Independent Technology Project

Cayla Sandlin
Ivy Tech Community College
EDUC 201Janis Strohl
December 8, 2014

Have you ever wondered what life is like outside of the American coasts? Do
people eat the same foods that Americans eat? Do we all wear the same
clothes? What about educationdoes every kid around the world go to
school? Do kids play video games like kids in America play, or what do kids
in other countries do for fun?
Fifth grade students, you are now about to start my favorite research project
of the school year! This project will teach all of us many things about
countries from around the world. The outcome: to have a better
understanding of the world, to understand that we are all not the same, and
to gain some respect for different cultures.
The final project will be due and presented in class on Friday, February 6,
2015. You have two weeks from now to research your country of choice and
to implement a creative way to present your country to your class. I will give
you plenty of time in class to research for your project. You will be allowed to
use your student Chrome Book, home computer, and library resources to
research your topic. Students, you will also be using Diigo to help you
research. By using Diigo, you will be introduced to the possibilities of
searching the Internet and saving articles and websites that you like. You
may also use your Chrome Book to print things for your presentation, but it
must be approved by me.
Parents, this is a student project. You are more than welcome to help your
child, but I would love to see your childs efforts in the end project. Students
will have some class time each day for two weeks to gather information. At
school, they have access to Chrome Books and the library to research for the
country they choose. Students have been introduced to Diigo.com. Diigo is
a safe, bookmarking website. If possible, have your child introduce Diigo to
you at home. I urge students do work on their presentation at home as well.

Instructio
ns

STEP ONE:
Chose a country.
Remember!
Countries are inside
of the seven
continentswe
talked about this in class. Once you have decided on a country that sounds
appealing to you, please let me know what country you have picked so other
students will not pick the same country as you.
STEP TWO: Create a Diigo account. In class, I will help each of you create
an account. But, here are the steps to creating your own Diigo account:
A. Go to www.Diigo.com
B. The the Sign up link at the top right of the home screen.
C. Click on the first circle, that says Free. It is a bright green circle.
D. Now, create a unique username. Students, I would recommend using
the username you use for your Chrome Book at school so you can
easily remember it.
E. For email, use your school email.
F. As far as the password goes, I would also use your Chrome Book
password.
G. Click the Create Account link.
H. Congrats! Your account has been created!
I. Now, click the My Groups link at the top of the page.
J. In the Explore Diigo Groups box at the top right, type Mrs. Sandlins
5th Grade Research Project. This is our class Diigo group!
K. Ask to join!
L. See Page 9 to learn about Diigo.
STEP THREE: Research! Use Diigo to help you in your research efforts.
Remember that Google and Yahoo! are helpful search engines, too. Be
careful where you get your information from. Some websites are not
educational and might not offer the best information. URLs that end in .org
or .edu are safe to use and have valuable information. When Googling your
country, click on URLs that you recognize, like Time.com (Time Magazine).
STEP FOUR: In your final presentation, you most teach us six main ideas
about your country of interest. Feel free to come up with your own topic
ideas. Here are a few topics you can use:
What kind of currency (money) does the country use?
What language do the people of the country speak?
What type of leadership does the country have? For example, do they
have a king or president?
What is the education like in the country?
How big is the country?
When was the country founded?
What kind of food is eaten in this country?
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What is the climate in this country?

Does your country of study have any enemies?
What geographical features are in your country? Think of rivers, major
vallies, rainforests, mountains, or anything thing else.
Does the country have a flag? If so, what does it symbolize? What was
the meaning behind its creation?

STEP FIVE: Staying organized while you are researching for a big project
like this is important. Use the Research Paper Organizer on page 5 to help
you. This Organizer needs to be turned in to me on presentation day,
February 6.
STEP SIX: There are two questions that are required to be answered. These
questions are on page 7. You must turn page 6 in to me as well on
presentation day.
STEP SEVEN: Post topics everyday on Diigo. (See Learn About Diigo on
page 9.
STEP EIGHT: Finally, you must present your country and the research you
have done. There are several ways that you can present your information:
poster board, PowerPoint, a video, create a website on Weebly, etc.
STEP NINE: Have fun!!

Research Paper
organizer

Student name: __________________________________

FEBRUARY 6, 2015

Due Date: FRIDAY,

Method of Presentation:
______________________________________________________.
Country I will be adventuring to:
_______________________________________________.
The country is located:
________________________________________________________.
The approximate population of my country is: ________________________
people.

Six Topics I Will Discuss in My Presentation

(Choose six topics to discuss. They may be the examples I used or your own
ideas. Write them out in sentence form and answer them after you have
done research.)
1. Topic:
________________________________________________________________________
Research:
______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________.
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2. Topic:
________________________________________________________________________
Research:
______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________.
3. Topic:
________________________________________________________________________
Research:
______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________.
4. Topic:
________________________________________________________________________
Research:
______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________.
5. Topic:
________________________________________________________________________
Research:
______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________.
6. Topic:
________________________________________________________________________

Research:
______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________.

Name: ____________________
Due Date: Friday, February 6, 2015
Country: ____________________
Please answer the required questions. Turn them in on presentation
day.
1. What is different about your country and the United States of
America? What is the same? _______________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________.

How do the kids in your country live? How is it different than you live?
_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________.

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Learn About Diigo

Now that you have created a Diigo account, you can explore the site! Diigo is a
helpful way for you to research the Internet for information for your project. You can
save, or bookmark, webpages that you would like to use for later. Diigo is also a
wonderful way to work with, or collaborate with your peers. By using Diigo, being
organized it simple. Organization is key when completing a proect like this. Since
you are required to be in the class Diigo group, you will get the opportunity to use
each other and myself for support. Perhaps someone found a really helpful website,
you can also go to that website to research. I have already bookmarked some
helpful websites.
Researching and Bookmarking: Lets say that I want to research the country,
Aruba. I would go to the Community link at the top of the screen and type Aruba
in the Search Community box on the right of the screen. Lots of websites that will
come up that are tagged Aruba. Or, you can do a Google search on Aruba.
Anything that you find educational, you can tag to your Diigo account. For instance,
in the broswer bar, I will type www.google.com. In the Google search engine, I will
type Education in Aruba. Google will find many resourceful sites about Arubas
education. I click on the first website that Google finds. If I like this website, I
simply copy the link, or URL, that is in the browser bar, go back to my account on
Diigo.com, go to My Library and click the blue Add bar at the top left of the screen.
Click Bookmark on the drop down box. Paste the URL that you copied. Be sure the
add a title, description, and tags to your New Bookmark. Also, add your bookmark
to the class group, Mrs. Sandlins 5th Grade Research Project. Done!
Tags are helpful in finding information regarding one particular word. Be sure that
you tag your bookmark with several key words so your classmates can simply click
on your tags to find information they need too. Here is an example of a tag I used
for our class Diigo group: research, countries, class, 5th grade, project, culture, world.
Creating Topics in our class Diigo group are very important to me so I know that
you are learning. Plus, it helps to you interact with your classmates. In the two
weeks that you are studying, researching, and creating your country presentation, I
want you to post one topic a day. The topic that you post must be a fun fact that
you learned about the country you are researching. How to create a topic. Under
Mrs. Sandlins 5th Grade Research Project, click the Topic bubble that is next to the
Bookmark bubble. Think of a title for your topic and then dicuss your topic. Be
sure to add tags and then click post. Dont worryI will give you time during class
to find a fun fact, create a topic, and comment
I would like you to comment on two of your classmates topic posts. Your
comments need to be encouraging and kind. Please, no put downs! To comment,
click on the blue, underlined link, which is the title of the topic post. Begin typing in

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Independent Technology Project

ISTE National Education Technology Standards and Performance Indicators for Students
NETS-S 1Creativity and Innovation
NETS-S 2Communication and Collaboration
NETS-S 3Research and Information Fluency
NETS-S 4Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making
NETS-S 5Digital Citizenship
NETS-S 6Techonolgy Operations and Concepts
ISTE National Education Technology Standards and Performance Indicators for Teachers
NETS-T 1Facilitate and Inspire Students Learning and Creativity
NETS-T 2Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and
Assessments
NETS-T 3Model Digital-Age Work and Learning
NETS-T 4Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibilty
NETS-T 5Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership
INTASC Model Core Teaching Standards
INTASC 2Learning Differences
INTASC 3Learning Environments
INTASC 4Content Knowledge
INTASC 5Application of Content
INTASC 6Assessment
INTASC 7Planning for Instruction
INTASC 8Instructional Strategies
INTASC 10Leadership and Collaboration

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