Unit Framework - Email the Teacher
Title-A Tour of Europe
Subject and Level-7th grade Social Studies
Learner Description-Heterogeneous group of regular education students.
Overview
•Students will travel through a country in Western or Eastern Europe and investigate the countries food, holidays, natural resources, economy, government,
religion, language, land forms, population, major cities, exports/imports
climate, museums, churches, stores, monuments and famous buildings.
•Students will create a country profile.
•Students will keep a log of the research of sites they encounter during the trip.
•Students will design a postcard to capture a site of the trip and share information
about the country.
•Students will create a final product using technology to share memoirs of the trip.
Rationale
The purpose of the unit is for students to travel to another country experiencing the cultural, natural and civic aspects of that country while working cooperatively as well as individually.
Why would this this qualify as an Engaged Learning unit?
•Students will receive first hand experience and knowledge about another country. •Students will direct their own learning by deciding what should be researched.
•Students will take responsibility for their own choices by choosing the visual & final product.
•Students will be engaged at all times because they are responsible for all parts of this activity.
Why is technology an important component of this unit?
•Students will be accessing web sites to gain information.
•Students will explore internet travel sites.
•Students will create their individual part of the country profile.
•Students will create a final product.
Why is this project authentic/meaningful and challenging for students?
•Students will have experiences in traveling to another country
•Students will contribute their thoughts and ideas during brainstorming.
•Students will be required to contribute opinions with reasons.
•Students will be allowed to collaborate on decision making.
•Students will facilitate group work while maintaining individuality.
Goals - Content, Cognitive and Social
•Students will learn and use cooperative learning structures to work in groups.
•Students will learn and use social skills including attentive listening.
•Students will understand aspects of culture.
•Students will learn more about the natural and civic parts of the country.
•Students will learn more about the tourism of their specific country.
Standards and Benchmarks:
SOCIAL STUDIES STATE GOALS:
17.A.3a Explain how people use geographic markers and boundaries to analyze and navigate the Earth (e.g., hemispheres, meridians, continents, bodies of water).
17.C.3a Explain how human activity is affected by geographic factors.
17.C.3b Explain how patterns of resources are used throughout the world.
LANGUAGE ARTS STATE GOALS:
3.C.3b Using available technology, produce compositions and multimedia works for specified audiences.
4.A.3a Demonstrate ways (e.g., ask probing questions, provide feedback to a speaker, summarize and paraphrase complex spoken messages) that listening attentively can improve comprehension.
4.B.3a Deliver planned oral presentations, using language and vocabulary appropriate to the purpose, message and audience; provide details and supporting information that clarify main ideas; and use visual aids and contemporary technology as support.
4.B.3b Design and produce reports and multi-media compositions that represent group projects.
5.C.3a Plan, compose, edit and revise documents that synthesize new meaning gleaned from multiple sources.
5.C.3c Take notes, conduct interviews, organize and report information in oral, visual and electronic formats.
Learning Activities-
•This project includes a group activity and an individual activity which was produced with the use of technology.
•Individually, the students will state three reasons why they want to research a specific European country.
•As a cooperative group, the students will share their reasons and together choose one country the group will research. Once they decide on the country, the group must decide which aspect of the country's culture they will research and who will be responsible for the research to complete the Country Profile.
•Students will then brainstorm a class list of places to Site Seeing in the country. The list the group complied included: famous buildings, museums, government buildings, churches, land forms, landmarks, murals, monuments, zoo, restaurants, cathedrals, castles, fountains, stores and stadiums.
•Each student will choose four sites from the above list in the country to visit on their trip. On the visit to each site, they will gather at least 4 pieces of information and pictures of the site to share when they return home (Appendix A).
•Students will create a postcard of a site with information and an illustration.
•Using a cooperative structure, students shared the memories of their "trip" in the form of final product using technology with their classmates (Appendix B ).
Student Assessment-
•Students were assessed on the research they gathered using a variety of resources.
•Students were assessed on quality and quantity of the information presented in their final product using a rubric (Appendix C).
•Students were assessed on the information and illustration on the postcard using a rubric (Appendix D).
Resources -
•Students will need to access to computers for research on the internet as well as word processing and different programs to create their final product.
•Students will need access to Hyperstudio, AppleWorks presentation and scanners.
•Students will benefit from the help of their teacher, the library and the technology staff.
•Students will use resources in the school and community library.
Management
•Students will work with their cooperative groups during both parts of this projects.
•Students will maintain research notes and all handouts in a designated folder in the room.
•Students will keep track of their progress using a checklist.
•Students will complete an evaluation sheet.
•The teacher will check with students on the progress of their work using the checklist.
•The teacher will works as a facilitator and guide assisting students as the need arises.
Unit Evaluation
What was effective?
•Allowing the students to choose their countries with their group
•Allowing the students to create a list of sites to see and allowing them to choose which sites interested them to research
•Allowing the the students to choose the type of technology they wanted to use to create their final product
•Having the students use a checklist to stay on task and know the due dates
•Giving the students the rubrics at the beginning of the project
What wasn't effective?
•Not having enough a variety of web sites for the students to use for research
•Not having enough lab time to students to work on all aspects of this project
•Not requiring the students to use a variety of resources/references for the research
What will I do differently next time?
•Separate the two projects, so the students are only working on one at a time
•Make available more web addresses that will help students research more effectively
•Allow for more time to work on both activities during class time
•Asses the students on the process of their work using a rubric
Appendixes
Appendix A---Research for Site Seeing
MY INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH for SITE SEEING IN THE COUNTRY OF:________
BY:_____________________________________________________
DIRECTIONS: FOR EACH SITE THAT YOU ARE RESEARCHING, LIST AT LEAST 4 PIECES OF INFORMATION & FIND PICTURES
1. ______________________________________________________
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2. ______________________________________________________
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3. ______________________________________________________
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4. ______________________________________________________
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FOR MY FINAL PRODUCT TO SHARE THE MEMORIES OF THE TRIP, I WILL CREATE A ___________________________________________ USING TECHNOLOGY.
Appendix B---Carousel Walk
CAROUSEL WALK FOR _______________________'S SITE SEEING PRODUCT IN THE COUNTRY OF _____________________________.
DIRECTIONS: AFTER YOU VIEW THE PRODUCT, WRITE ONE POSITIVE COMMENT & YOUR NAME.
COMMENT NAME
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
Appendix C---Site Seeing Final Product Rubric
NAME and BLOCK:___________________________________________________________
Product(Project) Below Avg. Satisfactory Excellent
*
1. Format 1, 2, 3 4, 5, 6 7, 8, 9
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2. Mechanics of writing 1, 2, 3 4, 5, 6 7, 8, 9
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3. Organization/structure 1, 2, 3 4, 5, 6 7, 8, 9
*
4. Creativity 1, 2, 3 4, 5, 6 7, 8, 9
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5. Demonstrates knowledge 1, 2, 3 4, 5, 6 7, 8, 9
*
TOTAL SCORE:___________/45
Appendix D---Postcard Rubric
NAME and BLOCK:_____________________________________________
1 2 3
* Illustration no details, lacking somewhat very colorful
color colorful
*
Writing 1-2 information 3-5 information 6-8 information
bits bits bits
*
Format many errors in most parts of all parts of letter
correct format letter format correct
*
TOTAL SCORE:___________/9