Standard 2.

4 Digital Tools and Resources Reflection

Standard 2.4 focuses on modeling and facilitating the effective use of digital tools and resources
to enhance higher order thinking skills, processes and mental habits of the mind. The artifact I
have chosen as evidence of my mastery is the Engaged Learning Project from ITEC 7400. I
developed and created this project as a solitary assignment and I am entirely responsible for the
content.
The Broad River Watershed project is a long and lingering project which incorporates a students
ability to gather data, analyze the water quality scores and look for trends in the data over time.
In the project, I model and facilitate the use of water testing probeware and software to track
water quality data from the watershed located near our school. The students are interacting with
industry experts from the Broad River Watershed Association and the EPA to answer real-world
water pollution issues using their higher order thinking skills, processes and habits of the
mind. The data they collect will be used by online water quality databases to track long-term
changes in the Broad River Watershed.
I learned that students are very interested in their data being used by experts in decision making.
They take more time and analyze their numbers carefully knowing that they may make a
difference in a decision that a scientist may make in the future which impacts their community.
If I were to revise this project in the future, I would like to add some guest speakers and maybe
take a field trip to a nearby State Park if money is available.
The project supports the STEM initiative at our school and our mission to create independent
productive citizens. It impacts the students learning about their quality of water in the
community. The learning and impact can be assessed by the choices these individuals make as
farmers and community members to continue to support healthy water in the Broad River
Watershed. The data can also be analyzed as part of our STEM initiative to see if STEM projects
are making a positive impact on student success and learning.