The following lesson is intended for grades 2-3, studying Native American Indians within their Social Studies curriculum.  The number of students to participate in these lessons will vary depending on the availability of computers in the classroom or lab.  One option for dealing with this limitation would be to have students work in collaborative groups, rather than individually.

    The length of the lesson will be approximately two hours.  This two hour period will be broken into two sessions:  web search (1 hour) and project design (1 hour).
 

Assessment:

    The students will be evaluated in several different areas.  First, the teacher will make observations and take notes as the students participate in the web search .  Second, students will be asked to hand in their completed worksheet of the search.  Third, the teacher will need to evaluate the students' performance on their totem pole project creation.  Lastly, the teacher will listen and evaluate understanding as the students discuss what they have learned.
 
 

Visual Assessment of Web Search	20 points
Evaluation of Web Search Results (worksheet)	30 points
Quality of Paint Project	30 points
Quality of Student Discussion	20 points
TOTAL POINTS:	100 points

 

Benefits for Students:

    The students will benefit from this lesson in a number of ways:

• hands-on experience with the Internet
• conducting a responsible web search
• a greater appreciation of the Northwest Indians and the legend of the totem pole
• experience using the computer's paint program
• an enjoyable method of research

    The use of technology in this lesson adds variety and excitement to a basic research project.  The technology also helps students improve their ability to successfully manage the Internet.  By using a Paint program on the computer, students are able to enhance their creativity outside of art class and through the use of technology.