Roberta Niche

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by Roberta Niche
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What is it like to live in the different regions
of the United States? How much do things cost
compared to where you live? What do people do for
fun? Which cities or towns have the best schools,
health care, transportation, etc? Where is crime
the worst? Find out through the Regions USA
Project.
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• USA Regions Project Is,
• For teachers who want their students to be able
  to master the new basic skills of the
  Communication Age¹
• Critical thinking
• Collaboration
• Creative problem solving
• David Thornburg, 2020 Visions for the Future of
  Education

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It attempts improve on the traditional state
report research project, to go beyond the
collection and regurgitation of trivial pieces of
information.
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• Participating students will
• Acquire and use real data
• Get a better sense of what it is like to live in
  a different part of the USA
• Communicate with other students across the
  country
• Work in cooperative teams to evaluate information
  and produce a multimedia presentation.

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Why not do a traditional state report?
Click to see why!

• Information flows from an Internet site to the
  mouse to the students paper without ever
  reaching the students brain.
• Students are tasked with gathering bits of
  trivia that will never be applied.
• No deeper understanding of what its like to live
  in another part of the country
• Focus on one state is too narrow
• Usually no collaboration, no critical thinking,
  no application of knowledge

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Research
Jamie McKenzie, editor of the web magazine From
Now On, writes Students should spend their time
researching important questions, questions which
require original thought. No more simple "Go Find
Out About" research which requires information
gathering but little thought. If we ask students
to "Go Find Out About Connecticut," we will drown
in thousands of pages of text,
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,New research is more like shopping and cooking.
We expect students to select and gather the
choicest raw ingredients with great care and then
cook their own meal. No microwave research
reports! No fast food! No simple cut-and-paste.
The secret to great research is Great Questions
. . . http//fno.org/module/module1.html)
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David Thornburg writes in his article The Future
Isnt What It Used To Be "We are seeing new
tools being used to replicate old educational
models,It need not be this way,Learners at all
ages need to master two very important skills.
The first is the ability to locate information
specifically related to the question they are
exploring, and the second is to establish the
veracity and utility of this information,
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,These are non-trivial skills--ones that
librarians have long honored, but which are often
lost on the public at large, lost on some
educators as well. The richness of high-quality
educational Web sites such as the Library of
Congress or NASA is free for all who have a grasp
of these skills. Without them, the Web reverts to
another piece of "thumb candy," a video-game-like
experience that may be pleasurable, but not
necessarily of great educational value."
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If Not Trivia and Thumb Candy, then What?
In 2020 Visions For The Future of Education,
Thornburg writes In addition to the basic
skills of literacy and numeracy, every learner
must also master the "three C's" Communication,
Collaboration, and Creative Problem Solving.
Beyond these are the equally important skills of
knowing how to use numbers and data in real-world
tasks, the ability to locate and process
information relevant to the task at hand,
technological fluency, and, most of all, the
skills and attitudes needed to be a lifelong
learner.
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These competencies are the main focus of the
Regions USA project. Although it supports
standards in language arts, social studies, math,
and science, these are secondary to the broader
skills outlined above.
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The Regions USA Scenario Teams of students play
the role of families being relocated.They use
authentic information to evaluate a region of the
United States. They develop skills in geography,
research, technology use, writing, critical
thinking, and working cooperatively. Ultimately,
they must decide where to settle in the region
and must justify that conclusion based on facts.
Conclusions are presented in PowerPoint or
another multimedia tool.
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• The Regions Project is on a web site
• http//imet.csus.edu/imet2/nicher/regionsweb
• Teacher Section
• Detailed directions for implementing
• Resources such as rubrics, handouts, etc.
• Student Section
• Step-by-step directions take students through the
  scenario
• Cooperative learning structures used
• Information links pre-identified

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• Teacher Section Includes
• Getting Ready for Regions USA
• Launching the project
• During the project
• Evaluation
• Extensions and suggested accommodations
• Standards

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• Getting Ready for Regions USA
• Teachers will find out about
• Prior student knowledge and skills needed
• Grouping suggestions
• Time Requirements
• Signing up for ePALS for collaboration
• Making a database template

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Launching the Project Is a step-by-step guide to
introducing the USA Regions project to your
students and getting them started
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• During the Project
• Explains the role of the teacher/facilitator
  while the teams are working on the project
• Explains how to use a status of the class
  checklist to keep track of each students and
  each teams progress

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• Evaluation
• Provides five resources for evaluation the
  process and the product
• Team Reflection Form
• Peer Evaluation
• Multimedia Presentation Rubric
• Status of the Class checklist
• Oral Presentation Rubric

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• Extensions and suggested accommodations
• Activities and strategies for helping all
  students succeed
• GATE
• Limited English
• Resource

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• Standards
• A list of standards addressed by the project
• State content area
• NETS
• National geography

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• The Student Section
• Students click through the web site to find their
  roles, responsibilities and assignments
• Each student has a special role within the team
  scientist, sociologist, economist, culturist.
  Creates positive interdependence.
• Each team has a region of the USA. There are 8
  regions.

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• Students asked to research and consider
• Climate/weather
• Crime
• Cost of living
• Environment (pollution, natural hazards)
• Business and agriculture
• Regional food, art, and music
• Transportation
• Education
• Recreation opportunities
• Health care

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This is the introductory screen
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Students come here when they launch the project
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They read an email from Mom and Dad
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They read an attachment that lists Moms and
Dads desires for an ideal new location
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Students do a think-pair square cooperative
learning structure to build team consensus about
what attributes are most important in a new
location.
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They click on their assigned region
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and find that they have links to each states
official web site. They also have a link to their
assignments.
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• Next, they go to the assignments page

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The assignment page lists the steps required to
complete the project
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They find out about their jobs
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Heres the job page for the scientist. Theres
more here than fits on a slide.
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• They begin with Preliminary Work That Everyone
  Does
• Basic background info on states in region
• Mapping activities
• Graphing with spreadsheet basics
• Making and using a database basics
• Registering and getting familiar with ePALS

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The page scrolls more than will fit on this slide
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• Next, the students
• Do the jobs on their job page
• Have a team meeting to share findings
• Use ePALS to correspond with students in their
  region, asking them questions the team develops
  (about fashion, slang, etc.)
• Work together to brainstorm a method for
  rating/ranking their cities, taking into account
  the priorities they established
• Come to consensus on the best place to recommend

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Heres what the ePALS page looks like.
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• Finally, they
• Storyboard and create a multimedia presentation
  to share their research and conclusions. All team
  members must participate in the oral presentation
• Enter their data into a class database which can
  be used for concept attainment activities as a
  follow-up.

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• Ive attempted to make project cross-curricular
  and address many of the new basics
• Math and computer skills with graphing in Excel
• Writing skills through ePALS correspondence and
  summaries of findings
• Speaking skills through presenting ideas at team
  meetings and delivering the multimedia
  presentation ,

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• Problem solving skills through creating a process
  to decide on a place to live, interpreting and
  using data
• Team skills through being responsible for your
  job, teaching teammates the information youve
  uncovered, learning a consensus-building process
  (negotiation)
• Social studies skills through map reading and
  making, developing awareness of place locations
  and regional differences

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• Still much work to be done before Eds Oasis
• Finish student assignments for each job
• Develop assessment tools
• Make all handouts PDFs
• Finish teacher directions
• Develop instructions/guidelines for the
  multimedia project.

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Feedback will be appreciated! Please check out
the page at http//imet.csus.edu/imet2/nicher/reg
ionsweb P.S.- I miss you all!