by Julia Deevers
My third grade students had fun writing their planet reports using Hyperstudio. The students used their creativity to develop a five card stack of information. Each card contained certain information the student had researched ahead of time using Internet as one of their resources. Each card also contained a picture that was either drawn by the student or a picture from clip art. Some of the computer functions the students learned to use were adding clip art, using Internet, animation, adding or deleting a button, adding a text item, paint and draw tools, adding sound or taping their own voices, and connecting the stack.
This project was so successful because the students learned many things about the planet they researched without really realizing how much they were really learning about the computer. This integrated curriculum project was fun for the students because they had choices and could be creative when they developed their stack of information. They also presented their projects to the rest of the class, which helped develop self esteem. They were proud of what they had done using Hyperstudio and I was proud of them.
Some hints to other teachers interested in doing this project would be to have a mini lesson at each lab session, before students actually begin working on Hyperstudio. These mini lessons could be on whatever you want the students to have in their reports. For example: how to get clip art, paints and draw tools, adding a text item, etc. Then the students could play and practice these functions at the computer before adding them into their report. Also I would suggest the students research the planet ahead of time. I require the students to have at least three resources; one has to be Internet. I also set up a rubric for the students to follow. On card one the students were to introduce their planet by telling what the planet is made of, where it is located in relation to the sun, and find a picture of their planet in the clip art and insert it on the card, etc.
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