Project title

Subject(s)/Course
Project Author

Collaborative Project Planning Template

Wonderful Weather
Second Grade Science
Meghan Cathey Little

I. Project Purpose

Goal(s)

The purpose of this project is for students to work together to demonstrate their
cummulative knowledge on weather at the end of the weather unit.
Collaboration is essential to this project in order for students to build their
communication skills, technology skills, for students to learn from each other,
and to work on their 21st century skills.
The collaboration will be individually within groups in addition to group
discussions to troubleshoot any technology problems they are having. Once
students have completed the project, they will share their projects in class and
students will comment and complete a plus, delta chart for each project
(something we do each day in class) in order to comment positives ands
critiques.
The goals of this project are for students to demonstrate their knowledge of this
science unit, weather, by using technology to combine what they learned
through experiments and lessons into a presentation to the class to share their
knowledge.

Objectives

1) Gather and collect information during the unit 2) Collaborate and combine
artifacts and other information into a chronological presentation 3) Select an
appropriate technology tool to display their collaborative presentation

Alignment with State Standards

Science: 2.E.1: Understand patterns of weather and factors that affect

weather. (Including all objectives 2.E.1.1- 2.E.1.4) Technology: 2.TT.1:
Use technology tools and skills to reinforce classroom concepts and
activities.(Including all objectives 2.TT.1 - 2.TT.3)

What is the purpose of the project?

Why is collaboration essential to this project?

Will the collboration be individually within groups only or will there

be collaboration among groups?

II. Project Description

Students will previously completed a five week study of weather. This project
will be their final assessment and will show all of their knowledge on the subject
as well as artifacts from different lessons and experiments. The project will take
General Description and Time Frame
two weeks from forming groups to presentations.
Prior to the project, students will work in whole group, small groups, and
independently to learn the objectives for our weather unit. For two class
sessions, in whole group, we will review the different tools they can choose
from. Groups will also be assigned at this point and students may begin their
collaboration with a discussion on which tool to select and how to complete the
Instructional Strategies employed
project.
This project is student centered with some guidance from the teacher for
technical aspects. The teacher will meet with each group at least twice for the
Instructor role (i.e., student or teacher centered? student or teacher students to show what they have been working on and ask any questions they
Directed?)
might have.

Content type and specific content elements

Sequence and timeline for lesson events

How will collaboration be established and facilitated?

The content covered is science- specifically, weather. Students will be able to

use weather tools to gather data and will create simple weather tools.Students
will use numbers to identify the temperature, wind, speed, and precipitation.
Students will use one of four pre-selected technology tools to demonstrate their
what they have learned in this unit of study.
Students will have ten 55 minute sessions to complete this project. If students
need additional time, they may request to stay after school and work together.
All members of the group must be able to stay and have transportation home.
Day 1: Students will meet in their groups and select the techology tool they
would like to use to present their information. Students will select their roles in
the group. Day 2: Students will decide what they would like to include in their
project by looking at the rubric provided for them. Day 3: Students work
together to select artifacts they would like to add to the presentation and begin
creating the project on the collaborative tool. Days 4-9: Students will work on
multiple computers on their project. They will sign up for times to meet with the
teacher and check in. Day 10: Students will present their project to the class
and evaluators will complete the plus/delta chart for feedback.
Throughout the year, students have worked in collaborative groups. They are
used to working on a task using a collaborative online tool as well. This project
will be the largest they have worked on, but will be manageable based on their
previous experience. Students will each have a role in the group to ensure
cohesion. If a problem arises than cannot be settled within the group, the
teacher can step in as facilitator and help them out.

III. Role of Students

How will students be grouped?
What are student roles within the project?

How will students work within a group?

How will group issues be resolved?

IV. Assessment and Evaluation

The teacher will group the students into 4 groups of five. The groups will be
based on personality and ability.
The student roles within the project are time keeper, rubric reminder/checker,
technology specialist, and 2 organizers.
Students will work face to face during class time. Multiple computers will be
used so students can work on the project at the same time. The time keeper
will make sure they are focused and using their time wisely. The rubric reminder
will make sure they are meeting all of the requirements for the project and check
them off as they do so. The technology specialist is in charge of getting the
computers, putting them up, and troubleshooting any problems the group might
have before coming to the teacher for help. The two organizers will help lead
the group with how the information should be presented. What order should it
go in, what to incldue from each person, etc.
Students should work together to solve any issues they might have. If it is an
issue with their technology tool, and the technology specialist of the group
cannot answer it, then they may come and ask the teacher for guidance. If their
is a conflict with their collaboration, the teacher will not step in and will let the
students work it out themselves. If there is an issue with a student not
completing any work, the teacher will remind all the class this is a group project
and they need to be working together. In the end, that student's grade will be
affected.

Individual Accountability
Group Process Evaluation

Project Evaluation

Peer Evaluation
Mechanism for feedback to students and groups - formative and
summative

Each student is held accountable for contributing to the project. A group grade
will be given as well as an individual grade based on how well they performed
their group role, and how much they contributed to the project. After this project
there is also a unit test students can choose to take in order to raise their score
if they did not do as well as they would like.
There is no progress grade. If students do not finish by the due date, they will
present what they have and will be graded on that.
A rubric is given to each group at the beginning of the project for them to use to
grade themselves. The teacher will also use the same rubric at the end of the
assignment to give them a grade as well.
Peers will evaluate each other with the plus/delta chart. They will write positive
comments under the plus side, and on the delta side they will write comments
that will help the group to improve next time.
Formative feedback will be given to students at the two meetings throughout the
project. The summative feedback is given in the form of the rubric the teacher
fills at after the project presentation.

V. Technology and Cyber Safety

Web tools available and suggested

How will student cyber safety be addressed and mitigated?

Given the young age of my students I will provide them limited tools to use. All
of these tools we have used in class and they are familiar with. Tools they can
choose from are: Voicethread, Prezi, Google Presentation, or PowerPoint
Students will only be permitted to using the tools selected by the teacher. This
will make sure all tools follow under the guidelines provided by Chatham County
Schools. Students will be reminded to not give out their last name, any personal
information, and to only talk and collaborate with people who are in their group
and they know. If a student has a concern, or a teacher notices something that
needs to be addressed, she will pull that student or group aside and discuss the
issue to ensure safety.