I plan to study Google Earth.

Grade Level- 9th Grade (could be altered for higher grades)
Subject- World History, Social Studies
Activity- 30-45Min, Investigation & Exploration using Google Earth Map &
Tools.

I have incorporated Civilization III game play into my 3rd block "Introduction to US. History" class.  The class consists of 12 students: two sophomores, eight juniors, and two seniors.  The course is new this year and is designed to prepare students for the regular 90 day US History course (one semester).  The students in the class are low performers and have a history of failing other classes, including US History, primarily due to poor reading skills. 

We began playing on October 11th.  Game play is conducted during the last 15 - 20 minutes of class.  My plan is to play at least once a week as a large group.  I am using a data projector and an interactive whiteboard so the entire class can observe and participate in the game play.  Since I intoduced the game, we have played five times, including the introduction session.  All the sessions have lasted less than 20 minutes, except the last session on October 26th.  This session ran for almost an hour.

Students take turns as the game controller, receiving input from their classmates on how to procede.  At the conclusion of each session of game play, students complete a data sheet (which I provide).  Debriefings are conducted and I maintain a journal of student activities and comments from the game play.  Reviews are conducted of the previous game play session before beginning a new session.

The purpose of the game play is to reinforce factual classroom concepts with events or experiences associated with playing Civilization III.  Can the students make the connection between expansion and conflict in the game to expansion and conflict in US History? An example is Manifest Destiny with its wars against Native Americans and Mexico.  Why did these conflicts occur?

The project will continue throughout the semester.  At the conclusion of the project, data from student log sheets, my journal, student interviews and video recordings will be analyzed to determine if students were able to retain concepts and make connections between game play and factual information.