The Turn of a Century:

The Teacher's Role

Introduction

This activity is designed for teachers who are interested in involving their students in an online project, but aren't sure where to begin. It will include:

Don't be afraid to take a look at these ideas and then either go in your own direction, use one of these as a model, or modify to suit your own needs. The one thing we are trying to do is prevent you from creating too many monsters. We know time is an element, so many of the ideas will be based on limited class / technology time. We invite all grade levels to participate at any level in which they feel comfortable.

Project Format and Timeline

1
 The Turn of a Century: Teacher-to-Teacher Summer, 2000

 2
 The Turn of a Century: 1900-1920 Oct - Nov 2000

3
 The Turn of a Century: 1921-1940 Feb - Mar 2001

 4
 The Turn of a Century: 1941-1960 Oct - Nov 2001

 5
 The Turn of a Century: 1961-1980 Feb - Mar 2002

6
 The Turn of a Century: 1981-1999 Oct - Nov 2002

7
 The Turn of a Century: Now and the Future Feb - Mar 2003

 8
 History of the World's Fairs Oct - Nov 2003

 9
  Construction of the 2004  

10
 The World's Fair Grand Opening Ceremonies Mar - Apr 2004

This page is just a preview of what will be ready and functional by July 14, 2000.

The Turn of a Century is a global project that addresses our history, our lives, and our futures. Its goal is to provide a virtual home for or link to student/class presentations on the The Turn of a Century. Ideas for this will be presented in the next section, but the main focus is for either individuals, small groups, or entire classes to put together unique projects that relate to particular time periods. Teachers may participate in this project with as many classes or during as many semesters as they wish. The project timelines make it possible to include a variety of students over a four-year period, with the end goal being a virtual World's Fair for 2004. The World's Fair will include student-exhibits that illustrate the history of the six time periods and exhibits that look at our future through the eyes of our students.

Project Ideas

Each of the time period activities will be centered around a WebQuest. The activities within the WebQuest are meant to direct students through the process of using both traditional and electronic resources to gather information to be used in their projects. Final projects could include:

Resources

The World of WebQuests

The Bernie Dodge WebQuest Page

 

Instructional Information

The following links refer to more information on How to ... many of the computer skills involved in creating these projects. They are specifically designed for teachers, but may also be used with students. You may use these online tutorials to teach yourself or your students to use many of the popular educational software titles, or to create basic web pages using a variety of resources.

 

Emphasizing Critical-Thinking Skills

The WebQuest activities were created with an emphasis on improving the critical thinking skills of students. Each activity requires students to demonstrate the ability to use information, not just re-tell it. You may find more information on this at: The WebQuest Process