Online Effects
Web-Based History Engaging and Fun
Laptops in the classroom created significant new teaching and learning opportunities for middle-school students and educators. But those opportunities also exposed a big problem. Debra Welch, Vassalboro Community School eighth-grade teacher, put it succinctly: "It takes time to find quality Web sites for educational purposes to use in the classroom."
Then came DiscoverME, the interactive, Web-based Maine studies unit developed by Frank Callanan of the Center for Educational Services.
Eighth-grade teacher Debra Welch confers with students about their DiscoverME work.
"When Deb told us about DiscoverME, we jumped at the chance. I particularly appreciate these materials because seventh-graders struggle with history." LouAnn Mosler, Grade 7 teacher
"It teaches you a lot and it's fun." Grade 7 student
"I like DiscoverME because the students learn without realizing it. We have meaningful class discussions about the topics, and the diversity theme can be intertwined throughout the study of U.S. history." Debra Welch, Grade 8 teacher
DiscoverME offers superior Maine studies material that engages students. In DiscoverME, students play the role of history detective. Detectives choose cases that ask them to unravel the mysteries of themes in history. They move on a game board based on a county map of the state. In each county, they can investigate annotated, primary-source documents in the context of their particular case. Other activities allow young detectives to advance in rank by answering multiple- choice questions about Maine history facts. Detectives also work with students from other schools to compare and contrast interviews with an adult who was a "witness to history."
Their teachers, playing the role of the Chief of Detectives, assess their writing tasks, monitor their pace and reward good work using the powerful Results Manager interface. Rubrics and other assessment tools assist pre-teaching and evaluation. Welch realized that DiscoverME, aligned with Maine Learning Results, "was a perfect way to hook the kids to learn about Maine history through interactive, game-like lessons," she said.
Welch is a DiscoverME pioneer, enrolling her class in its debut year. By her second DiscoverME year, she enlisted other social studies teachers in her school to participate, and also assisted DiscoverME staff in orienting teachers new to the program.
Welch sees many advantages to DiscoverME. "The cases are varied and interesting to the kids," she said. "When we studied immigration later in the fall, some of the DiscoverME cases came up in discussion, and it's neat when the kids can make the connection between Maine history and U.S. history. And when we later discussed some of the themes and historical accounts from our 'Finding Katahdin' books, the kids remembered them from DiscoverME."
Originally published Center for Educational Services ©2004. Used by permission.
MAEMIS | District Budget Pro | The Permanent Record | Online Timeclock | DiscoverME