Powerful Social Studies

1. Challenging

1.1. The teacher expects the students to strive to achieve instructional goals. He lists the goals and expectations at the beginning of the project, and also at the beginning of the presentations, and expects students to meet them by the end of the project.

1.2. A major component of the assignment is working productively with others. The students are working in groups and need to communicate well and work collectively.

1.2.1. New node

2. Active

2.1. The project based activity is very "hands on, minds on". Each student is engaged throughout the assignment because there are a variety of tasks to complete. They are each responsible for a part of it, and because of the variety, they can each find something they are interested in. It is a very engaging activity for every students. As well, every student was expected to help in the presentation part of the activity (even if they were shy).

3. Meaningful

3.1. It is a very project based classroom and so the social studies comes to life for the students. It is an authentic activity which has a variety of tasks within the project so that each student can find something they are interested in completing.

4. Integrative

4.1. The project links the past and the present because the students are learning about the missions history and also learning about what it is like to today and how it has changed over time.

4.2. Different technologies are at the base of the project. Each group is responsible for completing the project using a form of technology. Many of the students only get access to computers at school and so their projects usually involve some form of technology so that they get a chance to use it.

5. Value-Based

5.1. The teacher is sensitive to the cultural similarities and differences in the classroom by teaching in different languages. He also allows the students to use their first languages to communicate with each other because english is not the first language for many students.