Learning & Leading Through Technology

LESSON 2 LESSON 3

Students follow a teacher-provided link to www.iucnredlist.org.

Using the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species database, student teams create a class summary of types and locations of endangered species.

Based on their readings about amphibian extinction and on information from environmental databases, students evaluate a local wetland for threats to native frogs.

The final lesson is a long-term, complex project. Both the teacher and students would need prior experience in project-based learning. The project would likely meet multiple indicators from every ISTE Standards area, as well as those related to ecology and taxonomy from the Next Generation Science Standards, Common Core science literacy standards, and other secondary science standards in the United States and other countries.

Because of the reading levels of the websites we cited, these particular examples are appropriate for high school students. However, all are based on school projects that ISTE has observed at various levels. In fact, we adapted Lesson 3 from a study of a creek that middle school students conducted in San Rafael, California, USA.

Talbot Bielefeldt is ISTE’s senior research associate.

As part of the organization’s program evaluation services, he has conducted ISTE Standards observations in classrooms since 1999.

The ISTE Standards for Students are more than an abstract framework. Teachers can use them to evaluate lesson plans and learning experiences. Classroom scenarios for student standards are available for free to members in the ISTE Store ( iste.org/store) and through the ISTE Classroom Observation Tool (ICOT) webpage ( iste.org/icot). Additional guidance on evaluating learning materials is available in the NETS Curriculum Planning Tool ( iste.org/store/product?ID=2299).

In the ICOT, marking an indicator as addressed means that students have opportunities to learn about or practice the indicator. That is usually how an indicator appears in a lesson. Marking an indicator as met means that students actually demonstrate the knowledge or skills. Consistently coding an indicator in lessons requires careful attention to both the wording of the standards and the details of the learning experience.