Thread: Technology in Government Classes

Hi Pbuckendorf,

I'm unfamiliar with Webquest. Could you explain, please?

What are you trying to accomplish with this tech project?

Thanks.

Jason

Here are some links for webquests:

[url]http://edweb.sdsu.edu/webquest/webquest.html[/url]

[url]http://www.ozline.com/webquests/intro.html[/url]

Thanks, Leslie.

Sounds like WebQuest is ThinkQuest without the contest.

Okay, so we still need the second question answered:

What is the educational goal for this Senior Government class?

Jason

The educational goal would be that the students would gain a better understanding of the Constitution and/or Bill of Rights. The teacher just doesn't want to do an ordinary research report for their final project when there is so much technology to utilize. But how?

Okay, I have one more question:

What technology to you have available for use by your students?

Obviously, you have computers. Do you have scanners, video recorders, dv camera? What software do you have available?

I'm sure once we know what you have at hand, we can brainstorm some cool activiites for your class.

Talk to you soon.

Jason

We have scanners, digital cameras, 1 video recorder, and just basic software, i.e. Office Suite 2000 including Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Publisher, and access to the Internet. We do also have a Smartboard for presentations.

Before we begin, a few rules of brainstorming:

1) Every idea is a good idea; even a goofy idea
2) Refrain from criticism
3) No self-censorship
4) Just let the ideas flow freely

With that being said, here are a few ideas.

Idea #1

I'm seeing something having to do with educating the public (maybe the student body). I'm imagining using the video camera to video interviews of students. Your students could ask other students a set of questions about the Bill of Rights/Constitution. The interviews could then be combined with images and answers researched by your class. If you really planned things out and wanted to get fancy, you could download a 30 day trial of Flash and combine your footage and answers into a cool looking presentation. Of course, you could also use Power Point.

Idea #2

Similar to Idea #1 but using a game show format. Maybe along the lines of Jeopardy or the Weakest Link. Answers/explanations could be a combination of images and text.


That's all for now. Hopefully the others on the list will add some more ideas.