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Lesson One
Thesis Development
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Back to Essay Exchange Unit Lesson Plans
- Grade level: High School
- Subject Area: Social Studies and Language Arts
Lesson 1: Students identify areas of interest and conduct preliminary research using on-line and library resources to develop their thesis statements. Students gather data for one to three weeks both inside and outside of regular class time.
Objectives
- Students will synthesize a variety of historical resources to generate their thesis statements.
Materials and Resources Needed
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 (PC or Macintosh) with the necessary hardware components (mouse, keyboard, and monitor) as well as software (operating system, TCP/IP software, networking or dial-up software, e-mail and a World Wide Web client program, preferably Netscape, but perhaps Mosaic or Lynx). In the section below, we specify any "special" hardware or software requirements for a lesson or activity - over and above those described above - as well as our sense of the Internet access required to do the activity.
- Special hardware requirements: None.
- Special software requirements: None.
- Internet access: Medium-speed (28,000 BPS via modem), or High-speed (greater than 1 MBPS via network) connection.
- Divide students into cooperative teams or have them work individually to conduct preliminary research for their thesis statements.
A note about cooperative teams: in cooperative groups, each student takes on a role, and the roles can rotate within the group. Student roles include:
- Typist
- Spell-checker
- Information Expert
- Materials Manager
- Spokesperson
- Have students submit their thesis ideas to you for review before continuing with their research activities.