Research Results
Evaluation Report for the Grade 6 IMYM Pilot
February 1999
Prepared by Distance Learning and Information Technologies Unit, Program Development Branch, Manitoba Education and Early Childhood Learning
1.0 Background
Between September and December of the 1997-98 school year, Manitoba Education and Early Childhood Learning piloted the second phase of the Interdisciplinary Middle Years Multimedia (IMYM) Project. An integrated unit, Inventions, Innovations and Discoveries, was piloted in a total of 26 Grade 6 classrooms. Twenty-two schools were funded sites and four schools were non-funded sites. The IMYM pilot teachers engaged in six days of professional development prior to piloting the Inventions, Innovations and Discoveries unit.
2.0 Description of Inventions, Innovations and Discoveries Unit
The Inventions, Innovations and Discoveries unit is a 6 to 8 week interdisciplinary thematic unit developed to support teachers in integrating technology as a foundation skill with the teaching, learning, and assessment of prescribed student learning outcomes. The unit combines outcomes from the core compulsory subject areas in Grade 6 and focuses on learning experiences associated with 20th century inventions and inventors. Students engage in active learning as they take on the roles of inventors.
3.0 Follow-Up Session
After the pilot of the Inventions, Innovations and Discoveries unit was completed, pilot teachers attended a one-day follow-up session held by the IMYM Project Team at the Viscount Gort Hotel in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on Friday, May 8, 1998.
The purpose of this follow-up session was to gather feedback from the pilot teachers about the implementation of the Inventions, Innovations and Discoveries unit and about their experiences during Phase 2 of the IMYM project. Pilot teachers discussed some of the successes and challenges they encountered during the course of implementing the unit, and shared experiences, ideas, and materials with other pilot teachers. They also had the opportunity to showcase some of their students’ multimedia products/presentations.
Pilot teachers were divided into small groups, choosing a recorder and speaker within each group, and asked to share their involvement in Phase 2 of the IMYM project by addressing some guiding questions (refer to Appendix A). The results of these discussions were later presented to the large group.
