About the CD-ROM: Exploring the World of Thomas Day
vended by
Exploring the World of Thomas
Day (EWTD),
is an award-winning, interactive multimedia on CD-ROM for grades 4 and up. Produced with major funding from the
National
Endowment for the Humanities
(NEH) and after five years of Research & Development
with scholars, teachers, and students, this teaching-tool
features important themes of the 19th century African-American
experience while it involves the student in the detective work that
real historians engage in when they seek, find and interpret
primary source documents.
Program Application and Educational Companion
Exploring the World of Thomas Day is a
new, exciting interactive multimedia CD-ROM-based educational experience
that's easy to install on both Windows and Macintosh platforms. ( Windows@98
- XP and Mac OS 8.6 - X) It contains the Program Application (CD 1)
and a comprehensive Educational Companion (CD 2).
CD 1 (Program Application)
CD 2 (Educational
Companion)
Fun & Informative
This highly involving application enables students to learn firsthand
the most fundamental--and fun--part of being a historian: the detective
work involved in tracking down historical evidence and using it to solve
questions about the past!
Aligned to the National History Standards for 19th-century African-American
historical content and to the "historical thinking" standards,
this product has been called "an interactive documentary",
"a simulation of doing historical research," and a "really
cool game." In fact, all of these terms apply! Students search
40+ primary and secondary sources for clues that hold the key to understanding
the world of a free black furniture maker named Thomas Day, who lived
in the South in the dramatic decades before the Civil War. Along the
way students encounter - in short video clips - 19th century youngsters
who know Day. They challenge students with puzzle-like missions to explore
Day's Family & Community; his Shop & Marketplace; and the Laws
& Society with which he lived.
Exploring the World of Thomas Day has
been designed for maximum ease of use. Teachers report they can use
it effectively with minimum preparation time.
Students quickly figure out the "rules of the game" and navigate
the application easily and quickly become absorbed. In fact, you may
find, as other teachers have, that the bell will ring and they won't
want to leave!
Finding Evidence in Documents in "Searchboro"
Students search for historical evidence in Searchboro, a virtual research
landscape of the types of places historians do research. They find primary
sources on shelves, in file drawers, on microfiche and in old trunks
in locations like "the Courthouse", "the University"
,"the Archives," and even in the attic of "the
Descendant's
Home " and a "Furniture Museum." They also come across
secondary sources like video clips of video interviews with historians
and newspaper articles and ads.
Searchboro: Where students find primary and secondary
sources about the past
Mini-Video "Documentaries" and "Archibald's Dilemma"
As students search for historical knowledge and gain research and critical
thinking know-how, they meet several teens who know Thomas Day. The
first one they meet is an Apprentice to Day named Archibald Clark, who
urgently needs their help. Solving Archibald's dilemma is the motivational
device or " game goal" that keeps students focused on accomplishing
missions and challenges that require them to think critically and apply
knowledge gleaned from the historical evidence they have uncovered in
Searchboro.
Archibald in Jail
Educational Companion CD 2
Developed with teacher input, The Educational Companion CD includes
a Teacher's Guide with a Tour and tips
for use with various computer set-ups. It also provides a "Teacher
Resources folder" that contains: a document database with full
text of all 40+ documents used in the application; worksheets for different
student skill levels; assessment guidelines; answer keys; national standards;
lecture notes; a detailed time line; a glossary; map; and
suggested readings and websites.
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