LessonPlan 1:Selecting a Web Site Project
Preparation Time: 1 hour
Read the CSTA/IBM Project Based Learning lessons
Grade: 9 – 10 (Level 2)
Overview
This lesson focuses on selecting a Web site project and defining its purpose including the information the site will provide, and some of the activities it will make available to users.
Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
· List several reasons why people develop Web sites.
a. Pictures, ideas, and information can be shared as can links to yet other Web sites.
b. Some will develop sites about their favorite bands, about their hobbies, or to sell things. Web sites can take any form students can imagine.
· Define the purpose of their student project Web site.
a. First think about why you are creating the Web Site.
b. Also think about the audience for your Web site including age, interest, and likely experience using the Internet.
· Employ basic concepts to understand and use the Internet and the Web.
Evaluation
Students will create a plan for their Web site including the rationale or purpose of the site, the primary audience it will serve, the content they expect to address, and the activities or actions they expect to incorporate.
Introduction
Explain to the students that though they will be working in small groups on their Web site projects, they will select the topic and purpose of the site as a class.
Activity # 1: Selecting a Theme (25 minutes)
Materials
Pens, tape, and flip chart paper
Procedure
1. Solicit suggestions from the class as to what the topic of their Web site should be. Write their suggestions on the board.
2. Divide the class into teams of four or five. Each Team selects their top three Web site projects from those written on the board and ranks the selections from most favorite (1) to least favorite (3).
3. Have the class reconvene. Select a representative from each team to put the team’s selection rankings (1, 2, and 3) next to the Web site projects listed on the board.
4. Select the most popular Web site project by calculating the total score for each project. The project with the lowest score is the selected project.
Assessment
Use a variety of intervention questions such as:
· What made you choose that idea?
· How can you tell if Web sites on this topic already exist?
In class, or as an individual assignment, have the students supply their own definitions to the following Internet and Web related concepts.
1. Internet – (Answer: The global network that connects millions of computers worldwide.) http://www.ncte.ie/wpc/plan_definitions.htmUsability 101: Fundamentals and Definition - What, Why, How (Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox)
2. World Wide – (Answer: The global collection of Web pages written using a specific language called HTML. These pages are stored on Web servers, and accessible via Web browsers throughout the world.) http://www.ncte.ie/wpc/plan_definitions.htm
3. Web site – (Answer: A location on the WWW containing a number of Web pages linked to each other. A Web site is owned and maintained by an individual or organization, and usually has a standard design to distinguish its pages.) http://www.ncte.ie/wpc/plan_definitions.htm
4. Web page – (Answer: One of the individual screens that make part of a Web site. Web pages are written using a special authoring language called HTML.)
5. Web server – (Answer: A computer that stores Web pages and delivers these pages to a Web browser when it is requested to do so. Every Web server has a unique address.) http://www.ncte.ie/wpc/plan_definitions.htm
6. HTML – (Answer: Hypertext Mark-Up Language, the language used to write Web pages. It consists of text which defines the content of the page, and tags which are used to define how that content should appear on screen.) http://www.ncte.ie/wpc/plan_definitions.htm
7. Hypertext – (Answer: The means by which text or graphics can link to another location on the web. Clicking on a hyperlink can take you to another location on the same page, to a different page on the same Web site, or to a different Web site.) http://www.ncte.ie/wpc/plan_definitions.htm
8. Home page – (Answer: The starting page for a Web Site. It often has a table of contents that allows a reader to link to other parts of the site.) http://www.ncte.ie/wpc/plan_definitions.htm
9. URL – (Answer: Uniform Resource Locator, the unique address for a Web page. You can type a URL into the Address or Location text box at the top of your Web browser, and the browser will attempt to locate and display the associated Web page. Similarly, a hypertext link refers to a URL, and when you click on this link the browser will search for the Web page using this URL.) http://www.ncte.ie/wpc/plan_definitions.htm
Activity #2: Defining the Site (25 minutes)
Materials
Paper and Pens
Procedure
1. On the board, write the following questions (Reference: ScoilNet Web publishing center: http://www.ncte.ie/wpc/plan_design_resources.htm) :
a. Why are you publishing this Web site?
Is the site a learning aid, to provide unique information, to educate, to provide reference? Is it primarily a showcase for the students’ work, or an educational project to introduce pupils to the possibilities of the Internet? Is it to be a fun site or a serious one?
b. Who will be the audience for your site?
Will it be the student population, other schools, the community, teachers, parents and the local community?
c. What content are you going to put on your site?
Information about the school, student activities, student projects, publications, unique information?
d. What activities will users be able to perform on your site: Can they add artifacts to the site? Will they fill forms out? Will they search your site? Will they order from your site?
2. Divide the class into the same teams as in Activity #1. Ask them to address the above questions, come to consensus as a group, and write down their answers to each question.
3. After 15 minutes, have the groups reconvene. Select a representative from each group to share the group’s answers. Ask the other teams to provide feedback.
Assessment Suggestions:
Circulate among the groups asking intervention questions such as:
· What are some of the ways you think you can represent this (idea) on the Web that would make it special or different?
· Why do you expect the audience for this Web site to be this group?
· Are there any ways you can think of treating this topic that would make it interesting to a broader base of users?
Reading assignments
1. “Introduction” and “How the Web Works” at http://webmonkey.wired.com/webmonkey/kids/lessons/web.html
2. The Plan section, Useful Definitions chapter, at http://www.ncte.ie/wpc/plan_definitions.htm
Teacher resources:
CSTA/IBM Project Based Learning lessons
http://webmonkey.wired.com/webmonkey/kids/lessons/web.html
http://www.ncte.ie/wpc/plan_definitions.htm
Basic Planning, Web Site Planning, Training Documentation, CMC Web Team
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This computer science resource was developed through a collaboration between IBM Corporation and CSTA.