By Sheila S. Hills
How does a teacher handle 25 sixth grade students, one multimedia computer, only forty minutes of instruction time, and have everyone actively involved in the learning process? One way to deal with these constraints is to create a series of activities related to a unit of study for small groups of students to explore. For example, for an Ancient Egyptian Unit, I organized 10 activities for groups of four students to complete. The objectives for this unit were for the students to develop research skills using a variety of media, to learn about the Egyptians, to learn to work cooperatively, and to be excited about learning. All activities included research and a creative response such as maps, posters, booklets, and drawings.
Integrating technology was simple to implement with this activity approach. For this unit, I had one computer set up with a multimedia CD-ROM called How Would You Survive? by Mindscape. This is an exploratory program for students to learn about the Ancient Egyptians, Mayans, or Aztec cultures. Included in this software are video clips, text, narration, and a game to test the students knowledge after exploring that particular culture. For this activity the group was expected to create a poster explaining the life of Egyptians. Each student would choose one aspect - dress, houses, family life, food, or leisure activities. This program and books would be their resources for their final product. Next time I will include another activity on another computer with access to the Internet with specific bookmarks related to a particular topic.
I believe this unit has been successful because I rarely had any discipline problems, I had students sharing information they had found that were interesting to them with their peers and me, students voicing that they wished they did not have to stop what they were working on, and excited about using a variety media.
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