Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
Funding
The microLESSONS project started in 1998 as an NIE
funded research project (RP4/98 PW). A number of samples
of
microLESSONS
were
brought
before
various
presentations and exhibitions and the response from
teachers were very positive. In early 1999, NIE produced a
sample microLESSONS CD-ROM and response from
teachers and trainee teachers was good. In Jan
2000, Ednovation approached NIE expressing interest in
distributing microLESSONS to schools and a Memorandum
of Understanding (MOU) was signed on 16 February 2000.
In the MOU, Ednovation will provide further financial and
technical support to develop the microLESSONS.
Used
in
1) Resource-based
In this approach, various links to the WWW can be
established and students will access the web sites to
collect information, facts, opinions and then synthesize
them or compare the different viewpoints.
2) Problem-based
microLESSONS can now be used to present "instructional
problems" in a multimedia fashion through which activities
can be formulated and where students can be engaged in
the process of investigation and problem-solving. For
example, a video-clip of a water shortage problem in
Singapore can be presented and students would be made
to undergo a scientifically sound investigative process
where possible causes and solutions found.
3) Case-based
Another more generic approach besides the problem-based
method is for a "case" or scenario to be presented to
students through the microLESSONS. Through such an
approach, students would have to consider the learning
situations and the problems associated with it. From the
considerations of problem-identification, students can then
be made to determine the possible solutions and
alternatives. Through the process, students need to access
other resources most possibly from the WWW.
4) Collaborative-based
In this approach, students can be asked to work
collaboratively or in pairs to undergo an instructional
activity presented intentionally in the microLESSONS to be
jointly worked through. For example, tasks can be
assigned to different individuals and they work on different
pieces of the "puzzle" and later come together to coconstruct the entire "jig-saw puzzle". Because
microLESSONS can be linked to other applications, the
possibilities of different kinds of co-construction tasks can
be varied and many-fold.
5) Simulation-based
Finally, microLESSONS can also be used to create
simulations where students can observe particular
phenomena and learn from the processes and the variables
that will affect the simulated actions. Again, because
microLESSONS can be linked to Java applets (for example)
and other applications such as the geo-meter sketchpad,
simulations become a reality.