World Conflict

World Portfolio Project

introduction	task	process	resources	evaluation	conclusion	Teacher's Notes

Introduction:

The "Press" has just reported mass executions have taken place in Rwanda. The Chinese are threatening to invade Taiwan. The Serbs are using "Ethnic Cleansing" to put down uprisings in Kosovo. Sadam Hussain is massing troops along the boarder of Kuwait. The President of the United States knows she will be asked a number of questions about the state of the world. You are asked to brief her. Since the President is out of the country, you will need to present your report over the internet.

Your task is to create a web page to present you information to the President. Your web page will categorize the information and present pictures of leaders, cultural icons, and a map about your assigned country or "hotspot"

The members of your group are to research and develop a portfolio about an assigned region:

1. Each member is to select a country to investigate.
   
2. You will gather information about your country's geography, important historical events, government structure, economic resources, and cultural resources. (Note: make sure you gather bibliographic information about each of your sources.)
   
3. Collect and scan pictures of major leaders of your country.
   
4. Collect and scan a map of your country.
   
5. Collect and scan pictures of important cultural icons.

 

The members of your group will need to plan your group's web page presentation.

1. Your scanned pictures should not be to large (over 50 k) and appropriately sized.
   
2. Write a summary of the information making sure you have categorized the information. Save the report in HTML format.
   
3. Your report should include a bibliography section using standard bibliographical format style.
   
4. Your report should be divided by countries and then by categories. The information included within each category should be consistent and logically appropriate.

Media Center Resources:

1. CIA factbook CD/ROM: Located in the media center.

2. Encyclopedia (various)

3. World Almanacs

Internet resources:

1. University of Michigan Documents site
2. CIA fact book - 1998
3. U.S. State Department - Regions
4. U.S. Information Agency
5. United Nations Links to countries Statistics

Learning Activity:

Each group should develop a form for gathering information about countries into categories. For Example: A form might be broken into categories, such as: Important Historical Events, Government, Economy, Culture, Geography and Groups/People. By doing this, your overal project will be consistent and uniform with all the others in your group.

Each student will be evaluated upon their contribution to the groups overall product. A rating sheet will be used to evaluate each of the elements of your presentation. RATING SHEET

The Elements each student's presentation should have are:

1. information about the country's geography, important historical events, government structure, economic resources, and cultural resources.

2. pictures of current leaders of the country.

3. a map of the country.

4. pictures of important cultural icons

Conclusion:

You should reflect upon the need for information about other countries and the role of leadership in the world. You should investigate the ongoing relationships of country or region of study with other "Hotspots" in the world.

World Conflict

Portfolio Project

Introduction:

This lesson was developed as part of the Summit City Cyber School Project. Summit City Cyber School is a web site that provides WebQuest resources for students and teachers.

This lesson is designed to be a short term WebQuest project. Students are to gather information about assigned regions of the world and publish the information as a web page.

• This lesson supports the curriculum in the following areas: Geography, World History, World Conflict, and Government.
• This lesson also supports interdisciplinary study in the area of International Studies, English, & Art.

Curriculum Standards: from Social Studies Core Curriculum

• Economics:
  • Explain the benefits of trade among individuals, regions, and nations.
  • Explain why countries sometimes erect barriers to trade.
• Government:
  • Examine the role of individuals and groups in the political process and the civic life of a nation.
  • Evaluate the relationships of various government systems and sovereign states in the world.
• World History:
  • Identify, analyze, and relate movements, events, and issues in the history of countries to current events.
  • Investigate the interrelationship of U.S. development and that of other nations and cultures.

This lesson was designed to be completed over the course of several days. Depending on the level of competence of the students, it should be completed in one week. The lesson is broken into three major phases:

1. Assignment of groups and the assignment of country responsibilities.

2. Research of countries and categories.

3. Planning and development of Web Page.

If this is the first time developing web pages, the project will extend over a longer period of time.

This lesson could also be assigned as a longer term project for middle school students.

1. Web Page Editor (Claris Home Page, Microsoft Front Page)

2. CD/ROM: CIA Factbook

3. Encyclopedia

4. World Almanac

At least one person in each group needs to have had experience creating web pages.

 

Teacher needs to have knowledge on how to access web pages using browser software (Netscape or Internet Explorer).

Evaluation:

Each individual will present publish their Web Page and it will be evaluated using a rating sheet provided with the lesson.