Center for Technology and Teacher Education - Social Studies Module: Latin America Introduction

1. Students can begin by taking a pretest, of information concerning Latin America.

2. Students should choose a country in Latin America that they want to research. A list of countries is available.

3. Students should begin researching basic facts related to their country. Beginning informational sources include the following websites:

Discover Galapagos
Encyclopedia Briatannica Online

Students should complete a chart related to their country. The teacher may wish to devise his or her own chart, or may use the one provided.

4. Students should continue their research. The teacher should encourage students to form questions about their country, and try to research the answers. Example questions:
-What religion(s) are practiced in this country?
What are the major jobs there?
What are the chief natural resources?
What sort of relationship does this country have with the United States?

As they continue their research, students may wish to search the following geographical sites related to Latin America:

Amazon Interactive
Volcanoes in South and Central America
Maps of the Americas

5. Students will find a large amount of information in the above sites that will provide good notes for a research project. Students wishing to find additional information may wish to conduct their own searches. Search beginning points and search strategies:

The Scout Report Signpost
Worksheet One on Searching
Worksheet Two on Searching

6. After students have spent time researching and marking places online where more information is available, students may search for students in their countries of research to have as "penpals." Two easy starting points are as follows:

Epals
Keypals

As set up currently, both of these telecollaborative sites require teacher approval. However, students can set up their own accounts in a few minutes.