Project Proposal for C&I 335

Margie Adkins

Objective

Teach research skills to 5th graders using the internet and other technology.

Skills to be taught

Searching
determining what information is important
note taking
citing sources
synthesizing information from various sources to create a product
creating a hyperstudio card
scanning work into the computer
creating a web page using netscape composer

Obstacles

Only one computer in the class hooked to the internet
12 non-readers in a class of 26

Proposal

I plan to carry out this project throughout the entire year. Because of the low achievement level of so many of the students in my class, I don't feel that I can teach them all the skills necessary to do a research project at one time. Therefore, I plan to assign a variety of projects throughout the year, increasing the number of skills and the amount of student involvement necessary with each project. The projects assigned will be tied to the Social Studies curriculum.

Timeline

September/October - Research Indian Tribes

Teach note taking skills on the overhead projector.
Give students 6 questions to answer through research.
Show students how to find the names of sources in all types of media.
Rotate groups of students through various stations, including:

the internet
computer with appropriate CD
reference books
books on Indians
other resources

Product will be simple murals created in groups.

October/November - Research Explorers

Review note taking skills.
Have students generate their own questions to research.
Rotate groups of students through stations.
Show students how to organize information from various sources.
Product will be a Hyper studio card to be included in a class stack.

December/January - Research the American Revolution

Using an AV computer hooked up to a TV monitor, teach the class how to use search engines.
Reinforce previously taught skills while rotating groups through stations.
Product will be a Revolutionary War newspaper that can be scanned into the computer and placed on the school's web page.

Frbruary/March - Research the early 19th Century

In conjunction with the Old State Capitol Project, students will work in groups to research various topics.
Students will be expected to find their own resources, both inside and outside of class.
Product will be a living history presentation at the Old State Capitol.

April/May - Research the Civil War

Using the skills taught all year, students will research individual topics on the Civil War.
Each student will use Netscape Composer to create a web page on their topic.
The web pages will be linked together into a Civil War web site.

Evaluation

The success of this project will be determined by the quality of the products. Products will be graded using grading rubrics with increasingly higher expectations for each research project.

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