W200 Service-Learning Project Lesson Plan:

Annastacia Jones, kaj22@umail.iu.edu

Joshua Snider, educjossnide@gmail.com

Step I: Project Information:

Teachers name and
background (e.g.,
technology comfort level)

Dustin Harrison has listed that he is pretty proficient with

technology. He rated himself a 5/5 on the survey.

Grade level

He is a 9th grade teacher

Subject area

Social Studies

# of students and student

characteristics

30 with no special circumstances.

Any students with special

needs? Describe

No students with special needs

Technology Accessibility
(Whats available in
school and classroom?)

School: Computer lab with internet access

Classroom: Teacher Computer with Internet Access, Overhead
Projector (for transparencies), Electronic Projector and
Projection Screen (to display teacher computer screen), Student
Laptops/Netbooks, and microsoft suite.

Barriers to technology
access if any

A barrier that we will probably encounter is finding a way to

implement the 4 Es into a technological assignment. This being
a history assignment I believe that the hardest E to incorporate
will be the Engaged one. We want to keep these students
engaged with material that a majority of students struggle to find
interesting.

Lesson/Unit topic

WH.3.12. Compare/Contrast the developments and

achievements of the Maya, Aztec, and Inca civilizations. This
includes where they settled, what their common cultures/rituals
were amongst the different groups and what their significance is
in Western/World history.

Length of the lesson/unit

1 week

How the lesson/unit was

taught before?

Previously students were guided through lecture based

information and then asked to complete an online activity
consisting of videos, websites, and primary sources. He did not
really engage the students in a new and enhanced way. He
typically stuck to traditional teaching methods. We want to

branch out of just a lecture based approach and make the

students find and engage the information themselves. This is a
more efficient and effective way to encode information.
Common Student
mistakes/struggle

Students have problems accurately comparing various groups in

the Americas. Students also have problems understanding
directions especially involving technology.

Teachers needs/
changes for the
lesson/unit

No specific needs mentioned, he would like to be able to expand

his topic to Indians, and other North American groups along with
these Central American groups. This would allow for greater
compare/contrast amongst groups.

Reflection Questions:
1. How will the teachers background and technology ability level impact what you
might design or recommend?
He has an advanced understanding of technology, so we could get pretty creative and still
expect for him to understand what is going on. It gives us more room to branch out and make
it more interactive. We can look deeply into inquiry task, where the students engage in a
significant amount of production task that make the students explore online sources/tools to
help the students find and engage in the information.

2. How will the students grade level impact what you might design or recommend?
Specifically, think about what the students will be able to do at this age.
These students are 9th graders, so they are high schoolers and have the ability to think
critically and interact within their environment and one another, so I believe that these
students will not have any difficulties when it comes to working with any type of technological
lesson that includes the correct information. 9th graders are new to high school and their
ability to interact with technology is nowhere as evolved as their older peers. They will have
shorter attention spans and have a smaller vocabulary/literary level. I remember when I was a
9th grader I was more proficient in my technological use, so I think we can combine some
simpler task and production task as well as more complex task. Students at this level can
understand most of the vocabulary used in the 9th grade level textbooks and online sources
usually are put into simple forms in order to attract a larger audience. These 9th graders
typically struggle paying attention for long periods of time and require a variety of interactive
elements to stay engaged with the lesson.

3. Keeping in mind your response to the previous question, what might students at
that grade level would have learned about this topic? Think about (or research) what
students at this grade level have already learned on the topic.
Students will have a basic understanding of what these groups are and maybe the
regions in which they were located, but other than that they will not have any background on
the specifics of each civilization. They will have heard of these groups, but not have the ability

to yet distinguish the groups with actual facts yet. ( I am unsure as to what you want here)
The majority of students in the 9th grade history class are not aware of geographical locations
of ancient civilizations, their cultural practices, or history/development. Religion for these
groups was intensively complex and is not something you would dive deeply into without
getting into more myths and legends, which is off topic of the standard, which is to identify
their similarities and differences. This is because their histories vary and since their histories
vary their stories/legends will vary. In order to understand what their natural
barriers/environment you would need to know their regional geography, which a majority of 15
year olds do not know. It is best to assume that the students have little to not understanding
of the underlinings of the ancient civilizations. We will design a lesson that teaches about
these areas as if the students have no understanding, because it is foolish to assume that the
students understand any of it on an acceptable academic level.

4. If there are students with special needs, what accommodations might you need to
make?
We have no students with special needs

5. How will the availability of technology impact what you might design or
recommend? For instance, iPads dont allow you to access websites that use Flash. Or
scheduled computer labs may require the teacher to reserve time in advance.
Our teacher put that there is access to laptops for the students as well as a computer lab, so
we do not feel like availability will be an issue with these students and this lesson. Laptops
allow for all appropriate applications to run. Special programs will be a tiny issue because
students are not allowed to install any programs. We do not know what tools this school has
access to, so we will rely on our lesson pulling from academic sources found online.

6. Most concepts have typical things that students struggle with (misconceptions).
For example, when talking about the reason for seasons, most students describe that
its due to the tilt of the earths axis. Using the information your teacher provided about
the concept in his/her class, as well as googling online to find out common difficulties,
what are some common misconceptions and how might you design your lesson to
overcome them?
This lesson will be based more on information to create an understanding and not information
to challenge a misconception. If any misconceptions have been developed it is off of personal
research and not school resources. These civilizations have factual information that backs
what the lesson will be about, so we are not too worried that we will receive a backlash of
what we present to the class by the students. We want to present the information in a factual
way which cite sources (primary sources, textbooks, ect.) to backup or information to the
students. We will be every specific on key ideas behind each civilization so that students do
not get muddied on these ideas. These are 9th graders and they will be expected to be able

to group all of the characteristics of each civilization and compare them. By comparing them
they will find similarities and differences.

7. In terms of teachers needs or changes for the unit, what will you need to keep in
mind as you design/recommend your materials? (e.g., Teacher needs a group activity, I
need to think about tools that might help me group students).
All that is requested is additional information on Native American groups (Indians)
along with the Maya, Inca, and Aztec civilizations. He did not request anything specific like
group work, although with a topic like this that is very common and might be easy to
incorporate into an assessment of the information. We will further explore technological options
to make the lesson interesting and not just a lecture based learning.

STEP II. Analyze the Learning Objectives

Standards

a.

WH.3.12. Compare and contrast the developments and achievements of

the Maya, Aztec and Inca civilizations.
WH.7.5 Use technology in the process of conducting historical research
and to present products of historical research.
Students will have previously built knowledge of Native American
History
Learning Objectives

After this class:

Objective 1: The students will be able to list key characteristics and achievements of each
ancient civilization
Objective 2: Students will be able to name 3-5 similarities and 3-5 differences between ancient
civilizations achievements.
Objective 3: The students will be able to utilize a piece of technology during research and then
again to present their findings.

STEP III. Outline of Instructional Tasks

Instructional Task (with estimated class time)

Instructional Tasks
(with estimated class time)
1

Step 1: Before we lecture on topic, like a Inquiry Based Project,

students will explore the key characteristics of the Incas,
Mayans, and Aztecs by themselves by first researching and
collecting data on the key ideas/characteristics of the Incas,
Mayans, and Aztecs.
Step 2: Take collected data and write it out by either hand or on
a Google Docs. So that it is available for later use with other
tools for this project/self-lesson.
(Day 1 class period) (Entire day, because they need to
research 3 ancient civilizations in depth and collect key
characteristics of their history, geography, cultures, and other
characteristics)

Learning
Objectives
addressed
#1

Step 1: Students have the option to pick an Indian group that is

located in North America and collect characteristics of their
chosen group like they did for the Central American Ancient
civilizations. (Students, through previous classes, should know
what indian groups are present in North America. Also
incorporate more Inquiry project task, by requiring them to
research Indian group by themselves).
Step 2: Start to compare in your own notes/data collected the
differences between the Indian group and the Ancient
civilizations. (Day 2 class period)

# 2 and #1

Step 1: Students will create a multi venn diagram online using

Microsoft Suite that compares the 3 Central American
civilizations and the Indian group you chose.
Step 2: Print out the Venn Diagram and have it prepared to add
to a Powerpoint with links to the factual evidence you found to
support the creation of your venn diagram. (Day 3)

#1 and #2

Step 1: Create a timeline for each civilization with important

events/dates that helped the civilizations thrive as a society
from start to the end of each civilization.
Step 2: Be sure to describe the events on the timeline and their
importance after you place dates/events on the timeline. Note
the times of existence and greatest peak of civilization for each
Ancient group of Central American civilizations.
(Day 4)

#3 and #2

Step 1:Create a map of Central and Northern America that

includes each of the civilizations you have researched online
Step 2: Write a couple of sentences (one page duble spaced
size 12) about how these geographical locations influenced
each civilization and their cultures/rituals and characteristics as
they vary amongst each other.
Step 3: Turn in presentation and references
Step 4: Presentations of findings.
(Day 4)

#1 #2 and #3 (bring
them all together

Reflection Question:
1. How do these activities meet the learning objectives?
Task 1 addresses the learning objective 1 and 2 because the students are exploring the
content of the Ancient civilizations (Mayans, Incas, Aztecs). The students will be able to list the
history, characteristics, and achievements for each group. The students will be provided with a
list of websites they can visit and gather information about their characteristics and
achievements. After using the resources the students will be able to list basic information of
these groups.
Task 2 addresses learning objectives 1 and 2 because the students will be exploring the
content of a North American Indian Group of their choosing and be able to list the history,
characteristics, and achievements of their selected group. Once again the students will be given
some articles and sources to help guide them in their process. After using the resources the
students will be able to list basic information and achievements of their chosen group.
Task 3 is creating a venn diagram with the information of the Mayans, Incas, Aztecs, and
Indian group they have chosen to compare and contrast characteristics and achievements.
Students will be able to show they collected sufficient information to compare and contrast the
group within the venn diagram. This will allow for the students to make connections between
groups and see which groups were similar and which groups were different. This will address
the learning objectives 1 and 2 because the students will be actually comparing and contrasting
the information and seeing where the groups overlap with characteristics/achievements and

where they differ as civilizations. It will allow for the students to start to think about these
similarities and differences.
Task 4 is a timeline of events and dates that are important for each of the 4 group
selected. This addresses learning objective 3 and 2 because students will be using
technology/online resources to create their choice of timeline. Students will have the opportunity
to explore creating a timeline online and create the timeline in a fashion that they feel best
conveys the information that meets learning objective 2, which is understanding/listing
similarities and differences between the groups. By doing this timeline you can put a timestamp
on when each civilization did what and how they did it and compare that to other groups to see if
any civilizations were more advanced or less advanced and why.
Finally, Task 5 will address all of the learning goals. Students will create a map to be able
to list the areas that each group occupied, this will allow for the students to see which
geographical locations the groups were located and how that might influence their achievement
and characteristics. Students will list how these geographical locations affected each group and
compare the similarities and differences between geographical locations. Students will then be
creating a presentation using technological sources to convey their research to the rst of the
class in an online presentation.

2. Which learning objective(s) was(were) not strongly addressed by the instructional tasks?
The one objective that I could see being blurred could be the similarities and differences,
because if the students mess up the location of characteristics/variables of each civilization then
their venn diagram will be wrong and that will blur one of the main objectives we are trying to
reach. It also will have problems seeing how these civilizations directly affected society outside
of their respective civilizations.

STEP IV. Search Options

Task
Students explore
online information
about each of the
Ancient Civilizations
and Indian groups
being discussed.
Task 1 Step 1

Technology Option
Online
Resources/Websites of
the Students choice.
(Works Cite needed)
http://mayaincaaztec.co
m/

Description
A great website for comparing and
contrasting the 3 groups of Ancient
Civilizations. The left side has a tab bar
that explores different areas such as
maps, government, religion, ect. Within
each of these categories you can pick
whether you want to view the Mayan,
Incan, and Aztec side of that selected
topic.

Students collect data

and place that data into
an internet document

https://www.classzone.
com/net_explorations/U
4/U4_article1.cfm

This is a smaller website with a little less

information. It is less engaging and does
not include specific tabs for each
civilization and their topics. Each
civilization (Mayans, Incas, Aztecs) have
a small map and pictures along with a
paragraph or two about each group.

http://www.incamayana
ztec.com/

Another in depth website with pictures

on the home page. On the left side of
the page there are 3 sections: Mayans,
Incas, and Aztecs. Under each of these
topics is subtopics that describe
characteristics of that society. It links to
you articles and information about
achievements and other aspects.

https://www.youtube.co
m/watch?
v=S5Lp0KrQTqM

This is a video found on youtube that

really does a good job of outlining what
the ancient civilizations have done for
modern society and what they
contributed. It is not too long and is very
informative for the students.

Google Docs

Google Docs is a great way for students

to work on a blank word document
together. It allows for the entire group to
be on it at once and edit the inforamtion
accordingly both in class and out of class.

Hand Write out

Although students may write out the

information they found, they will need to
write it down in google docs to include
later in their presentation.

https://padlet.com

Students can use options such as Padlet

to record their data on an online

Task 1 Step 2

Students have the

option to pick an
Indian group that is
located in North
America and collect
characteristics of
their chosen group
like they did for the
Central American
Ancient civilizations.

https://padlet.com

document. This is an easy way to

collaborate within a group and convey
information that will be needed for the
project's completion. It is free and allows
for the students to be creative with
documenting their data.

http://www.nativelanguages.org/languages.
htm

This website gives a list of al Indian

Groups and has a link to a small page of
the selected group. There is little
information, but a great tool to explore
different groups and get ideas for
selected group.

http://www.nativelanguages.org/languages.
htm

Task 2 Step1

Students need to
create a Venn Diagram
online that compares
and contrast the
ancient groups and
indian group.
Task 3 Step 1

http://www.historyonthenet
.com/native_americans/tri
bes.htm

This website is a great tool that gives the

name of the Indian group and then talks
about if they moved, were stationary, their
leaders, and some key characteristics of
each group. This will be a good site for
students to gather information to be able
to compare and contrast. The only
downside is that it only has 13 Indian
tribes listed

http://www.history.com/topi
cs/native-americanhistory/native-americancultures

Another website that breaks tribes into

regions, because most regional tribes
were similar in many aspects (not all
aspects) and so you can draw information
from these regional characteristics for
your chosen Indian Tribe.

https://support.office.com/
en-us/article/Create-aVenn-diagram-d746a2ceed61-47a7-93fe7c101940839d

Microsoft Suite is a service found in the

classroom already. It has many features
too it and creating a Venn Diagram is one
of those features that allows for you to
enter data to create a chart that shows
the similarities and differences. It is easy
to work with as well.

Students need to
create an in-depth
timeline that outlines
important dates/events
for each civilization. (4
in total)

https://www.metachart.com/venn

Is a simple website that is a fast way to

make a venn diagram. You get to create
the design, enter the data, add labels to
your data, and then display or share your
chart.

http://bioinformatics.lu/ven
n.php

This is the simplest option for the

students. The homepage has a place for
you to enter your 3 list or categories.
Underneath of that you have a blank
space where you would put in your
information and then hit create and it
creates a venn diagram for you.

https://www.officetimeline.
com/download

This is a great tool that I played around

with and it allows for you to create and
edit events into a timeline feature. This
will make it easier for students to create
all 4 of their timelines for each civilization
and it comes out in a neat and easy to
read fashion. The students should be
able to navigate through it and it has a
tutorial so students will know exactly what
to do.

http://www.capzles.com/?
utm_campaign=elearningi
ndustry.com&utm_source=
%2Ftop-10-free-timelinecreation-tools-for-

Another online timeline maker. This is a

nice option that allows for a social story
telling. Students can create simple
timelines that address events and dates
of the civilizations with descriptions within

Task 4 Step 1 and Step

2 because the task ask
for students to create
the timeline and add
descriptions to it, which
can be added while
making the timelines
with these suggested
sites.

teachers&utm_medium=lin the timeline.

k

Wrap up all of your

tools. Write ups from
google docs, maps,
timelines, venn
diagram in the form of
a powerpoint
presentation to be
turned in. (Map handed
in separately)

http://www.myhistro.com

You can create and view many timelines

with this. These are timelines that look
more realistic and involving. It is free to
create an account for the students and
you can make it sharable and public to
everyone to benefit other students for a
later time.

Microsoft Suite

PowerPoint through Microsoft Suite is

amazing because the students will be
able to add all of their information and
resources into a single presentation
model. PowerPoint is accessible for the
students and most students know how to
navigate through this tool. If they do not
there are tutorials that can be watched.

https://prezi.com/

Prezi is a wonderful tool to create a large

concept map presentation of material.
This could be helpful for the students if
they want to void the typical powerpoint
slideshow presentation. However, Prezi is
a little more difficult to maneuver around
and correctly do, so this tool will require
sufficient demonstration to the class
before they can use it.

Task 5 Step 3 and 4

-- Submit the
presentation and then
present the same
presentation.

Reflection Questions:
Which task was the most difficult one to address with appropriate technology options? And why?
The hardest one for us to find was the timeline tool, because there are so many options
and you want to pick one that would be age appropriate and easy for the kids to navigate
through. We wanted an option that allowed for you to put in the event and year and a little
description of the event and it make it for you. It requires for the student to make 4 of these
timelines, so we want to make sure that we don't make it so challenging that they are spending
forever on it. Thats why we chose to use http://www.myhistro.com it was quick, was free to sign
up for and very detailed and easy to manuver around.

STEP V. Selected Options

1.

TASK: Students explore online information that is gathered in an artifact webquest for the

students to easily access about each of the Ancient Civilizations and Indian groups being
discussed.

SELECTED OPTION(s): http://www.incamayanaztec.com/

This was the best choice for the students to get their own information because we want
the students to explore all of the websites provided, but this website was so in depth with each
civilization and allowed for an abundance of information that the other sites just failed to provide.
The other websites are very informative, but this allows for the students to read specific sections
on each group and pull the information they feel to be relevant in describing characteristics and
achievements. We want the students to have access to all of the websites listed in an efficient
manner, so it would be best to have the websites grouped together into webquest for easily
accessibility. This will speed up the research side of this project and enhance the access of
information.
2.
TASK: Students collect data
SELECTED OPTION(s): https://www.google.com/drive/
We chose for the students to record their data/info found in a Google Docs because then
all members of a group can collectively work on the project from different devices. This allows
for all students to engage with the information and makes it more of an enhanced experience,
because it very accessible and saves everyones work to everyones document.

3.
TASK: The Venn Diagram, Power Point
SELECTED OPTION(s): Microsoft Suite

The students have access to the Microsoft Suites through the school already and this is
a good tool, because it has many tools such as powerpoint, word, venn diagram creation, and
ect. The students will know how to work all of these applications and should be able to navigate
through them easily and create all we are asking.
4.
TASK: Timeline
SELECTED OPTION(s): http://www.myhistro.com
This task is best completed by using the site above because it is a simplified and deeply
explained resource that allows the students to put in events, dates, and descriptions and it
creates the timeline for you. It is faster than writing it out or creating one using excel or other
applications This will save the students time, allow for them to engage with each other to create
the 4 time lines and it also allows for the students to explore new internet options outside of
Microsoft Suite. It is a website that is free to sign up for, so there will be no problems with
downloading content or an extra cost.
5. Task: Presentation
Selected Option: Microsot Suite Powerpoint (https://office.live.com/start/PowerPoint.aspx)
We selected this task, because it fits in with what the class already uses and they will be
familiar with it. It also is what our teacher specified that they have in the classroom and
availability is a big part of this project. We want the students to be able to have a presentation
with powerpoint so that all of the groups are presenting in a similar fashion so that their is no
confusion amongst students during presentation. The students will know how to navigate
around and work with powerpoint through microsoft office, so it will create little confusion for a
project with many components.

5.
We really addressed the age. We wanted to use familiarity (Microsoft Suite), but also
incorporated new applications: Google Docs, and http://www.myhistro.com. We chose
applications that have tutorials and will be easy for students in the 9th grade to understand how
to use. These students are new to exploring and learning by themselves, especially when it
comes to online research, so we want to make it new, but simplified for them. We also made it
more of a group project, because we understand they are being asked a lot and we believe that
group collaboration and class engagement is the best way to enhance the learning process,
especially since it is probably a new learning process to a majority of these students.

STEP VI: PROJECT ARTIFACTS PROPOSAL (300-500 words)

Instructional Tasks Summary:

Dear Mr. Harrison,
For this standard we have created an Inquiry based project for your students. We
have planned the following Instructional tasks for this project.

1. Students explore online information about each of the Ancient

Civilizations and Indian groups being discussed. (Day 1)

2. Students explore online information about an Indian group of their choice

from one of the listed sites (Day 1)

3. Students collect data and place that data into an internet document using Google Docs.
(Day 1)
4. Students need to create a Venn Diagram online that compares and contrast the ancient
groups and indian group. (Day 2)
5. Students need to create an in-depth timeline that outlines important dates/events
for each civilization. (4 in total) (Day 3)
6. Wrap up all of your tools. Write ups from google docs, maps, timelines, venn
diagram in the form of a powerpoint presentation to be turned in. (Map handed in
separately). (Day 4 and 5)
To support this project and these task we have created the following artifacts.

Artifact 1: Webquest
Description: This will be helpful for the students. It will be where the teacher will place
links to all of the websites with the information that the students will need. This includes
some links to the other tools that will be needed like the venn diagram, timelines,
microsoft suite, and the final presentation example so the students are connected to all
the correct resources in a more efficient and enhanced aspect for the students to
complete the tasks in the most efficient fashion.
Artifact 2: Screencast of Venn Diagram using Microsoft Suite
Description: Creating a screencast will be a great way to demonstrate to the students
how to use the Venn Diagram section in Microsoft Suite. It will be an in depth detail
about what the Venn Diagram option allows for you to do before you demonstrate how
to use the features. Go through on your screencast and show the students how to make
it so you have different categories (the different groups) and how to label each circle
within the diagram. The video will show the students how to type in their information into
the venn diagram and how to successfully complete a venn diagram with the software.

Artifact 3: Screencast of how to make Timeline (https://youtu.be/B6IwJ4YVoOk)

Description: Much like the screencast of the Venn Diagram it will be helpful to
demonstrate to the students how to use the timeline function in Microsoft Suite. The
screencast will talk about how timelines are important and what they convey or show.
Then in the video there will be a demonstration on how to put in dates/events and add
descriptions to your events/dates that you have placed into the timeline.
Artifact 4: An Example Presentation
Description: It will help these students, especially their age (9th graders) to have an
example final presentation to go off ot. If students can see how the teacher did their
google docs with information, their write up of similarities and differences, their venn
diagram, timeline, and order of powerpoint presentation then the students will see what
is expected and what form it should all be in. The example final presentation should be
shown to the students and each step and process explained. Why each area was
created the way it was and why the information in each area was placed in those areas.