Students in Ms. Gagnon’s Psychology class recently created Augmented Reality (AR) files to present connections related to famous psychologists.
The blended learning assignment, “Connections throughout the history of psychology,” asked students to research a psychological theorist of their choice. Students then used their findings to create 3-minute videos. The videos reviewed key facts about the psychologists, explained their systematic approaches to understanding human behavior, and reviewed the theorists’ influences on the field of psychology.
Both the Technology rubric and the Public Speaking rubric were used to assess the students’ 21st-century skills that were embedded in the assignment.
Using the HP Reveal app on iPads, students used pictures of the psychologists as “trigger images.” The photos triggered the superimposed research videos related to the psychologists. This gave each student an opportunity to explore all the other theorists that had been studied and to determine possible connections between them.
Responding to the guiding question: “How have psychologists been connected to build what we see today as the science of psychology?” students then created a mandala that illustrated the connections and influences of psychological thinkers, as well as their respective strengths.
At the end of the assignment, Ms. Gagnon remarked: “I loved integrating technology and non-digital learning to meet the needs of all students. No matter where they are with both academic and technical skills, this blended learning assignment met all the students’ learning expectations. And it was fun!”
