ThinkQuest: Beyond the Boundaries

Ralph Leonard, Tina Photakis, Dave Richards

WORKSHOP

• Tina Photakis, ThinkQuest Advisors Council/ Teacher, Norwood PS SA

• Ralph Leonard, Australian Council for Computers in Education (ThinkQuest National Partner in Australia/NZ)

• Dave Richards, Director, Global Partnerships, Oracle Education Foundation

Presenters

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Workshop Structure

• ThinkQuest as an International Competition

• ThinkQuest as a Content Library

• ThinkQuest as a Community

• Think environment = ThinkQuest + Think.com

• Relevance to curriculum frameworks

Workshop Structure

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ThinkQuest – The International CompetitionW

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The Oracle Education Foundation is an independent, philanthropic organization funded by Oracle Corporation.

As part of its mission, the Foundation provides ThinkQuest and Think.com as free services to the global primary and secondary school community.

““We inspire students globally to think, connect, create and We inspire students globally to think, connect, create and share share -- using technology to help them dissolve boundaries, using technology to help them dissolve boundaries, fulfil their potential, and create a better societyfulfil their potential, and create a better society..””

• Teachers can enrol teams of 3 to 6 students, ages 9 to 19

• Teams compete in 3 age divisions: • 12 and under, • 15 and under, or • 19 and under.

• Teams have 8 months to build a website on any topic.• Next competition begins 16 August 2006 (Aust time)

ThinkQuest – The International CompetitionW

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United States 772 44%India 341 20%United Kingdom 86 5%Hungary 85 5%China 69 4%Singapore 43 2%Hong Kong 31 2%Australia 29 2%Zimbabwe 22 1%Canada 21 1%Romania 19 1%Chile 18 1%Iran 15 1%Nigeria 14 1%Turkey 12 1%Israel 11 1%Netherlands 11 1%Tunisia 10 1%Germany 9 1%

ThinkQuest – The International CompetitionW

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Pakistan 9 1%Viet Nam 9 1%Mongolia 7 0%Russian Fed 7 0%Egypt 6 0%Japan 6 0%Ghana 5 0%Malaysia 5 0%Philippines 5 0%Thailand 5 0%Bulgaria 4 0%New Zealand 4 0%Poland 4 0%Puerto Rico 4 0%Greece 3 0%Mexico 3 0%South Africa 3 0%Venezuela 3 0%Armenia 2 0%

Number of Registered Teams (based on Primary Coach location) 1737

Brazil 2 0%Croatia 2 0%Jamaica 2 0%Kazakstan 2 0%Korea, Rep 2 0%Slovakia 2 0%Albania 1 0%Argentina 1 0%Cameroon 1 0%Dominica 1 0%Estonia 1 0%Ethiopia 1 0%Iraq 1 0%Latvia 1 0%Norway 1 0%Panama 1 0%Saudi Arabia 1 0%Yemen 1 0%Yugoslavia 1 0%

ThinkQuest – Evaluation Criteria

Emphasis is on Content, Team and Usability- not visual appeal.

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Evaluation Criteria: Major grouping

Content (30%)

Educational Perspective (40%)

Design (30%)

Content (50%)• Quality: Is the website interesting and educational?• Audience: Are the goals of this website clear to a certain audience?• Originality: Is the website unique?1

• Writing: Is it well written?• Citations: Are all sources properly cited?1

Web Design (40%)• Appearance: Is the website attractive and easy to read? • Media: How does the website use images, animation, video, audio or interactive activities?• Structure and Navigation: Is getting around the website easy? • Technical Quality: Do all of the links and images work? 2

Community (10%)• Collaboration: How did the group work together?(3) • Global Perspectives: Does the website demonstrate the team’s understanding of multiple

points of view?3

1. Plagiarism results in disqualification.2. Too many technical problems such as broken links may result in removal from the competition.3. The team’s Site Profile as well as their website is used to evaluate collaboration and global perspectives.

http://www.thinkquest.org/competition/evaluation.shtml

ThinkQuest – Evaluation Criteria 2006

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Educational Content (30%)• Quality: Is the website interesting and educational?• Writing: Is the website’s written message and content appropriately and effectively

presented in the English language? (1)• Originality: Is the website unique?

Educational Perspective (40%)• Audience: Are the goals of this website clear to a certain audience? • Collaboration: How did the group work together? (2)• Diversity: Did the team make use of its own diversity or diversity of perspectives they

researched to enhance the educational value or relevance of their website? • Community: Does the website offer anything toward a better society, such as bridging a

cultural divide or addressing an important issue facing humanity? (3)

Web Design (30%)• Appearance: Is the website attractive and easy to read?• Media: How well does the website use images, animation, video, audio or

interactive activities?• Structure & Function: Is the website organized, well structured, easy to navigate, and functioning

correctly? (4)http://www.thinkquest.org/competition/evaluation.shtml (NB online version should be checked after next competition opens on August 16 2006)

1. Plagiarism results in disqualification.2. Use the team’s Site Profile as well as their website to evaluate collaboration.3. The website reflects the team members’ awareness that they are citizens of a global community, and helps to bridge the distances

between people and/or create a better society.4. Too many technical problems such as broken links may result in removal from the competition.

ThinkQuest – Evaluation Criteria 2007

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• Judging is conducted through a two-phase process• Phase 1

• Volunteer judges (educational criteria for registration of judges)• Effective online method for assigning websites to be judged and

recording of scores• Median scores used to determine finalists for each award

• Phase 2• Phase 2 panels meet to decide awards• Global representation of Phase 2 panels (Australia, Brazil,

China, Hong Kong, India, South Africa, Tunisia, UK, USA in 2006)

ThinkQuest – Judging Process

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Oracle Education Foundation (OEF) maintains a major focus on ethical and safety issues

• Plagiarism is vigorously monitored within the judging process

• Disqualification for plagiarism• Relevant citation (text and graphics) is a criterion within judging

• Child safety remains a constant goal throughout all OEF activities.

• Requirement for school principal to approve registrations for the primary coach of a team

• Team disqualification if student team members can be identified or contacted

ThinkQuest – Ethical Considerations

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Workshop Activity – www.thinkquest.org

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• Student experiences• Being a member of international winning team• Introduction to new skills• Think.com environment

• Coach experiences• Team formation• Guide/mentor role• Age specific considerations

• TQ in a school• Different approaches• Project-based

• Examples of Successful Websites

ThinkQuest – Participant Experiences

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• TQ Library- increases the relevance of TQ competition• Creates real world publishing environment for student

work• Provides exemplars from previous competitions• Builds repository of 6,000 published websites by

students for students• Sites are vetted before inclusion

ThinkQuest – The Library

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Workshop Activity –www.thinkquest.org/library/index.html

ThinkQuest – Project-Based Learning

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The Project Learning CycleThe Project Learning Cycle

DefineDefineGoalGoal--SettingSetting

Problem, Question Issue or ChallengeProblem, Question Issue or Challenge

Teaming &Teaming &Knowledge SharingKnowledge Sharing

CommunicatingCommunicatingDoDoResearching &Researching &DocumentingDocumenting

PresentingPresenting

ReviewReviewEvaluatingEvaluating

ReflectingReflecting

PlanPlanProject PlanningProject PlanningScope, Timelines, Resources,Scope, Timelines, Resources,Communications, Quality, RisksCommunications, Quality, Risks

B Trilling - OEF

Teacher-directedDirect InstructionKnowledgeContentBasic SkillsTheoryCurriculumIndividualClassroomSummative AssessedLearning for School

ThinkQuest – Project-Based Learning

Why Project Based Learning?

B Trilling - OEF

Teacher-directedDirect InstructionKnowledgeContentBasic SkillsTheoryCurriculumIndividualClassroomSummative AssessedLearning for School

Student-directedCollaborative ConstructionSkillsProcessHigher-order ThinkingPracticeLife SkillsGroupCommunityFormative EvaluationLearning for Life

A BetterA Better BalanceBalance

ThinkQuest – Project-Based Learning

Why Project Based Learning?

B Trilling - OEF

Top 10 Project Do’s• Clarify your goal.• Identify the deliverables and requirements before you start doing the

work.• Set a realistic schedule.• Consider potential problems before they occur.• Monitor progress at regular intervals.• Evaluate change before ‘just doing it”.• Face setbacks with courage and resolve.• Verify results before considering the project done.• Learn from your experience.• Celebrate a job well done!

Kimberley Liegel – Project Management

www.makeithappen.ws

ThinkQuest Support mechanisms• National Partners interactions and support

• Support within specific regions• Communication link with OEF team

• Advisors Councils (ThinkQuest and Think.com)• Representation of global TQ community• Past & present participants and judges

• Coach resources• TQ site includes extensive resources

• Online forum for coaches• Think.com

ThinkQuest – Support

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Workshop Activity – http://www.think.com/en_au/

In many States and Territories, new forms of curriculum frameworks have given emphasis to the learning principles that are characteristic of project-based learning.

The following examples illustrate a common thread regarding the use of ICT skills to creatively access, use and construct information relevant to the world beyond the classroom. Teamwork, communication and ethical behaviour are also portrayed as requirements.

ThinkQuest stimulates students to engage in many of the activities promoted in these curriculum frameworks.

ThinkQuest – Links to Curriculum Frameworks

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• Learners develop and use operational skills in information and communication technologies to critically design and construct texts, search for and sort information, and communicate with others.

ICT Use in Authentic Tasks• used to support students performing complex

functions involving multiple disciplines;• integrated into classroom activities; and• treated as a tool for genuine purposes.

South Australia – Essential Learnings

A Rich Task• is an integrated intellectual and linguistic, social and

cultural practice• represents an educational outcome of demonstrable

and substantive intellectual substance andeducational value

• is transdisciplinary• draws on a range of operational fields of knowledge• engages knowledge and skills from at least two of the New Basics

clusters• is problem-based• connects to the world beyond the classroom• has face value for educators, parents and community stakeholders• has sufficient intellectual, cognitive and developmental depth and

breadth to guide curriculum planning across a significant span of schooling

• enables flexibility for schools to address the local context

Queensland – Rich Tasks

“use information and communications technology (ICT) to access, process, manage and present information; modeland control events; construct new understandings; and communicate with others. Students use ICT and strategies to monitor learning patterns, to process data to create solutions and information products that demonstrate understanding, and to share their work with others in ethical, legal and respectful ways.”

Victoria - Interdisciplinary Learning

“Information literate students will:• appreciate that information is valuable and is

expressed in a range of symbolic codes• define their own information needs for learning, innovation

and enterprise, and identify appropriate information tools to conduct research, solve problems and pursue personal interests

• demonstrate skills and strategies to effectively locate and manage information and knowledge in digital, print and other environments

• apply evaluative criteria to the selection, interpretation and transformation of information from a variety of sources and formats

• use appropriate information tools to design and create information products to document or communicate information or knowledge

• evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of their choice and use of information and information tools, processes and products

• demonstrate the safe, responsible, ethical and legal use of information, and information tools, processes and products.”

Tasmania - Essential Learnings

ThinkQuest – Supporting Key Competencies

Key Competencies• KC1: collecting, analysing and organising information• KC2: communicating ideas and information• KC3: planning and organising activities• KC4: working with others in teams• KC5: using mathematical ideas and techniques• KC6: solving problems• KC7: using technology

In summary, “Think” provides students, teachers, schools with……

• International collaboration and advice• Assistance through Global Partners• Advisors' Councils for feedback• Coaching resources• Coaches forum• Think.com publishing environment

Think – A Supportive Package for Project Based Learning

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Why Think?

Teachers have to make choices over the use of their time and space within their teaching program. An activity built on a supportive community with strong links to new forms of curriculum increases the chance of success and teacher adoption.

Why Think?

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tinap@internode.on.netrleonard@nereus.com.au

Questions