Social Studies 5- collaborative Netbook Project
January 2010   

This project has been planned to support student collaboration and constructivist pedagogy; students are encouraged to articulate the product of their thinking before the teacher provides students with information.  They are also required to formulate and revise their own questions and success criteria to guide research and project work.  Please follow this link TEACHER PAGE for a detailed lesson progression and connections to the Alberta Program of Studies.

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Introduction:

The Royal Alberta Museum has decided to celebrate Canada's history with a very special exhibit called, "Surviving the Wilderness: Canada's Aboriginal Cultures and Heritage."  The museum curator has decided to hire you, an experienced historian, and your research team to create a display for this exhibit. 

Task:

In order to complete this task to the curator's satisfaction, you and your team will need to focus on the main idea for this exhibit: How were Canada's First Nations cultures able to survive in their unique region?  The curator is expecting this to be a very large and spectacular exhibit, so he has requested that you and your team create a display for ONE region of Canada, and the First Nations people who live there -- he is hiring other teams to cover the remaining regions and Aboriginal cultures required to complete the exhibit.

Interestingly, museums in Toronto and Vancouver have also decided to create exhibits celebrating Canada's Aboriginal heritage.  As a result, you will be able to collaborate with other research teams who are creating displays for the same region/cultures you are.  Unfortunately, the Royal Alberta Museum does not have enough money in their budget to fly you across the country to meet with these research teams -- you will have to collaborate electronically using different technological tools.

Process:

Step 1: As a class, create a list of factors that contribute to lifestyle/basic needs.

Step 2: Build a list of research questions for each factor. You will be assigned a  factor for which to create questions.

Step 3: Use Etherpad http://www.etherpad.com to collaborate and compile research questions for each lifestyle/basic need.

Step 4: Now you will be assigned or choose a group to specialize in:

Step 5: Research an aspect of your group/region’s lifestyle, share helpful resources on the group etherpad – NOTE: you may only share resources, not answers!

Step 6: Using the project format list and criteria,  create a proposal outlining your group’s presentation plan, including the following information:

Step 7: Present your project to the class (assessment)
 

  Optional/Additional ideas:

Celebration of Learning:

1.   Each student group collaborates (with groups from other classes) to present their region/cultural group to the school.

2.  Possible reflective activity:  Students complete a venn diagram, comparing the similarities/differences between their presentation and the students with the same region/lifestyle factor.

3. Students create a digital story told from the point of view of the group they have researched.

Resources: