- Subject/Content Area
- Content Goals
- Context/Setting/Environment
- Time Frame for Carrying Out Project
- Learner Description
- Learner Outcomes
- Project Description
- Assessment of Students
- Evaluation of the Project
Subject/Content Areas: Social Studies, Science, Math, and Language Arts
Content Goals: Fourth grade students will exhibit an understanding of geography, communities/cities influences, diversity of cultures, historical sites, contributions to the United States as a whole, and adaptations needed to live there (Curriculum Goals).
Context/Setting/Environment: In the summer of 1995, six fourth grade teachers and myself, a Learning Resource Center Director from the St. Charles Community School District 303 attended GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) training. We were instructed in setting up weather stations, biometry sites, and GLOBE portocols for the internet. This past year I have worked with a fourth grade teacher and her class on this project. The "Traveling the USA on the Internet" project will be using the data GLOBE schools have sent to GLOBE to predict and compare the climate and weather of another area of our country with ours. Students will continue to research the selected area/state in conjunction with our district's fourth grade Social Studies program (Regions of the United States).
Time Frame for Carrying Out Project: Students will have four weeks to complete this project.
- During this time a team will spend 45 minutes to locate and record the data submitted from another GLOBE school in the state the group is assigned and our school's data (Science).
- The students will spend one hour and 15 minutes in the computer lab using a spreadsheet program to graph this data (Math).
- In a one hour session, students will use their graphs to compare/contrast the data of the two schools and write questions and/or comments to the GLOBE school about their findings. They will email these findings through GLOBE mail (Language Arts).
- In one half hour sessions, each group will search the internet for addtional information in the table below pertaining to the state that group selected (Social Studies).
- Students will create a final project in two one-hour sessions using a word processing program in the computer lab (Language Arts).
- During the final week, students will present their information to the class (Language Arts).
During this time, email will be monitored to any response from the GLOBE schools.
| Resources |
Communities/Cities |
National Sites |
Geography |
Natural
Industrial
Agricultural
|
Urban/Rural
Capital
Traditions
Contributions to Region
|
Historical
Geographical
|
Land Forms
Distance
Climate
Location
|
Learner Discription: The project will be used with a class of fourth grade students. Approximate class size is 25 - 28 students, which will be divided into hetergeneous groups of three or four students.
Learner Outcomes:
- Students will access the Internet to research a GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) school's weather data and locate other factual information about the region/state.
- Students will communicate with the GLOBE school through GLOBE email.
- Students will collaborate in their groups and make group decisions.
- Students will communicate their findings to the class through a final project (written and oral).
Project Description: Traveling the USA on the Internet
Assessment of Students:
Assessment Rubric
Evaluation of Project:
What worked?
- Students were excited and eager to learn how to use the internet and use links to search about the selected city and state.
- Students had to make group decisions: Selecting a GLOBE school and the factual data about the region.
- The students learned the importance of recording accurate data readings to send scientists.
- The classroom teacher was flexible with her scheduling so students could work on the Internet in the LRC and in the computer area.
- Working collaboratively with another teacher helps with planning, sharing responsibilties, and debriefing.
What didn't work?
- Four weeks is not enough time!
- We've had to change Internet providers, so when the students use the GLOBE email they will have to inform the school of our email address change and the other school may not be able to use the GLOBE email procedures.
What might not work?
Since we are in the middle of this project and have not sent the GLOBE email, I wonder if the other schools look at their GLOBE mail regularly. If they do not, our students will not get an answer and feel disappointed, so we plan to send a letter through the U.S. Post Office.
What would I change?
- If this project is used at the end of a school year, it should be started at least eight to nine weeks before the end of the school year.
- Extend the time frame of the project to six weeks or if it was started in the fall, communication could continue with the school throughout the year.
- If Internet access is limited, it is possible for a classroom teacher assign only one or two groups towork on this project during the study of each United States region, rather than the entire class at the same time.
Created by Margaret Watson, a participant in The Fermilab LInC program sponsored by Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Friends of Fermiab and the Illinois State Board of Education.
Margaret Watson
Learning Recource Center Director
Fox Ridge Elementary School
1905 Tyler Road
St. Charles, IL 60174
foxridge@dupagels.lib.il.us or margaretwatson@chicago.avenew.com
Copyright May 1996