Project Ideas for Primary Students

A primary teacher recently contacted Free Technology For Teachers to get ideas for how to incorporate technology into an activity where her students are learning the different characteristics of mammals. She wants them to be able to create a sort of virtual animal park.

I have several ideas for how this can work. While these options will discuss animals, they can be modified for any subject and grade level. All three of these options make student learning visible and provide students with the opportunity to show what they know.

Option 1: Have students use Adobe Spark Video to create a narrated description of the animals they have selected. Adobe Spark Video is incredibly easy for students to narrate.

Option 2: Students could use a combination of Google Slides and an extension called Talk and Comment. A single slide presentation could be used to house all of the slides and students could record a narration to go along with their slide or slides. The narrations could be added as comments or they could be added on top of the image of the animal.

Option 3: Each student could have their own Google Drawing and upload one or more images to it. They could record their narration using the Talk and Comment extension, then link the recording to the images of their animals.

Three Options for Adding Voice Comments in Google Docs

Feedback is one of the most powerful influences on student learning. In order for feedback to have a positive impact it should be provided in a timely manner, focus on process, and provide ideas for taking action. You can achieve all of these things using typed comments in Google, but why not make even more of an impact by leaving voice comments? This can be a powerful way to motivate and engage students.

• Kaizena- Easy way to provide high quality voice feedback for students.
  
• Read&Write for Google Chrome- Leave voice comments for students inside of Google Docs. Make sure you register for a free teacher account to have this functionality.
  
• Talk and Comment- This extension makes it possible to create voice recordings and use them anywhere you can share a URL. To use this extension in Google Docs, simply place the link to your recorded feedback in a comment box and save it. 

Applications for Education 

These tools can be used by students to provide feedback to their peers or to reflect on their own learning. This would be a great way to have students explain items they have included in a digital portfolio.