Celebrating Diversity

     In this lesson students conduct research on the Internet and in the library, on notable persons of diverse backgrounds.  Students use kid-safe search engines and gather useful information from printed sources in the library.  They learn how to take important facts, record them onto note cards and turn the information into a meaning paragraph.

Objectives:  

• to learn about notable Americans of diverse backgrounds

• to learn how to conduct research via the Internet

• to learn specific search techniques for more productive results

• to learn how to use note cards to gather important information from a document

• to learn how to take short phrases and turn them into paragraph form

• to create a web page using MS FrontPage

• to download images from the Internet and insert them into a web page

• to select colors for backgrounds on a web page

• to learn how to add music and sound effects to a web page

• to learn how to document library, Internet sources and images

Requirements:

• A list of names of notable Americans of diverse backgrounds to research

• computers or computer lab equipped with the Internet and Microsoft FrontPage or some other web authoring software

• note cards

• list of kid-safe search engines

• Teacher proficient in FrontPage or other web authoring software

Grade Level: 3rd and up

Interdisciplinary Subjects: Social Studies/Library/Language Arts/Computer

Step-by-Step Procedures:

I.  The Research

1. Break students into groups of 2 or 3.  Give them the names of the persons you would like them to research.  List of notable Americans can be found at these web sites,  Notable Asian Pacific Americans: http://www.infoplease.com/spot/asianambios.html, Notable African Americans: http://www.infoplease.com/spot/bhmbios1.html , Notable Hispanic Americans: http://www.infoplease.com/spot/hhmbioaz.html , Notable American Indians:   http://www.infoplease.com/spot/aihmbioaz.html.

2. Bookmark on the computer, a list of kid-friendly web sites where they can search. ex, Onekey, Yahooligans,  Education World, KidsClick!, TrackStar.  Give search techniques to narrow search results.  For example, proper names must be capitalized, type the person's name and put the word biography or history at the end of it ("Hank Aaron Biography", Hank Aaron History", put the names in quotation marks, etc).  For more information on how to narrow searches, click here and read number 3.

3. Tell students what they will be looking for in the research.   Each topic will be on a different note card: 

   1. Card 1: Basic information. (name of person, title, DOB, when died if applicable

   2. Card 2: Educational Information (schools attended, certificates or degrees earned)

   3. Card 3: Early Years (where did they live, siblings, inspirations/turning points)

   4. Card 4: Major Accomplishments (What did they do...ex: Hit the most homeruns in league baseball)

   5. Card 5: Special Awards/Recognitions (example:  Inducted into the Baseball Hall of fame)

   6. Card 6: Bibliography

4. Have students begin taking notes on Index Cards:  Click here for instructions

5. If a printed document is to be used, the URL must be listed on the bibliography page. 

II.  The Web Page

1. This project is done using Microsoft FrontPage.  The following template will be used for all students: TEMPLATE

2. Students are to type their information from the note cards into paragraph form in the center part of the template. 

3. A picture of the person they are researching is to be downloaded to their page.

4. The inside of the table, where the text is written, is to have  a white background.  The second table is to have a solid colored background and the outside area is to have a patterned background.  Students can use background and graphic sites found by the teacher http://faculty.ashrosary.org/faculty/moody/music_and_graphics.html or search for their own using the kid friendly search engines given. The patterned backgrounds should, in some way, represent the person's profession or accomplishments.  For example:  Maria Tallchief, ballerina, Colin Powell, Secretary of State.

5. Once information is entered on the page, a picture of the person should be added.  The background should be done next.  After all of this information is completed.  Students can add sound effects to their page.  For example, if the person being researched is a musician, students can find a MIDI of their music to add to their page.  Sample: Nat King Cole, Midori.  or if the person is in sports the student can do a sound effect.  Sample: Hank Aaron, Grace Park.

III.  Bibliography

1. The bibliography page can be created using the Citation Machine: http://landmark-project.com/citation_machine.   Students simply plug in their information and the citation is generated.  All sources used, including sites for pictures must be cited.  Once the citation has been generated, it can be copied and pasted to a separate web page created for the Bibliography.  Credit must also be given to the Citation Machine web site.   Depending on the grade level, the Yahooligans site can also be used for citing Internet sources: http://yahooligans.yahoo.com/tg/23.html