1. ‘The Solar System Wiki’
Created by Jayne Warren, Mickayla Clark, Haylee Henderson and Tiana Samuels.

2. Planning
For this task we decided to create an authentic learning task based around the topic of the Solar System. Jayne took the initiative to research the Australian Curriculum website in order to gain an idea of which year level this particular topic would be suited for. This research resulted in the group deciding to create a series of mini tasks for students at a Year Five level. The topic of the Solar System falls under the category of science within the Australian Curriculum to which has been designed to accommodate Year Five students within our Australian Schools.

3. Planning
As part of this task the group had to create a brief outline of a task relating to the topic of the solar system to which could be provided for students to complete over a relatively short or long period of time. As a group we decided to create a task that students would complete in small groups over the course of a six week period. The students will be given time to complete this task in class however, students may also have to work on this task in their own time as part of their weekly homework duties. The components in which students will be required to complete as part of this task are as follows;
Conduct research on the planet in which has been assigned to the group,
Create a draft research report of the information acquired,
Use the classroom’s Google site in order to present an oral presentation to the class about the planet assigned to the group.

4. Planning
As a group we have devised a series of questions that students should consider when conducting their research in order to successfully complete the task to the Australian Curriculum Councils standards. The questions are as follows;
How long does the given planet take to orbit the sun?
How far away is the planet from the Earth (i.e.- the distance)?
How does the planet’s size differ from that of Earth?
What are the observable traits of the planet?
Students are also encouraged to devise their own research questions and include important information and facts into their report that they believe are relevant to the task at hand.

5. Creating- Wiki Homepage
For this task we decided to create a Wiki using the Wikispaces tool in order to present our work as we believed the features were more suitable and appropriate for what we were trying to achieve for this task . Jayne offered to pay the $1 joining fee and she then began creating the Wiki homepage. This page contains vital information regarding this task including an outline of the students authentic task, a project plan, a brief six week lesson plan for the task, information regarding the Australian Curriculum and its relevance to the task, key outcomes of the task and a small introduction to the Wiki itself. The home page also carries links to various other pages within the Wiki including the students and teachers resource pages and the teamwork page for the students all to which were designed by other members within the group.

6. Creating- Student Resources
As part of this task we were required to create a Student Resources page within our Wiki that contained various resources for students to use as a basis for their research component of their learning task. The group assigned the role of the creator of this page to Mickayla whom researched the topic of the Solar System and managed to find information regarding all the planets through resources including books and websites. As well as linking these resources to this particular page of the Wiki, Mickayla also provided the students with a brief set of instructions regarding the research element of the task.

7. Creating- Teacher Resources
The Wiki in which we created was also required to contain a Teacher Resources page in order to give Teachers the opportunity to implement elements of this task into their own classroom through-out the course of the term. The Teacher Resources page for our Wiki was created by Haylee who drew inspiration from previous students Wiki’ which were supplied by Jenni and Jan in LMS as a guide to help students complete this final task successfully. Our Teacher Resources page contains such resources as websites, video’s, books and educational excursions provided by discovery centres located close to the city of Perth that we hope will be able to successfully help teachers implement the task that we have created into their students learning of this particular topic.

8. Creating- Teamwork Page
The group was required to include a Teamwork Page within the Wiki that needed to include a copy of the Teamwork Contract which was produced as part of the first component of this particular task. The Teamwork Contract basically outlines what it is each member of the group was required to complete in order to ensure for the successful completion of this task. The contract also contains contact information, completion of elements of the task due dates, a brief overview of the key aspects of the task (i.e.- Year Group, Subject Area etc-.) and a list of ways in which the group had opted to overcome issues to which were likely to arise through-out the course of the task. The Teamwork Contract was completed by all members of the group before the 05/05/2014 and the contract itself was uploaded to the Teamwork Page by Mickayla.

9. Creating- Google Site
For this task the group decided to incorporate a Google Site into the authentic learning task for students as a way for both the Teacher and Student to interact both in and out of the classroom environment. Tiana created an example Google Site for Teachers to use as a guideline for the creation of their own to use for the course of this authentic task. The Google Site is where groups will be required to upload their final Research Report in preparation for the oral presentation component of the task.

10. Creating- Reference and Lesson Plan Pages
The group opted to include a Reference and Lesson Plans page within the Wiki in order to record references and to give teachers a brief set of lesson plans to follow over the course of the six week period in which the authentic learning task is required to be completed within. Each member of the group contributed to both of these pages allowing for the smooth, stress-free completion of the two extra pages over a relatively short period of time.

11. Creating- Lesson Plans
Lesson One-Wednesday;
-Introduce both the topic of the Solar System and the task to the students.
Participate in a whole class discussion in order to find out what knowledge students already acquire in regards to the Solar System.
Divide students into 8 groups (1 for each planet) and provide each group with a source of technology for the duration of the task (i.e.- an iPad, Laptop etc-.)
Explain to students how to access the Wiki and allow for the group’s to begin their research of their given planet.

12. Creating- Lesson Plans
Lesson One-Friday;
-Groups are to continue the research component of the task.
-Students are to be introduced to the Google Site in which their final research report will be presented on.
- Students are to have an informative book read aloud to them regarding the Solar System. Suggestions include Planets (Skywatch)- Lynn M. Stone and Moons and Planets- William K. Hartman.

13. Creating- Lesson Plans
Lesson Two-Wednesday;
-Students are to be given a research report writing guideline sheet which is available for download from the Lesson Plans page of the Wiki.
-Students are to be informed how to use the guideline in order to allow for their report to flow and appear interesting to read.
15 minutes should be allowed in order for groups to continue researching their given planet.
- Groups should be being encouraged to begin writing their research report introduction and should be guided by the teacher along the way.

14. Creating- Lesson Plans
Lesson Two-Friday;
An informative book regarding the Solar System should be read aloud to the whole class. Books can be accessed online or through the School’s library resource section.
Groups should now be working on constructing the body paragraphs of their research report.
For fun, groups may participate in fantastic team building activities in which may benefit some or all members of the given groups and boost the confidence of those whom are rather nervous about participating in a group task.

15. Creating- Lesson Plans
Lesson Three- Wednesday;
Teachers should review each group’s Research Report and provide brief constructive feedback for each group to improve work on.
Groups should be given some time to finish writing the body paragraphs of the Research Report.
Groups should begin gathering images relating to their planet in order to support the information they are providing within their Research Report.
Individually students should complete a series of fun worksheets relating to the Solar System in order to allow for the Teacher to see how well the student is engaging with the topic halfway through the task.

16. Creating- Lesson Plans
Lesson Three- Friday;
-Teachers should present to the students an informative video presentation regarding the planets of the Solar System. Students should sit within their groups in order to allow for notes to be taken down from the video if necessary. An example of a video to watch can be found on the Teacher Resources page of the Wiki.
- Teachers should review the information provided by the informative video with the class in order to ensure that all students have absorbed and have understood the information provided by the video.

17. Creating- Lesson Plans
Lesson Four- Wednesday;
-Groups are to be introduced to the properties of a conclusion and a are required to begin drafting their own conclusion for the Research Report.

18. Creating- Lesson Plans
Lesson Four- Friday;
Group should be given time to finish the conclusion of their Research Report and are required to begin proof-reading their report for minor errors.
Each group’s report should be read by the classroom teacher whom should then present constructive feedback to each group in preparation for the oral presentation in two weeks time.
- Once feedback has been given and there is time at the end of the lesson to spare, groups of the class may play educational games on the internet regarding the Solar System.

19. Creating- Lesson Plans
Lesson Five- Wednesday;
The classroom teacher is to introduce the concept and structure of an oral presentation to the class in preparation for next weeks oral presentation component of the task.
Groups should be given time to begin work on their oral presentation for the task. Teachers should ensure that all students have been given a role in the oral presentation as all students are being marked on their participation in this particular component of the task.

20. Creating- Lesson Plans
Lesson Five- Friday;
- Groups should be given time to finalise their oral presentation and should begin practicing their speech as a group in preparation for next weeks presentation component of the task.

21. Creating- Lesson Plans
Lesson Six- Wednesday;
-Groups should begin finalising their Research Reports for the next lessons oral presentation period.
Teacher’s should briefly review each group’s Research Report before they prepare to post the final draft on the classes Google Site.
Each group should have the final draft of their Research Report uploaded to the classrooms Google Site before the conclusion of today’s lesson.

22. Creating- Lesson Plans
Lesson Six-Friday;
-Today, each group is required to present their Reseach Report of their given planet in front of the class with the assistance of the classes Google Site.
-Each student of the group is required to participate in the oral presentation due to the fact that the presentation counts towards the students final individual mark for this particular task.
-Teachers should commence marking this task whilst students are participating in the oral presentation component of the task Marking of the other components of the task should be marked within the preceding week or two.

23. Creating-Video Presentation
For this task the group was required to produce a narrated screen cast video describing our resource and explaining how our team worked together to complete the given components of the task. For the Peer Review Period the group decided to create a PowerPoint presentation of the screen cast video to which would be narrated and uploaded to the group’s Wiki homepage after the conclusion of the Peer Review Period. The group nominated Haylee to complete both the PowerPoint presentation and the narrated version of the presentation for this particular component of the task. The narrated screen cast video will be presented by Haylee in Week 14’s tutorial and will be the final component that needs to be completed by the group for this task.