Project
WOW is a collaborative school-university project between Eastern
Illinois University Department
of
Early Childhood, Elementary, and Middle Level Education and Carl
Sandburg
Elementary School. ELE3340/001, Social Studies Methods for the
Elementary
and Middle Level School, has been redesigned as a site-based methods
course
with a commitment to technology integration. Pre-service teachers
enrolled in ELE3340/001 (Judy
Barford,
instructor) along with children of the third grade classes of
Lou Conwell and Kathy
Miller, coordinate their efforts throughout the semester to
research
value-based curriculum with optimum technology support.
Seventy+
participants made up the Wilderness teams for spring and fall
semesters,
2002, and Spring, 2004, 2005, and 2006. A PT3
mini-grant provided support for Project WOW.
In alternate semesters, Project WOW develops multiple intelligences Heroes
curriculum: Wonders of Wisdom
EIU
students
and children were able to travel on fact-finding trips to Cahokia
Mounds World Heritage Historical Site and to Wood River, Camp DuBois
State Historical Site. On this field trip, students were able to
compile many valuable resources to fuel the
investigations
of their teams. each team followed their own customized curriculum as
they began
the journey into the wilderness with Lewis and Clark. Some
of the Values gleaned from the teams' work are:
wonders
of our American wilderness, the incredible achievement that was the
8000
mile journey of the corps of discovery, the democratic leadership of
the
captains and their endless curiousity and dedication to learning, and
the ingenuity, dignity, and diversity of the Native Americans then and
now.
Resources
and Credits
Project WOW mainpage