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Alaska Department of Education & Early Development

Assessment: Storyboards; Story Maps; Brainstorming

A storyboard provides a visual means for conceptualizing and organizing information. A storyboard approach can be used for developing community geoportraits in which students visually present their community's geography with photos, video, or other visual means.

STORYBOARD FOR PLANNING A COMMUNITY GEOPORTRAIT

Story maps can contain the elements typical to a story, (such as the title, setting, characters, problems, main events, and conclusion) or be specific to a particular book. For example, in Streams to the River, River to the Sea by Scott O'Dell (a middle level book), students might construct a story map depicting pictures of both the cultural and natural environments described in the book, descriptions of several places along the Lewis and Clark route, a diary entry for Sacagawea, a list of facts about the journey, and a map of the route.

Some primary books, such as Rosie's Walk by Pat Hutchins, lend themselves to actual simple mapping skills. In the case of Rosie's Walk, students:

¨ read the book;

¨ discuss how to make a map to trace Rosie's walk;

¨ list the places to be illustrated;

¨ illustrate the places and then glue identifying word strips to the illustration;

¨ assemble in the order of the walk; and

¨ then have one student be Rosie and make the walk.

The lesson plan on Alaska issues in the Instruction Chapter illustrates how Brenda Campen at Mt. Edgecumbe High School uses brainstorming to set the direction for the course in Alaska issues, resulting in a course in which students have ownership of the topics and thus of the course. Brainstorming can also be an effective way to begin new units.

After students at Mt. Edgecumbe High School brainstorm Alaska issues course topics, they discuss the lists based on the question, "What do these lists tell us about what Alaskans are concerned about?"

A scenario for a high school project investigation in the social studies:

Students work independently over a week. At the end of that time period they present their findings in writing.

The ability to ask and answer geographic questions are foundations of the five geographic skills outlined in Geography for Life: National Geography Standards 1994. The five skills are:

1. Asking Geographic Questions

2. Acquiring Geographic Information

3. Organizing Geographic Information

4. Analyzing Geographic Information

5. Answering Geographic Questions

Students begin to use these skills by "posing questions about their surroundings." (Geography for Life, page 42)

¨ Where is something located?

¨ Why is it there?

¨ With what is it associated?

¨ What are the consequences of its location and associations?

¨ What is this place like?

A scenario for a problem-solving performance task in an elementary classroom:

Students work in cooperative groups for a two-week period of time, at the end they present their findings as a debate.

Topics for debate abound in the social studies, whether the focus is history, geography, or government/citizenship. Sample topics for debates include:

¨ Is Thomas Jefferson an American icon, an authentic hero, apostle of democracy to be revered or a simply an historical figure with no heroic traits, especially given his position in life made possible by the fact that he owned slaves?

¨ Should the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge be opened for oil development?

¨ What should be the future of affirmative action in American society?