Parents always say that their kid is the best and the brightest. What if we enabled teachers to treat their entire class in the same way? A 3rd grade class in Wisconsin is using a project-based lesson plan sequence to help students learn about and discover the abilities of the systems of the human body. The lesson utilizes technology and it also directs the students to present their information using multimedia presentations.

It may seem odd that students of such a young age are able to complete such large tasks and acting in such a mature manner to complete such a seemingly difficult project, however the teachers have done most of the prep work ahead of time to aid in the student’s research. There are websites already linked onto the computer so that students can view age-appropriate materials and resources.

The project took four weeks of lesson time spent largely in a self-guided setting so that the teacher could monitor all students to document levels of individual progress while keeping the entire class on course to accomplish their goals.  The students first do research using both off and online resources then they must present findings to the class. Again, don’t forget this is in the 3rd grade!

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Once the class reviews the research, individual students began preparing their projects with the new information. The teachers who developed the plan encouraged the students to use multimedia presentations on the computer for their final portion of the project and utilized class time to help them learn the basics of copying and pasting pictures from the internet into Microsoft PowerPoint.

It really was a tremendous undertaking for those teachers, but let’s not take anything away from the kids! It shows us that even in the 3rd grade, if we believe in the children and give them a chance to succeed, they might surprise us!