Brief Description Objectives Materials and Resources Activity Description Internet Resources

• Grade Level: Middle School, High School

• Subject Area: Social Studies, Math

Brief Description

    Students monitor current events using on-line and traditional resources.
Objectives

    Students will:

• Use multiple resources to gather information for research.
• Critically evaluate the content and perspective of news stories.

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: A medium-speed (28,000 BPS via modem) or high-speed (greater than 1 MBPS via network) connection.

Activity Description

• Set aside some time one day each week to discuss current events. In preparation for this:
  • Ask students to clip news stories from newspapers to bring to class or write paraphrases of news stories from radio or television news broadcasts.
  • Set aside time for students to visit on-line news sources (see our Internet Resources below). While at the sites students should take notes on the stories they read or print out copies from the Websites they visit.

    Note: Students should keep their news clippings, print outs, and notes in a folder for future use.

• During the discussion of current events, have students explore issues such as what trends they see developing in specific news issues over time (What is the state of the economy at various time points?), how different news stories might be interrelated (Are there any links between stories on education and taxes?), and what sorts of biases are present in news stories (What is the point of view of the journalist who wrote the story and how does that affect its content?).

Internet Resources

• Be sure to contact your local or regional newspapers to see if they have a Website that your students may also 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 Website
  [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 Website.

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

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

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