Technology Curriculum Integration Ideas!
from the Instructional Technology Team (ITT) Updated 10/24/03

• If you think of or see any other ideas and would like to share, please email kclark@remc11.k12.mi.us with your ideas!
• Some of these ideas came from Teacher Created Materials Technology Thematic Units. They are a great resource!
• Would you like to see these ideas or others demonstrated (or team-taught) in your classroom? Click here.  

General Ideas

Multimedia software such as PowerPoint, HyperStudio, or Web pages

Power Point Presentations

• Lecture supplements
• Present concept attainment exemplars
• Present/guide a Taba lesson
• School board and PTA presentations
• Open houses: info for parents
• Welcome to classroom, showing class rules

HyperStudio Stacks

• Welcome to the classroom and getting to know you (students fill in information about themselves)
• Classroom rules and consequences
• Book recommendations
• Create and/or tell stories
• Present and assess information
• Upper grade classes: chapter summaries of reading or content reading
• Create multimedia presentations on information students have researched.
• For K-1 have them label colors, numbers, and letters.
• Create a class alphabet book.

Web Pages

• Calendar of school/building/classroom events
• School activities
• Faculty/staff pages
• Student writing such as poems, drawings, and projects (science etc.)
• Pictures and descriptions of student work
• Guided search of the Internet

Miscellaneous Ideas

• Use the computer as a station or learning center. Have kids rotate through the room doing many activities related to an interdisciplinary unit and the computer is just one part of it.
• Have students do group or pair projects and activities on lab computers.
• Use a program like WebWhacker to save pages from the Internet onto the classroom hard drive(s).
• Have students do writing projects and research related to the software "games" they play - such as Oregon Trail and others.
• Brainstorm ways to make the software more than a game or drill and practice. Often pencil and paper drill and practice can be more time effective and on task effective than games on the computer.
• Have students use simple drawing programs like Windows Paint or Kid Pix to draw projects related to the unit you're studying (plants, math concepts, maps of towns, etc.)
• Use drill and practice games to give questions for team reviews and games. Use an LCD panel to show on the screen.

Social Studies

Wordprocessing Software

• Student write stories or essays from the perspective you are studying.
• Students write at least 5 arguments for an issue you are studying. Have some students prepare at least 5 arguments for the other side. Then using the printed argument lists, stage a debate.
• Have students research a major battle and create a short skit using a word-processing program to perform for the class.
• Students research a famous person and write a news article in a word processing program about how this person's choices or actions affected the war. Then compile the news articles to make a newspaper.
• Have students research the development of the atomic bomb, its force, the results of its destruction and other interesting information. Then have the students write a report about the atomic bomb using a word processing program, and draw a picture of the bomb to import into the report.
• Have students write fictional autobiographies from the different perspectives of an historical event.

Spreadsheet and Database Software

• Create a spreadsheet or database comparing information such as literacy rate, mortality rate, per capita income, etc. Use print, online databases, CD-ROM encyclopedias to find the information. Enter the population growth rate and predict future growth rates. Create and answer questions about the information gathered.
• Students chronologically order events from the historical period you are studying.
• Students use a database program to chronologically order the states as the entered the Union. Then have students generate trivia questions based on the information.
• Students compare the land area or other numerical data of countries or states. Have them create a bar graph of the data, and then write a summary report of their findings.
• Using a spreadsheet program, have students compare the land areas of various states. Have them create a bar graph of the data, and then write a summary report of their findings.

Desktop Publishing and Graphic/Paint/Draw Software

• Students create a poster related to the topic you're studying.
• Students create a "wanted" poster of a fictitious or real-life outlaw.
• Students create posters advertising jobs for women to work in factories. Discuss the history of women taking over men's jobs in the factories.
• Students design a poster supporting or opposing an event in history. Have students debate the issues.
• Students create a newspaper from the time period you are studying.
• Students draw a map of an area or place. Be sure students include a map key. Another classmate can follow the directions and mark the spot.
• Have students create a business card for themselves from a certain time period.
• Students make invitations encouraging people to join in a protest or historical event. Then stage a play of the event. Have the student write the scripts as well.
• Have students create ration coupons for classroom supplies, paper product (TP and paper towels), water supplies (drinking fountain and bathroom). Then use them sparingly to help students understand the idea of rations.
• Students write articles and feature stories to make a newspaper from a historical event or place.
• Students use what they know about tall tales to create a legend about a historical landmark to explain how it got its name.

Multimedia software such as PowerPoint, HyperStudio, or Web pages

• Students create a collection of literature (their own or from the time period) that represents the topic you're studying. For example, have students select literature (stories, poems, etc.) that best depicts conditions during a certain historical period and their defend choice in a multimedia presentation.
• Create presentations on points of view of historical period by different people, or of a different subject area from the historical period (need to give students ample resources to do this).
• Create a multimedia and/or video presentation on current events and issues.
• Make a travel guide for an area of the world, country or state. Include things like supplies needed, perils, benefits, an advertisement for certain areas, etc.
• Students research and report on one of the many ways people traveled during a historical period. (i.e. wagons, canal boats, stagecoaches, trains, etc.). Gather these together to make one stack as a class report.
• Students create a two-card stack explaining actions and reactions or causes and effects. Then put the stacks all together and you have a class report!
• Divide up the class to research the importance of naval, air, and ground weaponry in the Allied and Axis countries. Have students present their research in a multimedia program such as HyperStudio.
• Students create multimedia presentations on points of view of the historical period by different people, or of a different subject area from the historical period. Be sure you give students ample resources to do this.
• Students research one of the original thirteen Colonies and report their information in a multimedia program such as HyperStudio.

Science and Health

Wordprocessing Software

• Students create vocabulary word games (such as a word scramble) and then have them exchange with a friend and practice the vocabulary.
• Have students create an ocean vocabulary word scramble and then have them exchange with a friend and practice vocabulary.
• Have students keep a daily log of their nutrition, exercise, daily weather, or other data.

Spreadsheet and Database Software

• Create a line graph of the ocean floor depths or other scientific data and then import the graph into a word processing program to write a report about that data.
• Use a spreadsheet or database to solve problems, collect and examine data, and report on findings.
• Have students time their heart rates and plot them on a graph in a spreadsheet program.

Desktop Publishing and Graphic/Paint/Draw Software

• Use a desktop publishing or word processing program to write an essay, story, or newspaper report about the topic you're studying.
• Use a desktop publishing or word processing program to write a story about the sea.
• Use a desktop publishing program to create a banner or poster about pollution, or other health or science issues.
• Students use a paint, draw, or graphics program to draw and label germs, parts of animals, plants, or other scientific objects.

Multimedia software such as PowerPoint, HyperStudio, or Web pages

• Students use a multimedia program such as HyperStudio to report on an animal and play a frame animation of the animal in its environment.
• Divide the class into teams to research specific topics about the general topic you're studying. Each team creates a stack about their topic and then all the stacks are combined to make a class report.
• Have students create a multimedia portfolio of their research, including video clips of the experiment, photographs of insect collections, inventions, or other science projects.

English/Language Arts

Wordprocessing Software

• Use one computer in the front of the classroom to brainstorm a story or paper together. Model how to gather facts and information. Write the sentences and paragraphs together, and then print the story or paper for students to look at when writing their own. If students are very reluctant to write, write a story as a class, then have them write in a group or in pairs. After they have had this success, then have them write their own story.
• Use a computer in the front of the classroom to model the critiquing and editing process on student or teacher writing. Students love to see the teacher's writing.

Spreadsheet and Database Software

• Integrate language arts and math and create a publishing business. Have students keep careful records of employees in a spreadsheet or database program, create pay scales, pay the taxes, keep track of benefits, and expenses. Get as detailed as you wish. You could publish posters and signs for the school, create newsletters, create business cards, and more!

Desktop Publishing and Graphic/Paint/Draw Software

• Create a school or class newspaper or literary publication.

Multimedia software such as PowerPoint, HyperStudio, or Web pages

• Have students create stories or reports using multimedia in a program like HyperStudio. Or have them publish their writing on the World Wide Web.
• Have students create a multimedia story on their family or themselves.
• Have students create a card or two explaining why another student should read a book or books by a particular author (multimedia book reports).
• Have students create a video presenting persuasive information.
• Students present reports using presentation software such as PowerPoint to improve their presentation.
• Have students create a branching story in HyperStudio. You create the introduction, with two choices. Two students create those next two cards with two choices on each one. Four other students create the next four cards with two choices on each one, etc. Then you will have a class story that everyone can read at the computer by choosing their middle and ending to the story.
• Use video and TV commercials to analyze persuasion and the difference between fact and opinion. Have students create their own commercial with video.
• Have students select literature that best depicts conditions of an era (Industrial Revolution, World War II, etc.) and defend choice in a multimedia presentation.
• Have students create multimedia presentations on points of view of historical period by different people, or of a different subject area from the historical period (need to give students ample resources to do this).
• Have students create and present a video and/or multimedia presentation on a current events or issue.
• Video students' oral presentations as an assessment and improvement tool. Have them assess their own performance by writing a reaction paper to their speech.

Other Ideas

• When using CD-ROM books, assign young students to read until they can read the book themselves without the computer voice.

Math

Wordprocessing Software

• Use a wordprocessor to have students keep a journal of the math concepts they understand and have learned.

Spreadsheet and Database Software

• Use a spreadsheet to create a graph of various information such as heart rates, surveys, etc.
• Use a spreadsheet or database to solve problems, collect and examine data, and report on findings.
• Use graphing tools as a bridge between the concrete and abstract. Have students compare information, such as bedtimes, pets, favorite books, TV shows, weather data they've collected, and more. Teach algebraic formulas from real-life numbers, for example, show how the average monthly rainfall resembles a parabola.
• Use spreadsheets to show math relationships, set up banks, or a telephone company, a refreshment business, or keep track of finances.
• In algebra, have students figure out how much money they could make at a car wash by manipulating the variables. Create a table of info and have students create the formulas.
• Set up a publishing business or other kind of business. Have students keep careful records of employees, pay scales, taxes, benefits, expenses, etc.

Desktop Publishing and Graphic/Paint/Draw Software

• Use a desktop publishing program to create a banner or poster about a math concept or advertising something using a math concept.

Multimedia software such as PowerPoint, HyperStudio, or Web pages

• Have students create a multimedia portfolio of math concepts they understand, including video clips of them using manipulatives, photographs of projects, and explanations of concepts.
• Students research the application of a specific math skill in real life (or a mathematician and what they do) and create a multimedia presentation about their topic. All the stacks could be combined to make a class report.
• Students use a multimedia program such as HyperStudio to explain a math concept and provide a little quiz/review at the end.

Other Ideas

• When using the simulations and real-life stories to teach problem-solving, be sure to include pre-activities and post-activities to reinforce the skills and concepts they are learning.

Art

Wordprocessing Software

• Have students write essays, stories, or reports about artists and their work.

Spreadsheet and Database Software

• Integrate Art and Math: Have students create and use a database to keep track of their art supplies. Have students start an Art business, such as a signmaking shop, and use spreadsheet and database to run the business finances.
• Along those same lines...Students can create a database of their CDs or stereo equipment. Have them start a music business.
• Have any ideas? Email them to jlim@remc11.k12.mi.us!

Desktop Publishing and Graphic/Paint/Draw Software

• Have the students create a self portrait and then use computer software such as PhotoShop to alter it to convey artist's interpretation.
• Use paint, draw, or graphics programs to draw, paint, or enhance photographs.
• Some students draw easier from a 2D picture of an object as compared to the 3D object. Use a digital camera to take a picture of the object and allow the students to draw from the 2D picture or the 3D object. Discuss the differences in each approach.

Multimedia software such as PowerPoint, HyperStudio, or Web pages

• Have students create video or multimedia portfolios of their work.
• Have students create multimedia presentations on information they have found such as the life and history of an artist or comparing two artists.
• Have students create a multimedia presentation of their own art work.
• After students have created an object (sculpture, clay modeling, etc.) have them create a multimedia presentation of it including music that fits the interpretation of the art.
• Publish their art on the Web for others to see. Scan in pictures they've created. Take digital pictures of objects they've created and add those to a web art gallery as well.

Music

Wordprocessing Software

• Have students write reports about musicians and their work.

Spreadsheet and Database Software

• Make a database of the artists or composers students have studied. Database fields could include decade(s) of creativity or popularity, country or state born/lived in, what makes them unique, a picture (if multimedia is accepted).

Desktop Publishing and Graphic/Paint/Draw Software

• Using a desktop publishing program, have students create a poster advertising a music event or music concept or person.

Multimedia software such as PowerPoint, HyperStudio, or Web pages

• Have students create multimedia presentations on information they have found such as the life and history of a musician or comparing two musicians.
• Have students create multimedia presentations with music they have written. They should choose graphics, pictures, even poetry or literature that fits the them of their music.
• Use paint, draw, or graphics programs to draw the different musical symbols.
• Have students use a spreadsheet or graphing program to create a graph surveying the musical tastes of students in the school.

Other Ideas

• Use electronic keyboards to teach students to play the piano.
• Use song writing software to allow students to write their own songs and learn about music.

Physical Education

Wordprocessing Software

• Have students write stories, essays, or reports about famous sports people or other physical education topics.

Spreadsheet and Database Software

• Using a spreadsheet program, have students graph their own heart rates, running times, and other personal data to compare week by week and improve their health and performance.

Desktop Publishing and Graphic/Paint/Draw Software

• Using a desktop publishing program, have students create a poster advertising a game or fitness principle.
• Have students use a paint, draw, or graphics program to draw strategy plans for games such as football or basketball and then try them on the field or court.

Multimedia software such as PowerPoint, HyperStudio, or Web pages

• Students use HyperStudio (or other multimedia program) to create a fitness plan to advertise and/or implement.
• Have students create a short video showing steps in a skill or teaching a skill.
• Have students create multimedia presentations on information they have found such as information on the Olympic competitors for this year and previous years. Or the Olympic competitors from Michigan (See http://www.umich.edu/~bhl/bhl/olymp2/oltitle.htm)
• Have students create multimedia presentations on how to play a game and the rules involved.