Inquiry Based Activity

I really enjoyed working on the Inquiry-Based Activity.  I definitely think that this is something that I would use in my classroom one day.  My favorite part about the IBA is the sheer idea that the students are engaging in research.  Research and gathering information from the internet is a skill that will be very useful to students in the future, another reason I liked this project is because the information is given to the students, but they are still conducting research and learning from technology. I think this project is a great way to engage a classroom of students and a wonderful avenue to take when trying to integrate technology in the classroom and familiarize students with various forms of technology that the world has to offer. 

Before the IBA, I had never been introduced to the Tennessee State Standards or to the NETS-S standards.  I think that, while a little overwhelming, the standards were really helpful because they provided standards and structure for my lesson (which, I suppose is the very purpose of a standard). The standards were very useful for me especially, because it offered something for me to plan my lesson around.  Once I had decided the subject of the lesson, I used the standards to narrow down my project and to specifically chose what standards I wanted to focus on within the project.  The great thing about this project is that a teacher could successfully and effectively knock out more than one standard at a time.

Overall, I really enjoyed working on the IBA, and the skills I have used to create my IBA will definitely be useful in a future classroom to introduce and familiarize students with the internet while at the same time letting them use computers, which is fun for elementary students, and provides time for a break from the every day classroom setting.