1. Description of Our Community
Bayard School is located in Wilmington, Delaware an urban city. We are approximately a half an hour south of Philadelphia, Two hours south of New York City, and about Two and half hours north of Washington D.C. The neighborhood surrounding our school is extremely diverse. The state of Delaware is the second smallest state in size, and has one of the smallest populations in the United States. Wilmington, Delaware has the largest population in the state of Delaware.
2. Summary of Our Project
The students researched the 'Livable Delaware' initiative that was begun by our current governor Ruth Ann Minner. The 'Livable Delaware' initiative seeks to contain urban sprawl. Delaware's population and housing has increased dramatically over the last decade, and there is concern that some of the 'open spaces' in Delaware may be lost if the development continues.
3. Our Computer and Internet Access
A. Percentage of students using the Internet at home:more than 50%
B. Number of workstations with Internet access in the classroom:more than 6
C. Connection speed used in the classroom:not sure
D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:more than 6
E. Additional comments concerning your computer and/or Internet access (Optional):
Soapbox MSN is in Beta version so it does not load try again later.
4. Problems We Had To Overcome
The largest obstacle the students and I faced doing this project was time. I only saw the students once a week for 45 minutes. I was able to start having them come two days a week. We also had some problems with research, but the students tried very hard. It was also difficult transferring the vhs video to a computer format; a high school teacher from another school was able to help us with this.
5. Our Project Sound Bite
The students learned a great deal about research, and using higher order thinking skills. The students were able to interview a farmer, developer, and a representative from the governor’s office this helped solidify their learning about “livable Delaware”
6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?
State Standards and Curriculum:
In doing the cyberfair project on “Livable Delaware” we met the following standards.
State Standards: ELA (English Language Arts) Standard 1: Use written and oral English for various purposes and audiences Standard 2: Construct, examine, and extend the meaning of literary, informative, and technical texts through listening, reading, and viewing Standard 3: Access, Organize, and evaluate information gained through listening, reading, and viewing Standard 4: Use literary knowledge accessed through print and visual media to connect self to society and culture
Social Studies: 5.410: Advocate a position on a current issue and describe possible actions to advance the cause
Economics: Standard 1: Students will understand that prices in a market economy are determined by the interaction of supply and demand, with governments intervening to deal with market failures.
Science: 5.317-Identify changes to a particular ecosystem as resulting from either natural or human made events and explain whether the changes are beneficial or harmful.
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