How can we use the Internet to enhance lesson plans?
Now that your group has had two weeks to read the three articles and post a comment about one thing in each article you would like to see implemented in this class (no one did), and work on developing a lesson plan in Word, based on ERIC research, and the New York State and City Regents Standards, you can now implement technology in your classroom based on a concrete activity, that you designed, that you would like to do in your classroom. The next four sessions we will be doing exactly that.
What I've seen so far with the ERIC Research and lesson plans has been very good. Our class is developing lesson plans in the following content areas:
Daisy and Ersilia | Science (LE) |
Fabiola and Martha | English |
Elizabeth and Madeline | Writer’s Workshop Lesson Plan |
Edda and Florencia | Dance |
Lucia and Julie | Soc. Studies |
Giselle and Bernice | Math |
I would like any new lessons to be related to the following content areas: Arts or Theater, Speaking and Writing, Science (Physical Setting).
The APA citations posted are wonderful, very professional. In fact, I think Lucia and Julie have a good idea posting the ERIC record number in parenthesis at the end of citation. Anyone who hasn't posted their citations yet should do so.
Daisy and Ersilia | Chang, Ren-Jung. & Yang, Hui-Chin. (1999). A system-science approach towards model construction for curriculum development. |
Greenspan, Yvette, F. (1999). A community of learners: Linking scientific patterns of life. | |
Hobbie, Ann. (2000). Making connections with insect royalty. | |
Walker, Margaret. (1973). Caterpillar to chrysalis to monarch butterfly. | |
Lucia and Julie | Patrick, John J. (1992). Teaching about the Voyages of |
Crosby, Alfred W.; Nader, Helen (1989). The Voyages of | |
Backler, Alan L.; and others (1989). Teaching about the Voyages of | |
Herrera, | |
Bernice/Giselle | Gipson, Joella (1972) An Everyday Approach to Math (EJ053878) |
Fielker, David (2007) Addition, Subtraction, and Algorithms in General. N 204 p.3-5 (EJ775048) | |
Warren, Elizabeth, Cooper, Tom (2005)Young Children's ability to use a strategy to solve unknowns. nl p. 58-72 (EJ747882) | |
Carpenter, Thomas P., Franke, Megan, and others (1998) A longitudinal study of invention and understanding in children's multidigit addition and subtraction (EJ558832) |
Lists of Lists: The Hyperlink and Online Indices
Although the origin of the Internet's history is often associated with the ARPANet, it only began to be considered in the public consciousness when Gopher was created by Mark McCahill and his team at the University of Minnesota in 1991 (taking its name from the university's mascot, the Golden Gopher). Gopher essentially combined the Telnet and FTP protocols, allowing users to click hyperlinked menus to access information on demand without resorting to additional commands -- a boon for users in the days before graphical browsers.
One of the first search engines was called Archie, developed at McGill University in 1990. Archie downloaded lists of ftp archives located on servers through North America to create searchable database. When a user used telnet protocals to access an Archie site, "spider" software could be used to find keywords of interest to the user, and the search results could be emailed back to the user. Gopher applications, originally developed at the University of Minnesota, added an additional innovation to search engines. By logging into a gopher server, the user could query for keywords of interest, but additionally, he could select a line of interest and actually read the contents, instead of having the address emailed. Gopher sites used a search software similar to Archie, called Veronica, developed at the University of Nevada. Today, very few gopher sites exist, and I can't find any online Veronica applications.
Another innovation occurred in 1991, the advent of subject indices used during a keyword search. The Wide Area Information Server, or WAIS, addressed the burgeoning number of servers now online. Additionally, WAIS "ranked" the results in order of the frequency the keywords appeared in the content. Since these breakthroughs of the early 1990's, very little has been added to the basic techniques used to find information on the web.
So search engines have existed for fifteen years now, and all of them compare keywords you supply to an existing database of information stored on web pages. Google (or for you energy conservationists, Blackle) is the most popular one, but many others engines exist, and you may find some of them more helpful when "surfing the Web" for educational resources. For example, meta-search engines, like Webcrawler, or Dogpile, search multiple search engines at the same time. Ask.com is running a bunch of commercials to raise its standing. Most search engines have an advanced function that allows you to narrow your search.
Bringing the User into the Search
So we've reached the beginning of last week's lesson, where I started out by observing that many of the current educational webs are little more than static lists of information, helpful to be sure, but how can students learn more from the Internet than simply clicking on a bunch of links? Creating a storyline line for students to move back and forth through, allows students to move along at their own pace, searching out what they are specifically interested in, while keeping the focus and objectives of the online research intact.
Instead of writing more linear text with links to click on, WebQuests take a constructivist approach to learning. As Bernie Dodge, one of the original creators of the WebQuest once stated, "[a WebQuest] is an inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all of the information that learners interact with comes from resources on the Internet." Usually, the quest is divided in the following sections:
- Introduction
- Task
- Process
- Evaluation
- Conclusion
- Teacher Page
Let's look at Channel 13's WebQuest as an example of a good WebQuest.
Homework
- Find six Websites with lesson plans that are similar to the lesson plan you researched and designed for the last module. Use any or all of the search engines discussed in class to help you find them. You cannot use any existing lesson plan links that previous students have already described. Each group may choose one of the following websites:
- Using the HTML table template, create your own Web page that lists and describes your six Websites. Use Notepad (c:\windows\notepad.exe, not Word!) to create the file, and view it in Firefox. Save the file to your flash drive. Your Web page should have the following components:
- A table (6x2), the first column is the name of the Lesson Plan Website, the second column a description of the contents
- The name should be a hyperlink that will take you to the actual Website.
- The description should help anyone reading it determine if the lesson plans will be helpful a specific search. Use lists if helpful.
- Go online to the Recapping Blogs web site. Each group must go through the WebQuest and complete the following forms available on the web site:
- Common Blog Features
- Blog Characteristics Sheet
- Blogger Planning Sheet
- Process Rubric Sheet
- Finally, begin designing a WebQuest based upon your own lesson plan. Your group doesn't have to publish it online, just get a list of online media URLs that you would like to incorporate into your WebQuest, as well as any other information you would like to include in each section. Check out How to Build Your Own WebQuest for more information.
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