Digital Literacy Lesson Plan (Economics: Government Spending)

In my educational technologies class we have studied how the learning process is essential for creating meaningful connections to students. The “learner centered” approach encourages the teacher to facilitate learning in a positive environment that encourages collaboration and a sense of classroom community (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking 2000, p.25). This is vital to student growth. My lesson involves all these principles in a technology-based lesson designed and inspired after reading Douglas Thomas & John Seely Brown (2011) and Renee Hobbs (2011).

This is a lesson for my economics class. The lesson is about government spending and budgeting. This lesson comes toward the backend of my class in the macroeconomics section. I teach seniors at a school district that has technological capabilities to fulfill this ambitious lesson. This lesson will require computer access and will take place over 4 or 5 days. This lesson will support “21^st century” learning and promote an objective of creating autonomous “technology-literate” learners.

       Douglas Thomas & John Seely Brown (2011) suggest that learning has evolved and thrives on changes and rapid sharing of the changes (p. 37). They illustrate that the learning process should involve play and “experimental learning” should replace the classroom (teacher led) model (p.37-38). To this point, I have created a lesson that establishes a space for students to learn by analyzing information and then USING it to PLAY.

In Renee Hobbs book, Digital and Media Literacy: Connecting Culture and Classroom (2011), she talks about the importance of designing lessons around open-ended essential questions (p.15). The “open-ended” question in this lesson is:

“Which is better – tax hikes or spending cuts – when it comes to creating a balanced federal budget?”

This question has no correct answer and is open for interpretation and opinion. However, after this lesson students should have an understanding for academic and meaningful responses to this question that represents their understanding of our economy.

New technologies: I am using are googledocs and moodle in this lesson. I am also giving students space to play/experiment, then reflect and share with one another about what they learned. I use scaffolding to show students how to interpret digital articles and how to collaborate with their peers to produce a meaningful product. Students will use online resources supported by my district such as the “moodle” (course management system). Moodle is a great tool for sharing student work with one another and creating online lessons and assignments that give students space to explore. I also used my class website (located HERE) to enhance organization and student ease in understanding objectives, while staying organized.

This lesson achieves the content objectives for my curriculum (HSCEs) and also achieves a greater objective of teaching students to be “21^st century” learners. This lesson promotes skills in digital literacy and collaboration with peers. It allows students freedom to express themselves in a meaningful way and collaborate with peers whom agree and disagree with them to make them a well-rounded individual. The complete lesson plan and rational can be viewed HERE.  Enjoy.

REFERENCES:

 Bransford, J.D., Brown , A.L., & Cocking, R.R. (Eds.). (2000). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

Hobbs, R. (2011). Digital and media literacy: Connecting culture and classroom. Thousand, Oaks, CA: Corwin/Sage.

Thomas, D., & Brown, J. S. (2011). A new culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. Lexington, Ky: CreateSpace?.