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EFFECTIVE
INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES:
INTERNET WORKSHOP, INTERNET PROJECT,
INTERNET INQUIRY, AND WEBQUESTS
 E-MAIL FOR YOU
From:
Don & Debbie
Don and Debbie received an e-mail from a teacher. The teacher realized
that Internet Project could be easy to do, especially when it has a
website on the Internet with everything you need like Earth Day Groceries
Project. |
Teaching With the Internet:
Sharee Mendoza's Class
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• The Dinosaur mailing list
This is a mailing list for educators and others interested in
exchanging information about dinosaurs. It is run by The Cleveland
Museum of Natural History.
• The RTEACHER mailing list
This is a mailing list for literacy educators run in conjunction with
the journal Reading Teacher.
• The WWEDU
mailing list
This is a mailing list for educators interested in using the WWW.
• The
MIDDLE-L mailing list
This is a mailing list managed by the ERIC Clearinghouse for middle
school educators.
• The
Tech-Connected Teacher
This is a collection of online resources for the classroom teacher
where finding the right tools can make technology an integral and
exciting part of your teaching style.
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• Develop "healthy skeptics" in your
classroom
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Several teachers sent along their
favorite sites with extensive and well-organized links to dinosaur
resources on the Internet.
• Walking with
Dinosaurs
There are so many incredible activities and resources for children at
this site, developed by the BBC.
• Dino
Russ's Lair
An amazingly exhaustive set of links developed by a geologist working
at the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
• Zoomdinosaurs.com
A commercial site with banner ads but this site contains amazing
resources for the classroom study of dinosaurs.
• The
Museum of Paleontology at the University of California, Berkeley
A sophisticated series of tours through the world of paleontology.
• The Field Museum
A great site with several useful areas related to dinosaurs including,
"Sue on the Web," a presentation explaining how a new T-Rex dinosaur is
being conserved.
• Dino-Roar
A site where students can hear how duckbill dinosaurs may have sounded
and read how scientists at Sandia Labs reached their conclusions.
• Dinosphere
A site developed at the Children's Museum in Indianapolis with
interesting stories about many facets of dinosaurs, including a
location where students may dig for dinosaurs, as well as great ideas
for making dinosaur models from classroom materials.
• Dinosaur
Eggs
This location by National Geographic takes students on a hunt for
dinosaur eggs and shows how these eggs are "hatched" by researchers who
wish to study the embryos inside. The site includes many great stories
about today's scientists and their work studying dinosaurs.
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• Provide time for students' independent
exploration of the WWW for dinosaur resources.
• Have students complete a WebQuest on
dinosaurs.
• Ask a paleontologist questions about
dinosarus.
• Have students generate and exchange
puzzles.
Lessons From the Classroom
E-MAIL FOR YOU
From: Jill
Newcomb & Cindy Ross
When Jill and Cindy decided to choose a small group to work on an
activity called "Heroes." They used two web sites, My Hero and The Giraffe Project.
|
Management Issues in
Departmentalized or
Self-Contained Classrooms
 TEACHING TIP
Visit his spotlight page at Ed's Oasis to see how Mark uses the Internet in his
class. |
Keeping it Simple:
Using Internet Workshop  in Your Classroom
• Kids Web Japan
A central site used to introduce a classroom unit on Japan with
Internet Workshop.
• If you wish to see many more examples of
Internet Workshop
developed by teachers, pay a visit to Internet
Workshop.
Using Internet Project
in Your Classroom
Examples of Web-site Internet
Projects and Their Locations
| NASA
Quest's Online Interactive |
Discuss issues of physics, engineering,
space science, and many other topics with the women and men who make
the Space Shuttle go and who are now building the International Space
Station. Many other great projects are also at this site including:
Women of NASA, Aero Design Team Online, and Space Science Online. |
| AT&T
Global Virtual Classroom |
This location, for grades K-12, includes
a wide array of great projects for your class, putting you immediately
in touch with other classes around the world. Recent projects include
Race Against Time, Global Clubhouse, and Global Water Study. |
| Earth Day
Groceries |
Students decorate grocery bags with
environmental friendly messages and distribute these at local grocery
stories just before Earth Day. Classrooms report on their experiences.
A great social action project for a unit on ecology and the
environment. |
| Human Genetics |
Collect and analyze information to
determine which traits are controlled by a dominant gene. Exchange your
hypotheses, data, and conclusions with other students around the world.
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| The Albatross
Project |
A great biology project. Receive an
e-mail each day with the coordinates of albatrosses being studied in
the Pacific Ocean. Each has a small antenna that is being tracked by
satellite. Follow their journeys around this enormous ocean. Plot their
travels and formulate and test hypotheses about migration patterns with
other biologists. |
| Global Schoolhouse
Projects and Programs Main Page |
A number of popular projects are located
at this site including Newsday, Geogame, Letters to Santa, and Global
Grocery List. |
| Monarch Watch
|
Raise Monarch butterflies, tag them,
release them, record observations about Monarchs in your area, then
watch as your data and those compiled by others are used to track the
annual migration of this wonderful creature! |
| Mind's Eye
Monster Project |
Useful for primary grade classrooms for
language arts. Classrooms and students are matched. Then one student
draws a monster and writes a detailed description. The description is
sent to the student's partner who must draw the monster from the
description. Then both pictures are posted in the monster gallery. Both
reading and writing skills are supported. Much fun! |
| The International Boiling Point Project
|
Boil water, collect data on several
factors, and submit your results to a central database. Then, students
can analyze all of the data to reach an answer to the question: What
causes a pot of water to boil? |
| Journey
Exchange Project [lost] |
Classes research and develop a five-city
journey around the world. Then they exchange clues to their locations
with their partner class. Each attempts to discover the cities from the
clues provided. |
• The first step of Internet projects requires
you to do some advance planning, at least several months before you
wish to begin the project.
• The second step is to post the project description and timeline at
one of several locations on the Internet where teachers advertise their
projects, seeking collaborating classrooms. Project descriptions may be
posted at several locations, including:
TEACHING TIP
As you consider the use of Internet Inquiry
, you may wish to direct your students to A+ Research and
Writing
a very useful site to begin research explorations. Younger students
may, of course, use one of the search engines
that screens locations for their appropriateness for children such as Yahooligans or Ask Jeeves for Kids.
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Using WebQuests in Your
Classroom
• WebQuests are quickly appearing on the
Internet
as popular curriculum resources developed by many teachers.
Examples of WebQuests for grades K-12 appear at WebQuest.org.
• You can find out more information about
WebQuests at Midge Frazel's pageUnderstanding and Using WebQuests.
E-MAIL FOR YOU
From:
Beverley Powell
GrassRoots is a blossoming feature of Canada's world-class SchoolNet.
It carries exciting messages behind the computer screen. |
Citation Strategies for
Internet References
• The best information about how to cite
Internet resources may be found at the Learning
Page of the Library of Congress: Citing Electronic
Sources. Another location containing links to many different
citation guides is
located at the Internet Public Library's, Citing
Electronic Resources.
Developing
Independent Search Strategies
While Being Sensitive to Child Safety Concerns
• The best sites for your
younger children to explore that do not charge a fee are Yahooligans
and Ask Jeeves for
Kids.
Another wonderful site is one developed by the American Library
Association, 700+ Great Sites: Amazing, Spectacular, Mysterious,
Colorful
Web Sites for Kids and the Adults Who Care About Them.
Using The
Internet to Plan Instruction:
Central Sites for General Curriculum Resources
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Here are some of the best general
resources that exist for teachers interested in using the Internet in
their classroom:
• Blue
Web'n
This an outstanding collection of the very best curriculum experiences
for students. Each is carefully reviewed before receiving a Blue Web'n
Blue Ribbon. There is also a searchable data base so you can find
exactly the resource you require.
• Education
World
A commercial site, but one rich in education resources from curriculum,
to information on state standards, to collaborative Internet projects,
to teaching positions. It includes information, too, for all curriculum
areas.
• The New
York Times Learning Network
This location has sections for students, teachers, and parents. In
addition to great lesson plans for using the free articles at the New
York Times site in your classroom for current events, this location has
a teacher chat area , lesson plan archives, a daily
quotation, weekly news quizzes, and links to great curriculum resources
in all areas.
• SchoolNet
In English or French, this exceptional resource provides Canadian
educators with an exceptional collection of instructional resources for
every area of the curriculum at every grade level. Projects, links to
curriculum resources, connections with other Canadian schools, and many
more types of support are right at your fingertips.
• Yahooligans
Teachers' Guide
Useful for elementary and middle school teachers, this location
provides important information about teaching strategies, acceptable
use policies , and citation styles. It also contains
a limited collection of curriculum resources, but what is here is very
good.
• For
Teachers and Parents
This location at the Global School provides links to many Internet
projects and curriculum resources. It also contains useful resources to
help you use the Internet effectively in your classroom.
|
Visiting
the Classroom:
Susan Silverman's Second Grade Class in New York
• If you explore some of
Susan's classroom sites for
various years you will see many other projects, including popular
travel
buddy projects such as Flat Stanley and Winnie the Pooh. Be certain to
visit the links to some of these projects at Internet Projects.
• You can find an example of a
project description by visiting the About this Project link for the Online
Autumn project.
• If you are interested in
having your class read the fall poetry of other primary grade children,
visit Online Autumn. If your class is doing a
unit on apples
or pumpkins with your young students, visit Pumpkin
Patch or An Apple a Day.
Instructional
Resources on the Internet
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• AskLN (lost)
This location, sponsored by AT&T, provides an online answering
service for teachers, administrators, media specialists, and anyone who
is interested in using the Internet and other technologies as effective
classroom tools. AskLN promises to answer any question related to
Internet use in the classroom within 48 hours. Got a question? AskLN
has answers!
• Busy
Teachers’ Web Site
Just what it says! If you are busy, stop by. Great locations to
wonderful sites organized by subject area. A wonderful resource for
teaching ideas and curricular resources.
• Civil War
Photograph Collection
This site at the Library of Congress contains over 1,000 photographs
from the Civil War, many by Mathew Brady. Viewing these images makes
you feel the national conflict and struggle during this period.
• Digital Dozen
Each month the 13 best sites for math and science are carefully
selected by the team at the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse for Math
and Science and posted here. One of the finest sites for great ideas on
the web! Set a bookmark ! And don't forget to explore Digital
Dozen sites from previous months.
• Geometry
Problem of the Week
Part of the exceptional math forum site, this location provides you and
your students with a challenging geometry problem to solve each week.
Use it for a quick Internet Workshop and have a short workshop session
at the end of the week to compare solutions.
• KidsConnect
If your students really like to ask challenging questions about the
Internet, here is the resource for you and for them. KidsConnect is a
question-answering, help and referral service for K-12 students using
the Internet. The goal of the service is to help students access and
use the information available on the Internet effectively and
efficiently. KidsConnect is a component of ICONnect, a technology
initiative from the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), a
division of the American Library Association (ALA). Many students are
using this service to assist with homework assignments!
• K-12
Statistics
Organized around the NSTM standards, this location provides links and
resources for helping students to understand the world of statistics. A
great resource.
• Reading Online - The Electronic Classroom
Devoted solely to teachers, this is a section of the International
Reading Association’s free electronic journal, Reading Online.
In addition to great articles and a discussion forum, this site
contains a wealth of resources for teachers including lists of Internet
projects, useful WWW sites, and tips for technology use.
• The Biology
Project
A central site for all high school biology teachers that is being
developed by the University of Arizona. It includes problem sets and
tutorials in biochemistry, cell biology, developmental biology, human
biology, chemicals and human health, and much more. Some sections are
also in Spanish.
• The
Constitution: A Living Document
A complete unit with lesson plans, activities, and evaluations for
students in grade 6-8 who are studying this important document.
• The
Exploratorium
A palace of hands-on science learning in San Francisco, this site makes
outstanding interactive adventures in science available to the world. A
great location for science, fun, and learning.
•
The Living Africa
A wonderful resource for studying this important continent developed as
part of a ThinkQuest competition by three students: One in the US, one
in The Netherlands, and one in India. The development of this resource
is a story that will be increasingly repeated by our students in the
future.
• The
Nine Planets Tour
This is the best tour through the solar system that exists. At each
stop, beautiful photographs of each planetary object are displayed
along with information about the object. Short sound clips and videos
are also available. Many links take you to related sites. A wonderful
journey!
• The Particle Adventure
Developed by the Laurence Berkeley National Laboratory, here is a tour
of the inner workings of the atom and tools for discovery used by
scientists. The Particle Adventure is an award-winning site that
introduces the theory of fundamental particles and forces, called the
Standard Model. It also explores the experimental evidence and the
reasons physicists want to go beyond this theory.
• The
United Nations Cyber Schoolbus
Is your class studying the United Nations? Visit this site developed by
the UN. Thake a field trip to the United Nations, explore the mission
of this organization, and find teaching ideas. Many classroom
activities.
• VolcanoWorld
Study volcanoes around the world, talk to a volcanologist, obtain real
time data on active volcanoes, and many more fun activities for kids
and adults.
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Listservs/Mailing
Lists
for Teaching With The Internet
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