Spreadsheet Project - Pumpkin Seeds Guy

Knowledge
Comprehension
Application
Analysis
Synthesis
Evaluation

Mr. Oliver (the Pumpkin Seeds guy) designed his classroom's activity around a physical item (pumpkins!) with an inherent seasonal/topical quality that could appeal to the kids. Also, they don't realize they're learning math and stats skills when their grubby little hands are coated in orange goo. Hm. Flashbacks to early '90's Nickelodeon.

He had the students (tiny dwarves! freaky mutants!) predict beforehand whether the bigger pumpkins had more seeds, how much the pumpkins weighed, etc. They're too young to put money on it, so hopefully the mere 'prediction' is enough to give them a personal stake in the project. Also, see reference to '90's television above.

It seems that the really successful elements of this project is that each of the above elements of learning is included in the design, and with which you could evaluate the student's learning.

The spreadsheet helped the tiny students to manage data and data analysis that would otherwise be beyond their abilities. The insto-graph is pretty neat as well for being able to display to the kids the data they themselves have gathered.