Problem Based Learning Project/Final

Yesterday, I gave you the guidelines to your final project. I was thrilled to see the level of excitement that the majority of you were expressing. I'm glad that you are getting into it. I wanted to post a brief overview on here, so that you may have a place to seek answers and post questions. Together we will get through this.

Questions: How can we work to insure that acts of intolerance no longer continue at Riverside High School, in WV, The US, or the world? In other words, what can we do to make a difference?

Overview: You and a partner will be responsible for researching an act of intolerance and the prevention of intolerance. This project will consist of more than just a one-sentence answer. By the end, you will have produced a multimedia presentation that takes the audience on the journey that you went on to find the answers to the questions and solve the problem.

This is not a project to promote intolerance. It is a project to help us understand and learn how to prevent such instances.

After watching 'Hotel Rwanda" many of you were impressed at how ONE person, Paul, was able to make such a difference by saving the lives of 1,200 people. Now is your chance to prove again that it only takes one person's actions to start a wave.

Exploration: You will explore different forms of intolerance that we see on a local and world-wide level. You will explore the history behind these acts, and the actions of the individuals involved. You will narrow your research to one particular act. This is the research based part of the project. Once you have thoroughly researched the act, it is your job to creatively find a solution or a way to education individuals to see that this no longer happens again. You are being asked to attempt to fix the problem.

The Journey: You will submit in writing a summary of your journey, from brainstorming to solution. You will provide detailed information as to what you researched, your findings, and eventually the solution. This summary will be typed and all material will be cited. Lessons on citations will come soon.

The Presentation: Power Point, Video, Computer Generated Pamphlet, etc. This is your chance to share your research with your classmates and the possibility to benefit from seeing their research findings. The same resource requirements apply to your presentation as it would if you were writing a typical research paper. Therefore, you will need to include a reference or work cited portion to your presentation.

-7-10 mins in length
-answers the question
-shows research

Graded on:
-completeness and length
-quality of information
-creativity
-organization
-use of sources
-diction
-presentation skills
-works cited format
-minimum of 3 sources
-minimum of five citations
-works cited
-MLA/School Guidelines
-must have at least 2 non-electronic sources


Talk to each other to help generate ideas. Many of you already know the direction you are wanting to take. That's great! Any questions or comments, feel free to email me or post to the blog!