Brief Description Objectives Materials and Resources Activity Description Internet Resources

• Grade Level: Middle School, High School

• Subject Area: Social Studies

Brief Description

    Students look for news stories on the Web that highlight some of the prominent issues in modern American history they outlined in Lesson One.
Objectives

    Students will:

• See the connection between historical issues and current events.

Materials and Resources

    In developing our lessons and activities, we made some assumptions about the hardware and software that would be available in the classroom for teachers who visit the LETSNet Website. We assume that teachers using our Internet-based lessons or activities have a computer with the necessary hardware components (mouse, keyboard, and monitor) as well as a World Wide Web browser. In the section below, we specify any "special" hardware or software requirements for a lesson or activity (in addition to those described above) and the level of Internet access required to do the activity.

1. Special hardware requirements: None.
2. Special software requirements: None.
3. Internet access: High-speed (greater than 1 MBPS via network).

Activity Description

• Have students divide into working groups; each group will select an issue on which to focus.

• Have students visit the news sites listed in our Internet Resources below. Students should spend time reading and collecting examples of their issue in current events. Students may choose to take notes on the stories or print out copies from the Web sites they visit. Note: This activity is best carried out over a period of several days or weeks to allow students the chance to learn about a variety of current events as they develop over time.

• Each working group should develop a brief news cast of the events they found that fit their theme. Allow time for each group to give their news casts and for a whole group discussion following the presentations.

Internet Resources

• Call your local or regional newspaper to see if they have a Website that your students might use.

• The Christian Science Monitor
  [http://www.csmonitor.com/]
  The Web version of the Christian Science Monitor newspaper.

• CNN Interactive
  [http://www.cnn.com/]
  The Cable News Network's on-line news source.

• Welcome to the C-SPAN Networks
  [http://www.c-span.org/]
  C-SPAN provides excellent coverage of national legislative issues.

• Los Angeles Times Web Site
  [http://www.latimes.com/HOME/]
  The Los Angeles Times Web publication.

• Welcome to MSNBC
  [http://www.msnbc.com/]
  NBC and the Microsoft Network team up to provide news around the clock at this Web site.

• NPR Online
  [http://www.npr.org/]
  National Public Radio's Web site provides both audio and transcripts of many of its daily stories.

• Top of the news
  [http://www.usatoday.com/]
  USAToday's Web site.

Back to Current Events Research Unit Lesson Plans