Gopher It! Exploring German Cyberspace - a lesson developed by Barbara Williams

Subject(s): Foreign Language, Technology

Topic(s): German, Telecommunications, Gopher, FTP

Level(s): Secondary, Adult

Specific Goals: In this lesson, students learn to work with Internet
research tools, discover the
similarities and differences among German and English language Gopher
servers, construct a
dictionary of German computer words gleaned from the various German
Gopher menus they
encounter, practice downloading text and picture files, and generate a
German cyberspace map (the
path to their unique destinations).

Featured Technology: Procomm, Datastorm , PO BOX 1471, Columbia, MO,
65205.
Zterm, Alverson Software , 5635 Cross Creek Court, Mason, OH, 45040.

Prerequisite Skills: Students should have familiarity with word
processing and keyboard functions.
Any on-line experience with modems (commercial servers or local bbs) is
helpful.

Other Materials Computer disk

Teacher To Teacher: This lesson is quite extensive, thus requiring ten
class periods of 50 minutes
each. The teacher needs to be familiar with FIRN and with
telecommunications software. A
classroom account on FIRN or Internet access is needed. Allow two weeks
for the account to be
established. There is material on the Internet that is inappropriate for
children. You will need to
monitor the sites the students are accessing. It is advisable that you
have the parents sign a
permission slip. The ever-changing world of information available through
gopher/Internet can be
compared with a 20 floor library, with shelves and books arranged not
under some overriding
system of retrieval, but rather placed where their authors wished.

Procedure:

ON THE COMPUTER:

Provide the following information to your students:

BASIC MAP:

To arrive at German Gopherspace follow the map: logon FIRN/select
FIM/select Gopher/Gopher
Server: gopher.firn.edu/Other K-12 Educational Resources/K-12 Gopher at
Univ. Mass/Books,
Dictionaries, Language Arts .../On-line Dictionaries/Gopher Home
(Minnesota)/Other Gopher
Information Servers/Europe/Germany.

OTHER MAPS:

Map 2. This leads to the bookstore. Basic Map, then .../EU Net in
Germany. Find the Stephen King
short story in German, then download it.

Map 3. This leads to the museum. Basic Map, then .../University of
Cologne/Interessante
Themen/Geisteswissenschaften/Anglistik/English Server/Art and
Architecture. Find and download a
Kandinsky painting. Read about it and store information about the
artist's life on diskette.

Map 4. This leads to a complete German experience. Basic map, then
.../University of
Cologne/Gopher ausserhalb der Universitaet Koelln/Informationsysteme in
Deutschland (Clausthaler
Liste). Instruct students to investigate this area.

Have students follow these instructions:

     Report #1. Construct your own info-map to any Gopher location in
Germany.
     Describe what you find as you search deeper and deeper into the
menus.

     Report #2. Make a list of 20 German words you find represented on
the different
     screens of a German gopher. Give English equivalents.

     Report #3. Surf the Clausthaler Liste and locate weather reports in
Berlin, Germany.

     Report #4. Download Stephen King's "Umneys Letzter Fall." Print out
a hard copy.

     Report #5. Download a Kandinsky "slide" and read about it in the
accompanying  index. Be prepared to show this through a .

     Report #6. Surf the Clausthaler Liste and locate more weather
reports in another part of Germany.

Report #7. Through a German Gopher server, students will, among other
things, go shopping in an on-  online bookstore

     Report # 8. Students must generate a German cyberspace map.

     Report # 9. Make a list of 20 more German words you find represented
on the different
     screens of a German gopher. Give English equivalents.

Report # 10. Through a German Gopher server, students will, among other
things, will again go shopping on a online bookstore.
 

Evaluation: Let students create gopher maps to share with other students
on subjects of their interest. Let students teach an adult how to "gopher." They could attempt
to find information on other languages of interest as well via gopher.
 

Topic for C.E.: Current event report using only the Internet.

Topic for English/History: Current events report from the point of view of an author or historical figure that we have studied to date.

Topic for Foreign Language: Current events report using international papers/articles of the language being studied, summarize and report to class.

Object: To introduce students to on-line newsgroups, newspapers, articles they otherwise wouldn’t read. Enhance knowledge of search engines and resources on the Internet, such as on-line encyclopedias.

Plan: Give students a topic or region to find an important event, perhaps relevant to discussions in class.

Students find a newspaper article on-line, summarize and comment, must also hand in entire article. Oral presentations will be given, if small class, best if everyone has a copy.

Variations of the Plan: Form "News teams" and report events around the country, including areas of interest as if a news channel. In presentation to class, students should be dressed appropriately. If students videotape their presentation- extra credit. Written report of process will be due at time of presentation.

A debate format. As mentioned before, choose one topic and assign important historical or literary figures. The students are to gather information on these figures and participate in an in-class debate using the point of view of the figure, must be accurate. All information must be found using the Internet. A written report will be due at time of presentation explaining the process. Note cards may be used during debate.

Have students pick a topic of interest and choose a figure that has been studied to date. The student must write an argumentative essay on the issue providing both sides of the argument- one side the figure’s point of view and themselves as the devil’s advocate. This should have a 2-week time frame, first draft due after one week, in class critique by 2 peers; peers must give written comments.

Suggestions: The debate and both historical lessons are probably more appropriate for 9-12^th graders where the current events lesson is appropriate for 6^th –12^th graders.

Grading Suggestions: Current Events: written – 70%, oral – 30%

Debate: written – 30%, oral – 70%

News Team: written – 30%, oral – 60%, group evaluation – 10%

Argumentative essay: 1^st draft – 15%, critiques – 15%, final – 70%

Foreign Language Extra Credit, grades 9-12^th

Topic: Pen pal via email

Object: To enhance vocabulary, writing skills and use of email programs.

Prep: Write to other high schools that would like to participate on an on-line pen pal program.

Plan: Assign students a pen pal. They must keep a journal of the mail between the pen pals. Must write at least once a week, collected biweekly. Writing twice in one week doesn’t make up for a missed week unless pre-approved by the teacher. All entries that are to be considered must be dated, in original format, and grammatically correct in that foreign language.