Use in the classroom: For this activity I decided to focus on a 4th grade classroom. Fourth grade curriculum focuses on the 5 regions of the united states. I would take table groups (or divide room into groups of 5) and have each student determine which region they would want to research. When researching I would have them focus on the states included in each region, the climate of the region as well as major physical/human characteristics. I have done this activity in my student teaching classroom where we had students each fill out a slide in a powerpoint. I chose to use prezi as another presentation tool for students to use as well as see how the regions connect to each other and how they create the United States. At the end of this activity students will be able to recall the climate, human and physical characteristics of the region in study. Students will also be able to clearly teach their classmates about their findings.
Application: During this activity there were a few different principals I focused on. The first principal was the spatial contiguity principal. By keeping all of the information within a little bubble, students are able to recall information much more quickly than if the information was spread out throughout the screen. Another principal I focused on was segmenting principal. When students create the regions into 5 separate chunks and further break the region down, the information is able to be retained much easier than having the regions information in one large paragraph.
Reflection: I found this weeks activity something I would use within an older classroom on a daily basis. In the school I'm at we focus on Kagan cooperative learning and working collaboratively. While it would be difficult for me to implement this type of activity into a first grade classroom, I could see myself using this type of strategy in an older classroom. I especially enjoyed working with prezi more and exploring what this site has to offer.
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