The SAMR (Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition) model. hippasus.com/rrpweblog/archives/000025.html

I am the art teacher. Each year I ask the students to design a dream home…with money as no object. This is a fun exercise as it helps nurture their creativity, yet it also helps hone their awareness of their current home. (The size, the colors, their environment.) Originally this exercise took place on paper…we would share their work by hanging it on the wall in the hall.

Now I Substitute the traditional pencil and paper with Google SketchUp. This Augments the assignment by allowing the student to manipulate their drawing in new ways. They can spin The art on their computer screen and work on each side. They can work from every angle and view…they can easily erase and add on…they can even import things into the drawing. Things that have been made by others. This borders on Modifying the project…as now all students can easily add pre-made components.

This year I added another step. I introduced Edusim. This is a program that introduces a virtual world. The virtual world starts out empty (although there are sample worlds the kids can visit. I ask the students to export their SketchUp projects and then import them into their virtual world. Now the project has Redefinition…the students are not just designing their dream house…they can design their dream neighborhood, their whole dream world, and everything in the world…and they can share them with others. They can easily visit others worlds created by classmates. There is a slight learning curve…for me the teacher. To help with that I have a NoteShare notebook where every student can add their knowledge. The students are teaching themselves, each other and me. We have a limited amount of time…that I can devote to this…but the results are great. I am planning to create some sharable resources for the Student Technology Fieldtrip to Orono, in May.