This year during their unit studying the Thirteen Colonies, the students in 7th Grade Social Studies class with Mr. John Inman, (pictured below working with a student), decided to break from their traditional project to a technology oriented alternative. Instead of making and presenting posterboard posters, students used the layout capabilities of the Pages software program to create professional looking, informative brochures about the colonies that they could share with classmates and online! To prepare for the project, students first began by researching their specific colony using both library research books and websites. At the start, they were given a series of involved questions that needed to be answered such as: location of the colony, geography & climate, why it was settled & by whom, who were the people of this colony, problems or conflicts in the colony, lifestyles of the settlers, and so on. As they worked, the students were required to correctly cite their sources which they eventually included on the back panel of their brochure. Next, with the assistance of Library Media Specialist Mrs. Mary Pat Connors, the students got an overview on the basic skills in using the Pages program. Finally, they had to make design decisions to digest into their research into a concise format suitable for their brochure. In the end, students created some excellent projects which can be seen here. Overall, Mr. Inman was pleased with how the projects turned out. He liked that "students were able to utilize technology to gain meaningful insight about the Thirteen Colonies." In addition to creating a nice product that could be printed as well as shared online, Mr. Inman also noted that students gained valuable research experience which will benefit them in other courses and projects as well. When asked about what they thought about using Pages for this project, one students replied that "making the brochure was a lot of fun and I really learned about my colony a lot better than taking notes or something like that." As far as tips for those considering such a project, Inman offers several helpful suggestions: be sure all students know their account passwords in advance, check to see that they work as the project progresses, give the librarian ample time to pull the relevant books, and lastly, book the labs early! This project shows how technology can be used effectively to teach curriculum in a creative, engaging way. Excellent work Mr. Inman and your students! If you are looking to create a similar project in your classroom and aren't sure where to start, just ask for some help and we'll point you in the right direction as well!