"Ben Franklin's Life and Times"
Sample Lesson Plan

Step 2: Building Context

Target Objectives

1. Students understand the second half of the Ben Franklin book.
2. Students add to their knowledge about Ben Franklin with information they learn from the Web.
3. Students understand ways to critically evaluate the quality of information they read on the Web.

Student Activities

1. Read the second half (pages 32-46) of What's the Big Idea, Ben Franklin?
2. Conduct Internet research to build context for the book, using specific web sites and research questions that I organized using TrackStar.
3. Discuss what it means to be a critical researcher. That is, when students conduct research on the Internet, do they, for example: a) check the source? b) find out who the author is and consider his or her credibility and perspective? c) evaluate new information in light of what they already know about a topic? and d) distinguish advertising and propaganda from factual information?

Electronic Resources

• TrackStar (http://trackstar.scrtec.org/). Specific Track to use: "What's the Big Idea, Ben Franklin?"

Assessment

• Use Rubric 2

Impact of Technology: In what ways (if any) will technology enhance students' learning experiences in these activities?

• Students get to supplement their traditional classroom sources of information with Web resources. TrackStar provides scaffolding so students will search only on the web sites that I have previewed and selected. Students will learn critical information literacy skills.

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