Classroom Case: Discovering History Through Internet-Based Research
Two Ilinois high school teachers, team teaching an American Studies course for college-bound students, developed a yearlong research project that asked students to investigate events and people not included in their textbook. In order to understand a country that includes a multitude of viewpoints and people of many nationalities and backgrounds, students gathered information on the Internet about specific influential people. They then published their findings on the school’s website. The project meets the English language arts standards for research that refer to students’ acquisition of the ability to gather, synthesize, and communicate information from a variety of sources.
For the first three time periods covered in the course (Revolutionary War, romanticism, and antebellum), the teachers gave students a specific person to research and website addresses to use. Students were required to gather specific types of information for their webpages, with the goal that they acquire skills needed to conduct searches independently. In addition to providing facts about the individual’s role in history, students were to find an image, a quotation, and a song title to incorporate on their webpage. For extra credit, students could create an illustration or a political cartoon, or write a diary entry in the voice of the historical figure.
As they conducted their inquiry, students learned to cut and paste relevant information into a research file, and to identify all their sources. They also reflected in writing on their search process and explained why they decided to include or omit specific information.
From “Literacy Learning on the Net: An Exploratory Study,” by M.L. McNabb, B. Hassel, & L. Steiner
Reading Online, June 2002
© 2002 North Central Regional Educational Laboratory