CSI Rockville

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This page was teacher created.

Teacher's Name: _Eva La Mar, Linda Ferguson, Jennifer Jenness
Age of the students: 8-9, third graders

For more background on Headstones and designs visit our new link at Headstone Design.

For more information on GPS and Geo-caching activities see Geo-caching.
 

Learning Outcomes: Briefly discuss what a user will learn from the stack/project/module.

Cemeteries are more than just a collection of headstones; they tell a story about your community.  Visitors to our web site will learn about the different classifications of headstones, quantities of each, the different cultures represented, history of a couple of the people buried there, the flora and fauna  and geography of Rockville Cemetery. Our goal is to get other classes to investigate their own cemetery, using our CSI Web quest, and compare and contrast their results with ours.

Curriculum Connection: Explain how this project fits into your curriculum.

This was an amazing multi-cultural and cross curricular activity that addressed the different modes of learning. It took many of the skills learned in third grade and gave the students an authentic opportunity to apply them.  It fully supports math, reading, writing, history and science third grade standards.  In math, students applied their learning of measurement, statistics and interpretation of data, geometric shapes, addition and subtraction to a real-life situation of analyzing our cemetery. Reading comprises of informational text (web sites, reference books, etc) reading comprehension using a variety of reading strategies and comparing information from different sources. Students used titles, tables of contents, chapter headings, glossaries and indexes to locate information within text. Writing strategies and application were emphasized throughout the activities. Students took notes using log sheets, organized data and information, and presented their thoughts in writing.  Filming the students gave them authentic opportunities to apply listening and speaking skills in a meaningful format. In science is also gave a realistic opportunity to apply the concepts of investigation, observation, the collect data in an investigation and analyzing those data to develop a logical conclusion. Historical curriculum was also powerful as students fulfilled the California History standards of “describe the physical and human geography and use maps, tables, graphs, photographs, and charts to organize information about people, places, and environments in a spatial context.” We did that to a “t”. We also had students draw from historical and community resources to organize the sequence of local historical events and describe how each period of settlement left its mark on the land. It was a natural fit with the third grade curriculum in all curricular areas!

Process: Explain how the process worked within your classroom

We checked for prior knowledge with a chart and student created cemetery dioramas. From their “knowledge” and questions we created some PowerPoint's, a Web Quest web site and other resources for the students to use. Students used rubrics for the main steps of the project.  Student groups worked during assigned class time as well as in the cemetery. We created most of the web site in class with students using Alpha Smarts and moving their text into Dreamweaver.  We used some survey software to compile all of the data collected and students then interpreted the data as it applied to what they saw and observed.

When did the students work on the project?  We worked during class time.

How did they divide the responsibilities? Students worked in cooperative groups dividing the tasks between themselves. At times we assigned tasks within the groups to better differentiate the curriculum

Describe any difficulties or barriers you encountered and tell how you overcame them. (for example: wide ranging ability levels, too few computers, too little time, etc.)

We had an enormous range of abilities and too few computers. We had to prepare a variety of supporting worksheets and guidelines to better differentiate the work. We also had to purchase plant, tree and insect identification books because our school library did not have them. As to the computers I used some of the school Alpha Smarts and had the students write using those and move their text directly into Dreamweaver.  We struggled with the survey forms as the first set we created were confusing to the students. We created new ones immediately that were just a modified version of the first that emphasized the areas of the form they needed to fill out at the cemetery.  I also asked for more parent volunteers to help at the cemetery. We ended up with quite a showing of parents to help facilitate the logging of the cemetery.  

What was your role?  We were the facilitators, coaches, and teachers.  

Accomplishments:  Tell what your students learned and/or accomplished in the process of creating the stack

They learned not only the curriculum as stated in the standards; they also learned how to unitize technology as a tool, work with community members, and to work effectively as a team. Students also saw the real life application of the skills they learned in school! 

What did you learn about technology, teaching, learning, etc. or about your students or yourself? We learned that young students are capable of grasping the complex concept of what cemeteries hold for us historically as well as scientifically.