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| Overview |
After or while reading any book about Vietnam—fiction or
nonfiction, as a whole class or in literature circles, students, working in small
groups, adopt the perspective of members of a group involved in the war (e.g.,
soldier, nurse, doctor, photojournalist,
TV reporter) and conduct Internet research to explore how that particular group
was affected. After completing their research, students compose a scavenger hunt,
constructing a series of questions leading to the answer of an overarching question:
“What was the effect of the Vietnam War on the particular group?” Student
groups then share their scavenger hunts with one another and reflect on how their research
relates to the books they have read.
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| From Theory to Practice |
Linda Starr explains, “Internet scavenger hunts are a way for students
to practice problem solving, improve their reading and comprehension skills,
and learn how to search the Internet.” “Computers
and technology,” according to Lara Gillian, “allow students to work beyond
the often linear modes that non-technological teaching requires” (22). Designing
the scavenger hunts allows students to go beyond their basic research abilities
by creating new artifacts in a creative medium. The perspectives of
the various people involved in the Vietnam War era provide natural lens for
students to investigate the Vietnam War. Learning about the soldiers,
doctors, nurses, photographers, and other who took part in the war and applying
that knowledge in an imaginative, creative format helps students make connections
to literature and the past, which “will enrich their lives long after they leave
our classrooms” (Johannessen 62).
Further Reading
Gillian, Lara and C. Hill. “To
What Extent Should English Teachers Embrace Technology?” English Journal 90.2 (November 2000): 22-26.
Johannessen, Larry R. “Fostering
Response to Vietnam War Literature through the Arts.” English Journal 86.5 (September 1997): 57-62.
Starr, Linda. “Scavenger
Hunts: Searching for Treasure on the Internet.” Education World 1/25/1999.
Accessed 12/28/2004 from http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/curr113.shtml.
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| Student Objectives |
Students will
- demonstrate ability to conduct research using Internet resources.
- formulate questions that lead to the answer to a unifying, overarching question.
- design a Scavenger Hunt, as a group, with questions and linked resources.
- work in groups to solve a student constructed Scavenger Hunt.
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| Instructional Plan |
Resources
Preparation
Instruction and Activities
Session One
- Introduce the project by passing out the Vietnam Scavenger Hunt Project, Scavenger
Hunt Template, and the Scavenger
Hunt Rubric.
- Either assign
or have students choose groups from project sheet to investigate. Be sure
that students choose a range of groups to investigate.
- Demonstrate the process of creating a question from information on a Web
site. Either display an overhead of Creating
a Scavenger Hunt Question Sheet or
visit National Archive’s The
War in Vietnam - A Story in Photographs. If you use an overhead transparency,
cover the bottom of the Question
Sheet so that you do not reveal the questions too early.
- Read the paragraph from the sheet aloud, or read excerpts from the Web
site ( the first two paragraphs will suffice).
- Based on the information from the paragraph(s) you’ve read, ask students
to brainstorm possible questions that someone could answer by reading the information.
Sample questions are included on the Question Sheet.
- Emphasize the difference between copying information from the site and creating
original questions as you explore options.
- Once you have gathered a list of potential questions, read over the list
and make any revisions or additions.
- Ask students to evaluate whether the questions relate
to the ways that the group you’re
investigating was affected by the Vietnam War.
- Remind students of the importance of gathering material from a variety
of different Web sites and from various pages on the site.
- Finally, ask students to consider questions that might ask someone completing
the scavenger hunt to draw on information from more than one site. For instance,
the example site focuses specifically on military photographers. Ask students
to consider how a site on newspaper and television journalists can be
compared to the sample. If desired, share the Newseum
Display on the Vietnam War for students to compare to the National
Archive site.
- Ask students to write a journal entry about the group they’ve chosen
can be a useful activity. Ask students to write about why they chose the group
and what they know about the group before they begin research, including any
details they’ve gathered from the book(s) you have read.
- In any time remaining in the session, students can begin sharing ideas for
research and sharing their knowledge of the group.
Session Two
- Share the Web
Site Evaluation Form, which provides a basic list of questions students
can use to determine whether a site is appropriate for the role they are
investigating for the project.
- Explain that you’ll evaluate a site as a class in order to
demonstrate how the process works, using the Web Site
Evaluation Form Student Interactive.
- Visit the National Archive’s The
War in Vietnam - A Story in Photographs Web
site. If Web access is limited, return to the overhead of Creating a
Scavenger Hunt Question Sheet.
- Work through the questions on the Web Site
Evaluation Form Student Interactive or Web
Site Evaluation Form to evaluate the site.
- Take the opportunity to demonstrate the technical process of using the
student interactive, providing pointers on how the tool works. Be sure to
work all the way through to printing the responses by using the Finish button
at the top of the interactive after answering all of the questions.
- Remind students that Vietnam War Web sites can include both factual information
and emotional information. Re-evaluate the information on the The
War in Vietnam - A Story in Photographs Web site with this distinction
in mind.
- Encourage students to think about how both factual and emotional information
can tell them about the influence of the Vietnam War on the groups they are
investigating.
- Answer any questions that students have about the process.
- Once you’re certain that students understand the basics of evaluating
Web sites, point them to the Web Site
Evaluation Form Student Interactive or distribute copies of the Web Site Evaluation
Form (PDF) for them to use as they evaluate the sites that they find.
If you use the interactive, explain that students can use the tool as many
times as needed to evaluate all the resources that they find.
- Ask groups to divide sites listed on the Vietnam
War Resources list, noting those that include details that relate to
the group they are investigating.
- As they evaluate the sites, students should keep track of which
ones are most useful for their investigations and the kind of resources they
provide for the scavenger hunts. Students do not need to create the questions
for their scavenger hunts at this point. They are simply narrowing down the
list of sites that can be used to explore how their group has been affected
by the Vietnam War.
- Circulate among students as they work, providing feedback and support.
If some students complete the task earlier than others, you might allow them
to search the Internet, using a site such as Google, Alta Vista, Yahoo, Dogpile,
Ask Jeeves or using a school-safe site such as Yahooligans, Ask Jeeves For
Kids, Education World, KidsClick! for more sites pertaining to the topic,
as time allows.
Session Three, Four, and Five
- If possible, provide students with an electronic copy of the template
for Scavenger Hunt or display an overhead of the template and ask
students to construct their own. (In a word processor or HTML editor, students
can make a table with one column and five rows to get started.)
- Explain that students will spend the next three class sessions working
on their scavenger hunts.
- Remind them that they all have the
same overarching research question: how a particular group of people was
affected by the Vietnam War. All the resources and questions in their scavenger
hunts should lead to the answer that question.
- Caution students against using the first information they find at each
Web site and to look for meaningful questions and answers which will help
them in answering their big question in an essay.
- If possible, at the end of the third session, students should publish
their scavenger hunts on the Web. Publishing the projects electronically
will make the next session run more smoothly. If you do not have a Web
site where students can publish their work however, have students print
their finished scavenger hunts and make copies of the hunts before the
next session.
Session Six
- Share the URLs for students’ scavenger hunts or pass out photocopies
of the hunts for students to use. It’s ideal for students to have an electronic
copy of the scavenger hunts so that they do not need to type the URLs for the
search.
- Have groups explore each other’s scavenger hunts at their own pace.
Circulate among students as they explore the sites.
- After students have completed the scavenger hunts, ask students to talk
about what they learned about the influence of the Vietnam War. Encourage
students to compare the effect of the war on different groups (e.g., how
were the experiences of soldiers similar, regardless of the country they
were fighting for? how were the experiences of men and women different?).
- To finish the session, ask students return to the journal entries they
wrote in Session One. Ask students to read the entry and write a new entry
about how their knowledge has changed (or not) as they conducted their research
and participated in the class scavenger hunts.
- For homework, ask students to complete the Self-Assessment.
Extensions
- Show a film such as Dear America: Letters Home to Vietnam to further
understand the roles each group played in the war. There are numerous films focusing
on events related to the Vietnam War. Depending upon the books that your students
have read, a film can make a nice addition. Do be sure to evaluate any film
you choose before showing it in class to ensure that it will be appropriate.
Most of the films exploring the Vietnam War are rated R, so there may be portions
that will not be appropriate for the classroom.
- Arrange students in roundtable discussion groups of approximately five each,
making sure there is only one of each role that has been investigated in the
group (e.g., one student who investigated the nurses, one who investigated
U.S. soldiers, one who investigated Vietnamese farmers, one who investigated
anti-war protesters, and one who investigated “draft dodgers”).
Show episodes of “Meet
The Press” or
a similar discussion program. Using the information they gathered as they determined
the effect of the Vietnam War, have students
write (or just speak from notes) about their findings, following a “Meet
The Press”-roundtable
format. Encourage students to adopt the perspective of the group they have
researched by discussing the lasting effects of the war on the group’s
lives. If possible, have someone videotape each group discussion then share
the videotapes with the whole class.
Web Resources
- Using
Scavenger Hunts
http://www.spa3.k12.sc.us/Scavenger.html
- This site includes sample scavenger hunts, information on how to create hunts,
and additional teacher resources.
- Internet Hunt Activities
http://www.trumbull.k12.oh.us/teachers/resources/InternetHunt/Default.htm
- Explore more scavenger hunts at this site organized by subject matter.
- Vietnam Scavenger
hunts
http://ps044.k12.sd.us/Nonfiction/Scavenging%20the%20WWW.pps#256,1,Scavenging%20the%20WWW
- This site includes sample Vietnam scavenger hunts. Use these hunts in the
first or second session to provide student samples for the class.
- Vietnam
Veterans WWW Resources Site
http://www.tnellen.com/ted/vietnam.html
- Maintained by a Vietnam Veteran and secondary teacher, this site includes
links to a variety of resources on the Vietnam War.
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| Student Assessment/Reflections |
Using the Self-Reflection Questions, ask students to think about the steps
they took as they worked on this assignment—what they had problems with,
how they worked out their problems, and how they feel about their final project.
Use the Scavenger Hunt Rubric to evaluate students’ work on the
project itself.
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3 - Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).
4 - Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.
6 - Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts.
7 - Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and nonprint texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.
8 - Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.
11 - Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities.
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