Post #9: Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

In the Stop Animation Project, students develop critical thinking and problem solving skills in different steps, which are enlisted and described below, according to the order of the CTPS standards:

1.  The topic of the project is open and they have to align something they are interested in (sometimes related to their major) and instructional technology. Thus, they have to define and identify a hypothetically authentic topic, a content, grade level and subject to use as the audience characteristics. 
2. Throughout the project they have to plan how they will accomplish the activities within the amount of time given. For instance, after seeing examples of storyboards, voice-overs and props, students have to plan and manage their progress to be able to accomplish all that in 4 classroom meetings with 50 minutes each.
3. Students are required to collect two forms of data: first, they have to decide which Educational Standard they will address with their project. They are given the Common Core and the Georgia Educational Standards to explore and choose one. And finally, students research about the topic they will work on so that they can summarize it and create a nice 1-3min stop animation video. They have to collect information, for example, about photosynthesis, how a bill becomes a law, how to make sushi, how to recycle, and so on.
4. As for the last topic, the project does not address any alternative solutions for students. However, since they are working in groups, they have to accommodate diversity of skills, opinions and collaborative work to successfully complete the assignment. They also receive formative feedback, which might be considered as a different perspective (an outsider) making suggestions or offering additional resources for their projects.