Start Date
19-4-2017 9:00 AM
End Date
19-4-2017 12:00 PM
Description
This project describes an investigation into the efficacy of employing a modified project-based learning model to enhance the presentation and conversation skills of students in German 235: Intermediate German Conversation. Unlike usual language conversation courses that rely on expensive textbooks and focus on reading selections followed by discussion questions, GER 235 sought to engage students in a journey of discovery as they explored topics typically more at home in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics courses (STEM) and that were supplemented by the arts: STEAM. The impetus for this course developed out of a teaching unit that I created on the concept of the “ecological backpack,” my final project for a professional development seminar at the University of Leipzig, Germany, in Summer 2015.
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STEM, STEAM, and German Language Acquisition: Modified Project-Based Learning in a German Conversation Course
This project describes an investigation into the efficacy of employing a modified project-based learning model to enhance the presentation and conversation skills of students in German 235: Intermediate German Conversation. Unlike usual language conversation courses that rely on expensive textbooks and focus on reading selections followed by discussion questions, GER 235 sought to engage students in a journey of discovery as they explored topics typically more at home in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics courses (STEM) and that were supplemented by the arts: STEAM. The impetus for this course developed out of a teaching unit that I created on the concept of the “ecological backpack,” my final project for a professional development seminar at the University of Leipzig, Germany, in Summer 2015.
