Landmark Project 2009

4th Grade Social Studies California State Standards:
4.1 Students demonstrate an understanding of the physical and human geographic  features that define places and regions in California.  
1.  Explain and use the coordinate grid system of latitude and longitude to determine the  absolute locations of places in California and on Earth.  
2.  Distinguish between the North and South Poles; the equator and the prime meridian;  the tropics; and the hemispheres, using coordinates to plot locations.  

My favorite of the web projects that I’ve seen is definitely the landmark project.  Geography is often an understudied, ignored discipline.  When it is taught, memorization is often the only strategy employed by the teachers to teach facts such as capitals.  What I love so much about this project is that not only does it make geography come alive due to the interactive format, but it also gives children an opportunity to examine various methods of conducting research.  As stated on the website, the primary clues must have at least (1) one coordinate (latitude or longitude); (2) at least 1 relevant associated date; and (3) a hemisphere-related clue. identify coordinates, hemispheres, and other geographical clues. One of my students the other day in a very earnest tone asked me what an encyclopedia was and I realized then how much they need to spend some time practicing research methods aside from the internet. Furthermore, the task just seems so fun!  What a great way to make geography fun and interactive!

Another one of the most important pieces of this assignment is that the children are asked to “think globally” in creating their clues for the other classes, since the participating students can come from anywhere in the world.  I think it is very important as American children to think about the viewpoints of others, and learn to think on a more global level in order to facilitate communication, instead of solely focusing on their immediate surroundings.  Due to their age and the stage of development that they are in, that is a very advanced task for them to achieve, but I think it is an invaluable one.  

According to the project, three clues are released during each week of the project, giving the children time to assemble the materials that they need and consult many sources.  In thinking about using this particular project in the classroom that I am in right now (even though I won’t be with them next year), I think that it would be doable even though we only have three computers in the classroom that only sometimes have internet.  We don’t have headphones, microphones, or videocameras so doing other types of projects would be a little bit more difficult to organize with limited time, but this project is definitely possible.  We can use a variety of internet tools to do our research as well as atlases, almanacs, maps, and encyclopedias from our classroom and school library.  I think they would love it and get very invested in both figuring out the clues and creating them.

Another thing that really drew me to this project was the involvement that English learners could have and the learning opportunities available through carrying out the project.  Since the questions can only be yes/no, they require a particular format, which would be a good grammar lesson for the students as well as requiring them to express themselves in a particular way.  I could also see using this project at the secondary level in a foreign language classroom, as a means of teaching culture and research techniques in a foreign/second language.