GiggleIT Project

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Student Learning Outcomes

By taking part in the GiggleIT Project your students will have opportunities to develop a range of skills and demonstrate a number of learning outcomes. You can use these as a guide, but add your own to suit individual programs and different teaching-learning contexts.

You may choose to use all the Learning Outcomes listed here or focus on a single outcome when using the Project as a vehicle for teaching. Learning Outcomes from the West Australian Curriculum Framework – Overarching Learning Outcomes have been used here; you will undoubtedly find similar outcomes and skills in your own Education Department’s policy documents.

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Student Learning Outcomes

Students today are faced with an ever-changing workplace where instantaneous communication and access to information is a fact of their working life.
 
They need to develop life-long learning skills that will enable them to be adaptable and flexible - skills such as literacy, using telecommunications and computer technology, the ability to work collaboratively in a team environment, problem-solving skills and good work practice.
 
Recognizing that such skills are generic across the curriculum and apply to all Learning Areas, the GiggleIT Project provides a guide for teachers to use when teaching and assessing the development of these skills.
 
The GiggleIT Project and its embedded teaching framework specifically encourage students to:

 think objectively, critically and creatively about written texts;

 further develop oral and written communication skills;

 further develop information research skills;

 expand their use and knowledge of language in a number of contexts;

 work collaboratively in a team environment and independently as a responsible team member;

 work collaboratively with students from other cultures/countries; and

 develop understandings about how people from other cultures use language for communication.

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Literacy Learning Outcomes

Students use language to understand, develop and communicate ideas and information and interact with others (West Australian Curriculum Framework).

During the course of the GiggleIT Project, students will work and share information with other members of their team as well as members from other teams. They will use language in a variety of contexts (written, oral and visual) to exchange and formulate ideas.
 
Students will explore a range of texts types and genres to develop understandings about what makes people laugh. During the course of the project they will focus on further developing literacy skills, e.g. conducting oral discussions, completing mindmaps and graphic organizers to present research information, writing up bibliographic information, analyzing text, writing focus questions, using and analyzing language and vocabulary in different contexts and writing a range of creative pieces from different genres – poetry, short stories, jokes and fairytales/myths and legends.

Students will develop critical literacy skills:

 understand that the way language is used and varies according to context;

 devleop creative writing skills;

 use a drafting/editing/publishing process;

 explore different types of literature – poetry, school yard rhymes, limericks, sayings, jokes/gags, short stories;

 use a range of language and build vocabulary; and

 use correct language conventions appropriate to audience, purpose and context.

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Information Literacy Learning Outcomes

Students recognise when and what information is needed, locate and obtain it from a range of sources and evaluate, use and share it with others (West Australian Curriculum Framework).

During the course of the project, students will study a variety of texts, including fiction and nonfiction from different genres, like poetry, short stories, jokes, culturalized stories, fractured fairytales and personal anecdotes. They will be looking at texts and the use of language to discover meaning and cultural context.
 
During this process they will research author information from a number of different sources, evaluate information, formulate opinions, compromise and reach conclusions, and keep a record of the information they have gathered and how they have used it.

Students will develop critical information literacy skills:

 they will develop mindmaps and graphic organisers as tools to develop critical thinking and comparative skills;

 they will locate/research, collect, group and collate, evaluate and deconstruct meaning from a range of information sources;

 they will discuss and redefine information and reconstruct it to make meaning within a new context; and

 they will examine and compare different types of literature from their own and other countries to develop cross cultural understandings about information.

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Using Technology Learning Outcomes

Students select, use and adapt technologies (West Australian Curriculum Framework).

During the course of the project, students will have opportunities to use a range of technologies (email, digital mindmaps and graphic organisers, electronic portfolios, Wordprocessing and desktop publishing, the Internet/World Wide Web, digital data projectors, computers, and digital cameras). They may adapt these technologies to produce their formal presentations, discussion tasks and creative writings.

Students will develop critical technology skills:

  to locate and explore information;

 research using a variety of formats and delivery modes, through research of national identity as found in humorous national literature;

 managing, collating, reconstructing information, referencing using a range of technologies;

 evaluation of electronic resources and student publications, progress and process; and

 to communicate using appropriate conventions with others around the world.

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Social Cultural Learning Outcomes

Students will study texts that look at multicultural aspects of life in other countries and in their home country. They will also actively participate in activities during the GiggleIT Project and encounter students/schools from different parts of the world who have a different cultural background.

Students will develop critical social cultural understandings and skills:

explore the humor of their own culture/s and ethnic groups through myths, legends, stories, anecdotes and jokes particular to that culture;
compare their anecdotes and jokes with those from other cultures; and
gain a better understanding of their own national identity through the comparison of international literature.
Students understand their cultural, geographic and historical contexts and have the knowledge, skills and values necessary for active participation in life in [their country] and;
Students interact with people and cultures other than their own and are equipped to contribute to the global community (West Australian Curriculum Framework).

 

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Other Learning Outcomes

Geography
Students will not only explore the language and humour of peoples from other countries, but they will also find out where they live, information about the participating students, how they live and how they see themselves.

Working collaboratively/individually
Students value and implement practices that promote personal growth and well being (West Australian Curriculum Framework).

During the course of this project, students will participate in sharing activities, problem-solving and decision-making processes, designed to encourage them to think about their world and to formulate opinions about specific issues from a point of knowledge. This process is designed to develop life skills that will allow them to become adaptable and flexible learners, willing to accept and adopt change as they move from the known to the unknown.
 
Students are self-motivated and confident in their approach to learning and are able to work individually and collaboratively (West Australian Curriculum Framework).
 
During the course of this project, students will work on individual research projects, share their information and conclusions with team members, and work to meet deadlines. The project has been designed to cater for students' individual learning styles and to encourage them to become independent learners, while also working in a collaborative environment.
 
Peer assessment
Students recognize that everyone has the right to feel valued and be safe, and in this regard, understand their rights and obligations and behave responsibly (West Australian Curriculum Framework).
 
During the course of this project, students are required to take control of their learning environment, work cooperatively with others and use technology responsibly to achieve specific outcomes. They are responsible for collecting, collating, evaluating and sharing information in an environment that is both independent and collaborative, and they will be expected to observe the rights of others at all times.
 
They will evaluate and assess their own work and the work of others in a thoughtful and responsible manner. They will practice democracy by learning to evaluate critically and to vote based on critical thinking.

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The GiggleIT Project is a partner with the International Children's Digital Library

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Last updated May 2013 (ER)