Curriculum Fit: Community Interest; Information Technology; Language; Mathematics; Social Studies

Technologies Used: Blogs; Email; List server; Spreadsheet: data; analysis

Collaboration Styles Used: Information Exchange; Pooled Data Analysis; Global Classroom; Information Search; Peer Feedback; Social Action

Full Project Description:

Calling classes from all 50 U.S. states to participate in the 2008 National CyberConvention!

Observation:  Each participating class will study the candidates, issues and polling trends in their state for the 2008 presidential and congressional races, using print, broadcast and Web-based media.

Discussion/Analysis:  Students will discuss their observations in class, compare and contrast the candidate’s qualifications, and debate their relative merits.

Creation/Synthesis:  Each week our class will be emailed a topic to research; topics covered will include candidates, issues and media literacy. We will submit our weekly findings to the National CyberConvention website, sharing the concerns and likely voting patterns of your home state. Data will be posted on the  CyberConvention website to allow our class to analyze trends state by state and nationally.  In the unlikely event that we don't have access to the computer lab or the network is down, we will use my computer and internet card to get the information from the websites and write out the assignments until  computer access is restored.

As a culminating event, each class will cast their delegate votes online a week prior to the national elections predicting the outcome of the vote on election day!

Evaluation:  Each lesson will have a written component consisting of questions that may be answered by visiting various websites.  At the end of each unit (weekly) there will be a short quiz made up of questions sent to us by the project administrator, as well as some questions written by the students.

Objectives:

To study the democratic electoral process in action

To use regional media to follow current events

To develop media literacy skills in evaluating information

To analyze polling numbers to determine patterns and predict trends in voting

To participate in a real-time event both online and off

Project URL: http://surfaquarium.com/NCC/

Project Sponsor: Surfaquarium

Registration Information

Registration Dates: 6/01/08 to 9/08/08

Registration Instructions:

Go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/2008_NCC/

Click on the Join This Group button on that page

Use your Yahoo ID or get a free Yahoo ID to login

Follow the directions to join

Once you join the eIditarod YahooGroup you are registered for the project

It's that easy!