HOW IT WORKS
Fun with Franklin is an interdisciplinary,
technology-oriented study of an amazing man
whose multifaceted genius greatly
influenced history. While studying Ben Franklin
initially comes out of social studies, his
many accomplishments lead us to science, math,
and language arts. The students work
cooperatively both at their computers and at their
desks doing research, taking notes, sharing
information, writing reports and mini-books,
and developing slide shows.
The study begins with a read-aloud about Ben, with note taking,
discussion, and development of a class KWL chart following. For the
next several sessions, the children work
cooperatively in groups of three, gleaning
information on Franklin the writer, politician, scientist,
and inventor. Using the Web site:
www.ushistory.org/franklin/index.htm
they learn how to use the links that lead them to the information
they seek. Available in a Ben Franklin basket
are trade books, texts, encyclopedias, and
articles that offer a glimpse of this historic figure.
Immersed in information about the man,
students produce nonfiction reports. At the same
time, whole-class activities reveal the many
areas that Franklin influenced. They make time-lines,
study his proverbs, keep weather data (gotten from the Internet) and graph it, do
experiments with electricity, and try their hand
at potato printing. They think about how his
work and ideas have influenced our lives even
today and write him letters of thanks. They take
an online trip to the Ben Franklin Institute in
Philadelphia (www.fi.edu/tfi/welcome.html),
and, finally, they make flip-books that serve as
the basis of the slide shows they develop using ClarisWorks.
THE STUDENTS
Twenty-eight fifth grade general education
students of varying abilities participate in this
program that takes place in our classroom. Since
our fifth grade teachers work together on many
projects, three other classes, similar in
composition, do many of the activities. Children
develop some of their technical abilities through weekly sessions in
our computer lab. However, since this is the first year of Internet
availability in my classroom, I teach them on-line
research skills and illustrate the steps involved in preparing slide shows. This pro-gram
can easily be adapted for other grades.
THE STAFF
Hilary has been teaching for 15 years, during
which time she has taught many grades. She is currently teaching science to sixth graders and runs the school's website.
WHAT YOU NEED
This program can be implemented in any
classroom with Internet access. My room has a
bank of four iMacs clustered together, with
room for two or three students at each
computer. However, this work can be done just as
easily in a one-computer classroom or in a lab
or library. We use ClarisWorks (now Apple-Works)
for our word processing and slide shows, but any similar software can be used.
We also use encyclopedias and related library
books for the research.
OVERALL VALUE
Fun with Franklin is an interactive, thematic,
cross-curricular project that incorporates
literacy into other subject areas. The
cooperative learning and hands-on activities motivate
the students and keep them interested. While
gaining insight into the greatness of this
man and his times, they develop important research, reading, and writing skills and
strive to meet vital standards in English/language
arts and, peripherally, in math, science, and
social studies. The excitement of using
technology to gather and present information is
without parallel. It requires not only the “how-to”
of navigating Web sites, but also the ability
to organize, synthesize, and interpret
information for presentation to others.
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