Reflection 8

1. Discussion on some reasons to let students “lead” their projects.
2. Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.

     Some ways to build connections and branch out beyond the classroom would be to connect students with experts.  Being able to talk to people besides a teacher that have experience in the subject that you are studying helps students get a better understanding, and can also be cool.  Even though it can take more effort to connect with an expert, it can be very rewarding and you can learn more things from the expert than you can from a textbook.  You can also use technology to branch out beyond the classroom by using blogs, this way you can get feed back from other people.  

     For more that a dozen years students in the Environmental and Spatial Technologies (EAST) Initiative network of schools have been demonstrating the benefits of using technology for a real purpose, to solve problems and make improvements in their communities.  Projects make use of geospatial technologies and and multimedia tools that are more commonly found in professional laboratories or design studios.  EAST students master these sophisticated tools and applications in context while solving community problems that interest them.
     Teachers will find that as students become more comfortable with the approach, they are actually able to lead when it comes to projects.  Students should be able to pick their own research projects, this will make the students more engaged and more interested in the project.  This makes the students in control of their own learning.  This relates to our topic because we were supposed to find things outside the classroom to help us create a mini lesson for our students, in this case it was an interactive game.