to the third grade classes to use during their intro to partial-products lessons.
We see this project as a supreme collaboration tool between grade levels.