Abstract TRACKER enables you to organize current online resources, such as online newspaper articles. The Internet is a great resource for displaying multiple articles on a current event, but is often overwhelming due to the huge amount of sites available today on the Internet. TRACKER organizes your selected articles by utilizing an interface that allows users to navigate from article to article with the click of a button. The TRACKER interface also includes an online newspaper that aids summarization and discussion of a current event. Purpose and Need for the Cohort Purpose: This cohort is designed to field test an Internet site, Tracking Current Events (http://www.trackcurrentevents.org) in a middle school and three high schools. Goal: To revise the Internet site based on the work of the teachers and to integrate the use of the site into T&L 441, Teaching Social Studies in Middle & Secondary Schools, in the fall of 2003. Members SOE Faculty: Joe O’Brien jeobrien@ku.edu 864-9663 SOE Student: Aaron Grill grill@ku.edu Field-Based Teachers: Dustin Leochner - Southwest Junior High School Jennifer Schlicht - Bonner Springs High School Jeff Strickland - Mill Valley High School Stacia Schwarz - Shawnee Mission Northwest High School Scope of Work Field test of idea of tracking current events in middle and high school courses. (Done - fall of 2000 and 2001 in T&L 707 - Social Studies in the Secondary Schools. - refer to instructional design.) Design and post an Internet site that enables the user to work with students in tracking current events over several weeks or months. (Done winter-summer of 2002) Design and plan with middle and high school teachers a field test of the Internet site. (Done - summer of 2002.) Field-test the Internet site. Four teachers will use the site in one or more of their courses. A questionnaire was designed for use by the teachers as they work with their students on the site. The questionnaire is intended to focus the teachers’ attention on what to consider as they offer suggestions on how to improve the site. (Fall-winter of 2002-03) (Refer to questionnaire.) Present initial results of the field test to date at the National Council for the Social Studies annual conference in Phoenix and solicit additional input on how to improve the site. (Fall of 2002) After the teacher have completed the field test, use the results both to refine the site and to determine how best to integrate use of the site into the T&L 441 course. Select exemplars of student work for demonstration in T&L 441 in the fall of 2003. (Spring of 2003) Intend to work with one or two teachers who will have their students work on the site during the fall of 2003 and assign the students in T&L 441 to follow the middle and high school students work during the semester. (Fall of 2003) Deliverables TRACKER website Feedback from in-service teachers Conference presentation Timeline 8/26/02 to 5/2003 (Refer to Scope of Work) Resources SOE Faculty stipend to pay for field-based teachers stipends ($2,500) SOE Student pay (student already paid by LearnGen) Institutionalization/Extension Integrate use of website and examples of student work in T&L 441, Teaching Social Studies in Middle and Secondary Schools, a required course for those seeking endorsement in middle and/or secondary social studies. Also, intend to continue to make a part of a graduate course, T&L 707, where the graduate students in the course will work with the students in T&L 441. The use of this Internet site is intended to complement the site used in T&L 420, Teaching Kansas Government. Evaluation Website feedback from field-based teachers Refer to questionnaire on next page. Logistics & Mechanics Was the navigation easy or hard? Why? (Please give examples of each) Were any sentences ambiguously phrased and/or grammatically incorrect? If so, what is the sentence and where is it located? (Please provide the FULL URL) Did you encounter any technical problems with the website? If so, what and where is it? (Please list the FULL URL?) How well were you able to create and edit the online material as you and your students used the website? What technical improvements might you suggest that we make to the website? Instructional Purposes How helpful, if at all, is the website in organizing online materials for researching and discussing current events? Why or why not? How well, if at all, did the students discuss and respond to the questions that you posed online? What is the best way to organize the newspaper (student participation) and component of the website? What features proved most and least interesting to your students? How well were students able to track and understand current events as they evolved during the course of the semester? Overall How clear is the purpose of the website and how well did the website fulfill it? How helpful was the tutorial in learning to use the website? What improvements, if any, might you suggest? Do you think the high school students learned how to become a more politically aware citizen? Why or why not? Please list any additional comments or questions you have about Instructional Design Lay the Groundwork Outcomes: Explore the State of the World by Reviewing Current Events Capture and Determine Students' Interests Match with Course Content Introduce students to approach Question: Of what importance are these events?/How are events related? Purpose: to introduce students to a range of events & to capture their interest Explore the Nature of Contemporary Issues Outcomes: Discuss the breadth and depth of two or three sample issues Draw relevance of issues to students’ daily lives Connect to ongoing instruction Introduce students to Tracker program Question: What might make an issue important and/or lasting? Purpose: to explore sample issues with students and to model use of Tracker Activity: Use sample Tracker with students Selecting Events/Issues to Track Decide which issues are important and how they might influence students' lives Explore implications of the issue for what they are learning Discuss possible directions the issue might take Questions: What are the most exciting events now occurring in the world? Which ones are worthy of further study?/What might happen to them? Purpose: to provoke student interest and to select 3 or 4 events/issues to track Activity: Create and take Current Events Survey on Tracker site Collecting Information & Creating Tracker Decide what events might relate to issue Decide what are sources of information about issue Determine ways how to record information and to organize it Questions: What exactly is the issue? What information is needed to better understand the issue? What are sources of info. and how to manage the info.? Purpose: to enable students to organize actual tracking of issues Activity: Conduct research on Internet and begin creating a Tracker Progress Report: Making Preliminary Sense of Issue Outcomes: Report on what has occurred Explore with other students what the changes might mean Connect to ongoing instruction Ask students to evaluate their work and thinking Questions: What information was it possible to collect on the issue? What other information still is needed? What are some specific changes that have occurred? What are reasons why they have occurred? What might happen next? How has your thinking on the issue changed? Purpose: to offer students an opportunity to organize their thinking on the issue and to receive feedback on their work Activity: Publish background newspaper articles on the issue and events related to it Taking a Stand Outcomes: Analyze evolution of issue Discuss what occurred and why Finalize thinking on issue Present results Questions: How is the event/issue different from when the study first began? What are the major changes that have occurred? What are the reasons why they occurred? How might events have occurred differently? What are reasons why this did not happen? How has your thinking changed? Where do you think might happen with the issue in the future? Purpose: to trace the evolution of the issue and to present their thinking on it Activity: Publish newspaper

Learning Generation, University of Kansas, 2005.