ALEX Learning Activity

The students, working in partners, will use a Google Slides template to create a virtual museum on topics related to Classical Greece that identifies cultural contributions of Classical Greece. The students will self-generate questions and research the answers to the questions. The students will evaluate their peers and provide feedback on the virtual museums. The students will use the peer evaluation and feedback to make improvements to their museums. The students will share their virtual museums with the class.

This activity was created as a result of the ALEX Resource Development Summit.

Students will conduct research to answer self-generated questions, drawing on several sources to produce, review, and revise authentic artifacts that include multimedia to identify cultural contributions of Classical Greece.

1. The teacher will introduce the project to the class by activating prior knowledge using the video, Greek history - Classical period (480-323 BC).
2. Partner students.
3. Explain to students that they will be creating a Virtual Museum for the Classical Greek time period. The teacher will explain that a virtual museum is like a regular museum that displays exhibits in a digital format.
4. The teacher will provide students with a digital or print copy of possible topics.  
5. The partners will think-pair-share about the topics that they are most curious about. Explain that the students will be conducting research on these topics during this project.
6. Preview the Virtual Museum Slide Deck with the students explaining each slide (see link for Digital Tool).
7. Explain that slide 3 has the types of digital objects that they can add to their virtual museum.
8. Explain that slide 4 will be used to brainstorm the types of digital/virtual objects they want to include in their museum.
9. Explain that slide 5 is for planning the information that will appear with the display. Students will create a list of questions that they think the information should answer. These are curiosity questions related to the objects they chose on slides 3 and 4. Explain that students should use questions that people would like to know about, something interesting.
10. Explain that on slide 6, students will research answers to their questions from slide 5. They will type in the answer and include a link to the resource they used. The teacher will model how to use the “explore” feature to find information.
11. Explain that on slide 7 students will plan how they want their information displayed in their virtual museum.
12. Explain on slide 7 that students will look back at the “objects” they chose on slide 3 and 4 and choose the ones they want to include in their museum. These objects should match the questions and answers from slide 5 and 6.
13. Project slide 9 and explain that students will create a virtual museum exhibit on the following slides. The slides are set up so that you can put your virtual “object” on one side and the text explaining the object on the other side. Students may make changes to the formatting or they can leave it the way that is already designed. Students may change the example design of the slides and the example pictures that are already on the slides. The teacher will explain that slide 10 will include the titles of their five exhibits. The teacher will explain and demonstrate that they are linked to the slide for each exhibit. The teacher will explain that they will use the objects that were picked out in step 5, slide 9. The teacher will explain that each “object” must include a link to the original source and that each of the text sections must include a link.
14. Model how to use the “explore” feature to find objects as an example. The teacher will model how to add the objects to the slide and how to include a link to the source.
15. Monitor and assist the pairs of students as they create their museums.
16. The students will share their museum with another set of partners and provide feedback using a rubric.
17. The pairs of students will use the peer assessment and feedback to make changes to their museum.
18. The pairs of students will share their virtual museums with the class via Google Classroom.
19. Assess the virtual museums with a rubric.

The teacher will assess the project using the following rubric:

Teacher assessment rubric

Students will need access to computers, Google Slides, and the Internet.

The teacher will provide digital or print copies of the possible topics to students.

The teacher will provide the Virtual Museum Template to students.

The teacher can reduce the number of requirements to differentiate for students who need accommodations.

The students could use Microsoft PowerPoint to create their virtual museum slideshow.

This lesson could be used to introduce Classical Greece to students.

This lesson could be used as an extension of Classical Greece lessons.

This lesson could be used with other topics and grade levels across the curriculum.

Students and teachers should have prior knowledge of Google Slides.