Thematic Units

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Thematic Units

THE IDITAROD

The Iditarod is an annual Alaskan event held in March. The dog sled race is to commemorate the importance of the sled dogs in the Alaskan way of life. It combines just about everything most people find appealing about Alaska--dogs, adventure, history, wilderness, personal struggle, pioneer spirit, the Gold Rush, Native culture, weather and geography. I used this race as the basis for an on-line project for my high school business students.

The students started by completing three scavenger hunt activities so that they could learn about the history of the race and about Alaska in general. Once we were comfortable with our knowledge about the race, the students used the Internet to research the mushers. After careful consideration, each student chose a musher to follow for the duration of the race.

The following is a list of activities that the students completed as part of this project. The Internet was the research tool for all activities.

Used word processor to write a biography of the musher with a picture downloaded from the Internet

Used presentation software to create a slide show of at least five (5) slides about the musher including at least three (3) pictures pertaining to the race or Alaska.

Researched the history of totems in Alaska. Used a graphics program to create a totem that represented traits they see in themselves.

After researching Alaska wildlife, create a picture postcard that must contain at least three different animal pictures and contain an identifying description on the back of the card.

After researching travel companies on-line in Alaska, create a travel brochure for a make-believe company. The brochure had to be a three-fold brochure including descriptions of travel packages and activities.

Using a map of the Iditarod trail, students completed a map reading worksheet to re-enforce their map reading skills.

Research was done on volcanoes and major earthquakes in Alaska. After researching, students used a geological map download from the Internet and a graphics software program, to label the locations of the geological areas that they found. They were required to mark at least 10 sites.

Using the terminology located on the official Iditarod site, students were to use word processing software to create a word search puzzle of at least 20 terms.

Using electronic spreadsheet software, each student was to create a data log to keep track of the travels of their musher during the race. They checked daily for the progress and listed travel times, number of dogs used, rest time, and the weather at each check point.

At the conclusion of this six-week project, students organized all work into a project portfolio.

Olympic Games	Students used the Summer Olympics in Sydney Australia as the basis for this project. At the conclusion of the project, students organized all work into a project portfolio.
	Activities
	Spreadsheets/Internet Go to the Olympic On-Line Store. You have the following amounts of money 50 Euro Dollars 50 US Dollars 50 Mexican Pesos You are to make purchases with each of these. Since all prices at the store are given in Australian dollars, you must use a money converter. In your spreadsheet, first list the country that would be using this money (if more than one, choose one) then list the name of the item, the store price, the converted price and a picture of the item. At the end of each country list, total the two price columns. Skip at least two rows and begin the next country.
	Desktop Publishing Create a three-fold brochure about one of the following: Sydney tourism Australia tourism History of Australia Animals of Australia The People/Culture of Australia
	Spreadsheet In teams of two, choose a country that is participating in the Olympic games. Create a table or spreadsheet and record the following information daily: Date Name of Event with participant(s) Gold Medals won (if any) Silver Medals won (if any) Bronze Medals won (if any) Total Medals won (if any) Be sure to save the file on both of your disks. You may want to print a copy as a safe guard.
	Desktop Publishing Now, you should research the country that you have chosen. Write a short report about the country and the athletes that it has at the Olympics. Include such things as a map of the country, explain its location in relationship to Australia, the language, economics and any prior Olympic history. This report should have a cover page as well as a bibliography. Print three copies, one for each of your folders and one for me to grade.
	Desktop Publishing Locate pictures of Australia either on the Internet, in books or brochures. If your picture is from a book or brochure, use the scanner to digitize the picture for use on the computer. Using the picture(s), create a postcard to send home to a friend from the Olympics or create a 5 1/2" X 8" note card with the picture on the front. Be sure to somewhere on the card, give a short description of what is being seen in the picture(s).
	Spreadsheets/Graphs After the October 1 closing of the Sydney Summer Games, your team is to create totals for each column for the medal count for your team country. Using the spreadsheet, create a pie graph that shows the breakdown of your countries medals. Be sure to create headings.
	Spreadsheets/Graphs Using the official medal count, create a spreadsheet which shows the medal count for the top ten countries. Now create graphs for gold medals, silver medals, bronze medals and total medals. Print each graph on a separate piece of paper.
	COMING SOON!!!! SALT LAKE CITY WINTER GAMES!!! Students will use these Olympic Games in Utah in similar activities using technology. At the conclusion of the project, students will organize all work into a project portfolio.

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Students will use the United States Presidential Election as the basis for desktop publishing projects that will lead to a school-wide "Mock" election to be held on Election Day in November. The United States elects a new president every four years with the last election being held in November 2000.

This project will begin during the first week in October and continue until approximately one week after the Election. At the conclusion, students will organize all of their work into a project portfolio for grading.

In non-presidential election years, my classes will use local and state elections to perform similar desktop publishing activities as well as integrate government and civic duties into my computer applications classroom.

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