Project Based Learning

The state guides developed by authors from the Federal Writers' Project - a WPA group that came to be during the depression - are fascinating snapshots of the country as it was in the early part of the 20th century. They contain quite a lot of history and local stories and can be a wonderful way to compare the regions with how they currently are.

Ask students to imagine becoming scientists in a laboratory or archaeologists excavating a tomb, or a rescue team at the scene of a disaster. They might be running a removal company, or a factory, or a shop, or a space station or a French resistance group. Because they behave 'as if they are experts', the children are working from a specific point of view as they explore their learning and this brings special responsibilities, language needs and social behaviours.

Create interactive timelines collaboratively. I could see using this for documenting causation, how one event leads to another. You can add a timeline to any blog or Web page.

NYPL Digital Gallery provides free and open access to over 700,000 images digitized from the The New York Public Library's vast collections, including illuminated manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints, photographs and more.

New York Public Library document resources are now available from WITHIN VoiceThread. Could be an interesting way to integrate primary sources with VoiceThread collaborations.

ARC Guide for Educators and Students The guide introduces educators and students to the National Archives' Archival Research Catalog (ARC). Searching in ARC to learn more about National Archives' historical documents could enrich a classroom activity, a homework assignment, or a research project. - Methodology I might follow with 8th graders who may serve as research experts to younger kids.

OH and you know what I thought of-- Wordles with key words-- when you look under "Advanced" in Wordle they show how you can emphasize (make bigger) certain words based on their value to you.

primary source material on Mark Twain

Maybe Jan Zanetis of the KC3 ("Kids Creating Community Content") Project would serve as an expert for us. I'm going to write to her. http://kc3.cilc.org

A learning philosophy that I think goes hand in hand with any project styled learning situation. a constructivist approach to early education. "Reggio Emilia's approach does challenge some conceptions of teacher competence and developmentally appropriate practice. For example, teachers in Reggio Emilia assert the importance of being confused as a contributor to learning; thus a major teaching strategy is purposely to allow mistakes to happen, or to begin a project with no clear sense of where it might end."

Big RE fan..Your comment makes me think: Any examples of teachers working with kids on themes similar to the ones we're talking about? I'll snoop around a little.

I wondered if there was easy access to raw info and here it is! Cool sets like Illustrated Newspapers, Women Striving, News in the 1910s, etc.

From LearnAlberta