Have you ever thought about what motivates kids to get involved in learning? When kids talk about sports, playing basketball, football or soccer they describe intricate plays at length, with enormous animation. They rarely give a play-by-play account of the coach's instructions. The fun and exhilaration comes with "doing" the sport, not listening to how to do it or how others have done it. Real learning takes place when one is actively involved, shooting from the sideline, missing by an inch, analyzing how to perfect the shot, shooting again, making the basket!
Web sites that give students an opportunity to be personally included, to "do science" to "be a writer" or to "be an artist," automatically involve them intellectually. Project-based learning gets their creative juices flowing, providing opportunities to apply and practice skills. It addresses kids' proficiencies and stresses intrinsic motivation, while encouraging them to determine what to work on. It accepts them as experts in reference to their needs.
Be a Historian
The New Deal Network
http://newdeal.feri.org
The New Deal Network encourages students to discover and document public works and private histories of that momentous time, as well as to publish their own stories on the New Deal Network.
What did you do in the war, Grandma?
http://www.stg.brown.edu/projects/WWII_Women/tocCS.html
An Oral History of Rhode Island Women during World War II. Written by students in the Honors English Program at South Kingstown High School.
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Be a Social Activist
Youth in Action Network
http://www.teaching.com/act/
Focusing on the three components integral to participating in social action, Learn, Communicate and Take Action, this Web site is designed to help teachers, students and concerned individuals from all over the world to come together to engage in social action, primarily environmental and human rights.
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Be a Scientist
Arctica
http://www.accessexcellence.com/arc
An online mystery for young scientists to test their skills.
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Be an Environmentalist
RoadKill 2005
http://edutel.musenet.org:8042/roadkill/
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Be a Global Scientist
The Globe Program
http://globe.fsl.noaa.gov/fsl/welcome.html
GLOBE students make a core set of environmental observations at or near their schools and report their data via the Internet. Scientists use GLOBE data in their research and provide feedback to the students enrich their science education.
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Be a Dreamer
The North Star Project
http://www.fablevision.com/northstar/map.html
A unique site that uses animation and wistful illustrations by artist Peter Reynolds to encourage students, teachers and their families to share their dreams for the future, create a constellation map and nominate a famous "North Star."
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Be an Artist
Children's Art Gallery
http://www.naturalchild.com/gallery/
A free exhibition space for students of any age. It has a flexible search engine to select artwork by student's age, by subject or by country.
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Be an Zoo Intern
The San Diego Zoo InternQuest
http://www.naturalchild.com/gallery/
Join ten California high school students as they recount their learning adventures as interns at the San Diego Zoo. Cast your Vital Vote on Conservation Habitat Plans and browse through the PhotoGallery.
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Be a Mystery Writer, a Poet, or a Book Reviewer
CyberKids
http://www.cyberkids.com/
A futurist Web site for kids, this electronic publication provides opportunities for kids to share stories, art or other creations, read a chapter a week from a new novel by a best-selling author, participate in real-time chat with other students, enter an International Writing and Art contest and more.
MidLink Magazine
http://longwood.cs.ucf.edu/~MidLink/
Midlink Magazine, an electronic magazine, published quarterly, for kids ages 10 to 15 in the middle grades invites you to "browse through our interactive space to enjoy art and writing that will link middle school kids all over the world. Every issue has a new and exciting theme. You can participate just by logging-in to these pages!"
Diary Project
http://www.diaryproject.com/
An online journal writing experience in which students are invited to "share their thoughts, hopes, dreams, questions and ideas with other young people throughout the world via the Internet. Its inspiration evolved from the book "Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Sarajevo," in which Zlata Filipovic shares her thoughts and feelings as a young girl growing up in Sarajevo.
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Be a Stock Market Investor
Edustock
http://www.thinkquest.org/library/site.html?team_id=3088
Created by high school students for the Think Quest competition, this interactive Web site teaches the essential of the stock market including a real time stock market simulation.
Good News Bears
http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/edu/rse/RSEyellow/gnb.html
An interdisciplinary project specifically designed for middle school students and teachers, this project revolves around an interactive stock market competition between classmates using real-time stock market data from the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ.
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Be a Scientist
Journey North
http://www.learner.org/jnorth/
From animal migration to tulip-garden planting to interactive, comparative studies of the natural world, this project allows students to share collaborative data, receive daily reports, and it presents challenging questions and online lesson plans for teachers.