LinC3 Project Components
O'Donnell Elementary School
East Aurora District 131



Dino Hunt

Subject/Content Area

• Science/Dinosaurs
• Math
• Language Arts
• Art

Purpose/Goal

This project was created to introduce primary aged children to the use of the internet as a learning tool. It will also serve as a source of information for students learning about dinosaurs. Completed group or individual projects can become parts of classroom web pages on the internet.


State Goals:

Math

• Understand and use methods of data collection and analysis, including tables, charts, and comparisons.
• Make and use measurement, including those of area and volume.

Science

• Have a working knowledge of the concepts and basic vocabulary of biology, physical, and environmental sciences and their application to life and work on contemporary technological society.
• Have a working knowledge of the principals of scientific research and their applications in simple research projects.
• Have a working knowledge of the processes, techniques, methods, equipment and available technology of science.

Language Arts

• Listen critically and analytically.
• Use spoken language effectively in formal and informal situations to communicate ideas and information and to ask and answer questions.
• Write standard English in grammatical, well organized and coherent manner for a variety of purposes.
• Read, comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and use written material.

Context/Setting/Environment

A dinosaur unit is taught by all first grade teachers through out District 131. This project can be used in conjunction with this unit or separately. It can be used along with trade books to provide sources of information for the children to explore. Written work and art can be shared with others through the internet.

Students will use the computer and internet hookup in the learning center. They will be assisted by a teacher or intermediate aged child who has a working knowledge of the internet.


Time Frame for Carrying Out Project

This project was used in the classroom on a limited basis in the spring of 1996. It will be used more extensively during the '96 - '97 school year along with dinosaur unit provided by the district.


Learner Description

Dino Hunt was used in a classroom of twenty first grade children at O'Donnell School in Aurora, Illinois. The majority of the children were not experienced with the use of the computer at the start of the project. The children needed a lot of assistance from the teacher or older students familiar with computers due to this lack of experience.


Learner Outcomes

The student will:

• Listen and follow two-step directions; listen and retell the beginning, middle and the end of a story which has been told.
• Give an appropriate response in a complete sentence; present an oral message on one topic; participate in an oral discussion.
• write in a narrative style; participate in prewriting and proofreading activities.
• use teacher-directed strategies such as story maps, Venn diagrams, feature analysis, semantic webs, story impressions, KWL, and QAR when appropriate; read a passage in a content area and identify main idea.
• classify dinosaurs according to the foods they ate.
• know when and where dinosaurs lived.
• understand how dinosaurs were discovered.
• understand that dinosaurs can be grouped into plant eaters, meat eaters, flying reptiles, sea creatures.
• understand why dinosaurs became extinct.
• explain how an animals diet can be inferred by the shape of its teeth.
• define the term dinosaur.
• define the term fossil.
• define the term extinct.

Dino Hunt Components

The following is a description of the different pages that make up this project.

Home Page
This is the page that launches Dino Hunt. In the future, it will have other projects linked to it.

Dino Hunt Page
The main menu page of Dino Hunt. From this page, the Online Field Trip Page, Dinosaur Art on the Internet Page, Dinosaur Projects Page and Other Web Sites Page can be accessed.

Online Field Trips Page
Links to museums with online dinosaur exhibits are found here. There are also links to sites that provide material on Dinosaurs.

Dinosaur Art on the Internet Page
Check out the many sites containing dinosaur graphics!

Dinosaur Projects Page
The place to view reports and artwork created by students.

Other Interesting Sites on the Internet Page
Links to other Web Sites of interest to students and teachers.


Project Description

The following is a sample of the process used in reserching and writing the reports completed by our first graders.

• Teachers and students initially complete a KWL with information the children know and want to know about a particular dinosaur. The last column, what they learned, is left for later.
• Teachers and students read many trade books, see vidios and read poetry about dinosaurs.
• Teachers and students visit the Dino Hunt internet project to learn more about dinosaurs.
• Teachers and students work in small gourps to construct a semantic web on a large sheet of paper.
• Example:
• Students supply information to complete each of the four areas. The group then circles the most important facts collected.
• Teacher and students work together to write an introductory sentence. Write on a sheet of chart paper. Students will help sound out words.
• Example:
• We have learned a lot about stegosaurus.
• Teacher and students refer to the completed semantic web to write the four supporting detail sentences to go along with the introductory sentence.
• Teacher and student work together to write a conclusion to the paragraph.
• Example:
• Teacher can hang this completed paragraph up in the hall or in the classroom with pictures of stegosaurus drawn by the children.
• During computer lab time, students can type the paragraph using a word processor. Copies can be printed and distributed to the class. This paragraph can be used as a reading assignment for homework.
• A typed copy of the paragraph can become a part of the classroom's web page.
• Teacher and students complete the what we learned part of the KWL begun earlier.

Assessment of Students

The students will be assessed on completed projects and interviews taken during the course of their studies.