Web Activity "Inquire into a past phenomenon"

Description:	Carry out an inquiry into a phenomenon in Canadian History (1850-1945) using, among other resources, the McCord Museum Web site's database and produce a visual and written presentation called a folder.
Grades:	Quebec Secondary Cycle 2; Grades 7 to 12. For more details, see 11. Curricula Links .
Duration:	Approximately 4 hours (in class or at home).
Process:	On the museum Web site and on paper.
Printable Student Handout:	-Student work sheet; - Ideas for inquiries, suggested in the "Web Activities"; -Student-teacher project contract .
Web resources:	On the Museum Web site: - Digitized collection: Database of 125,000 images (2,200 of which are fully documented) dating from 1840-1945; - Thematic tours: short presentations about more than sixty subjects; - Games: more than twenty games targeting various skills; On the Museum Web site, on the EduWeb section: -History texts: summary, excerpts from history books and historians' texts, essays; -Links for locating other images and documentation.
Tool:	The folder, a tool for preparing reports using images available on this site or elsewhere. The folder is saved on the Museum Web site.

1. Objectives
2. Games and inquiries
3. Ideas for inquiries
4. Web resources
5. Tool for creating an inquiry: the folder
6. The teacher's role
7. Pedagogical tools
8. Assessment
9. Schedule
10. Technical equipment
11. Curricula links

1. Objectives

Main objective of the activity:

• To carry out an inquiry related to Canadian history, consulting a variety of sources of information and using a Web creation tool.

Specific objectives of the activity:

• To formulate questions;
• To observe;
• To use information;
• To use ICT;
• To establish links;
• To use ICT;
• To summarize.

For more details, see 11. Curricula Links.

2. Games and inquiries

By playing the observation games and carrying out their inquiry, the students, working either alone or in teams, are invited to experience the discovery or the reconstruction of history, in accordance with the learning approach used in social studies. You may adapt the resources to a situational problem.

Stimulate the historical curiosity of students…

Initially, this involves encouraging the students to become familiar with the site and to take part in its various observation games that use artifacts and compare urban landscapes of the past and present.

Encourage students to ask questions …

Somewhat like a historian, the students carry out an inquiry into a historical phenomenon that ntrigues them, or that raises a problem to be investigated. They can:

• formulate their own question for an inquiry, or
• take advantage of the inquiry ideas proposed by ClioClic, for which they are assured of finding appropriate resources on the Museum's Web site.

Before undertaking the inquiry in the digitized collections of the Museum, they must draw upon their prior knowledge and formulate one possible answer to their question.

Structure an inquiry…

Prior to their use of the images database, students may consult another historical source of information, in order to better define their subject. Notably, the EduWeb section recommends history texts, such as

• a summary for the period 1840-1945;
• excerpts from history textbooks;
• excerpts of historians' texts;
• essays by history students; and
• links for institituional Web sites, as The Canadian Encyclopedia.

Afterwards, doing research with digitized collection means the students will try to find, in the ways listed below, artifacts that have a direct bearing on the question that they are researching:

• through their observation of it;
• through examining the accompanying label;
• through reading the description that comes with it (if applicable).

The students select their artifacts, save them by creating a folder and process the information that they have gathered. They thus take advantage of the workspace provided during their creation of a folder.

Provide more extensive documentation…

The students complete their research and summarize waht they have learned.

The students should indicate the sources they consult using the following formats:

Example of a book	Dickinson, John A. and Brian Young. Diverse Pasts, a history of Québec and Canada, Mississauga, Copp Clark, 1995, p. 190.
Example of a periodical	Barber, Dan. "Political Victory in Ottawa", Canadian Illustrated News, vol. 5, no 27, July 2, 1874, p. 328.
Example of a Web site	Library and Archives Canada. Website of Library and Archives Canada, [On line]. www.collectionscanada.ca (page consulted January 28, 2004).

Present the results of their inquiry…

The students are encouraged to present the folders that they create in class and to comment on the work.

The students may also print a copy of what they have done for evaluation. They can also save a copy of their work in a computer.

Finally, the students may publish their work under the tab EduWeb/ Students' Work (by sending an e-mail to ClioClic@mccord.mcgill.ca).

3. Ideas for inquiries

More than twenty ideas are suggested, linked to different curricula. They were conceived to ensure that the students can carry out productive research with the digitized collection and other available resources. In general the ideas deal with living conditions in this country during the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, in the context of industrialization and urbanization; as well as Canada's participation in World Wars, the confederation debatesm the national policy and the CPR, and the women's movements. See Web Activities.

4. Museological and historical resources

You and your students have access on this Web site to a variety of resources:

• a database of 125,000 images, from the digitized collections of the McCord Museum and its museum partners: the New Brunswick Museum; the Centre d'études acadiennes de l'Université de Moncton; the North Vancouver Museum & Archives; the Guelph Civic Museums (in Ontario); the Sir Alexander Galt Museum & Archives (in Alberta), and the Musée minéralogique et minier de Thetford Mines (in Québec);
• and texts, some from other university collaborators, and links to external sites (to access other sources of information).

5. Tool for creating an inquiry: the folder

The work of the students takes the form of a folder. In three easy steps, students search the collection, select images and from their selection, create a folder. See how in the page "Your images folders".

A tool for gathering, dealing with and organizing information…

This tool will help the students at each step of their work in developing an inquiry. It enables them to save their initial selection of images, to organize and structure the information that they collect, to synthesize that information and to present the results of their inquiry.

Because the folders created by the students are exploratory in nature rather than exhaustive, it is recommended that their folders comprise about ten images. However, it is up to you to define what is required.

A flexible, multi-purpose tool…

A folder may:

• include digitized images from other sources, such as other museums;
• include hyperlinks to other Web sites, to access specific information;
• be viewed at any time on the Museum's Web site;
• be presented in class when it is completed using a computer hooked up to the Internet and a multimedia projector;
• be printed for the purposes of evaluation;
• be saved in a computer;
• be published under the tab EduWeb/Students' Work (by sending an e-mail with the name of their folder to ClioClic@mccord.mcgill.ca).

6. The teacher's role

Beyond the suggestions in the chart "General teaching/learning approach", you will be involved in the pedagogical and technical aspects of the project.

Pedagogical aspects…

You will help students structure their inquiry by, for example:

• directing their inquiry toward concepts proposed in the curriculum;
• helping them locate artifacts relevant to their inquiry by:
  • exploring resources for themes;
  • doing several searches using the different search engines available on the site; and
  • looking for concrete items related to the subject.
• encouraging them to use the other information sources available on the site (excerpts from history books, historians' texts, written summaries, essays, etc.) or elsewhere;
• helping them develop a coherent report;
• reminding them to acknowledge their sources.

Technical aspects…

You will help students use the site by:

• suggesting that they consult the FAQ when they have questions on the site itself;
• reminding them to make careful note of the name of their folder and the password that they selected;
• suggesting that they make a back-up copy of the folder (saved under another name).

7. Pedagogical tools

You have access to tools that can help you plan the projects. These tools are found in this ClioClic section:

• the teaching/learning approach with a guide for demonstrating the Web site;
• some components of the curriculum in history or social studies, in English or French, for Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick, British Columbia and Alberta.

In addition, you are encouraged to share your experience in working with these resources and to collaborate with your colleagues:

• under the tab Tools developed by teachers.

Finally, the section ClioClic comprises:

• a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions);
• a glossary;
• an information capsule entitled "Interpreting artifacts."

8. Assessment

A student-teacher project contract provides a means to plan and keep track of the inquiry process.

The following evaluation keys are to be used with your students, as a group, when you view the completed folders. :

Rate each element by circling a number. Calculate the total.
SUBJECT OR IDEA:
FULL NAME OF REPORT:
FOLDER NAME (on web site):
A. General:
Folder is complete and functional	0	1	2
Deadlines were met	0	1	2	3
All steps of contract completed	0	1	2
Quality of work	0	1	2	3
B. Approach:
Introduction: title, subject, question, components of answer	0	1	2
Comments pertinent to the inquiry	0	1	2	3
Conclusion: summary of results	0	1	2
C. Use of diversified sources and references:	0	1	2	3
D. Written expression:	0	1	2	3
E. Originality:	0	1	2
Total number of points:	/25

9. Schedule

Plan on using about four periods (of varying length) to carry out all of the steps (from the initial exploration to the presentation of the completed folders in class).

• Since some steps are done on computer, the students can eventually work at home or in the computer lab, outside of classroom time.

10. Technical equipment 

• Ratio: 1 computer/2 students (recommended) unless you plan to have the teams take turns.
• Technical parameters:
  • Internet Explorer 6 (or latest version), or Safari;
  • Macromedia Flash plug-in.
• A high-speed connection maximizes observation of high-definition digital images.
• Optional: a multimedia projector for presenting the site and the completed folders in class.

11. Curricula links

See ideas of inquiries found on the tab "Web Activities" for specific components of the curricula.

ALBERTA
Social Studies, grade 7 (2006)
7.S.7 Apply the research process:

• [ICT] Plan and conduct a search, using a wide variety of electronic sources; [ICT] analyze and synthesize information to produce an original work.

7.S.8 Demonstrate skills of oral, written and visual literacy:

• [ICT] Use selected presentation tools to demonstrate connections among various pieces of information.

BRITISH COLUMBIA
Social Studies, grade 10 (1997)
Application of Social Studies:

• Plan and conduct library and community research using primary and secondary print and non-print sources, including electronic sources.

Social Studies, grade 11 (1997)
Skills and Processes II:

• Demonstrate appropriate research skills.

NEW BRUNSWICK
Canadian History, 122 (1998)
Historical Thinking:

• 3. Students will employ processes of critical historical inquiry to reconstruct and interpret the past

ONTARIO 
History: grade 8 (revised 2004)
Inquiry/Research and Communication Skills:

• Formulate questions to facilitate research on particular topics; Use a variety of primary and secondary sources to locate relevant information; Describe and analyse conflicting points of view about a historical issue or personality; Communicate the results of inquiries for specific purposes and audiences, using media works, political cartoons, oral presentations, written notes and descriptions, drawings, tables, charts, and graphs.

Canadian History since World War I, Grade 10, Academic, CHC2D, and Applied, CHC2P (2005)
Methods of Historical Inquiry and Communication:

• Formulate questions on topics and issues in the history of Canada since 1914, and use appropriate methods of historical research to locate, gather, evaluate, and organize relevant information from a variety of sources;
• Interpret and analyse information gathered through research, employing concepts and approaches appropriate to historical inquiry;
• Communicate the results of historical inquiries, using appropriate terms and concepts and a variety of forms of communication.

Canada: History, Identity, and Culture, CHI4U (2005)
Methods of Historical Inquiry and Communication

• Use methods of historical inquiry to locate, gather, evaluate, and organize research materials from a variety of sources;
• Interpret and analyse information gathered through research, employing concepts and approaches appropriate to historical inquiry
• Communicate the results of historical inquiries, using appropriate terms and concepts and a variety of forms of communication.

QUEBEC
Quebec Education Program, Secondary School Education, Cycle One (2004) and Cycle Two (in French, document aux fins de validation, 2006)
History and citizenship education:

• Competency 1: Examines social phenomena from a historical perspective.
• Competency 2: Interprets social phenomena using the historical method.

Cross-Curricular Competencies:

• Competency 1: Uses information;
• Competency 6: Uses information and communications technologies;
• Competency 9: Communicates appropriately.