Electronic Field Trips
Ellis Island UnitLesson Six
Final Reports
- Grade level: Middle/Upper Elementary, High School
- Subject Area: Social Studies and Language Arts
Brief Description
Students visit a number of sites on immigration that were created by other children. These
sites will provide models for students to complete their own research. While students visit the sites they should
evaluate the sorts of research students carried out to create their site, how they structured the site, what sort
Students write up reports, including a summary of their research findings and their
historical journal entries, to be shared with friends and families. Students should draw on the criteria developed
during their initial explorations to guide the format of their reports. Depending on the resources available,
students may publish their reports on the web, produce multi-media reports, or create more traditional paper
reports.
Objectives
Given internet sites students will:
- Students will practice writing skills through the processes of writing and revising their reports.
- Students will synthesize their understandings of the concepts of immigration.
- Students will learn more about their heritages and experiences of others.
- Parents and community members will have a chance to view and share students' work.
Materials and Resources Needed
The following list applies to students publishing their reports on the web or creating
multi-media projects.
- Internet resources: For publishing students reports on the web-- a server on which to place the students'
reports.
- Hardware requirements: PC or Macintosh and monitor; modem and phone line.
- Software requirements: For publishing students reports on the web use Netscape [http://home.netscape.com/download] and an html editor. For
creating mulit-media projects-- multi-media program such as HyperStudio, or HyperCard.
Activity Description
- Students create rough draft of their reports.
- Students pair up to peer-edit each other's drafts prior to teacher editing.
- Students create final drafts, incorporating comments from their peer and teacher editing.
- Invite parents, community members, and other classrooms to come and share in a presentation of the students'
work.
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