Lesson 8

Higher Thinking Skills Through IT-

Based Projects
• A college freshman once thought of taking a
rest in a library after classes by casually taking
reference books off the shelf and browsing
over their contents. Being a Liberal Arts
student, he lifted a book of St. Thomas
Aquinas, the famous proponent of Scholastic
Philosophy.
• After a few minutes, the student felt
awakened to the fact that he was engaged in a
very pleasant activity, such that he exclaimed
to himself, "Wow, I ' m thinking!“
• The story didn't end there because since that
day, reflective study became the student's
pleasurable and most profitable activity.
Unwittingly, he made an opening for
exercising higher thinking skills. As a reward,
the student carried himself through college
with the highest honor and achievements.
• In this Lesson , we shall discuss four types of
IT-based projects which can effectively be
used in order to engage students in activities
of a higher plane of thinking. To be noted is
the fact that these projects differ in the
specific process and skills employed, also in
the ultimate activity or platform used to
communicate completed products to others.
• It is to be understood that these projects do
not address of the thinking skills shown
previously in the Thinking Skill Framework But
these projects represent constructivist project
containing the key elements of a constructivist
approach instruction.
The key elements of a constructivist
approach instruction
• ( a ) the teacher creating the learning
environment
• ( b ) the teacher giving students the tools and
facilities
• ( c ) the teacher facilitating learning .
• On the other hand, it is the students
themselves who demonstrate higher thinking
skills and creativity through such activities
searching for information, organizing and
synthesizing ideas, creating presentations, and
the like.
• Now let us see four IT-based projects
conducive to develop higher thinking skills
and creativity among learners.
Resource-based Projects
• In these projects, the teacher steps out of the
traditional role of being an content expert and
information provider, and instead lets the
students find their own facts and information.
Only when necessary for the active learning
process does the teacher step in to supply
data or information.
 The general flow of events in resource-
based projects are;
• The teacher determines the topic for the
examination of the class (e.g. the definition of
"man")
• The teacher presents the problem to the class.
• The students find information on the
problem/questions.
• Students organize their information in
response to the problem/questions.
• Relating to finding information , the central
principle is to make the students go beyond
the textbook and curriculum materials.
Students are also encouraged to go to the
library, particularly to the modern extension of
the modern library, the internet.
• Furthermore, the inquiry–based or discovery
approach given importance in resource-based
projects. This requires that the students,
individually or cooperatively with members of
his group, relate gathered information to the
“real world”
• Finally, the process is given more importance
than the project product. It doesn't matter for
example, if each group comes up with a
different answer to the problem (e.g. the
definition of man.) What matters are the
varied sources of information, the line of
thinking and the ability to argue in defense of
their answers.
 The Table below can provide the difference
between the traditional and resource-based
learning approach to instruction.
 Traditional learning model Resource-based learning model
Teacher is expert and information and Teacher is a guide and facilitator
provider
Textbook is the key source of information Sources are varied
(prints, video, internet, etc.)
Focus on facts information is packaged in Focus on learning inquiry/quest/discovery
neat parcels.
The product is the be-all and end-all of Emphasis on process
learning.
Assessment is quantitative Assessment is quantitative and qualitative
 SIMPLE CREATIONS
• Students can also be assigned to create their
software materials to supplement the need
for relevant and effective materials. Of course,
there are available software materials such as
Creative Writer (by Microsoft) on writing,
KidWork Deluxe (by Davidson) on drawing and
painting, and Media Weave (by Humanities
software) on multimedia.
• In developing software, creativity as an
outcome should not be equated with
ingenuity or high intelligence. Creating is
more consonant with planning, making,
assembling, designing, or building.
 Creativity is said to combine three kind of
skills/abilities;

• Analyzing- distinguishing similarities and

differences/seeing the project as a problem to be
solved.
• Synthesizing- making spontaneous connections
among ideas, thus generating interesting or new
ideas.
• Promoting - selling of new ideas to allow the public
to test the ideas themselves.
 To develop creativity , the following five key
tasks maybe recommended :
• Define the task. Clarify the goal of the completed project to
the student.
• Brainstorm. The students themselves will be allowed to
generate their own ideas on the project. Rather than shoot
down ideas, the teacher encourages idea exchange.
• Judge the ideas. The students themselves make an appraisal
for or against any idea. Only when students are completely
off track should the teacher intervene.
• Act . The students do their work with the teacher a facilitator.
• Adopt flexibility. The students should be allowed to shift
gears and not follow an action path rigidly.
 GUIDED HYPERMEDIA PROJECTS
The production of self - made multimedia projects can
be approached in two different ways:

1. As an instructive tool, such as in the production by

students of a power-point presentation of a selected
topic.
2. As a communication tool, such as when students do a
multimedia presentation with text, graphs, photos, audio
narration, interviews, video clips, etc. to simulate a
television news show.
 WEB-BASED PROJECTS
Students can be made to create and post
webpages on a given topic. But creating
webpages, even single page webpages, may be
too sophisticated and time consuming for the
average student.
• It should be said, however, that posting of
webpages in the Internet allows the students
(now the webpage creator) a wider audience.
They can also be linked with other related
sites in the Internet.
• Creativity projects as tools in the teaching-
learning process can be achieved with the
assistance of advisers adept in the technical
use of Internet resources.