Initial Project Description

School: Vartan Gregorian Elementary School
Teacher: Dianne Maranhas
Audience: 3rd grade.
Project: Vartan Gregorian Elementary, formerly Fox Point Elementary, is a "core knowledge" school, with a well-articulated, sequential curriculum in history. Ms. Maranhas' classroom has 2 Macintosh computers and 1 PC, and she is interested in having an application that students can use to explore some of the topics covered in the 3rd grade American history (e.g. Colonial Life and the beginnings of the American Revolution). She says the reading skills of her students are not always at grade level, so she is looking for something that uses visualization in creative and effective ways. Possible tools are Hyperstudio, Authorware, and HTML (to run locally), and there is ample opportunity for classroom observation and excellent access to curricular materials.
Comments: This is an excellent project for folks interested in the dynamics of the elementary classroom, and fitting innovative software ideas to well-defined curriculum. The challenge of the "one computer classroom" is enormous, but so is the potential for a good application to make a real difference in student learning at the elementary level. There is also an interesting opportunity to coordinate work on this project with last year's "Campaign Trail" program, which was designed for 4th graders at "The Greg."



Go back home
Contact us at sco@cs.brown.edu
Last modified: Thu Mar 25 02:48:43 EST 1999