SUBJECT: Science
GRADE: Second
TECHNOLOGY: Internet
BY: Katherine M. Bessom

FINDING OUT ABOUT ANIMALS

Topic: using the internet to find information

Objectives: Students will make a five-page book (over a span of days) about one kind of animal, while working in groups. Students will use the internet to find out about their animal.

Materials: classroom computer or lab, colored paper, crayons, stapler, chalkboard/chalk, printer, access to internet.

Introduction: Introduce children to the computer and the internet. Explain how to “search” using key words.

Content Focus: Put students in groups. Have each student think of an animal they might like to learn more about. Write down their responses. Then, have groups decide on one animal to learn about. (if this does not go smoothly, teacher will assign an animal to each group). Next, give children paper, one sheet each, which will make up their book about their animal. Each child will have a question, including: what does the animal eat? where does it live? how big is it? what colors can it be? how does it move around? (add: where does it sleep? if there is an extra student in a group). Gradually over the next few days, help groups work at the computer using the internet to locate information about their animal. Each child should type in key words to help them locate first the animal, then the information about the animal. Once they find the information they should print it out and use it to write one or two sentences about the animal or information about the animal. (i.e.: elephant, where does it live? “The elephant can live in Africa on the plains.” ) Simple sentences are fine, and some students will need a lot of help from aides. Each child should have a turn on the internet and the computer, and each child should always be supervised by an adult. They will need a lot of help, especially learning about key words. Time should be taken to teach carefully about what key words are.

Closure: Ask children what they learned about their animal. Did they like working in groups? Help the children put the books together. This activity should take several days, because it will take a long time to get each child onto the web in the classroom. If they use a lab, they will need at least one assistant for each group. Some of the students in this class will not be able to do this because they do not have the reading skills for it.

Assessment: Ask the children questions such as, “If you had to find out something about an animal (name an animal), where would you look?” Then broaden the question and ask if they wanted to find out information about (for example) plants, water, space, etc. where would they look? Their response should be on the computer, on the internet.

Extension: Have children use this technique on later projects until they are capable of doing simple searches on the internet.