Teachers...This project involved many students, parents and community members. I will try to outline the process and you will see that it need not be an aviation project but could possibly be any topic that heavily involves online connections, e-mail for communication, web page design and maintenance by the students, multimedia projects , quicktime movie making and learning standards with authentic performance assessment. The crate that brought back Lindbergh's plane, The Spirit of St. Louis, from Paris , France in 1927, is a museum in our community. Teachers have a plan to send a suitcase to all the towns ( connect with schools ) where Charles Lindbergh stopped along his route to Paris. (Ryan Corporation in California, St. Louis, Missouri, and Roosevelt Field. NewYork) Pilots across America were involved in flying the suitcase Year 1998 suitcase travels by US Navy ship from Bath, Maine, down the east coast through the Panama Canal, and on to San Diego... students from Canaan and Palmyra make cranes for the suitcase and add Maine artifacts Year 2000- students now on Cedar team at the Skowhegan Area Middle School continue the suitcase project by adding artifacts, contacting schools, pilots, and designing a web site that will serve as a central hub for all involved. Students also begin an 8 week interdisciplinary study of the 1920's and "Flight." This unit meaningfully integrates technology and the Internet Maine politicians, John Baldacci and William Cohen lend a hand and send letters to the students. Suitcase travels to Crestwood School in St. Louis, Missouri, where Charles Lindbergh's daughter signs the guestbook in suitcase Suitcase is flown to a school in Long Island, NY where students add items Suitcase is flown by a special pilot with a special jet to Paris, France School in Paris, France receives suitcase and students add special items and take out gifts Suitcase arrives at the Pentagon in Washington where William Cohen receives it, adds a letter and coin, and sends it on to Rep. John Baldacci of Maine Suitcase arrives in Bangor, Maine and students visit their Representative and open the suitcase after two years of travelling!! Crate Day 2000 features an air show, the suitcase and the theme, "Teachers"..Christa Mcauliff's mother attends Teachers connect with state and national standards: Maine State Learning Results / Guiding Principles: Goals for a student to be: A Creative and Practical Problem Solver, A Responsible and Involved Citizen and an Integrative and Informed Thinker Relevant Content Areas: Science and Technology/ Students will communicate effectively in the application of science and technology Historical Inquiry, Analysis, and Interpretation / Students will learn to evaluate resource material such as documents, artifacts,maps, artworks, and literature, and to make judgments about the perspectives of the authors and their credibility when interpreting current historical events. Geography- State and National Students will understand and analyze the relationships among people and their physical environment. Students will develop maps, globes, charts, models and databases to analyze geographical patterns on earth. Mathematics/ Geometry/ Students apply geometric properties to represent and solve real life problems involving regular and irregular shapes. These are only some of the standards that we focused on as we planned lessons and developed an authentic assessment. After viewing the standards and indicators of achievement, we webbed out the connections between our different subjects - math, science, language arts and social studies. To back up a bit, students approached us first with this project idea since they were the ones who had first started this suitcase on its way to San Diego two years before. The curator of the Lindbergh museum also suggested having a web site and finding a New York School and a Paris School to finish up the route. So you see, the enthusiasm was in place, we only needed the teacher pieces to make it a full learning experience for all. Since enthusiasm is catching we all jumped on board and before long the suitcase was flying and everyone was excited to be a part of it all. The web yielded lots of interdisciplinary links! The science teacher decided to focus on flight (Bernoulli's theory) and work with the Lindbergh Foundation statement regarding the balance of technology and environment. The math teacher quickly realized that geometry and basic algebra would fit right in as he worked with the plotting of Lindbergh's great circle route and other navigational concepts. The language arts and social studies teachers buddied up to extend the project to include both the history of aviation and various topics surrounding the time period in which Lindbergh flew across the Atlantic (1920's) Topics included: Prohibition Radio Technology Famous Actors Charles Lindbergh Aviators Communications Technology Immigration History of Flight Women's Rights The Movie Industry Emergence of hate groups The Automobile With the 7th and 8th grade students, we first assessed prior knowledge by charting a K-W-L This is a well known device whereby we list on a chart paper all the things students think they know, would like to know more about, and after the unit, we chart all that they learned. When we compare the known with the learned it is mind boggling to the students to see how far they have come in six short weeks! The next step was to plan the lessons keeping in mind the learners, the content standards and projecting the assessment we would use in order to measure learning. The authentic performance assessment was a critical piece because once you have that in place, planning backwards (the unit) falls into place quite naturally. Our assessment consisted of a rubric which included criteria from all of the subjects. We also had a technology rubric which we used to assess proficiency with thce technology tools being used throughout the project. Students chose the format which best suited their learning style and within this they created incredibly creative projects which integrated concepts from all subject areas. Documentary Performance Web Quest Exhibit Picture Book Using the Internet for research and communicating with others was absolutely essential throughout the project. We taught effective Internet search strategies and site evaluation techniques. Students located schools in New York and Paris (international school registry) and e-mailed regularly. Pilots were also contacted through a list serv and through cooperation with the museum curator and his many connections. Without the website as a communication device, this project would not have come together as it did. Students, parents, pilots, organizations, politicians and many more logged in to view the history and progress of the suitcase and to check out the amazing student works that were being updated regularly. Technology was constantly being used for: Research and information gathering (primary and secondary sources) Word processing Communication Animations Website creation multimedia presentations (power point, hyperstudio and web) FTP iMovies The flight simulation which involved recreating Lindbergh's transatlantic journey, involved much collaboration. The museum curator offered to let students stay at the crate museum for 33.5 hours as they completed this. The girls were more interested in maintaining the website and the boys were more interested in the simulation. Since it is a constant task for the teacher to make sure there is gender equity in the classroom, we decided that as long as both were involved in some way with each of the tasks, it would be fine. There were actually more girls scheduled for the simulation but scheduling conflicts arose making it impossible. The plan for next year, if we undertake this again, includes a balance of both girls and boys. Essential Questions For The Teachers... How will we,as a team of four teachers, design a high interest unit with curriculum material? At what point and to what extent will we involve students in the design process? How will we introduce the unit? What learning activities will we include that will adequately provide a sound knowledge base? How will we integrate technology in the unit and at what point? How will we differentiate the curriculum so that "gifted" and students with special needs are challenged at their individual levels? How will we involve the Special Education staff? How will we individualize materials, goals, expectations, reading levels, etc. How will we manage whole class instruction and station or small group set-up? In what way will we provide learning experiences which will target different learning styles (multiple intelligences) What will the time frame for the unit be? How will we incorporate activities that will extend the knowledge base/ What problem solving activities will be offered? What type of assessment will we use?(tests, portfolio etc.) How will this unit be interdisciplinary? How will we incorporate skills? How will student folders be managed? In what way will we communicate with parents? What culminating event will evolve which will allow students to celebrate their learning? How will we determine grouping in a heterogeneous classroom? What cooperative learning techniques and strategies will we include?   Setting Up the Classroom The physical layout of the classroom is critical in creating a workshop environment where a variety of activities can take place simultaneously. For, once students are empowered, active learning will occur, which requires the free-flow of movement between any number of activities. Work stations work well for us. In two of the seventh and eighth grade classrooms, there are three computer stations and other areas where students read, plan together, research, receive direct instruction and so forth. First, we suggest drawing a map of the room. Obviously, the computer stations need to be where the Internet access is located. What's in a Computer Station ? Because students will be working in groups of four, we have two chairs in front of a computer, and another small table with two chairs. This arrangement is necessary because two will be working at the computer while the other two are researching or performing other project based tasks. At the stations, we also place materials they might need such as markers, paper, dictionaries, thesauruses, floppy discs, CD ROM's, head phones and so forth. Frequently, we leave specific instructions on particular programs at the station, so students can get started before we can get to them. For example, we may have available "cheat-cheats" on such programs such as Claris Homepage or Hyper Studio. we write these guides simply so that the students can follow them easily. We try to have a more powerful computer in one station in order to handle multi-media functions such as importing video or pictures. All the stations are networked to a printer. Another area is the reading corner. Make it comfortable. Don't be afraid to improvise. I sawed the legs off a round kitchen table to make it low to the floor, Japanese style, and added pillows. The students love the comfort. Surrounding the table on three sides are shelves of all the research books, fiction, atlases and other materials they need. I also set up two shelves of art supplies -- rulers, pencils, paper, staplers, tape and markers, so that while they are working and creating, they can access everything they need. The next station -- the audio visual station -- contains a television set we had altered so that it would receive a head phone jack, and four students can hook up to any videos which tie into their research. As they're at their station, we expect they will take notes which later will be useful in the project. The last area of the classroom is set up for direct instruction and whole class discussions. This area also is used for weekly class meetings to discuss issues that may arise on the team. We use this forum to teach them the Democratic process, where they make motions, vote, pass rules and so on. Every teacher has his or her own style, and may set up classrooms according to his or her particular needs and likes, but keep in mind that project based learning requires that students have an environment where they can work at their own pace, circulate about the room and have materials readily available at all times. Students may want to rearrange some things within the stations, and that is good, because it makes them active participants in their learning environment and makes the space their own. Have fun. Thank you, Laura Richter People to People Main Flight Page