Casting Light On The Dark ages: Lesson Plan

Component	Time	Teacher Activity	Student Activity
Introduction	5 minutes	Inform students of the purpose of this task. They will have the opportunity to explore an area of interest to them, selected from amongst the web site options made available from within OzEdweb. They are to choose an area of interest, and working in pairs, explore this area and write a 250-word report on their findings, comparing life in the Middle Ages to what they already know about life today. It is an important element of this process, that students compare what they have found out to what they already know both because a) There is not time in this exercise to do web based comparison / I haven’t developed material that is appropriate for this b) Students are only just learning to do web based exploration, and therefore this task will be clearer and simpler for them, acting as an effective introduction, within the structured environment of exploring only one area	Write down task objective.
Log On	5 minutes	1) Assist students with the log-on process and ensure that all have successful connection 2) Direct students to start page Medieval Web Links	1) Log on to computer 2) Open Browser 3) Open start page 4) Read instructions
Web Search	30 minutes	1) Provide clarification of instructions to ensure all students understand the task 2) Direct students to begin exploration 3) Supervise exploration to ensure students remain on task 4) Provide clarification and explanation as required	1) Surf to first link 2) Read and take notes 3) Continue process to develop material for your assignment Note: It is possible for students to collect notes by cutting and pasting
250 Word Comparative Assignment	20 minutes	1) Repeat guidelines for assignment, ie: a 250 word comparative analysis of the differences and similarities between life in the Middle Ages and Life today.	1) Commence assignment. this may be constructed by cutting and pasting, in part
Conclusion	5 minutes	Facilitate class discussion on results. It is envisaged that in the following lesson more discussion will occur. This follow up lesson is not described in these papers, but I envisage that 15 minutes of the next consecutive lesson would cover the findings of their web search and include self-criticism of their approach. This lesson would also then be used as a stepping board for developing concepts for their final assignment, which is an essay based comparative question	Participate in class discussion about your results and about your thoughts on this process.