Decades Multimedia Project*

Introduction:  The purpose of this project and others like it is to have students:

• actively involved in using the internet to gather information about a specific topic related to a unit that you are teaching,

• acquire good techniques in searching the internet,

• develop the ability to work cooperatively in small groups,

• become more aware of the vast amount of information available on the web,

• become comfortable in preparing and presenting a multimedia project utilizing presentation software and,

• have some fun!

Task:  Working in teams, brainstorm ways for your team members to conduct in-depth research and gather pictorial/multimedia information about a particular decade in the United States.  Once you have gathered this pictorial/multimedia history of your time period, you should prepare an informative, creative and stimulating presentation for the class using PowerPoint for the presentation.  Your presentation should be something like you might see in the Constitution Center in Philadelphia.  That is, a presentation in which pictures, quotes, audio, video, and brief explanatory notes move across the screen as they present a powerful, visual expression of your decade.  As you review and discuss the information you have found, try to weave answers to the following questions somewhere into your presentation if appropriate.

• Does there appear to be the theme running through your decade and if so what is it?

• Are there a few very significant positive or negative events which have influenced events in decades beyond the one you have selected?

In your search, you might want to give attention to some or all of the following:

• Key political figures

• Oscar winning films

• Fads of the decade

• Broadway plays

• Speeches or direct quotes from influential people

• Clothing fashions

• Inventions

• Radio or TV shows

• Music of the time

• Popular entertainers

• Sports figures / happenings

• Paintings or art from the time

• Significant books

• Significant scientific or humanitarian advancements

• Important businesses or industries

• Wars or military conflicts occurring during the decade

You should search for and include free MPEG video clips and free mp3 audio clips as appropriate

Listed below are the decades for this project - if more than one group wants the same decade, we'll draw straws to decide.

• The Teens

• The 20's

• The 30's

• The 40's

• The 50's

• The 60's

• The 70's

• The 80's

• The 90's
  
  
  
  Click on the above figure for
  for the Rubric for this Project
  

* Thanks to the Spartanburg, S.C. County School District #3 for the idea and information about this project.