A culminating activity for any major unit of study within the Schools for
Thought model is the Consequential Task. This is an activity which can
only be adequately completed as each research group makes publically known
what was learned concerning its specific area. The consequential task
serves many purposes, including motivation and individual accountability.
We have chosen a Mission to Mars Feasibility Study as our consequential
task.
To prepare for the final jigsaw group sharing activity, each
specialty group summarized the most important things learned as they
researched their particular area, deciding on six or seven points which
would have to be considered in such an undertaking. At this point, the
members of the specialty groups broke apart and jigsawed into new groups,
consisting of one member from each specialty group. Each member then
shared the knowledge gained from research in the specialty group with the
other members in the jigsaw so that the new group had a more thorough
understanding of all the factors that would be involved in a Mission to
Mars. Sometimes this sharing was done orally, other times groups wrote
lengthly reports to share and combine. Finally, individually, each person
in the class was required to write a feasibility study as to the
possibility of a Mission to Mars at the present time, given current
technology.
While most of the activities of this unit were anchored in
group participation, the accountability of each individual to learn from
the collective findings of the group was always understood, and individual
assessment was ultimately addressed in the feasibility study.
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