Social+Studies

=media type="file" key="into.wav" width="300" height="50"= =media type="custom" key="8800024"= =**8th Grade Social Studies:**=

//**1. Who and what will you need for this project to be successful?**// First and foremost, we will need the support of our student's parents. We will make sure that there is clear communication between the teacher, student, and parent so there are no "surprises." The guidelines and calendar for assignments can be found on our main website. The website also provides a means of collaboration at any given time. In terms of supplies, we will need computers as well as an account to a social bookmarking website for each student. Sites such as "Diigo" and "del.icio.us" offer free, user-friendly accounts. Student feedback will be gathered through the use of SurveyMonkey, and online data collector.

//**2. How will you meet the needs of all learners and how will you make sure that each learner is responsible for the team's success?**// In order to meet the needs of all learners, roles such as project manager, research finder, fact checker, and website organizer can be assigned based on the skill levels and strengths of the different students. By having assigned roles the teacher is aware of who is responsible for what. If an assignment is not completed, the teacher can go directly to the student expected to complete that role.

//**3. What are the formative and summative assessments you will use to monitor and evaluate learning?**// The summative assessment that we will use to evaluate learning will consist of a project-based assessment that challenges students to create a wilderness survival guide using social bookmarking as a medium to discover, evaluate, and filter appropriate information. "Tags" will be used to create a digital Table of Contents that serves the purpose of organizing the critical components of their resource guide. A comprehensive unit on the history, geography, and cultural anthropology of Alaska will be used to promote learning objectives, essential questions, and enduring understandings.

//**4. What are the unique needs of the teacher and student in this project?**// Throughout our project, there will be constant communication between the students and the teacher. Project meetings can by set up in order to track the progress of student work. This will not be a project that can be done over night so students will have to check in periodically with the teacher through individual/group meetings.

//**5. Students should be involved in activities that will allow them to inquire, study, plan, evaluate, compare, collaborate, manage, create, and present. What does this look like in your project?**// In our project, students will be using the social bookmarking website, Diigo, as a personal learning network for both discovery and sharing. They can collect and organize, virtually, any web-based material that will advance their goal of constructing an online wilderness survival guide. Using Diigo, students will be able to engage in group-based collaborative research in real time, and present their findings as a cohesive unit. Students will also respond to online surveys in order to rate the validity, credibility, and accuracy of web-based sources that they encounter.

//**6. What rubric will you be using to assess learning?**// One of the rubrics we will use, evaluates and assesses the students' ability to exercise effective social bookmarking skills. An example of such rubric: @http://www.rcampus.com/rubricshowc.cfm?sp=yes&code=Z43XB6&

//**7. What kinds of questions are being asked of students?**//
 * 1) What aspects of geography have an impact on the way people live?
 * 2) How can an examination of Alaska's history help us understand how people have been influenced and impacted by their environment?
 * 3) Historically, how have people been able to assess the nature of their surroundings and use that information to adapt and overcome?
 * 4) How can we utilize knowledge of both climate and terrain to make informed decisions about wilderness survival?

//**8. In the end, how will you tell your story?**// We expect our final product to look like a wilderness survival guide based on the climate/conditions surrounding the Iditarod. It will be composed of various websites and research tools in order to understand/survive the race. Students will achieve this through social bookmarking. In the end, the students will have a complete guide posted on our wiki to share with the school and community.

//**9. How will you incorporate the web 2.0 tools Richardson speaks of?**// Online Surveys - Formative Assessment Blogs - Formative Assessment Social Bookmarking - Summative Assessment

Social Studies Project