Essential Understanding: Citizens of the United States must be familiar with basic facts of all of the States.

This year grade 5 students study the U.S. States but next year the topic will be moved down to grade 4. This year’s grade 4 students are using technology class time to develop a database of information about the U.S. States using Wikispaces, so they learn basic State facts. I created a page for each State and entered the labels for the data needed for each State.

Students in the two grade 4 classes were divided into 5 groups to study the 5 regions of the U.S. There were groups of students in each class working on each region. I created a username and password for each student and added them to Wikispaces as members. Students each selected a State within the assigned region to start to research. As they completed the information for each State, they determined which other States needed to have information added and then worked on that State. This allowed students to work collaboratively even though they were not in the same technology class. Students will create the 5 summary pages for the regions and will decide what information will be on the page.

Most of the information is from factmonster.com. Students learned to manage data, moving it from one location to another and to sort and sift through a larger database to find what is needed for the Wikispaces project. The project also allowed the student their first opportunity to work collaboratively on a project. The project is not yet completed but it is in the final stages. icstampa.wikispaces.com