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WITS IPY/Many Eyes Lesson Plan

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Subject: Analyzing Data About Earth's Polar Regions with Many Eyes

Technology Used: ActiveWorlds, Internet, Many Eyes

Tasks/Objectives:

  • Develop Internet Research Skills
  • Become Familiar with Many Eyes
  • Learn to Arrange and Interpret Data for Tables and Graphs
  • Learn Basic Graphic Editing Skills & Hone Computer Competency
  • Use Evidence to Draw Conclusions and Work as a Group

Process:

  • Discuss the Polar Regions and the problems that they are facing in class, or have students do some online research. Have students come up with one specific problem that they would like to know more about. Some ideas are: endangered species, sea ice extent, greenhouse gases, climate, and water sources. Using the links provided on the ActiveWorlds tutorial, or anything else that they can find on the web, students should come up with numerical data concerning their issue.
  • Students should piece together a presentation that they can create in ActiveWorlds by creating and explaining data sets and visualizations. Depending on the simplicity of the data, one or two data sets can lead to very thorough presentations.
  • Screenshots and pictures should be incorporated into these presentations. A tutorial can be found on the WITS website.
  • To bring the photos into ActiveWorlds, students will need to upload them to the internet. Several good websites exist where users can upload images for free (such as PhotoBucket & Flickr...) and educators can either set up an account for the class or have all students email all photos to one person for upload. A tutorial can be found on the WITS website.
  • Have students set up kiosks in ActiveWorlds describing their findings with text, pictures, and internet links. Depending on students’ familiarity with ActiveWorlds, you might want to have them create sprites, find objects, or create interactivity that enhance with their displays.
  • Optionally, have students collaborate their findings and aggregate their results in small groups and either compile an oral in-world tour they can present with to the entire group or combine their displays into one. Groups should respectfully determine the strengths and weaknesses of the data presentation.
  • Have a fair in which students can travel around and see each other's work. Allow each individual or group explain their visualizations.