INVITATION

How can we help students combine imaginative thinking with investigation to develop a living sense of history? How can we help them understand the impact of demographic shifts, technology developments, and social change? How can we help students see a community as a tangible artifact of culture?

TASKS

Students survey their communities to learn about how communities are organized and what makes them up, research aspects of the typical American community in six different historical periods, and create electronic books to document their findings.

TOOLS

Computers; iMovie (optional).

AppleWorks; The Cruncher; Destination: Time Trip, USA; What's the Big Idea, Ben Franklin?; World Book Encyclopedia.

Digital cameras (optional); library resources; projection device (optional).

INTERACTIONS

In Phase 1, students work as a class to define the boundaries of their community, and then break into six "expert" groups to conduct research. In Phase 2, students begin working in pairs, and then form six time-period groups, each made up of at least one member from each expert group (if possible). The time-period groups continue working together in Phase 3, and in Phase 4 they present their completed electronic books to the class and participate in class discussion.

<STANDARDS

To identify the curriculum standards for your state that correlate to this student project, select the state in the popup menu below and then click the Go button.

SITUATIONS

Students work in the classroom, in the library, and outside of school observing elements of the community. If iBook or PowerBook computers are available, students can use them to help collect, record, and analyze information during their community research in Phase 1.

Phases 1, 2, and 3 will each require parts of several days to complete. The presentation of electronic books in Phase 4 will occupy one to several hours of one day.

ASSESSMENT

For Phase 2, the class and teacher can develop a checklist to focus groups in their research. The checklist might include items such as completeness of research, reliability of sources, notetaking, and final product.

For Phase 3, the teacher can use a rubric to assess each group's electronic book according to the clarity of its structure and its creative use of text, pictures, and sounds. A rubric can also be used to assess each electronic book's description of its time period by addressing such areas as historical accuracy, depth of knowledge, use of concrete detail, and the degree to which it demonstrates an understanding of community.

Much has changed in the United States since the first colonial settlements in the 1600s. The shifts in technology, economic activity, social organization, and culture have been profound, but they are also difficult to grasp in the abstract. A key to understanding historical change is to focus on how elements of concrete daily life (the objects we use, the "architecture" of the communities in which we live) have changed over time.

In this project, students do just that: they research their own community in the present to learn about what makes up a community, and then investigate community life in six different time periods of the United States' history, creating a multimedia electronic book (E-Book) to represent each period. Taken together, the E-Books chronicle the evolution of community life in the United States.

Phase 1: Looking at your community today

As a class, define the geographic boundaries of what you will consider "the community." This can range from the entire town (if it is relatively small) to a neighborhood or the area served by your school. Divide the class into six groups and assign each group to research one of the following aspects of your community:

Geography: Students locate appropriate maps and conduct walking surveys of the community to learn about its physical layout. They use AppleWorks to draw a map of the community that shows major buildings, roads, and physical features (such as hills and rivers), and identifies different areas of the community by their characteristics or functions.

Transportation: Students explore and report on the various modes of transportation in the community, using such resources as the local phone book and maps published by the local public transit agency. Students also observe transportation in action by noting the use of bicycles, walking, buses, taxis, trolleys, trains, and cars at key locations. Students create a transportation report in AppleWorks, which should include a map of the city that highlights major transportation routes and shows where public transit systems operate.

News: Students investigate the various ways news is communicated in the community. They compile a list of newspapers, radio and TV stations, and other news sources, and then research the different ways in which a specific news event is communicated. They create a report of their findings using AppleWorks.

Entertainment and recreation: Students research the different types of entertainment and recreation available in the community and use AppleWorks to create an Entertainment and Recreation Directory. The directory can list movie theaters, parks, plays, community events, organized sports, and so on.

Clothing: Students research the different clothing styles worn in the community. They use AppleWorks to draw samples and write about the styles. They identify locations in the community where clothing can be purchased and use AppleWorks to create a Store Directory.

Work: Students investigate the occupations available in the community. They collect data through a survey of people or businesses, and by using information published by the chamber of commerce or government agencies. They create a list of the occupations, and use a Cruncher spreadsheet to create a pie chart showing how the occupations (or occupational categories) are divided among the community.

Students can take iBook computers or other portable technology out into the community to record data, observations, and field notes. If available, they can also use digital cameras to capture images to be used as artifacts of the community.

After the groups have completed their research and prepared their reports, maps, and lists, each group shares its findings with the rest of the class through an informal oral presentation.

Phase 2: Looking at communities of the past

Ask students, working in pairs or small groups, to explore the sample E-Book in Destination: Time Trip, USA, in which a boy travels through time and learns how his community has changed. This story will give students a glimpse of the typical American community in different time periods, and will introduce them to the E-Book feature they will be using in Phase 3.

Now divide the class into six time-period groups corresponding to the years highlighted in Destination: Time Trip, USA: 1640, 1776, 1865, 1929, 1945, and Today. If possible, each time-period group should be made up of one member of each group from Phase 1, so that each group has an "expert" in all six community categories.

Each time-period group uses the Fact Book in Destination: Time Trip, USA to learn as much as they can about the typical American community in its assigned time period. The groups' experts should focus on their specialty areas (as defined by the group assignment in Phase 1), but as a whole the group also needs to consider other facets of the community, including education, tools and technology, and family life. Students should look for examples and/or artifacts that illustrate the various facets of community life. They can use AppleWorks to organize their notes.

In addition, time-period groups can use World Book Encyclopedia and What's the Big Idea, Ben Franklin? to augment the information available in Destination: Time Trip, USA as follows:

1640: Students in this group can read the World Book Encyclopedia article "Colonial Life in America" to learn about the life of the Pilgrims and early settlers in what is now known as New England.

1776: This group can explore the second and third rows of What's the Big Idea, Ben Franklin? to investigate Ben Franklin's inventions (such as electricity and the Franklin stove) and his role in the creation of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Students may also want to read the relevant sections of the World Book Encyclopedia articles "Revolutionary War in America" and "United States, History of the."

1865: Students in this group can read the "Civil War" article in World Book Encyclopedia to explore the effect the Civil War had on the United States and its communities.

1929: Students in this group can learn what life was like in the decade before 1929 by reading the World Book Encyclopedia article "Roaring Twenties" and they can learn about the aftermath of the stock market crash in 1929 by reading the article "Great Depression."

1945: This group can investigate the effect World War II had on American communities by reading the section "On the Home Front" in the World Book Encyclopedia article "World War II."

Today: Students in this group can search World Book Encyclopedia for articles describing the impact of technology on work, transportation, communication, education, and other aspects of community.

Phase 3: Creating period E-Books

Each time-period group uses the information it has collected in Phase 2 to create an E-Book that describes the typical American community of its time period and reflects students' knowledge of what makes up a community. Groups should use the available features of Destination: Time Trip, USA, including text, audio, authentic backgrounds and characters, and animation to create multimedia stories that are both interesting and highly informative. For assistance in making their E-Books, groups can refer to the Step-by-Step Card "Making an E-Book With Destination: Time Trip, USA."

Before they begin working on their E-Book, group members should meet to plan their work and brainstorm creative ways of presenting what they have learned about their time period. Fictional characters and story lines are encouraged.

Phase 4: Presenting a history of community

Invite each group to present its E-Book to the rest of the class, dressed, if they like, in costumes illustrating their time period. If possible, the E-Books should be shown on a projection system or large screen monitor.

After the presentations, discuss, as a class, any patterns of change that students can see in the history of American communities, and compare the "typical" community with your community. Finally, invite students to predict what life in their community will be like 10 or 20 years from now.

Vocabulary: Community, Depression, Interdependent, Inventions.

Phase 3: Time-period groups can get ideas for how to organize their E-Books by clicking the Story Ideas icon on the main screen of Destination: Time Trip, USA.

PREPARATION

Introduce the three fundamental principles of a community to your students: 1. Every community has roles to be fulfilled, and people capable of fulfilling them. 2. Every community is a complex web of interdependent relationships. 3. Every community needs diversity. Ask your students how these principles apply to your community.

Take your students on a "walking field trip" in the community surrounding your school. Point out tangible examples of a community: homes, transportation, work, communication, and clothing.

Make copies of the Step-by-Step Card "Making an E-Book With Destination: Time Trip, USA" so that students can refer to the instructions when they begin making their E-Books in Phase 3.

You may want the group that uses The Cruncher to create a spreadsheet in Phase 1 (the Work group) to use the tutorials provided with the program to learn how to create the spreadsheet and chart.

Create a class timeline of significant innovations or changes in housing. What materials were used in early houses? Which of those are still used today? What changes did electricity bring about? What changes did automobiles bring about?

Create a list of elements found in each of the time periods studied. As a class, decide which elements were based on necessity and which were based on comfort.

If there are historic houses or other buildings nearby, take trips to visit them. Talk about why we preserve these buildings.

Hold a class discussion on what communities may look like a few decades from now. Create a list of elements that would be the same as they are today and make predictions about what might be different.

Students can act out their E-Book stories, and these performances can be filmed and turned into a desktop movie with iMovie. Or, some students, acting as reporters, can interview other students, acting as characters from specific time periods, to create a TV magazine-type desktop movie. For help using iMovie, go to the Desktop Movies in Education Web site.

BOOKS

Charley Skedaddle by Patricia Beatty

Rosie the Riveter: Women Working on the Home Front in World War II by Penny Colman

Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan

Walden by Henry David Thoreau

Watership Down by Richard Adams

Cyburbia: The Planning and Architecture Internet Resource Center
http://www.ap.buffalo.edu/pairc

A Digital Archive of American Architecture
http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/fa267

Historic House Architecture
http://www.tango.org/arch/index.html

Inside Architecture Home Page
http://library.advanced.org/11114/

Levittown
http://tigger.uic.edu/~pbhales/Levittown/oldindex.html

3D Hohokam Pithouse
http://www.pleione.com/pithouse

Tribal Index
http://www.curtis-collection.com/tribalindex.html

The Watson Cabin Museum
http://www.tahoecountry.com/nlths/watson.html