Regions: Meet the Experts
During the fourth grade year, students in Community Unit District 200 schools in Wheaton, Illinois study deserts, mountains, forests, and plains of the world. The curriculum goal for this study is to learn and understand the attributes and characteristics of geographical biomes and their global effects on life through engaged learning. The learning center teachers at Bower, Madison, Washington, and Wiesbrook Schools along with a classroom teacher in their building are collaborating on this project. All schools study the deserts, mountains, forests, and plains. In cooperation with the other teachers, each classroom teacher selects a region for which their students will become the experts and create a web page. Once the web pages are completed, the four schools participate in "Meet the Expert" competition. As students in other schools study this region, they can access this web page to find information. Any student generated questions not answered by the web page can be e-mailed, with teacher guidance, to the "expert" school. The students in the "expert" school will have 48 hours to conduct research, answer the question, and respond by way of e-mail to the questioning school. The goal is to provide real interaction with their audience. Students in each school will keep a tally of the questions asked and successfully answered throughout the year. Students who have answered the most questions correctly at the end of the school year will win the title of "Expert". These pages will benefit other local schools and schools throughout the world. This is an ongoing project updated each year as new classes find currect information.
Initially the fourth grade teachers have chosen the geographic area for their students to study. The students visit the library learning center to preview a web page created by the learning center teachers as a model. The web page writing project occurs concurrently in each school. The project will last approximately 6 weeks. The class will devote 45 minutes daily to this project.
After the presentation, the teachers appeal to the students to become "experts" about a particular region. Students share their "expertise" with students in other District 200 schools and schools around the world by creating a web page of their own. The teacher brainstorms with the entire class asking them what they would like to know about this region(weather, animals, locations, fads, food, recreation, environmental problems, etc.). The students categorize the information, as the teacher asks questions to narrow the categories. Students communicate by way of e-mail with the other three schools to discuss content, topics and design of the web page. Students collaboratively are chosen and students divide into small interest groups to research information about a category. Students brainstorm in these small groups about what information is important to include about their category. The teacher and the learning center teacher circulate among the students answering and asking questions. Teachers facilitate the learning by keeping track of progress and problems of groups.
The learning center teacher provides a mini-lesson presenting the steps to research as a review of possible resources and appropriate search strategies. The learning center teacher and the students design a research checklist together. This checklist includes using multiple resources such as books, periodicals, reference materials, CD-ROMS, and the Internet. A goal is for students to use a variety of materials and evaluate which sources are most effective.
During the first week, students and teachers collaboratively formulate group goals. A rubric will be made using these goals to assess the student's learning. Students design an evaluation rubric for their web page. They gather around the monitor and view other rubrics from the other schools. They share their rubric with the other schools through e-mail. Students in each school read the other rubrics, evaluate them, and give specific feedback. The students will use the rubrics to evaluate the final web pages.
Students begin research. As students have questions, the classroom teacher and the LLC teacher direct students to appropriate sources. Students consult the research checklist to assure an organized and thorough search strategy. At the end of each session, students respond to prompts in their progress journal.
Each classroom is involved in an in-depth and integrated study of their region. This study integrates math, social studies, language arts, and science. At any time we can see students engaged in learning, using many resources and a variety of strategies. In one classroom students are busy calculating the number of square miles of desert in the world. They use this information to construct a wall size bar graph that compares the square miles of each region.
Another group of students is in the LLC using the keyword search feature of their automated library system to find novels whose setting is the forest. After reading the books, the students prepare and give oral book talks explaining why the forest setting is important to the novel.
Four students build a model of a desert from information gathered through the laser disk and video cassette. Data is collected via the weather channel on the internet. A legend records the annual rainfall and temperature range of this region.
In another classroom, a small group of students E-mails students in a classroom in North Dakota. The two groups chat using pre-approved questions about what it is like to live in their part of the plains region. The students record likenesses and differences.
In yet another room, students search the Internet to find museums that have exhibits featuring the mountains of the world. Each group is involved in answering questions about their region. They hope that these will be FAQ's (frequently asked questions), and that they can provide answers to other students who will turn to them as "experts".
There is access to one computer so student groups rotate daily on the Internet accessing the student pages to find specific information.
A week before the final web page is completed, students present information orally. Students give booktalks, role play, demonstrate using models, and other types of activities. In the final week, students fill out the rubric individually and then come together and share their evaluation with the class for the class web page.
Authors: Karen Evans, Marge Giefer, Diane Graham, Patty Taylor. Created: 5/96 Updated: 12/96. Created for The Fermilab LInC sponsored by Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory Education Office , and Friends of Fermilab and the Illinois State Board of Education. URL:http://www-ed.fnal.gov/linc/fall96/projects/pjtay/intro.htm