Artifact # 2
The Culture Kit is a fun way for students to research and present information about different countries.
Context
This project was created in a social studies method course in Block 436 at Appalachian State University. Under the instruction of Betty Dishman, we created a kit that taught us about the culture of the country or continent that we chose.
Impact
I plan to use this project in my classroom to promote an awareness and appreciation of other cultures as well as have the children learn to explain information that they have learned to others. This will help me check for their understanding of their culture as well as practice important public speaking skills.
Alignment
While creating a culture kit students are getting the opportunity to create a project that enhances the diverse needs of learners because they have complete responsibility over this project (Tech II A). The culture kit also gives the student opportunities to use technology by researching on the web and in books to broaden their knowledge about their country so they can create the kit and present the information (Tech III B). This artifact shows that the student is using technology by building and creating a kit based on the information that the student has researched on the web, finding a map to see where the country is located, and by reading books. The instructions are broad so that each student can be creative and invent their own kit based on the many different ideas and things that create the culture of their particular country. This also makes the children differentiate between what things they think are important enough about that country to put in their kit (Tech III C). This project shows you that you can find and use information, using technology, that supports diversity by having each child choose a different culture. Each student will research their country and then share their knowledge to the class so that the other students will also learn about their country (Tech VI C). The teacher would provide an opportunity for children to learn not only about different cultures, but they would learn social skills by presenting the information to the class, technological skills through researching their country, and they will learn important skills on how to explain what they learned which will help them to better understand the information themselves (INTASC 2).