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Themes:
Black History Month, Gulf War II +
Dear %%NAME%%,
Welcome to this month's issue of ProQuest Teachable Moments. This issue focuses on a myriad of topics, including Black History Month, Gulf War II, the seasons, cloning, and much more.
Our monthly enewsletter delivers a set of hands-on learning activities that encourage students to conduct quality research and produce meaningful results to increase their knowledge and understanding of everything from basic math to literature to history and beyond. Keep in mind that these activities are not duplicated in our other monthly newsletters, which also contain ready-made lessons.
Have an idea or feedback concerning this newsletter? Send email to tim.mclain@il.proquest.com today.
SIRS® Researcher
Gulf War II: Justified or Unjustified?
Grades 6-12
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More than half of the President's recent State of the Union Address was targeted on the continuation of the war in Iraq. President Bush sees the war as justified, winnable, and central to our War on Terrorism.
Increasingly, more and more military leaders, Congress, and the American public see it as a distraction from the real war on terrorism, not winnable, a major loss of American military lives, and a budgetary and economic disaster for
the future.
Activity: Which of these views is the better choice and why? Leading Issues provides a variety of resources for students to investigate either side of this timely and controversial issue and then present their reasoned opinions.
- Click the Pro vs. Con Leading Issues > More issues link.
- Click the Iraq War link.
- Also note the link to Special Feature: Focus on Terrorism (Iraq).
Teachers will want students to use the essential questions for critical thinking included in the myAnalysis (section four):
- Was the U.S. justified in invading Iraq?
- Should the U.S. begin a withdrawal of troops from Iraq?
- Do foreign nations have a right to intervene in another sovereign nation's internal affairs?
- Is Iraq in the midst of civil war or is it Sunni-Shiite sectarian violence?
- Is the Iraq War fueling global terrorism?
Of course, these are only examples, and teachers can create additional questions that ensure that students are motivated and express a variety of opinions and reasons.
Leading Issues is unique in that SIRS provides guides for teachers and students in how to present student expression in a variety of ways -- both active and passive in section five: Apply your knowledge -- using the guidelines provided, apply what you've learned to one of the formats below:
- Guide to Writing a Research Paper
- Guide to Writing a Mini-Research Paper
- Guide to Creating a PowerPoint Presentation
- Guide to Creating a Mini-Debate Outline
To access these formats, mouse over "Educator's Resources" at the top of any page in your SIRS interface, then click "Guides." Links to the formats appear on the page in the column to the left.
Find out more about SIRS Researcher and SIRS Leading Issues at our K-12 website.
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eLibrary®
Why do librarians look forward to February?
Grades 4-12
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February is Library Lover's Month. Unfortunately, many students in many schools aren't going to the library as often as they did in the past and enjoying and learning from what the library has to offer.
One reason is that many students have increasingly relied on Google and Internet surfing to provide digital resources for their research assignments. This eliminates one of the major reasons these students have traditionally gone to the library, where they might find exciting displays that lead them to some of the great books and magazines available for checkout.
How can librarians get students to use the library more often for research assignments, and simultaneously capture their interest in recreational and educational print resources? One way is for librarians to help teachers understand why the library's print and digital resources are far superior to Googling for information and
recreation.
Activity: ProQuest has prepared an excellent comparison of eLibrary, the print library, and Google that librarians can share with their teachers to help bring students back to the library. (Get your copy here.)
ProQuest has also created a handout that librarians can give to teachers to create interest in the ProQuest 500 model BookCart collection. This collection can support many of the standards-based topics in the school curriculum -- instant lesson plans for teachers and a way for students to go beyond the textbook.
Teachers are the ones who make the research assignments and help determine the choice of resources. So, librarians can get teachers hooked on eLibrary and using BookCarts by downloading this three-page tool and handing it out to their teachers -- Increase Librarian-Teacher Collaboration with Model BookCarts.
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eLibrary® Elementary
Can a groundhog predict the weather?
Grades 3-7
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The 120th anniversary of Groundhog Day is February 2. On this day, Punxsutawney Phil comes out of his burrow on Gobbler's Knob -- in front of thousands of followers from all over the world -- to predict the weather for the rest of winter.
According to legend, if Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter weather. If he does not see his shadow, there will be an early spring.
The celebration of Groundhog Day began with Pennsylvania's earliest settlers. They brought with them the legend of Candlemas Day, which states, "For as the sun shines on Candlemas Day, so far will the snow swirl in May..."
Punxsutawney held its first Groundhog Day in the 1800s. The first official trek to Gobbler's Knob was made on February 2, 1887.
Activity: eLibrary Elementary Topic search is designed to highlight collections of curriculum learning resources that support teachers, students, and the K-6 curriculum and standards. To access resources to support February events mini-research activities:
- Click the Topics search tab.
- Click Social Studies > Holidays > February.
- Assign each student one of the holidays to research.
- Each student will use two articles to summarize information about that event.
- Each student will report back to the class in about two minutes what they have learned.
Oral reports provide an opportunity for students to share what they have learned. These activities help students to develop essential skills in reading, writing, critical thinking, and presentation. When done frequently enough, students develop confidence and increase the essential skills that are tested by the states.
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CultureGrams™
Why do we need to celebrate Black History?
Grades 5-10
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February is Black History Month in the U.S. To gain a better understanding of the African-American struggle for equality and civil rights, students must understand the unique roots and circumstances that brought them to America and the absence of freedom they had to endure under the institution of slavery.
Slavery is still practiced in many countries of the world today, and the drive for freedom still continues. Besides being a general atrocity and a personal tragedy for the millions of Africans sold as slaves, the African slave trade has had a major effect on the history of the world. Slavery has affected the historical development and current cultural and socio-economic conditions of African nations -- from which individuals were captured -- and nations in the Americas -- to which Africans were brought as slaves.
Using the CultureGrams World Edition, have one half of the class read the indicated sections of the following CultureGrams:
- United States (History)
- Antigua and Barbuda (History, Arts, Holidays)
- Barbados (History, Language, Arts)
- Haiti (History, Population)
- St. Lucia (History, Population, Holidays)
- St. Kitts and Nevis (Flag, History)
- St. Vincent (History, Holidays)
Have the other half read:
- Angola (History)
- Botswana (Religion)
- Malawi (History)
- Mozambique (History)
- Senegal (History)
- Sierra Leone (History, Population, Religion).
Have the group who read the African CultureGrams discuss the circumstances surrounding the African side of the slave trade, in addition to any long-lasting effects it has had on populations
or religions.
Have the group who read the Americas CultureGrams discuss the history and cultural impact of slavery in those countries. What did it take to end slavery? What types of economies were created as a result of the slave trade? How did it influence the arts and languages of the Americas?
Have the two groups share their findings with each other through mini-presentations.
As a class, analyze the Country and Development Data for all of the countries. Which statistics might slavery have influenced and how?
Further research could include outside study on where and how slavery still exists.
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eLibrary® Science
To clone or not to clone?
Grades 5-12
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Ten years ago this month, the world was startled by the news that Scottish scientists had successfully cloned a sheep -- Dolly. Today, cloning is widespread among scientists around the world, and the debate has spread to include the cloning of humans.
Many of the advances in cloning and genetics are not included in a majority of the textbooks used by science students because the average science textbook are over six years old. The good news for science teachers is that eLibrary Science content is always current.
And, by using BookCarts, teachers can ensure that learning resources for any science topic are relevant and the most current for their students. An additional benefits is that BookCarts save classroom and library time for learning by not wasting it in surfing for questionable Internet resources.
Activity: eLibrary Science includes more than 40 BookCarts that librarians and teachers can copy to jump-start the use of eLibrary resources on major and current topics in science. Click this link to review the eLibrary Science BookCarts and to copy them to your local collection.
When you access BookCart Editor, click the ProQuest Carts tab and then the folder "eLibrary Science -- BookCarts" for the complete listing. You will find several BookCarts already focused on genetics and cloning and one in particular on this topic: The Bioethics of Cloning.
Each of these BookCarts includes models of essential questions for critical thinking to help students research more than encyclopedia facts. Teachers can assign these questions to students and create others that are more appropriate for local curriculum and standards.
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ProQuest® Historical Newspapers
How can the Supreme Court determine the rules by which we live?
Grades 5-10
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The 70th anniversary of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's proposal to add additional justices to the Supreme Court occurs on February 5. FDR's strategy was called "packing the court" and was designed to provide support for attacking the Great Depression with his New Deal programs.
In a similar manner, President Bush and the Republican majority in Congress recently increased the number of conservative justices on the court, including Chief Justice John Roberts. Conservatives hope that this new conservative majority will lead to the repeal of "Roe v Wade" as well as other laws they feel are hurting the country.
Activity: Click the Topics tab > The Great Depression (c. 1928 - 1939) > Supreme Court & the New Deal. Answer the following essential questions for critical thinking using three resources and a written report of about 250 words.
ProQuest has developed a research guide (get your copy here) that helps educators use the new Topics tool to save time in researching and to focus students on essential questions for critical thinking. The guide also provides report format models and teacher evaluation rubrics to help teacher create more effective research assignments.
Here are some examples of essential questions for critical thinking that can both motivate student interest and ensure that research reports increase essential skills in digital information literacy. Teachers are invited to use these models and create and assign others to their students. Too often research reports are topic driven rather than essential questions driven. This generally results in boring copy/paste reports of encyclopedic facts rather than the engaging expressions of student original thought.
- Why did Roosevelt try to pack the Supreme Court?
- What changed his strategy and why?
- What was the most important outcome of the New Deal and why?
- What were some of the programs that did not succeed and why?
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eLibrary® Curriculum Edition
What does Black History Month have to do with "E Pluribus Unum"?
Grades 7-12
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February is Black History Month and one of the new ethnic celebration themes that have evolved to help fulfill the promise of "e Pluribus Unum" in the Great Seal of the United States of America -- Out of Many, One.
Black History Month is designed to help teachers and students to learn about and understand the struggles for equality and to celebrate the accomplishments of African-Americans.
History Study Center Activity: An especially good study unit has been prepared for the American Civil Rights Movement (1954-68) featuring Martin Luther King, Jr. The study unit contains photos, biographies, speeches, videos, primary source documents, timelines, historiography, maps, references, and websites.
- Click "History" in the blue Special Collections box of eLibrary Curriculum Edition.
- Type "Black Civil Rights" in the Quick Search box, then click Go!
- The list below will provide the Study Units for students to use for mini-research:
- The American Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1968
- Black Power: Race and race relations 1968-
- Reconstruction, 1863-1877
- The origins of the American Civil War
- The "Peculiar Institution": the slavery issue in American politics
- Slave life in America
- American race relations, 1896-1954: Plessy to Brown
Teachers need to integrate critical thinking skills into all research assignments. Despite the power of the resources in History Study Center, students will flounder without a variety of essential questions for critical thinking to guide their research efforts. Here are some sample engaging and essential questions for teachers to consider and assign to students:
- How is the struggle for equality and civil rights different for African-Americans than it was or is for other ethnic groups in our country?
- What were some examples of the specific strategies that were used by African-American groups in the struggle for civil rights?
- Which strategies were most effective in leading to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and why?
- What struggles still remain for African-American equality and why?
ProQuest Learning: Literature Activity: Students should select an author and several of the works that have a direct impact on inspiring and motivating people to learn more about the plight of African-Americans and the need for major reforms in our national laws to ensure equal rights and opportunity for all Americans.
Students should summarize some significant facts about the author and one the works that had significant impact on the Civil Rights Movement.
- Click the Literature icon in Special Collections.
- Type "Black Authors" in the Quick Search box and search.
- Click "More" in the Authors section to see a longer list of Black authors, OR...
- Click "Works" to get a list of the works of Black authors and then "More."
- Summarize information about the author selected and one of his/her works.
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ProQuest® Platinum
What are the origins of Black History Month, and why is this important?
Grades 6-12
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February marks the beginning of Black History Month, an annual celebration that has existed since 1926. Much of the credit can go to Harvard scholar Dr. Carter G. Woodson, who was determined to bring Black History into the mainstream public arena.
Woodson devoted his life to making the world see African-Americans as participants rather than as lay figures in history.
In 1926 Woodson organized the first annual Negro History Week, which took place during the second week of February. Woodson chose this date to coincide with the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln--two men who had greatly impacted the black population.
Over time, Negro History Week evolved into the Black History Month that we know today -- a four-week-long celebration of African-American history.
Activity: An interesting twist on studying/researching Black History Month is to find out more about the many ways it's celebrated rather than the more typical research on famous leaders and events in African-American
history.
To get started on the study of ways that Black History Month is celebrated:
- Type "Black History Month and Celebration" in the Basic Search box and Search.
- Browse the variety of articles that are available. Notice the small box on the left of each article.
- Click the box for each article title that interests you about ways of celebrating.
- After selecting several articles, click the Marked List tab at the top.
- To learn more about how you can use your Marked List, click Help at the top-right of the page.
Here are some examples of essential questions for critical thinking that can both motivate student interest and ensure that research reports increase essential skills in digital information literacy.
Teachers are invited to use these models and create and assign others to their students. Too often research reports are topic driven rather than essential questions driven. This generally results in boring copy/paste reports of encyclopedic facts rather than the engaging expressions of student original thought.
- What is a very effective way of celebrating Black History Month and why?
- How does the celebration of Black History Month benefit students?
- How does the celebration of Black History Month benefit all citizens?
- Why is the African-American struggle for equality and civil rights similar to, and different from, other ethnic immigrant groups?
- Why is the study of Black History Month topics important to a student's overall understanding of history?
- What struggles and rights remain to be gained by African-Americans today?
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SIRS® Decades
What might Japanese-Americans and Arab-Americans have in common?
Grades 7-12
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Sixty-five years ago on February 19, 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt signed an executive order that resulted in the internment of thousands of Japanese-Americans living on the West Coast.
His order triggered the round-up and confinement of 120,000 Americans of Japanese heritage in 10 internment camps -- officially called "relocation centers" -- in California, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, and Arkansas.
Roosevelt's executive order was fueled by anti-Japanese sentiment among farmers who competed against Japanese labor, politicians who sided with anti-Japanese constituencies, and the general public, which worried about more "sneak attacks" in the wake of the Japanese assault on Pearl Harbor -- even though more than 2/3 of the Japanese interned in the spring of 1942 were citizens of the United States
Activity: Learn more about the Japanese internment and how the forces that propagated this travesty are alive today in the form of nearly a dozen confirmed anti-Islamic reactions against Arab-American citizens.
Click the 1940s icon > Japanese-American Internment. Note the "So What" feature that links the past with the present. This linking is essential for students to understand that "Those Who Forget History Are Doomed to Repeat It."
Note that each topic in SIRS Decades has Document Based Questions that integrate critical thinking and original thought from students about the topic and how to select and use the resources effectively. Here is the DBQ for this topic: Account for the U.S. government's decision to intern Japanese-Americans during World War II, assess its validity, and describe its impact on Japanese-American families.
Answer the question above in an essay format by applying your knowledge of the era and by making a direct reference to the accompanying primary source documents.
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SIRS Discoverer®
Why is African-American history important to us all?
Grades 4-7
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February is Black History Month. Black History Month, along with other ethnic celebration themes, is an excellent way for teachers to build student understanding of how African-American culture and the struggle for equality benefit us all.
The annual celebration of Black History has existed since 1926. Much of the credit can go to Harvard scholar Dr. Carter G. Woodson, who was determined to bring Black History into the mainstream public arena. Woodson devoted his life to making the world see African-Americans as participants rather than as lay figures in history.
In 1926 Woodson organized the first annual Negro History Week, which took place during the second week of February. Woodson chose this date to coincide with the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln--two men who had greatly impacted the black population.
Over time, Negro History Week evolved into the Black History Month that we know today--a four-week-long celebration of African-American history.
Activity: This month, teachers will ask students to navigate websites to get information for their reports. This navigation is almost always more challenging than reading articles from newspapers and magazines. SIRS editors select these websites for their appropriateness to the K-8 curriculum and the reading levels of these students.
- Type "African American History Month" in the Search box and click the Subject Headings option before searching.
- Click the link for African American History Month.
- Click the WebFind sites tab.
- Assign a different website to each two-person research team.
- More than one websites will be about Dr. King. Select the best ones only. If more than one person is featured, select the most interesting one to summarize.
- Students will present a two-minute oral report to share their new knowledge, OR...
- Students can summarize the message of the website in about 150 to 200 words.
- Students will print a picture of central figure honored in the website using a separate search on the name of that central figure.
Summaries should include the following types of information:
- When did this person live and what was their world like then?
- For what was this person most famous?
- How did this person's accomplishment affect African-Americans and our world today?
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