Choose Your View	View By Subject

1. Ellis Island (3-6, 10-12)
     In this unit, students will visit Ellis Island sites to learn about the patterns and history of immigration in this country. These explorations will serve as a personal link for students to the historical importance of immigration in United States history.
   1. Lesson One: Introduction to Immigration. Read and discuss selected resources about children and immigration. Children develop an understanding of the concept of immigration and reasons why people immigrate.

   2. Lesson Two: Immigration Explorations, Part 1. Organize students into research groups to visit sites on immigration that were created by other children. These sites will provide models for students to complete their own research.

   3. Lesson Three: Internet Research. Using the criteria they developed earlier, students begin to collect and synthesize information on immigration. Students may choose to focus on one nationality or ethnic group in particular. Prior to starting, students and teachers together develop a list of questions that students will use in research.

   4. Lesson Four: Creative Writing/Historical Journals. Having finished their primary and secondary research, students write a series of journal entries, from the perspective of an immigrant traveling to the United States via Ellis Island.

   5. Lesson Five: Final Reports. Students write 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.

2. Severe Weather (4-9)
     The Internet provides a wealth of resources on weather, including sites dedicated to tornadoes, hurricanes, and other severe weather patterns. Students visit these sites and research severe weather phenomrna of interest to them. As part of this unit, local weather data is collected daily and posted to a collaborative weather site on the Web, and the students develop (or review) a severe weather action plan for their school.
   1. Lesson One: Introduction to Severe Weather Patterns. This lesson uses traditional and/or on-line resources to introduce students to basic weather terminology and background information on wind, storms, clouds, rain, etc. As part of this lesson, students learn how the basic weather measurements (temperature, humidity, and air pressure) are used by meteorologists to predict weather patterns from models of atmospheric change.

   2. Lesson Two: Choose a Severe Weather Pattern. Students select a specific severe weather pattern to research based on their interests such as tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, lightening, and hail.

   3. Lesson Three: Writing and editing a research report on severe weather. Following their research, students write and peer edit reports on the severe weather they selected in Lesson Two.
   4. Lesson Four: Develop (or review) a severe weather action plan for the school. If the school has an existing severe weather action plan, students read copies and discuss how the plan can be used in a real weather emergency. If no such plan exists, students develop, write, and present an action plan to the school principal based on their research.

   5. Lesson Five: Presentation to the Class/School. Following the first five lessons, a special severe weather awareness day is planned where students present their research reports, along with their action plan and any other associated products (models, Web-pages, etc.) to the rest of the class/school.

   6. Lesson Six: (optional) Discussion of severe weather and the Greenhouse Effect. A whole-class discussion of the possible impact of the Greenhouse effect on recent severe weather patterns can encourage students to consider how local weather patterns are driven by larger, global warming and air movement systems.

3. Video Teleconference Survey (7-9)
      In this unit, students use Internet search engines to collect information about the topic, "Violence in the Media and How It Affects Teenagers." Students format the information they collect into survey questions that they invite classes in other schools to answer. Students invite classes that respond to the survey to participate in a CU-SeeMe video teleconference on the survey topic.
   1. Lesson One: Researching and Compiling Survey Information. Students use Internet search engines to research the survey topic "Media Violence and How It Affects Teenagers." Students work in groups to compile their information into survey questions, noting recurring facts or themes that might be relevant.

   2. Lesson Two: Administering the Survey. Students administer the survey to family, friends, and students in remote locations.

   3. Lesson Three: Conducting a Video Teleconference. Students organize a video teleconference over CU-SeeMe to discuss the results of the survey with participants.

4. Space Science and Fiction (7-12)
     Students conduct research on space science and fiction at the Franklin Institute's exhibition "An Inquirer's Guide to the Universe." After completing their research, students will compose science fiction stories about imaginary planets.
   1. Lesson One: Exploring Space Fact. Students visit Websites to conduct research on facts about space and space exploration.

   2. Lesson Two: Exploring Space Fiction. Students visit Websites with information on space fiction and collect information for their stories.

   3. Lesson Three: Creating Space Fiction. Students synthesize aspects of the information that they gathered in the previous two lessons to create stories about imaginary planets. They may choose to publish their works at the Franklin Institute's story studios.

5. Global Warming (7-12)
     Lessons in the unit provide students with opportunities to study global climate changes, discuss and debate the current arguments for and against global warming and the Greenhouse Effect, investigate the possibility of global warming and the Greenhouse Effect, and present their findings in the form of research reports.
   1. Lesson One: Introduction to Global Warming. This lesson uses traditional and on-line resources to introduce students to basic information on global climate and atmospheric changes over time.
      

   2. Lesson Two: The Greenhouse Effect Debate. Students discuss and debate the possibility of a Greenhouse Effect and its possible impact on the earth.

   3. Lesson Three: The Greenhouse Effect Visualizer. Students work in groups using the Greenhouse Effect Visualizer, and other available on-line visualization tools, to study global climate changes looking for evidence for and against global warming and the Greenhouse Effect.

   4. Lesson Four: Writing and Editing a Research Report on Global Warming. Following their research, students write and peer edit reports on global warming and the Greenhouse Effect. Students are encouraged to read and make suggestions for improving reports of students who adopt different positions on global warming.

   5. Lesson Five: Presentation to the School. Following the first four lessons, a special school earth day is planned where students present their research reports, along with any other associated products (models, diagrams, Web-pages, etc.) to the rest of the class and school.

6. Essay Exchange Unit (10-12)
     In this unit, students will develop both their social science research and writing skills. Students develop position papers on a variety of topics, conducting research to formulate and support their thesis statements. The students will transmit their position papers via e-mail to other schools and educators, who in turn, will provide criticisms, comments, and additional sources of information for further research.
   1. Lesson 1: Thesis Development. 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.

   2. Lesson 2: Rough Drafts. Students submit rough draft of position papers. Rough drafts are evaluated by instructor and students refine them. Messages announcing the project are placed on computer networks. The instructor e-mails copies of rough drafts for evaluation to those who respond. Reader-volunteers can also visit the school's website where the essays are posted to read and review. Phase 2 duration: One to three weeks.

   3. Lesson 3: Final Drafts. Students develop final versions of their position papers. Final versions are added to the school's web pages. The final projects are announced over the Internet via e-mail lists and World Wide Web, local bulletin board systems, national computer networks such as the World Message Exchange, RIMEnet, and commercial on-line services. Duration: one week.

   4. Lesson 4: Responses. Students receive and read electronic reviews of their essays. Responses from reviewers will be used as basis for class discussions and further research. Duration: 2 weeks.

7. Virtual Ellis Island Museum (K-6, 10-12)
     In this unit, students will conduct primary and secondary research to learn more about their cultural and ethnic heritage. These explorations will serve as a personal link for students to the historical importance of immigration in United States history.
   1. Lesson One: Introduction to Immigration. Read and discuss selected resources about children and immigration. Children develop an understanding of the concept of immigration and reasons why people immigrate.

   2. Lesson Two: Immigration Explorations, Part 1. Organize students into research groups to visit John Schick's Virtual Ellis Island Museum. While students visit the site they should evaluate what type of research students carried out to create their site, how they structured the site, and what sort of information and graphics they included. The list of criteria students develop from their research will guide them in conducting their research and constructing their own site.

   3. Lesson Three: Oral Histories. Using the criteria they developed earlier, students begin to conduct oral histories of family members to learn about their cultural and ethnic heritage. Prior to starting, students and teachers develop a list of questions that students will use in their interviews and research.

   4. Lesson Four: Immigration Explorations, Part 2. After they've completed their oral histories, students conduct secondary source research using the internet and library resources to learn more about the backgrounds of their family's cultural and ethnic heritages.

   5. Lesson Five: Final Reports. Students write reports, including a summary of their research findings 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.

8. School Newspaper (4-12)
     Students will research and write articles that will be published in an electronic newspaper.
   1. Lesson One: Story Assignments. Students will choose their beats and decide what areas of school and community news they will cover.

   2. Lesson Two: HTML Paste-up. Students assemble and format their stories and layout their electronic newspaper. A variety of styles, from simple single block layouts to more complicated multiple columns are possible.

9. Neoclassicism/Romanticism (10-12)
     In this unit, students will use Internet resources to conduct research on Neoclassicism and Romanticism (N/R), two periods in history, each with distinctive components, such as literature, architecture, and music. Completed projects will be posted, where possible, to a class Web page to serve as a resource for students in the school and for participants in the discussion lists who provided feedback on the projects.
   1. Lesson One: Introduction to Neoclassicism and Romanticism. In this lesson, students use Internet resources to begin to answer, in written form, a series of questions about N/R. The lesson introduces students to both general and specific concepts of N/R and conducting research on the Internet.

   2. Lesson Two: Further Study of Neoclassicism and Romanticism. Students continue to conduct Internet research to answer the remaining N/R questions. Students are encouraged to contact and communicate with N/R professors or other experts, either singly or over e-mail discussion lists.

   3. Lesson Three: Selecting the Focus of the Neoclassicism/Romanticism Project. Based on the research they conducted in Lessons One and Two, students identify and flesh out an area of particular interest to them in the field of N/R for the purpose of developing and submitting a more in-depth project on that area of interest.

   4. Lesson Four: Critiquing the Neoclassicism/Romanticism Project. Students request feedback on their projects from N/R experts they have contacted. Students work in pairs to critique each other's work.

   5. Lesson Five: Revising the Neoclassicism/Romanticism Project. Students revise the in-depth project based on the suggestions they receive from their peer editors and their N/R expert contacts for publication on a class Web page.

10. Holiday Explorations (4-6)
      In this unit, students will learn about the values and traditions of particular countries, cultures, and groups through exploration of a holiday of their choice. Students are encouraged to select a holiday to study that is relevant to them, either because they celebrate it in their homes, or because they want to learn more about the country, culture, or group that celebrates it.
    1. Lesson One: Selecting and Investigating a Holiday. Students use the Internet resources provided and their own searches to select and investigate a holiday of interest to them.

    2. Lesson Two: Presentation of Findings. Students create Web-based, multimedia, or text-based documents of their research findings for presentation to the class when their holiday occurs.

    3. Lesson Three: Discussion of Common Characteristics of Holidays. Based on the research they have conducted, students participate in a group discussion that helps them see the characteristics each of the holidays they have investigated has in common with the others.

    4. Lesson Four: Creation of a Classroom Holiday. Based on the research they have conducted and the discussion in Lesson Three, students invent a holiday for their classroom, including name, customs, songs, foods, and other defining characteristics.

    5. Lesson Five: Sharing the Classroom Holiday. Students invite classes, both in their school and in remote locations, to join them in celebrating their classroom holiday.

11. What's In A Name? (7-9)
      In this unit, students consider the etymology of different words, including their own names. They examine how influences from other languages, including computer languages, find their way into English discourse.
    1. Lesson One: What's in a Name?. In this lesson, students use Internet and library resources to find the meanings of their first and/or last names. They discuss the evolution of the concept of naming individuals.

    2. Lesson Two: The Relatedness of Languages. Students use Internet and library resources to select and examine the origins of phrases or words, watching particularly for words that have origins in other languages.

    3. Lesson Three: Technology's Influence on Language. Students use Internet resources to examine the influence of technological terminology on English and other languages.

1. Keypals (K-6)
          Students will begin communicating over e-mail with students around the world in preparation for future collaborative activities. This lesson can provide a great supplement to traditional language arts activities, such as writing for an audience, reading for editing, and writing a journal, and can introduce students to different perspectives and points of view.

2. Colorful Indicators (K-6)
     Students conducting the following experiment will learn about acids and bases by creating a solution to test for them and by using the Internet to ask questions of scientists and/or to conduct Internet-based research. Students can collaborate with students at other schools either by conducting the experiment synchronously over CU-SeeMe or by exchanging data, information, and observations over email.

3. Immigration Explorations (3-6, 10-12)
      Students visit John Schick's Virtual Ellis Island Museum created by students in his classroom. This site will provide models for students to complete their own research.

4. Pick a Holiday (4-6)
      Students use the Internet resources provided and their own searches to select and investigate a holiday of interest to them.

5. Pick a Holiday (4-6)
      Students use the Internet resources provided and their own searches to select and investigate a holiday of interest to them.

6. Investigating Neoclassicism/Romanticism (10-12)
      In this activity, students use Internet resources to begin to answer, in written form, a series of questions about N/R. The lesson introduces students to both general and specific concepts of N/R and conducting research on the Internet.

  Related Resources for teaching art and music in the classroom.

Choose Your View	View By Subject