EXHILARATING
EUROPEAN ESCAPADES
Project URL: http://teachersnetwork.org/teachnet-lab/motthall/neinstein/eee/european_escapade.htm
How
it works:
EXHILARATING
EUROPEAN ESCAPADES is a comprehensive interdisciplinary program combining economics, language arts,
mathematics, social studies, and technology for middle school
students. It provides them opportunities to
collaborate with their peers, to use critical-thinking and research
skills, to compare and contrast travel fees, and to explore the
Internet. Furthermore, the students gain invaluable real-world
mathematics experience. The
culminating activity, a collaborative PowerPoint presentation,
synthesizes learning from all aspects of the program.
Standards
addressed:
Mathematics: Students collect and
organize data to display with tables, charts, and graphs that are
consistent with the nature of the data. They make conclusions and
recommendations regarding each other's statistics and invoke problem-solving strategies to clarify or
organize information in a table.
They verify and interpret results
from an original
problem/situation; organize work; explain a solution orally and in
writing, and use other techniques to make the meaning clear to
audiences; and they determine
the needs of the event to be managed or planned, e.g., cost, supply,
and scheduling.
English: Students
read and comprehend informational materials,
produce an
information report, participate
in group meetings, demonstrate
an understanding of the rules of the English language in written and
oral work, and analyze
and revise work for clarity and effectiveness.
Social Studies: Students develop and apply skills needed to make
informed economic decisions.
Technology: Students are proficient,
practice responsibility, and develop
positive attitudes in the use of technology that supports lifelong learning,
collaboration, personal pursuits, and productivity.
They
use technology to
locate, evaluate, and collect information from a variety of
sources,
and process data and report results for solving problems and making
decisions.
Materials
used:
Required
materials are computers with Internet access, a TV and LCD projector,
and software that includes SmartBoard or TVator,
MS Word, MS Excel, MS
PowerPoint, and Inspiration.
The
students:
The
needs of the middle school learner are met through the individual and
collaborative activities of the interdisciplinary unit.
Overall value:
Students are
engaged in a collaborative project-based unit. They work together in
all aspects of the program – discussion, planning, researching, note-taking,
designing, creating, revising, presenting, and evaluating. This unit
provides the students with an engaging connection to real-world
mathematics while developing their English, social studies, and
technology skills, and arousing their interest in world travel.
Tips:
The
teacher is an instructor, role model, and facilitator who
provides guidance to groups and individual students.
Decide the parameters
for organizing groups, considering the students and the dynamics of the
class. Review your groups to ensure that they contain a mix of personalities and genders.
Circulate around
the room to observe groups and individuals. Write down your
observations to provide a record of each group/student’s
headway. Plan to observe four
individuals or four groups in a single session. Before each
observation, decide which skills/behaviors and students/groups that
you will observe. Keep forms on a clipboard for easy access.
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About the teacher:
During her
28-year tenure in the New City Public School System, Nancy Sotomayor-Einstein
has served as teacher, bilingual liaison, staff developer, mentor,
director of Holocaust Studies, and Curriculum and
Integration of Technology specialist. She has presented workshops at conferences and on district and school levels, was an educational
consultant for Wave Hill, (a NYC nature center), co-wrote District
Ten’s Handbook for Parents of Bilingually Gifted Children, and
has written curriculum for the NYC Board of Education’s Gifted Unit.
Currently, Nancy teaches at the Mott Hall School in District Six.
E-mail: NANSE717@aol.com
Subject Areas:
Mathematics
English
Social Studies
Grade
Levels: 6-9
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