Multidisciplinary Units

The following lessons will demonstrate how technology can be integrated into mul- tidisciplinary units. When creating multidisciplinary units that integrate technology, the teacher needs to consider the same factors as in the previous content lesson plans. The availability and location of computer hardware certainly affect the way activi- ties will be presented and whether students will work individually or in groups.

When using educational software, read the product’s suggestions for maximiz- ing the learning experience. It is a good idea to review these suggestions carefully before presenting activities.

Teachers may also benefit from talking with other teachers about their technol- ogy integration experiences. For example, teachers who have used educational soft- ware before can judge how much knowledge—both of computer usage and of the subject being presented—is required for the student to operate the program effec- tively. Are there bugs in the program that may hinder learning? Are some activities in the program more interesting, more useful, or more challenging to students than others? Experienced software users can answer these and other questions that the new user may have. Schools could build a resource bank of technology-based learn- ing activities that includes teacher comments.

Planning is the key to integrating technology. For example, ordinary software may take several weeks to order and receive if it is not available at a local software or teaching supply store. Teachers may face limited choices if their districts have not set aside sufficient funds for the purchase of software. In some cases, it is possible to rent software for a short period of time at much less expense than the purchase price of the package. But rental also requires planning and lead time. Teachers are strongly urged to do some research of their own to see what other learning technologies are available for teaching all areas of the curriculum.

The sample multidisciplinary units follow the ISTE (Thomas & Bitter, 2000) National Educational Technology Standards for Students: Connecting Curriculum and Technology format for multidisciplinary resource units incorporating the following subheadings:

  • Title of Unit
  • Activities
  • Tools and Resources

These units provide a powerful theme on which to build multidisciplinary learn- ing activities. Each unit addresses content standards from two or more discipline areas as well as the National Educational Technology Standards for Students.

Multidisciplinary Unit for Primary Grades (PreK–2)

Title of Unit: Helping Hands

Helping Hands examines the theme of cooperation and community. This unit pro- vides students with hands-on experience working with peers, family members, and other community members. Students learn how to work as a team and interact with others.

In this unit students address the following National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) for Students: 1—Basic operations and concepts; 2—Social, ethical, and human issues; 3—Technology productivity tools; and 4—Technology commu- nication tools.

Activities

  1. Students use drawing or painting software to make a banner entitled Helping Hands. Assign each letter to a group of two or three Display the banner on a wall or bulletin board.
  2. Have each student trace his or her hand on Use a scanner to digitize the tracing. Use drawing or painting software to decorate the hand, and use the text tool to write the student’s name anywhere on the hand. Print the hand pictures, cut them out, and decorate the banner with them.
  3. Students use a digital camera to create group pictures (pictures of students work- ing cooperatively).
  4. Students use interactive CDs to explore and learn about community
  5. Have students use Big Book software (e.g., Big Book, Scholastic SuperPrint Deluxe) to create and print a story based on a group
  6. Students use painting or drawing software to make a picture dictionary that describes and illustrates
  7. Use a video camera to document classroom As a class, check the video for examples of cooperative and uncooperative behavior.
  8. At the end of each day, determine the classroom cooperation Record coop- eration levels on a large graph posted on a wall.
  9. Have students use a spreadsheet program or graphing software to draw, tabulate, or graph the information for use in a class
  10. Have students work with an adult family member to learn about neighborhood watches or other types of community activities designed to help neighbors meet each other and look out for each Use a digital camera to take pictures of your neighborhood. Use slide-show software such as KidPix Studio to create a neighborhood watch presentation.
  11. Students visit Rogers’ Neighborhood website to learn about families and their neighborhoods.
  12. From a list of I-statements, have students select one to role play cooperative behavior with a
  13. Go on a field trip to the local police station. Have students send the station a thank-you
  14. Work with the local fire department to develop a home safety chart. Have students use the chart to investigate the safety level of their

Tools and Resources

Software

  • KidPix Studio
  • ClarisWorks for Kids
  • Easy Book
  • SuperPrint
  • HyperStudio
  • Kid Works Deluxe
  • GraphPower
  • Graph Club
  • Richard Scarry’s Busytown
  • Multimedia encyclopedia

Hardware

  • Color inkjet printer
  • Video camcorder
  • Digital camera
  • Scanner
  • Large-screen monitor, LCD panel, or classroom TV connected to a computer
  • VCR

Website

Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood: http://pbskids.org/rogers

Multidisciplinary Unit for Intermediate Grades (3–5)

Title of Unit: Eco Busters

Eco Busters emphasizes the causal link between the United States’ tremendous consumption of natural resources and the resulting effect of that consumption on the  rest of the planet. Students will learn about the impact fossil fuels and other wastes have on Earth.

In this unit students address the following National Educational Technology Stan- dards (NETS) for Students: 1—Basic operations and concepts; 2—Social, ethical, and human issues; 3—Technology productivity tools; 4—Technology communication tools; 5—Technology research tools; and 6—Technology problem-solving and decision- making tools.

Activities

  1. Students form small groups and list the items found in the garbage in their homes and in their
  2. Have students research the impact unchecked consumerism has on the world’s natural resources, as well as its effect on the rain forests, the coral reefs, and the Earth’s
  3. Students investigate means by which they can educate parents, relatives, and each other on how to reduce the damage done to our
  4. Students publish their findings on a website as well as send an email or letter to news media reporting their
  5. Go on a field trip to a sewage plant. Discuss modern technology’s impact on waste disposal. Take digital pictures to record observations on how sewage is treated to become effluent. Working with an adult or older student, develop a small multimedia project that reports the observed water treatment processes. Send the sewage plant an email thanking the personnel there for the
  6. Go on a field trip to a recycling Take digital pictures to record observations on the recycling process. Working with an adult or older student, develop a small multimedia project that reports the observed recycling processes. Send the plant an email thanking the personnel for the visit.
  7. Students explore the environmental impact of Have students learn about landfills in their area, regulations imposed on them, and their expected ecologi- cal impact over time.
  8. Have students create pieces of art constructed entirely of recyclable
  9. Students use the Internet to research different advocacy groups that campaign against vinyl Email one of these groups a question.
  10. Have students chart statistics from the past 10 years regarding recycling, landfill size, and monies involved in
  11. Have small groups of students create charts examining the amount of time it takes for different products to biodegrade. Students share their findings by preparing a multimedia
  12. Students working with a partner create recycling posters aimed toward motivat- ing other students to Try to include statistics and other facts in each poster.
  13. Working in small groups, students brainstorm solutions on how to make recycling a part of daily
  14. Have small groups of students develop a slide-show or multimedia presentation illustrating what happens to a plastic bottle or styrofoam cup sent to be recycled contrasted with one sent to the landfill, including the environmental effects of these processes and their

 

Tools and Resources

Software

  • Word processing
  • Spreadsheet
  • Graphics
  • HyperStudio
  • Presentation
  • GraphPower
  • Graph Club
  • Web page creation
  • Multimedia encyclopedia

Hardware

  • Color inkjet printer
  • Video camcorder
  • Digital camera
  • Scanner
  • Large-screen monitor, LCD panel, or classroom TV connected to a computer
  • VCR

Websites

National Environmental Trust

www.envirotrust.org

Greenpeace

www.greenpeaceusa.org

Educational Videos

(available through Disney Educational Productions)

  • Bill Nye the Science Guy shows (Pollution Solutions, Garbage and the Water Cycle)
  • Recycle Rex (stars animated recycling dinosaur)
  • The Energy Savers (stars Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, and Goofy)
  • Zort Sorts: A Story about Recycling
  • The Great Search—Man’s Need for Power and Energy

Multidisciplinary Unit for Middle Grades (6–8)

Title of Unit: Attitude Shapers

Recognizing that “a picture is worth a thousand words,” it is important that students understand how businesses and governments seek to shape our thoughts and opin- ions on everyday occurrences through the careful selection and dissemination of photographs and sound bites.

Students will analyze photographs, sound bites, advertisements, and any other media sources they encounter and investigate whether the published material  accurately reflects the truth. Students will state whether the published material accurately reflects the actual events or advertised products, and they will state how the published material was used to shape the attitudes and opinions of a specified audience.

In this unit students address the following National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) for Students: 1—Basic operations and concepts; 2—Social, ethical, and human issues; 3—Technology productivity tools; 4—Technology communication tools; 5—Technology research tools; and 6—Technology problem-solving and deci- sion-making tools.

 

Activities

  1. Students form small groups and select photographs, sound bites, advertisements, and any other media sources encountered that they believe misrepresent the
  2. Students investigate the selected media sources and research the background issues involved and compile their findings in a group multimedia presentation and written
  3. Students explore Civil War–picture As a class, discuss reasons for the inaccuracies and what benefits, if any, were obtained by the publisher of the inaccurate media.
  4. Demonstrate various technologies showing how easily businesses and govern- ments can manipulate media sources for their own
  5. Working with a partner, have students select an inaccurate media source and compose a letter or email to the publisher of the information expressing their con- cerns about the inaccuracies
  6. Have students write using a quote from George Orwell’s 1984 as a prompt: “There were the huge printing shops with their sub-editors, their typography experts, and their elaborately equipped studios for the faking of photographs” (p. 43). Have students discuss their responses using a discussion board or class- room
  7. Have students investigate the economics of “sensational” Do publica- tions that misrepresent the truth make a profit? Have students create charts demon- strating the differences in earnings for several types of publications and news shows.
  8. Have students investigate how media shape our attitudes about Divide students into small groups and have each group select a war. Groups create mul- timedia or slide-show presentations to report findings.
  9. Discuss heroic qualities. Have students select one of the following heroes to investigate the qualities of heroism their selection represents and the historical circumstances in which their selection Students determine the historical accuracy or plausibility of the heroic action attributed to their selections. Class develops a website to publish findings.
    • Ellen Ripley/Sarah Connor
    • E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia)
    • Joan of Arc
    • Ho Chi Minh
    • Luke Skywalker
    • David and Goliath
    • Homeric heroes—Achilles
  10. Discuss Jean Bethke Elshtain’s claim that our “attitudes to war are determined by the traditional stories and histories of war we hear and read” (see her book, Women and War, p. 32).

Tools and Resources

Software

  • Word processing
  • Presentation
  • HyperStudio
  • Spreadsheet
  • Image manipulating
  • Web page creation

Hardware

  • Color inkjet printer
  • Scanner
  • Large-screen monitor, LCD panel, or classroom TV connected to a computer
  • VCR
  • Film projector

Websites

American Memory Collection: Does the Camera Ever Lie?

memory.loc.gov/ammem/cwphtml/cwpcam/cwcam1.html

American Society of Newspaper Editors

www.asne.org

Center for Media and Public Affairs

www.cmpa.com

Critical Evaluation Information by Kathy Schrock

http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/eval.html

Digital Photography: A Question of Ethics by Bonnie Meltzer

www.fno.org/may97/digital.html

Gallup Organization

www.gallup.com

On Shrinking Soundbites by Mitchell Stephens

www.cjr.org/year/96/5/soundbites.asp

Pew Research Center: For the People and the Press

www.people-press.org

Photographic Evidence, Naked Children, and Dead Celebrities: Digital Forgery and the Law

www.thirdamendment.com/digital.html

 

Photojournalism Ethics: Chapter Six

http://commfaculty.fullerton.edu/lester/writings/chapter6.html

Project for Excellence in Journalism

www.journalism.org

Visual Literacy Bibliography

http://tc.eserver.org/15237.html

 

Books

  • The Eyes of Time: Photojournalism in America by Estelle Jussim (Boston: Little, Brown, 1989)
  • Photography and the American Scene by Robert Taft (New York: MacMillan Co., 1938)
  • Fallen Soldiers: Reshaping the Memory of the World Wars by George Mosse (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990)
  • Women and War by Jean Bethke Elshtain (New York: Basic Books, 1987)
  • 1984 by George Orwell (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1949)

 

Film

  • Thomas Doherty, Projections of War: Hollywood, American Culture, and World War Two (New York: Columbia University Press, 1993)

 

Multidisciplinary Unit for Secondary Grades (9–12)

Title of Unit: Know Your Propositions

Every year people seek to place new laws on election ballots. The need for new laws arises from concerns, political agendas, mistakes, and historical  events. Using a current local proposition, students examine the arguments for and against the proposition and consequences if enacted or not enacted. Students take a position for or against the proposition, supporting their decision with arguments and facts. Students predict the proposition outcomes and follow the election returns.

No specific websites are provided, for several reasons. First, searching for in- formation about propositions is considered a valuable part of the learning process. Second, new-proposition websites arise and fall with each new election. Hence, any suggested site will likely be defunct by the time this reaches publication. Third, Internet searches can be tailored to fit any political region around the world.

In this unit students address the following National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) for Students: 1—Basic operations and concepts; 2—Social, ethical, and human issues; 3—Technology productivity tools; 4—Technology communication tools; 5—Technology research tools; and 6—Technology problem-solving and decision-making  tools.

Activities

  1. Students research pending ballot propositions on the Internet and through other sources and list them according to election date and
  2. Working in small groups, have students investigate the sponsors of the proposi- tions, specific interests of the sponsors, and the potential benefits to the sponsors should the propositions be enacted into Create a database to store this in- formation.
  3. Have students collect copies of the official propositions, along with the official position statements, including officially published arguments for and against the propositions.
  4. Working with a partner, have students research the published
  5. Have a chat session with government officials and interest groups about their positions on a
  6. Students take a position, supporting their decision with arguments and facts, and present their findings using a slide
  7. Discuss the language selected by the government to describe the propositions to see whether there exists an attempt to conceal the true effect of a vote, for or against the
  8. Students draft separate reports of their findings that will be incorporated into a single group report, which will be delivered to the news media for
  9. In small groups, students calculate the amount of money, both public and private, expended by both proponents and opponents of the various Have students write their own proposition listing better uses for the funds spent on the propositions. Create a website to publish the student-generated proposition.
  10. Publish class findings and conclusions on a A suggested format for dis- playing database information of the proposition’s analysis follows.

 

Proposition  Number

Title:

Sponsor:

Major Provisions:

Background:

Policy Considerations: Fiscal Impact:

State Government: Local Government: Taxpayers:

Support Arguments: Opposition Arguments:

  • Have students email the media, interested businesses, and government officials a summary of their findings plus a request to visit their
  • Working in small groups, have students create a WebQuest for another grade
  • Have students predict proposition outcomes and follow election Discuss prediction reasoning. Have them calculate the accuracy of their prediction.

Tools and Resources

Software

  • HyperStudio
  • Presentation
  • Database
  • Spreadsheet
  • Web page creation

Hardware

  • Color inkjet printer
  • Scanner
  • Large-screen monitor, LCD panel, or classroom TV connected to a computer

Questions

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