Packaging Improvement Project Overview

Think about the packaging that you have encountered. Can you remember a frustrating experience with packaging? How can the convenience, protection, sustainability, and image (shelf-appeal) of packaging be improved? For this project students will analyze current packaging and suggest improvements.

Creating the Project

Project work can rewarding but challenging to monitor. Providing rubrics and checklists assisted teachers with assessment and assisted students with breaking down the project into manageable pieces. Periodically checklists were collected to gauge each group’s progress.

Also, peer assessments were a useful tool to helped monitor student progress. There was not enough time to look at each group’s work daily. Therefore, reviewing the completed peer assessment tools was useful to target students and groups in need of assistance.

Sharing the Project

Students posted their work to VoiceThread.com. VoiceThread is a web-based tool where users post images such as photographs or PowerPoint slides. Users can narrate their images orally or with typed text. Fellow VoiceThread users can leave comments on each others work.

VoiceThread is intuitive and easy to use. Students enjoy being able to “talk” to each other and posting their work safely and securely to a wider audience. The teacher has full control over who can view each project. Students can share their projects with a partner school, parents, or the larger community.

Teachers can purchase an educational VoiceThread account for $60 per year. This account allows teachers to control the content and the audience of student work. Go to http://voicethread.com/about/k12/ for more information.

Teachers can also join an online VoiceThread community, called a “ning”, at http://voicethread.ning.com. By joining this community, educators can watch several tutorials, talk to other teachers who use VoiceThread, and pose questions to other educators.

Either the VoiceThread website or the “ning” community will allow you to watch step-by-step instructions on how to use VoiceThread. A few hours of practice is very helpful to become confident using this tool.

Our Experience

Students our school worked in groups of three to create their VoiceThread project. Each project included one suggested packaging improvement. Students at our partner school in Hyderabad, India also created VoiceThread projects. Students in Hyderabad watched our projects and we watched theirs. Next, students at both schools left online questions and comments within each project. This began a dialogue between the students about their ideas.

The students voted on the best ideas from our school and these top projects were shared with employees at MWV. MWV employees expressed sincere interest in student solutions. Having a professional audience lent authenticity to the VoiceThread project.

To get an idea of students work, please watch the following VoiceThread project created by three Exploris Middle School seventh graders:

https://voicethread.com/#u681239.b788825.i4186628

Curriculum Alignment

The lessons and projects in the thematic unit “Price Check: What is the True Cost?” address objectives in both the North Carolina Standard Course of Study and the 21st Century Learning Goals. Correlations with each are listed below.

21st Century Learning Goals

The 21st Century Learning Goals were adopted by the state of North Carolina in 2005. These learning objectives are particularly useful for assessing student learning in the areas of critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity/innovation. For a complete list of the 21st Century Learning Goals please go to http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/.

As students complete work in this section of the thematic unit “Price Check: What is the True Cost?” they will meet the following 21st Century Learning Goals objectives:

21st Century Interdisciplinary Themes

Global Awareness

• Understand and address global issues
• Learning from and working collaboratively with individuals representing diverse cultures, religions and lifestyles in a spirit of mutual respect and open dialogue in personal, work and community contexts
• Understanding other nations and cultures, including the use of non-English languages

LEARNING AND INNOVATION SKILLS

Creativity and Innovation

• Think Creatively
  • Use a wide range of idea creation techniques (such as brainstorming)
  • Create new and worthwhile ideas (both incremental and radical concepts) 

  • Elaborate, refine, analyze and evaluate their own ideas in order to improve and maximize creative efforts

• Work Creatively with Others
  • Develop, implement and communicate new ideas to others effectively
  • Be open and responsive to new and diverse perspectives; incorporate group input and feedback into the work
  • Demonstrate originality and inventiveness in work and understand the real world limits to adopting new ideas
  • View failure as an opportunity to learn; understand that creativity and innovation is a long-term, cyclical process of small successes and frequent mistakes

• Implement Innovations
  • Act on creative ideas to make a tangible and useful contribution to the field in which the innovation will occur

Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

• Reason Effectively
  • Use various types of reasoning (inductive, deductive, etc.) as appropriate to the situation

• Make Judgments and Decisions
  • Effectively analyze and evaluate evidence, arguments, claims and beliefs
  • Analyze and evaluate major alternative points of view
  • Synthesize and make connections between information and arguments
  • Interpret information and draw conclusions based on the best analysis
  • Reflect critically on learning experiences and processes

• Solve Problems
  • Solve different kinds of non-familiar problems in both conventional and innovative ways
  • Identify and ask significant questions that clarify various points of view and lead to better solutions

Communication and Collaboration

• Communicate Clearly
  • Articulate thoughts and ideas effectively using oral, written and nonverbal communication skills in a variety of forms and contexts
  • Listen effectively to decipher meaning, including knowledge, values, attitudes and intentions
  • Use communication for a range of purposes (e.g. to inform, instruct, motivate and persuade)
  • Utilize multiple media and technologies, and know how to judge their effectiveness a priori as well as assess their impact
  • Communicate effectively in diverse environments (including multi-lingual)

• Collaborate with Others
  • Demonstrate ability to work effectively and respectfully with diverse teams
  • Exercise flexibility and willingness to be helpful in making necessary compromises to accomplish a common goal
  • Assume shared responsibility for collaborative work, and value the individual contributions made by each team member

INFORMATION, MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY SKILLS

ICT (Information, Communications and Technology) Literacy

• Apply Technology Effectively
  • Use technology as a tool to research, organize, evaluate and communicate information
  • Use digital technologies (computers, PDAs, media players, GPS, etc.), communication/networking tools and social networks appropriately to access, manage, integrate, evaluate and create information to successfully function in a knowledge economy
  • Apply a fundamental understanding of the ethical/legal issues surrounding the access and use of information technologies

LIFE AND CAREER SKILLS

Flexibility and Adaptability

• Adapt to Change
  • Adapt to varied roles, jobs responsibilities, schedules and contexts
  • Work effectively in a climate of ambiguity and changing priorities

• Be Flexible
  • Incorporate feedback effectively
  • Deal positively with praise, setbacks and criticism
  • Understand, negotiate and balance diverse views and beliefs to reach workable solutions, particularly in multi-cultural environments

Initiative and Self-Direction

• Manage Goals and Time
  • Set goals with tangible and intangible success criteria
  • Balance tactical (short-term) and strategic (long-term) goals
  • Utilize time and manage workload efficiently

• Work Independently
  • Monitor, define, prioritize and complete tasks without direct oversight

• Be Self-directed Learners
  • Go beyond basic mastery of skills and/or curriculum to explore and expand one’s own learning and opportunities to gain expertise
  • Demonstrate initiative to advance skill levels towards a professional level
  • Demonstrate commitment to learning as a lifelong process
  • Reflect critically on past experiences in order to inform future progress

Social and Cross-Cultural Skills

• Interact Effectively with Others
  • Know when it is appropriate to listen and when to speak
  • Conduct themselves in a respectable, professional manner

• Work Effectively in Diverse Teams
  • Respect cultural differences and work effectively with people from a range of social and cultural backgrounds
  • Respond open-mindedly to different ideas and values
  • Leverage social and cultural differences to create new ideas and increase both innovation and quality of work

Productivity and Accountability

• Manage Projects
  • Set and meet goals, even in the face of obstacles and competing pressures
  • Prioritize, plan and manage work to achieve the intended result

• Produce Results
  • Demonstrate additional attributes associated with producing high quality products including the abilities to: Work positively and ethically, Manage time and projects effectively, Multi-task, Participate actively, as well as be reliable and punctual, Present oneself professionally and with proper etiquette, Collaborate and cooperate effectively with teams, Respect and appreciate team diversity, Be accountable for results

Leadership and Responsibility

• Guide and Lead Others
  • Use interpersonal and problem-solving skills to influence and guide others toward a goal
  • Leverage strengths of others to accomplish a common goal
  • Inspire others to reach their very best via example and selflessness
  • Demonstrate integrity and ethical behavior in using influence and power

• Be Responsible to Others
  • Act responsibly with the interests of the larger community in mind

North Carolina Standard Course of Study

Science, Grade 6

Goal 2: The learner will demonstrate an understanding of technological design.
Objectives 2.01, 2.02, 2.03, 2.04

Science, Grade 7

Goal 2: The learner will demonstrate an understanding of technological design.
Objectives 2.01, 2.02, 2.03, 2.04

Science, Grade 8

Goal 2: The learner will demonstrate an understanding of technological design.
Objectives 2.01, 2.02, 2.03, 2.04

English Language Arts, Grade 7

Goal 1: The learner will use language to express individual perspectives in response to personal, social, cultural, and historical issues.
Objectives: 1.03, 1.04

Goal 3: The learner will refine the understanding and use of argument.
Objective: 3.02

Goal 6: The learner will apply conventions of application of grammar and language usage.
Objectives: 6.01, 6.02

English Language Arts, Grade 8

Goal 1: The learner will use language to express individual perspectives in response to personal, social, cultural, and historical issues.
Objectives: 1.03, 1.04

Goal 2: The learner will synthesize and use information from a variety of sources.
Objectives: 2.01, 2.02

Goal 6: The learner will apply conventions of application of grammar and language usage.
Objective: 6.02

Computer Technology Skills, Grade 7

Goal 1: The learner will understand important issues of a technology-based society and will exhibit ethical behavior in the use of computer and other technologies.
Objectives: 1.03, 1.15, 1.16

Goal 2: The learner will demonstrate knowledge and skills in the use of computer and other technologies.
Objectives: 2.04, 2.05

Goal 3: The learner will use a variety of technologies to access, analyze, interpret, synthesize, apply, and communicate information.
Objectives: 3.01, 3.08, 3.09, 3.11

Computer Technology Skills, Grade 8

Goal 1: The learner will understand important issues of a technology-based society and will exhibit ethical behavior in the use of computer and other technologies.
Objectives: 1.03, 1.15, 1.16

Goal 2: The learner will demonstrate knowledge and skills in the use of computer and other technologies.
Objective: 2.06

Goal 3: The learner will use a variety of technologies to access, analyze, interpret, synthesize, apply, and communicate information.
Objectives: 3.01, 3.06, 3.07, 3.08, 3.10

Social Studies, Grades 6,7, and 8

Depending on the location of the partner school and the grade level being taught, it is possible to meet several Social Studies objectives.