In this project students discover their personal background and family heritage by interviewing parents, grandparents, aunts or uncles to gather information about their family's history. Students use the Internet as the main research tool, and the library and CD-ROM encyclopedias to obtain more information. Students use HyperStudio, a multimedia authoring tool to create a presentation stack for their class and make a formal presentation of their discoveries. This is Part III of a 4-Part Unit: What We Discovered and Learned

#5: Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes. #7: Students conduct research on issues and interest by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and non-print texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience. #8: Students use a variety of technological and informational resources (e.g. libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.

Basic knowledge of computers and keyboarding. Students must have a substantial amount of research from Part II to complete this section of the unit

Students review and discuss the research they have gathered in collaborative group settings. Students compare what they thought they knew to what they have discovered, and come to some conclusions about what new information they learned from their research. Students discuss the value of their discoveries, and draw conclusions, using notes of their group discussion.

Lesson 3 of 4: 1. Writing a Short Essay of Discovery: Teams compare and contrast their charts and the research they have gathered and write a short report of comparison and contrast, explaining the information they found while searching for items listed in the "Student Guide A." This report is word processed and saved to their files for inclusion in the final presentation stack. 2. Writing a Short Essay of Reflection: Teams write an essay of reflection, making personal commentary about the value of their discoveries and drawing a conclusion about their experiences during the project. Criteria: The report and essay must be word processed. The report contains specific details comparing what they knew about their culture and what they discovered. Their findings may confirm or augment their prior knowledge. The essay contains thoughtful conclusions about the value of their research, and the importance of their heritage.

Lesson 3: There are two activities for this lesson: Activity #1: Student teams revisit their charts and first essay. They compare and contrast this with the new information they have researched. Students make notes of similarities in their prior knowledge and their new findings. Together, students compose a compare/contrast report on the computer. Students share their reports with other groups. Activity #2: Teams write an essay of reflection in which they make personal commentary considering the value of their discoveries and forming an opinion about their cultural heritage. Pairs print out and turn in the assignments. The data is stored on the computer's hard drive and a floppy disk.

Word-processing on the computer. Computers with a word-processing application, printer, LCD movie projector