Culture, Climate, and Current Events

Project URL:
http://teachersnetwork.org/teachnet-lab/goldstein/country/webpages/index.htm
 
How it works:
In this program, students choose a country and create a website about its culture, its geography and climate, and its current political and social events. They start by using Inspiration/Kidspiration software or a chalkboard to create a word splash to describe the word "culture". They do research via the Internet and by viewing printed information, encyclopedias, and video presentations. Employing their newly learned vocabulary, they write about various aspects of their country while learning that cultures vary around the world and are dependant to some extent on geographical conditions, and that people from different cultures may still share similar characteristics. Finally, using Microsoft Word, they create a website that collects and displays all they have learned.

Standards addressed:  
Students use technology to locate, evaluate, and collect information; process data and report results; and solve problems and make informed decisions. They read, write, listen, and speak for information and understanding; discover relationships, concepts, and generalizations; and use knowledge generated from oral, written, and electronically produced texts. They acquire, interpret, apply, and transmit information; read, write, and speak for literary expression; read and listen to oral, written, and electronically produced texts and performances; relate information to their own lives; and develop an understanding of diverse social, historical, and cultural dimensions. They analyze experiences, ideas, information, and issues presented by others; present their opinions and judgments; and use the communications of others to enrich their understanding of people and their views.

Materials used: 
Required materials include a computer with Internet connection, Microsoft Word and Inspiration/ Kidspiration software, and a projector.

The students:
This program is suitable for grades three through twelve. Some minimal beginning keyboarding and word processing skills are required.

Overall value:
In Culture, Climate, and Current Events, students use technology to locate, evaluate, collect, process and present information from a variety of sources. In the process they improve their writing and comprehension skills while gaining an understanding of other cultures and developing new insight into their themselves and their own culture.

Tips: 
This program, which can be done in a classroom or a lab, provides simple activities and builds into creating a complex website. Do as much or as little as you like.

  

About the teacher:
Ben Goldstein has been teaching at PS 161 for the past eight years. Presently he teaches computer classes for parents, teachers, and children. He has written, produced, and directed films, songs, and recordings for such companies as Sesame Street, 3-2-1 Contact, Scholastic, Weston Woods, and many others.

Email:
bgoldst7@hotmail.com

Subject Areas: 
Social Studies
English Language Arts
Technology

Grade Levels: 
3-12