Introduction
This unit was developed in the Spring of 1996 by Susanne Hirsch at Memorial Academy in the San Diego Unified School District's Triton Project, a Challenge Grant funded by the U. S. Department of Education.
In an interdisciplinary study students will create a web page which compares the coastal areas of San Diego, California and Biarritz, France, by focusing on the following areas:
- location (area topography, longitude and latitude);
- marine life(type and quantity of fish and animals);
- kelp (quantity, production, uses);
- the ocean floor (topography, exploration);
- the fishing industry;
- recreation;
- water currents;
- meteorology.
Content Areas and Grades
This unit is anchored in a combination of 7th and 8th grade French Language Arts and also involves science and social studies.
Organizing Theme and Guiding Questions
Tying the unit together is the similarity between the cities of San Diego and Biarritz: They are located in precisely the same location in their respective countries: the southwestern corner of the U.S. and of France, on the ocean, and on the border with a Spanish-speaking country.
Some guiding questions are:
- How does fishing in San Diego, as an industry and as a sport, compare to fishing in Biarritz?
- How does the surf in San Diego, as it relates to both the size and quality of waves as well as to the sport of surfing compare to the surf in Biarritz?
- How does the ocean water in San Diego, relative to temperature, water currents, ocean floor, and sea life compare to the ocean water in Biarritz?
- How does recreation in San Diego, particularly as it relates to water sports, compare with recreation in Biarritz?
Goals, Objectives, and Curriculum Standards
- Literacy Content Standards Addressed:
- Students comprehend, appreciate and respond to a variety of genres and cultural perspectives that enable them to become fully aware of values, ethics, customs and beliefs
- Students communicate effectively to a range of audiences for a variety of purposes
- Students learn and use the conventions of language
- Students use the stages of the writing process as appropriate
- Students read ans write independantly according to their individual interests
- Students use modern technology as a tool of communicatiin and learning
- Language Arts Standards Addressed:
- Use written communication effectively
- Use knowledge gained from literature and public discorse as a basis for wider understanding
- Demonstrate technical competence - facility with language use, language structures, and strategies
- Science Standards Addressed:
- Understand physical science concepts
- Understand life science concepts
- Understand earth and space sciences concepts
- Understand scientific connections and applications
- Communicate scientifically
- Social Studies Standards Addressed:
- Geographical and economic literacy
- Historical research, analysis and interpretation
- Civics and government
Implementation Overview
This unit takes approximately three weeks to complete. This, of course, may vary depending on individual classroom needs. It is recommended to allow plenty of time for internet exploration. It is more efficient to allocate less frequent large blocks of time than more frequent smaller blocks of time.
Material Resources Needed
- Permission letter
- Computer
- Modem
- Netscape Navigator 2.0 (or other browser software)
- SimpleText (or other wordprocessing software)
- E-mail account
- Classroom maps/globes
Human Resources Needed
This unit can be easily facilitated with one classroom teacher. It may be helpful to have the support of a savvy computer user who has internet skills.
Entry Level Skills and Knowledge
The learners will need to be on grade level in reading and writing in both English and French. Also, they will need basic geography skills in order to compare the locations of San Diego and Biarrtiz.
The teacher should be practiced in internet searching and e-mailing. Basic HTML knowledge is helpful, although not essential.
Outline of Activities
| Week 1 | During the first week each student selects a focused topic to compare the two cities. Students use predetermined internet sites to conduct general research and begin information gathering. |
| Week 2 | This week is spent using search engines to locate internet sites concerning the specific topic of focus. The students will keep notes and complete a venn diagram to organize the information for final reporting. |
| Week 3 | Using an HTML template students report findings of the research for publishing on the internet. Graphics can be included with the permission from original publisher. |
Evaluation
At the conclusion of the unit the students will be evaluated on how well they completed the article which compares San Diego and Biarritz. A rubric is used to have students peer evaluate each other. This feedback, along with the teacher's, determines the success of each student.
Possible Variations
This unit culminates with a student-published web page in French to report the findings of internet research. It would be just as effective for the students to produce a HyperStudio stack or publish a document on a word processing program. This unit could be done with any second language or solely in English.
Also, other pairs of cities could be compared. For example:
- New Orleans, Louisiana and Barcelona, Spain
- Hawaii and Puerto Rico
- Nome, Alaska and Reykjavik, Iceland
Conclusion
This unit is an exciting way to merge language, science and social studies skills through the implementation of technology. By allowing students to expand their horizons into the world wide web we give them opportunities never before available in the classroom. This is an engaging unit with unlimited possibilites. The only problem will be stopping the students once they have begun.
