First Internet Research Project:

Where in the World?

By
Kenneth Cole
Emerging Technology Teacher
Faubion Middle School
McKinney, Texas

Friday August 22, 1997

Hello Students,

On Thursday we had trouble reading our email from Hotmail due to the very slow access of our email accounts. I am using the Faubion Web Site as an alternative to emailing this to you. Many of you have not been able to read the email that I sent to you about the upcoming project. So, if this method of communication works better, I may be posting information about our class projects and assignments at the Faubion Home Page. Now here is your first assignment:

Your job is to search the Internet to find out as much information as you can about a county sized area in some foreign country. You should identify a political division equivalent to a county level district in the country of your choice. Your report should answer the following questions:

  1. Where is it? This information should include in what country. What is the latitude and longitude?
  2. What is the general climate? Remember if it is in the Southern Hemisphere, the seasons are opposite of the Northern Hemisphere.
  3. What are the schools like there? You should find a Web Site of a school in the county. Include information about at least one such school in the final report.
  4. What can you tell us about the people who live there? What language do they speak? Who is in charge? Include anything, which you think might help us understand what life is like there.

Include in your report the URL addresses (at least 4) where you found the best information along with a short comment about each address.

Start looking for your place today using the URL addresses below. You should write your report using Microsoft Word. I expect to see a rough draft of your report by next Friday.

Yahoo's Country Index:
http://www.yahoo.com/Regional/Countries/

World Middle Schools:
http://www.ultranet.com/~fordms/middle_schools2.html

Web66 World Schools:

http://web66.coled.umn.edu/schools.html#world

Yahoo's Regional Travel Index:
http://www.yahoo.com/Recreation/Travel/Regional/Countries/

Now, have fun finding your district (county) to study.

Bon Voyage!

Mr. Cole

Monday August 25, 1997

Monday's update on this project:

By the end of class today you should have completed the following tasks for this project:

  1. Pick a partner with whom you will work on this project.
  2. Locate the school and the area on which you will report.
  3. Send an email message to Mr. Cole at khcole@hotmail.com stating your choices for partner and the school and the location of the school.

Wednesday August 27, 1997

Thank you, students for doing a great job. I have received email from most of you about the school which you are writing about. Keep up the good work. Today in class you should begin to write about the school you choose. Your report should contain information such as:

I suggest that one partner should have her/his computer at the Internet location of the school, while the other partner is writing the report using Microsoft Word. There are places on the Internet where you can locate the latitude and longitude of any place on The Earth.

Here are some links to help:

http://math.rice.edu/~lanius/pres/map/mapres.html

http://www.indo.com/cgi-bin/dist

http://mapweb.parc.xerox.com/map

Thursday August 28, 1997

We will continue to locate the latitude and longitude of your school's site. If your site is in a small village or town, we may have to locate that town on a map. We will have maps in class today to use for that purpose.

Today your team should pair up with another team to analyze each other's school's site. There are many ways to create web pages. You may find many differences between your sites. You may also find many similarities. Draw conclusions from your caparisons. Both teams should email your results to me at khcole@hotmail.com .

Tuesday September 2, 1997

On Thursday of this week we will have a test over our progress on this project and your ability to use the Internet. Here are some questions which you should be able to answer.

  1. What is the name of your chosen school and where (city, province, country) is it located?

  2. What is the URL of the school? (http://.....)

  3. What is the latitude and longitude of the school?

  4. As part of your test grade you should discuss what each member of your team did as their role in this project.

Also, as part of your test grade, you should have sent an email to me personally. If you have not been able to do so by now, Ask me or one of your group members for help. I will post more details about the test tomorrow.

Mr. Cole

Wednesday September 3, 1997

Although you may use your notes on the test tomorrow, you may not share notes, so make sure that you have all the information which you need to answer the questions. Here are some additional questions which you will have on the test:

  1. What is your email address (must be exact, mine is khcole@hotmail.com)

  2. As part of this assignment, you compared your school to another team's school. Tell me about their school. Where is it? What did you think about the school's website?

  3. You sent an email to your school seeking more information. Did you get a reply yet?

  4. What language is spoken at your project's school?

  5. What are the ages of most of the students at your project's school?

  6. Your report should be completed by the end of next week. What work does your team still need to do to compete this project? What information do you still need?

Friday September 5, 1997

Most of you should be writing and putting the final touches on your report. Your report should contain the information which you shared with me on the test yesterday. You should have your rough draft together by the end of class on Monday.

On Wednesday, we will make presentations about your report to the class. Your presentation should tell the class about your school so that the students will get a idea about what your school is like. Your presentation does not have to be long. You will be given between 5 and 10 minutes to make your report.

Each group member should take part in the presentation in some way. Not every group must present, but if you want to make an "A" on your report, you should do so.

On Thursday, we will begin our next project. The project will be creating your own fractal and writing about it.

 

Tuesday September 9, 1997

Put the final touches on your report. Make sure that you have your report written in Microsoft Word. Get ready to make your presentation tomorrow. Your presentation should cover the highlights of what you found interesting about your school. Share your feelings about the school. You may want to compare this school to Faubion. What similarities do we have? How are our schools different?

Thursday September 11, 1997

Well, except for your presentations, our Where in the World Project is completed. Most of you have done an excellent job. Within a few days, we will be posting some of our best works on our Web site so that the new friends you have found throughout the world may view them. Thanks again, students, I hope that you enjoyed this project as much as I have.

Visit this page next week to see links to some of the best reports, as well as a link page to the schools on which you reported.

Note: As of 17 October 1997 I have not posted the students best works, however I plan on posting some soon. — Kenneth Cole

 

Created: 27 August 1997
Last update: 17 October 1997
Kenneth Cole
kcole@ns.waymark.net
Emerging Technology Teacher
Faubion Middle School

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