TitleIII Technology Literacy Challenge Grant

Learning Unit

Overview | Content Knowledge | Essential Questions | Connection To Standards | Initiating Activity | Learning Experiences | Culminating Performance | Pre-Requisite Skills | Modifications | Schedule/Time Plan | Technology Use

OVERVIEW

CONTENT KNOWLEDGE

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

CONNECTIONS TO NYS LEARNING STANDARDS
NYS STANDARD 2 MST: Information systems - Students will access, generate, process, and transfer information using appropriate technologies.

NYS STANDARD 6 MST: Interconnectedness - Common themes - Student will understand the relationships and common themes that connect mathematics, science and technology and apply the themes on these and other area of learning.

NYS STANDARD 1 ELA: Students will listen, speak, read, and write for information and understanding. As listeners and readers, students will collect data, facts, and ideas, discover oral, written, and electronically produced texts. As speakers and writers, they will use oral and written language that follows the accepted conventions of the English language to acquire, interpret, apply, and transmit information.

INITIATING ACTIVITY

LEARNING EXPERIENCES

1. Before going into the Computer Lab, explain to the students what a scavenger hunt is, the type of project this is, and the following terms: (This glossary is provided to the students as a handout).

Browser

Search Engine

Web address or location

URL

Bookmarks

Icons

What the screen looks like (copy a picture of what screen looks like and hand out )

Internet tips

2. Explain to students that they will be keeping track of how long each search takes - not because it is important to go fast but because we are doing data collection. We will then use this info at the end of the search.

3. Go into the Lab or Library and demonstrate search 1. Then have the students each access their own computer and do search as independently as possible. Repeat for all the other searches.

The students will explore and become familiar with Internet access and how to use it as a learning and research tool. They will learn the following:

1. How to do a search and even pick out their own search engine

2. How to bookmark a site

3. How to use the Internet to do research

4. How to copy an image into a Word document

In addition, they will complete metric conversions, do data collection, and complete statistical comparisons. Worksheets that completely explain the search and the problems are provided. This project is completed before the students are introduced to the Math and Science internet projects, and is designed to be completed during two class periods. It counts as extra points on the student’s first chapter tests in Math and Science where they will be covering statistics and metric system. (the students do not get grades for Resource Room work)

CULMINATING PERFORMANCE
Include rubric(s)

PRE-REQUISITE SKILLS

MODIFICATIONS

 Arrangements will be made to use the media center and the computer lab for computers with Internet access. It is not expected that students will complete this on their free time. It is strictly to be done during class time where the Media Specialists and myself will all be present if assistance is needed. Since this is a Special Education project, the student’s IEP requirements will be met and progress toward goals will be tracked.

UNIT SCHEDULE/TIME PLAN 

Introduction and explanation of terms and project - 1/2 a period

The Scavenger Hunt - 2 full class periods

TECHNOLOGY USE

 MATERIALS AND SUPPLIES:

Computers with word processing and Internet connections

Glossary of terms

Worksheets of the 6 searches

Stop Watches

ASSESSMENT TOOLS & TECHNIQUES:

Special Education Teacher will correct all worksheets. The rubric’s highest score is 12/12 (100% ) and the lowest score is 3/12 and will earn a D. Scores and projects will be sent to Math and Science Teachers for review and for adding grades to their grade-books.

REFLECTION:

ATTACHMENTS:

Glossary of terms (1 page)

Cover sheets design (1 page)

Student worksheets (6 pages)

Rubric (1 page)

Statistics (1 page)

Glossary of terms to help you with your search:

Browser - Netscape Navigator is the browser you will be using. This lets you "Surf the Net" and click to other pages (links ) that you want to go to. There are other browsers too. Before Browsers the internet was not that much fun because there were no graphics. America -on-line provides both an on line service and its own browser. Microsoft also has a browser called Internet Explorer. Some of you at home might use a different browser, but here in school, we use Netscape. You will be able to access the internet just by clicking on the wheel on the screen. This will take you right to the net.

Search engine - This is a tool or computer program that actually lets you find what you need. You type in a word or phrase that you want to look for and the search engine does the rest. There are many different search engines. The most popular one is Yahoo. Yahoo even has a site for kids called Yahooligans.

Web address or location - The exact location in cyberspace where you will find this site. Must be typed in exactly.

URL - means uniform resource location and is a fancy way of saying the web address.

Bookmarks - A way of saving your place in cyberspace. This helps you locate this spot again quickly. This is important because when you are working on line. It takes a lot of time to locate what you need or like and you will be doing a lot of "clicking to different links." When you shut down and then want to go back it will be almost impossible to repeat the process. When you bookmark, you go right to the site without any problems.

Icons - a box that has a graphic or symbol on it. This links you to another activity.

What the screen looks like:

Menu Bar - top of page - this lets you do different jobs

Tool Bar - second line has icons on it moves you around

Location field - 3^rd line

Content area - middle of page

Status message field - bottom left

Progress bar - bottom right

INTERNET TIPS:

1. Be patient. Sometimes when you are strolling along on the "Information Highway," you click right in to a "Traffic jam." Now the going will slow. PLEASE IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO STAY CALM AND BE PATIENT. Do not start punching and clicking keys to move it along because the computer remembers. This means that when the computer has found your page, it will remember all the keys you pushed while you were waiting, and will now try to do all the other things that you asked it to do. This could really mess you up. Sometimes the www can mean "the world wide wait" instead of the "world wide web." So just be patient.

• Use a pencil to write down ALL web addresses because they are long and if you make a mistake it is easy to erase pencil.

Student Worksheets:

INTERNET AS A RESEARCH TOOL

Directions:

Your job is to complete the following tasks using the internet. We will go into the Library/computer Lab as a class and complete this during two class periods. You may ask me for help to complete your job. You will be graded on this using the attached rubric. As a bonus BOTH your Math and Science teachers have said that completing this project will earn you up to 4 extra points on your statistics and metric system tests. For example if you earn an A you will get 4 points, a B is worth 3 points, a C is worth 2 points, and a D is worth 1 point on each test.

GOOD LUCK - THE SEARCH IS ON.....

_____________________________________________________________

1st Task: BROWSING

TIME BEGAN:___________________________ TIME ENDED:_________________

What is the name of the Web Browser that you are using?

How did you find it?

______________________________________________________

2nd Task: SEARCH ENGINE SHOPPING

TIME BEGAN:___________________________ TIME ENDED:_________________

Directions:

1. In the location bar type the following address: www.search.com. , hit return.

A. You should have a home page that is all about search engines. Find the link where you will click that will give you an " a to z" listing of all the search engines. Click.

B. What is the URL that is now in the location bar:

_____________________________________________________________

Now take a few minutes to window shop the different search engines.

Are there a lot of search engines? ________________

2A. Find Yahooligans - What is the URL that is now in the location bar:

_____________________________________________________________

B. In the search box type in Metric System. Click search.

C. What happened? How many matches did you get? __________________________

3. Find the Back icon in the tool bar and click back until you find the Home page for C/Net Search.com. (Hint: This was the first box we found when we typed in search.com)

A. In the box at the top of the page, type in Metric System. The box under your typing should say search the whole web. This means that every search engine will be used. Click on search.

B. How many matches did you get? ____________________________________

C. What do you think - is it possible to look at that many sites?

D. Click the back icon (you should be at the home page again) Scroll to the bottom of the page and find Express search. In the box type in Metric System again. This time, in the box that says pick your weapon, click the arrow and use alta vista.

E. How many matches did you get now?__________________________

F. Repeat step D only this time use Yahoo. How many matches did you get? _______________

YOU DECIDE:

5. Which search engine would work the best for you? ____________________

6. How would knowing about search engines help you if you had a project to do in Math, Science, History or English?

Don’t get discouraged Tasks 2 was the trickiest task. We only have 4 more to do.

3rd Task: Bookmarks or

How to Save Your Place in Cyber Space

TIME BEGAN:___________________________ TIME ENDED:_________________

Directions:

1. In the Menu bar, go to the icon that means bookmarks. Find the site called Civil War Battles Summaries by Campaign. Click on that site.

Please Wait

A. What happened? _____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

B. What is the URL address in the location box?

_____________________________________________________________

C. Why is saving a site in bookmarks something useful to know?

_____________________________________________________________

Now take a few minutes to look around the site.

You are studying the Civil War in History. This may be a useful site for a project that you may have to do in that class. Lets learn how to bookmark (save) this site to your own personal disk.

NOTE: TO GET CREDIT FOR THIS PART, YOU MUST HAND IN YOUR DISK, SO I CAN CHECK AND SEE IF IT IS ON THERE.

Step 1: Insert your disk in the computer.

Step 2: Go to bookmark symbol and hold it down - you should see the whole marked sites

Step 3: Go to the wheel symbol

Step 4: See if your site is there. You will see other sites on the list.

Step 5: In Menu Bar, go to File Click save as

Step 6: Call up your diskette (if you do not know how to do this ask for help)

Step 7: Put cursor in the Save as box and title it Civil War Bookmarks

Step 8: Click Save

4th Task: The Internet as a Research Tool

TIME BEGAN:___________________________ TIME ENDED:_________________

Directions:

For this search we will be using the Civil War bookmarked site in the 3rd search.

1. Go to bookmarks and get the site. Your location box should read the following: www.2.cr.hps.gov/abpp/battles/bycampaign/htm

2. Pick a battle and go to that site.

• Name the battle of the Civil War that you picked.

____________________________________

4. What is the URL of that battle?___________________________________________________

5. Who won the battle? _____________________________________________

6. Tell me a little bit about the battle._________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

You’re doing great - We are almost done.

_____________________________________________________________

5th Task: A Picture’s Worth A Thousand Words

TIME BEGAN:___________________________ TIME ENDED:_________________

Directions: Take a picture from the internet, copy it, and paste it into Microsoft Word.

Does it sound hard? Follow these steps and you will be surprised how easy it is.

FIRST WE MUST GET A PICTURE TO USE:

1. In the location bar, type www.yahooligans.com

2. In the search box type in Metric System and click search

3. You will get three sites, click on the 3rd site "Metrics Matter."

4. Find the temperature site and click to that page

5. Now you should see a picture of a thermometer and a converter box.

6. Take a few minutes to look around this page and then we’ll do a few conversions:

Note: We are doing this the easy way. Your math teacher will show you a formula to use to do these conversions.

A. Type in 32 in the box Now Click in the circle next to Fahrenheit.

What number came up? ________________

What happens to water at 32 degrees Fahrenheit? __________________________

B. Type in 100 in the box, now in the circle click next Celsius.

What number came up?__________________

What happens to water at 100 degrees Celsius?____________________________

C. Type in 98.6, now in the circle, click next to Fahrenheit.

What number came up?__________________________________

What is the significance of this number? ____________________________________

D. At what number are Celsius and Fahrenheit the same? ____________________________

Now that we are done playing, lets copy the picture.

Step 1: Using your mouse click and HOLD on the picture of the thermometer

Step 2: A box comes up keeping your hold on the mouse drag in the box until you see Copy this image. Now let go. (It looks like nothing happened - don’t worry)

Step 3: Open Word

Step 4: Go to Menu Bar Edit and click paste - Your picture should pop right up. (Now you are ready to fix the picture exactly how you want it to look on your paper.)

Step 5: Click in the center of the picture - Dotted lines come up around the picture

Step 6: Using your mouse grab the sides and re-size the picture.

Step 7: Print it out so that I can see it. (To print go to File, print)

6th Task: Metric Madness

TIME BEGAN:___________________________ TIME ENDED:_________________

Directions: Find a chart that has all the large and small number of all the metric prefixes.

1. Go to bookmarked site "The Metric System (SI) and open it

2. On this page find the prefixes and click to open the page

3. Your task now is to print just this one page SO FOLLOW these directions carefully

4. Go to Menu Bar and click File

5. Scroll Down to print and let go

6. In the Print box enter in from Page 1 to Page 1

7. Click Print - Just page 1 will get printed out

YOU MUST HAND IN THE PRINTED CHART TO GET CREDIT FOR THIS SEARCH

Using your printed table what are the following conversions:

75 Kg = __________mg

1000 Kl = __________l

2500 mm = __________ hm

534 cm = __________ km

110 kg = ___________ cg

"THE SEARCH IS OVER"

YOU SURVIVED!!

GOOD JOB

Now let’s analyze your data. In Math you are studying statistics. There are four basic terms that you MUST KNOW.

Mean - the arithmetic average

Mode - the number that occurs the most

Median - the middle number

Range - the difference between the highest and lowest number in your set of data

Let’s see if we can find this information from your data.

First, we must complete the following table using the times that it took you for each task:

Now Answer the following questions for your times:

Please show ALL work

1.Your Mean:

2. Your Mode:

3. Your Median:

4. Your Range: