General Information

a name="overview">  Project Overview

Students will use the Internet to search for and locate the homepages of business established recently in Newfoundland and Labrador, especially those not involved in our traditional resource industries fishing and forestry. They will gather information about the company, and products or services it provides, where it is located, and how it was established. They will e-mail the company and request certain items of information. They will record all information, and publish a report using a word processing program. The report will then be presented orally and a display will be created to share the information which was collected.

  Curriculum Connections

This project relates mainly to the Social Studies program in grade 5, which focuses on our province, Newfoundland and Labrador. It will also enrich the Reading/Writing/Viewing components of the Language Arts program and help reinforce the objectives of the Technology Education program at the Elementary Grades.

This project will provide many opportunities for thinking, observing, listening, investigating, inquiring, talking, reading and writing as the students learn more about our province and come to appreciate our valuable human resources.

This project relates directly to the topics on "Resources: Making a Living," and "Technology and People," as well as to a discussion on how our environment and resources available to us may affect how we are able to make a living. A preliminary discussion of problems in the fishery will develop the idea that our people need to find alternative means of making a living. This project will demonstrate the inventiveness, resourcefulness, initiative, self-sufficiency and optimism of those who are investigating in the future of our provinces, and the possibilities which exist for them.

SOCIAL STUDIES:

• Students will develop a faith in our province's future and pride in our accomplishments.
• Students will gain knowledge and appreciation of our human resources, and the resources of our land and sea.
• Students will gain knowledge of how geographic features influence living in various regions of the province and how technology has created possibilities, which may not have existed in the past.
• Students will develop a positive view of Newfoundland and Labrador, and its place in Canada and the world.
• Students will gain knowledge of Newfoundland's entrepreneurs and companies, and economic possibilities for the future.

LANGUAGE ARTS:

• To help students acquire the language skills of reading, writing, viewing, reporting orally, and researching.
• To help students compose appropriate e-mail messages and learn about online communication.
• To help students realize that language, especially reading and writing, is a tool of learning as well as a medium of communication.

TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION:

• To help students learn the basics of communication - principles of encoding/decoding, transmitting/receiving, and the role that technology plays.
• To help students develop a vocabulary of the terminology and language used in the communication technology associated with e-mailing and using the Internet.
• To help students send and receive e-mail messages.
• To help students develop an appreciation of the value of the World Wide Web as a source of information and use a browser to explore and utilize this resource.
• To help students use an appropriate search engine for this project.

  Resource Connections

The students will be actively involved in this project. They will use the resources of the World Wide Web and electronic mail to conduct their research. Each student will be encouraged to contribute to the project. Students will be expected to report their findings, not only in class, but also via e-mail to other schools which may participate in the project. This will require the use of a word processing program to produce the final report.

This project would require the collaborative effort of the other classes, and indeed other schools to work through the project. This project would not be possible without Internet access provided by the STELLAR Schools program, since the information sought may not be available from any other source. Even though the students will focus mainly on the provincial level, they may realize the links that this type of research may have on a national, and indeed global, level.

  Evaluation

Students will:

• demonstrate a knowledge of using a World Wide Web browser, such as Netscape, to search the resources of the Internet.
• demonstrate a knowledge of sending and receiving e-mail using appropriate software such as Eudora.
• demonstrate a knowledge of various search engines, such as Yahooligans, to locate appropriate sites.
• demonstrate a knowledge of how the resources of the Internet are related to the "real" world.