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Hello Helen,
In my opinion, project-based lessons are the way to go with online education. I believe this would relieve a lot of stress on everyone and, if you set it up right, allow for some powerful inquiry and motivation. The toughest part for the teacher will be 'letting it go' and giving up being the centre of the learning. Also, project-based lessons can be tailored to a student's interests and modified to fit their access to technology.
My recommendation is to pick a broad topic that provides students a range of what they can research or work on. For instance, “Conservation” allows students many choices on what they can focus upon. The idea is that they pick something they are personally interested in, which will hopefully engage them in the work.
Likewise, allow choices in terms of the end product of the project. This way students can work to their strengths and abilities: hand-drawn posters, websites, letters to local politicians, animations, videos, musical pieces are all different methods that students can demonstrate their understanding.
Teaching something is one of the best ways to learn, understand, and retain knowledge. So, have students produce books, videos, science demos or songs aimed at teaching younger students or peers about some topic.
I believe that flexibility is key to good projects. Inform students that they can suggest alternatives to what you may have envisioned. I have had students create public service announcements, mockumentaries, set up information booths in public, raised money for an endangered species, organize a community clean up...and others that I never had envisioned. Interim deadlines will move the project along, but also allow students time to do a good job on the final product.
Attached is the introduction to a project I assigned to my bio students.
Hope this helps,
Gabe Kraljevic
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