Use the following 5-day plan to help students conduct this week's Internet
inquiry activity on adventurous women who have broken tradition. Remind students
to follow classroom rules when using the Internet.
Identify Questions Discuss the lesson focus question: How did an
adventure by two famous women break tradition? Discuss what it means
to break tradition. Brainstorm a list of women besides Amelia Earhart and
Eleanor Roosevelt who have gone beyond the expected roles of women,
such as Harriet Tubman, Sally Ride, Rosa Parks, or Elizabeth Blackwell.
Have students work individually, in pairs, or in groups to write an inquiry
question they want to answer.
Navigate/Search Discuss how to conduct an advanced search. Some
student-friendly search engines have an advanced search feature that
allows students to choose search preferences. Students can also
practice using a longer string of keywords to narrow the scope of their
search. For example, the keywords Sally Ride NASA will produce fewer
but more specific sites than just Sally Ride. For most search engines
today, the use of and is not needed; students can simply list a string of
keywords. Have students identify a few helpful Web sites related to their
inquiry questions.
Analyze Have students analyze sites they identified on Day 2. Remind
them to evaluate a Web site's information. Stress that researchers cannot
assume everything they read on the Internet is true. They should look
for more than one source to confirm key facts.
Synthesize Have students synthesize information from Day 3. Review
how to choose relevant information from a number of sources and organize
it logically. Suggest students construct a time line to help them organize
and combine events in preparation for writing biographies on Day 5.
Communicate Have students write short biographies of the women they
researched. Make a classroom display featuring the biographies and time
lines and revisit the idea of breaking tradition.
