PETACH TIKVA, Israel - When Marsha Goren, an English teacher in this suburb of Tel Aviv, asks children to name the biggest danger they face, few think of car accidents. Yet that's the country's leading cause of death in childhood, Goren says. To get students thinking about what causes accidents and how they can avoid them, she has developed a classroom project that combines road safety with technology.

"On the Road to Safety" uses an online causal mapping tool to prompt students at Ein Ganim School to consider the causes and effects of road hazards. The tool, Seeing Reason, is available for teachers and their students to use for free on the Intel® Innovation in Education Web site (www.intel.com/education).

Students collected data for their analysis of road safety.

Goren has been teaching road safety for years in her English-as-a-Second-Language classes. A safety unit she developed is part of the national curriculum in Israel. When she took part in an Intel® Teach to the Future workshop last summer to learn how to better integrate technology into her classroom, she decided the time was right to "rebuild an existing curriculum and improve it with technology." Later, she expanded the project to incorporate use of the Seeing Reason tool. "I have now built a learning unit which I hope will save the lives of Israeli citizens. Even if one life is saved, then I have served a most important purpose."

The safety unit inspires students to take a deeper look at what causes road accidents. Using the Seeing Reason tool, students work in small teams to create maps—consisting of simple boxes and arrows—to represent cause-and-effect relationships. The maps capture students' thinking in a visual way, giving the teacher opportunities to ask follow-up questions or direct students to areas for further investigation.

Based on their own research, teams develop a well-reasoned safety plan, including practical steps for putting their plan into action. Teams present their proposals to classmates, using their casual maps to support their recommendations.

"Technology has opened a new way of working with the children," says Goren, who has been teaching for 23 years. The project-based learning that technology supports is changing the learning atmosphere in her classroom, she says. She has developed projects involving everything from rock 'n' roll to cross-cultural communication. One project, "Dream a Dream with Ein Ganim," encourages children from around the world to contribute to an online "dream forum," where they can express "dreams, wishes, hopes, and nightmares. The project shows children from other nations that children in Israel have dreams just like they do." By promoting global understanding, she hopes, "Together, we can make a dream come true."

In the classroom, Goren has seen an increase in curiosity and engagement since she began integrating technology. "Children study better and learn more when they are interested and engaged in authentic projects. I am enthralled by the effect it has had on my pupils and me!" Not only are students more engaged by the learning activities, but their English skills have improved as they have used the Internet and email to connect with learners in other countries. "Students are guided to becoming more independent learners," she adds.

Sometimes, she even receives emails at home from students who want to continue the classroom discussions. "They tell me how much they enjoy the projects and the lessons. If I am ill, they write, 'Marsha, why didn't you come to school today? Come tomorrow.'" With that, she adds, "I rest my case!"

For a more detailed look at the lesson plans and resources for "Road Safety" see the unit plan, http://educate.intel.com/en/ThinkingTools/SeeingReason/ProjectExamples/UnitPlans/RoadSafety/.