SUBJECT: Social Studies

GRADE LEVEL: Sixth grade:

TECHNOLOGY: PowerPoint, Internet

BY: Kara Pincoffs

TARGET GRADE/SUBJECT

According to Piaget, students at this age are entering the formal operations stage, meaning that they are beginning to be able to think abstractly. This lesson requires students to make predictions and generalizations. Students also get to choose what topics to research and what resources to consult. These feature help students develop their ability to think abstractly and deal with ambiguity.

OBJECTIVES

Virginia Standards of Learning

• 6.10- The student will develop skills for historical analysis, including the ability to:
  • recognize and explain how different points of view have been influenced by nationalism, race, religion, and ethnicity.

1. After viewing of video of Bombay, India, the student will record at least two perceptions of impression of life in the city on section 1 of the India Culture Worksheet.

2. Given research opportunities with PowerPoint presentation and Internet, the student will make a written argument for what they believe is the most important influence on India culture. The student will write their decision and cite two reasons along with the source of his/her information.

3. Given research opportunities with PowerPoint presentation and Internet, the student will demonstrate that he/she has generated and researched questions through recorded response on the India Culture Worksheet (recorded two questions, wrote an answer to each question, recorded at least one resource used for each question).

MATERIALS

• Video of Bombay, India - filmed by Steve Pincoffs in August 1998.
  • The scenes in the video were taken as he strolled the streets of Bombay during his lunch breaks and on weekends. In some cases, a taxi driver/guide took him to interesting locations or offered advice about interacting with the people. No attempt was made to stage any of the events in the video. However, many of the Indian people showed a keen interest in the technology as it was something they had never seen before. In many cases, the people seem to be showing off for the camera. Off camera, he often allowed his subjects to view themselves in the playback mode of the camera. It should be noted that many of the more poverty stricken areas of the city were not filmed at all, as Steve was told by his guide that it would be inconsiderate to display such wealth in those areas.

   

• India- Land of Wonders PowerPoint presentation
  • This presentation consists of 17 main slides to be viewed by all students and then many different optional sections that can be viewed in any order. Some of these sections include religions, food, dress, festivals, weddings, architecture, films, poverty, and women's roles. These sections offer a brief description of the subject and then branch into further detail. In many cases, there are also links to Internet sites or references to books about the subjects. A student may choose to view a broad variety of topics, or may concentrate on a topic of interest.

• India Culture Worksheet for each student
• Television
• VCR
• Computer for each student with access to the Internet and ability to run PowerPoint presentations

LESSON DESCRIPTION

The teacher will:

1. Ask the students questions about what it would be like to live in India such as:

• What would you eat?
• How would you spend your time?
• Where would you live?
• The discussion will likely lead to many different ideas about what life is like in India and many questions. Advise the students that there are many different ways of learning about what a far away culture is like without physically visiting the county. Tell them that over the next couple of days they will use video, books, photographs and the Internet to learn about the culture of India.

2. Show the student the Bombay, India video.

3. Ask the students to share their impressions with their peers.

4. Ask the students to record selected impressions (at least two) on worksheet, Item 1.

5. Lead class in discussion about initial impression.

6. Ask the students to fill out Item 2 and 3 on day one of their worksheets. Students will use these questions and predictions to continue their research.

7. Direct student to the India: Land of Wonders PowerPoint presentation. Ask them to fill out day 2 of their worksheet as they do their research. Remind them to write down at least two questions, record answer to each and cite at least on source used for each question.

8. Direct students to view the first 17 slides in succession. After that, the student can view the remaining sections as needed to answer his/her questions, using Internet links when desired. Encourage students to record any information that they find very interesting and record questions that they form during their research.

9. Have students share what they found. Encourage them to cite specific information to support any generalizations, inferences or conclusion drawn. Encourage students to share different opinions, support them with evidence and challenge tentative hypotheses of peers.

10. Lead class discussion about the many influences on Indian culture, including religion.

EVALUATION

See Inquiry Skills Assessment checklist.