Using Museum Box has proven to be both rewarding and frustrating for me and my students. The rewarding part is that is turning out to be challenging for my students - they thought it would be easier and more fun than a standard assessment. They have discovered that planning and executing a quality project takes a lot of work, and although they have had fun, it certainly hasn't been easy! The frustration comes into play when work is lost because they'd forgotten to save it, when the site was down for a night when they were supposed to working on their projects from home, and when the computers in our lab just aren't cooperating. Also, I signed up for a teacher account well in advance (they recommend one week) and to date, it is still not established.
This past Friday, my 7th graders spent 1st period in the computer lab, working in their groups of three, trying to complete their Museum Boxes on Plants. This meant they had spent four hours in their groups, planning and working on their project. Only two groups are largely finished, needing only to spell and grammar check, as well as making sure they've cited their sources. Here are a couple of screen shots from one of those groups:
The drawer above is complete. Each cube in the drawer contains information about a specific assigned topic, and students selected information from their notebooks to include as text. They were required to cite sources of pictures or additional text information.
This image shows one of the cubes from the drawer expanded to show the data included. When you click on the face that you want to see (from the left side) the cube rolls to show the side you've chosen. You can see the citation for this image in the caption box beneath the photo. It's a simple cut and paste to add the citations.
You can change the font you write with, the background color of the sides of your cubes, as well as the color of the box itself. This program had just enough choices for students - it wasn't like Power Point, which can often turn into a Power Pointless presentation with all of the sound effects and animations.This was straight forward and relatively easy for the students to learn and use.
The Museum Box website has a gallery of student work - it has the spectrum of quality you'd expect. There are a few good projects posted, though. My students discovered the gallery on Friday, and enjoyed looking at other student's work.
I had students complete a self and peer evaluation on Friday at the end of class. I asked them to score each other on things like preparation, focus, participation, and interpersonal relations. Additionally, I asked them to respond to three questions. Those questions and some responses:
1. Do you think the Museum Box is a good way to demonstrate your understanding of a topic? Yes, No, and why?
Largely, students answered "yes", and said things like they liked using the computer to create the project,they liked working with partners, they enjoyed doing the additional research and learning more. Students who said "no" said things like they felt funny not studying for a test, the program was hard to use because it didn't always save things.
2. Is doing a project like this preferable (better than) to taking a standard test? Yes, No, and why?
Again, largely "yes". Some responses were yes, because projects were more interesting, projects last a week instead of one class period, and one student said they learned more when they got to work with partners. "No" responses were accompanied with explanations like no, because these take longer than tests, I don't like working with partners, projects are boring and too hard.
3. Did you enjoy learning how to use this tool? Will you use it again if given a choice?
Once again, largely "yes". Students said they enjoyed learning how to use a new Web 2.0 tool, even though it had its challenges. One student asked if I'd tell his other teachers about the program so they could use it in more classes. Students who said "no" said they didn't like having to work so hard to learn something new, and that they would rather make a poster or more traditional project.
Overall, even with the technological challenges, I think Museum Box is a great Web 2.0 tool. I think it could be applied across all disciplines for a variety of reasons. Check out my previous blog for a link to the Museum Box site, and for a youtube video about the tool.
Regards,
Paula
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