Researching with iPads for the Big 6

This past year, our school purchased a mobile cart with a set of 25 iPads that could be checked out by classrooms. Honestly, I was hesitant to use the iPads with my students because I was unsure of how to use them. After attending several iPad trainings at my school, I learned a variety of applications that the students could use for fun and to showcase their learning.

To introduce the Big 6 Research Model, we researched zebras as a class. After determining questions we had about zebras, we explored the WB Animals application on the iPads for answers. The students were instantly excited to discover the answers to our questions!

I turned the students attention to posters around the room that had the titles: Appearance, Habitat, Diet, and About Zebras (other). The students each received 2 post-it notes. They had to find the answer to one of our questions, write it on the post-it note, and hang it on the correct poster. Duplications are okay! This is all about exploring the process! If students finished really early, they received an extra post-it note. Soon, our posters were filling up with facts about zebras!

Before the students arrived the next day, I rewrote the facts on all of the posters except for "About Zebras," because we needed to add 3 new poster categories: Predators, Babies, and Facts. When the students arrived the next day, we placed the post-its from "About Zebras" on the new posters and got rid of duplicates.

Next, they wrote down their favorite zebra facts they would read during their iMovie. We laid the posters of facts around the room. I put the students in groups of 2-3, and had them begin at different posters. Their note-taking packet was 6 pages long, one page for each poster. When they got to the "Appearance" poster, they would write down a fact on the "Appearance" page about what zebras look like. Later, they would record these facts in their iMovie.

Over the course of two days, the students recorded individual iMovies about zebras. We started the movies together in front of the Smart Board. Step-by-step we chose the order of the photos so our iMovie would match our note taking packet. Next, we added titles to each of the slides. Then, with a partner, they recorded their facts with the correlating slide. Finally, we viewed the iMovie together to check for audio clips that needed to be re-shot and pictures that were out of order. The students were SO excited to watch the final product! Their iMovie was added to their end-of-the-year DVD.