InfoTech Review

SAS inSchool Curriculum Pathways: United States History

SAS inSchool Curriculum Pathways: United States History. SAS inSchool, www.SASinSchool.com, 888/760-2515 ext. 10573. 2004. In NC, available at no charge at www.ncwiseowl.org; contact Justin Karkow for pricing for pricing outside of NC. [8-12, SS] SAS inSchool Curriculum Pathways provides teachers and students an electronic environment in which to interact with topics in these five major subject areas: English, social studies, science, mathematics, and Spanish. In each of the ten InterActivities of United States history (the focus of this review), students explore historical trends, ranging chronologically from Native American History to the Closing of the Twentieth Century, through an analysis of primary source material. Each InterActivity is organized around a focus question, e.g. “Should Puritan leaders banish Anne Hutchinson?” Students take a position and defend it with evidence they compile and thereby come to a better understanding of the issue as well as the historical period . Students begin an Interactivity by viewing a series of Background Movies, then proceed to an analysis of the primary source material which they access through the Document Analyzer. This graphic interface allows students to select documents for viewing (there are usually three to five), listen to audio excerpts, and perform their analysis of the documents. In the analysis, students first highlight significant passages within the source documents, then comment upon their selection, and finally indicate whether or not the evidence supports the focus question. Instructions encourage students to select evidence that supports both sides of the issue. The Review Entries function allows students to examine each of their analytical entries and modify their analysis if necessary. Once students have considered all of the source material, they use the Create Organizer function to compile their findings into a single, printable document. Weaknesses: The program will run on Macintosh OS10 except for the student Interactivities. Strengths: The organizers created by the Document Analyzer are extremely effective in helping students convert their disparate analyses of the documents into a well-formed position on the focus question. Student analysis is coupled with the relevant passages and grouped according to the position that it supports. A writing task forces students to grapple with the information at a sophisticated level. Additionally, teachers can access the Teacher Planning Environment which contains instructional support materials such as the InterActivity lesson plan as well as related lesson plans, a guided Web inquiry, and links to relevant Web Resources. There also is a Teacher’s Room with links to information on topics such as project-based learning; checklists/rubrics for assessment; and Tutorials on issues such as saving images and citing online resources. Uses: Since the research component of the InterActivities can generally be completed in one class period, this resource can be realistically incorporated into instruction to help students understand and analyze the issues behind historical events. The comprehensive scope of Curriculum Pathways makes it suitable for a variety of purposes, from supplementing traditional instruction to serving as the primary instructional resource in a technology-rich environment. Educators should be aware that several plug-ins will need to be installed to run the program.