Action (Projects)

Outline of Classroom - Action (Projects)

• Overview
• Guidelines
• Possible Ideas

Learning would be incomplete without project work.

Project work encourages students to

• Take part in active and creative learning where they set upon themselves a path of exploration like no other.
• Make full use of the available resources accessible.

Guidelines

Form small groups and brainstorm on possible ideas for a project on tsunami.
Look through the ThinkQuest website or any other resources available and try to come up with questions on what you want to find out. You can also do a project work in conjunction with your points of view or ideas in the Discussion section earlier.

From there, you can think of ways to start your project. You can consider doing a survey, conduct research or interviews on those who had experienced the tsunami. Tips on doing these are available below. This will enable you to have a better idea on the subject of tsunami.

After that, you may make a webpage or a PowerPoint Presentation to present your information to the class or to the whole wide world.

Possible ideas

A. Survey (Quantitative Analysis)

Conduct a survey among your classmates, friends and relatives to find out what your countrymen feel about the Dec 26 tsunami. Sample survey form:

Tsunami Survey We, (Names), are doing a survey to find out the general trend on people’s perspective about the tsunami. We would be glad if you can complete this survey. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated. Name: _______________________ Question Option (Please circle)   1. Do you think the tsunami had a significant impact on your daily life? (e.g. in terms of education, business, etc)  YES  /  NO  2. Are you afraid of going to countries that were affected by the tsunami?  YES  /  NO  3. Do you think your government has provided enough aids to countries affected by the tsunami?  YES  /  NO  Thank you for taking your time to complete this survey.

Things that you should take note when doing a survey:

• The sample size should be at least 20.
• You should have at least 3 questions in the survey.
• The font size in the survey form should be big enough.
• The font used in the survey must not be too fanciful.
• Remember to explain to the person why you are doing this survey.
• Remember to thank the person who helped you complete the survey.
• It is not necessary for all questions to be multiple-choice.
• The survey must not be too long.
• You can rephrase a certain question and put it at the end of the survey to see if both answers are the same to verify if the person is lying.

Next, tabulate your results in a table or a graph. Present this information to your class in the form of a PowerPoint Presentation or any other suitable methods

Try to come up with suggestions to explain the results you have. (E.g. Why are people afraid / not afraid of going to countries that were affected by the tsunami?)

You can further expand and develop the project into something bigger.

B. Interviews

Come up with relevant questions on tsunami, and find a person who is an expert on that particular topic to give his/her views. For example, someone who had escaped from the tsunami.

1. Contact the person before hand to make sure that he/she agrees to conduct an interview. Make an appointment. Inform the person what your objectives are.
2. Borrow a video camera to take records of the interview. A cassette recorder can be used in place of the video camera. Remember to inform the interviewee that you will be keeping records. The interviewee has his/her own privacy rights.
3. At least 2 persons should be conducting the interview. One will ask the questions, while the other will do the recording / videoing / note taking.
4. Finally, thank the person for his/her time.
5. Upload the interview to the web, or share it with the class.

C. Research

Using search engines like Google or Yahoo, search the internet for information relating to your topic of interest.

Research in depth to look for information .Besides the utilizing the web, you can also use books, conduct interviews to enhance your learning.

After that, make a webpage to compile your reports. You can also present your findings in the form of a report in Microsoft Word document format to the class.

Report Introduction - Brief but detailed background. Objectives - Includes target audience. Presentation of data - Organized and effective layout - Make sure information can be well-understood Evaluation - Evaluate the difficulties the group faced in doing the project. - Discuss the limitations of the project. Citation - Bibliography (the APA style format is strongly recommended [see http://www.apastyle.org/elecsource.html]) - Acknowledgements (mentors, friends, etc)

Whatever the outcome may be, view your learning positively. The failure lies not within your inability to be victorious but your inability to accept defeat.