Objective:
To practice research techniques using various Internet search engines; to increase knowledge about a Francophone fine artist and his/her works; to practice French skills in reading, writing and speaking; to synthesize material gathered on the Internet into a coherent Final Presentation.Resources
- For Internet search - a computer with Internet access and ability to view graphics.
- For Final Presentation - Depending on the resources of the student or school, a computer or computer print-outs from the Internet could be used for graphic displays.
Lesson Plan:
Internet Search:
Each student (or a pair of students if warranted by available computers) is to become a curator for an art exposition. As the "curator," the student must select the artist to be exhibited and then do research on the Internet to choose what pieces of art are to be used, to find where they can be attained, to gather specific information about each piece of art (subject, composition, date, medium, etc.) and to research the background of the artist. Depending on the knowledge of the student, various search engines can be used.
- If the student is a novice, "Yahoo" is recommended as a beginning point. If "Yahoo" is used, it is suggested that the student choose a well-known artist such as Monet, Renoir or Cézanne. In addition, choosing the option of searching for more than one word (such as"Monet paintings museum") will produce better results.
- If the student has a little more experience, then the "Web Crawler" could provide an even broader search, but it is recommended that the artist be well-known.
- For a student that has strong search skills, "Lycos" will provide the most comprehensive search. With "Lycos," a student can do a search with a string of words and then search through the abstracted "hits" that the "Lycos" search will produce. The "Lycos" search will also produce more "hits" with academic links than "Yahoo" and "Web Crawler." The Internet search will be as good as the search words used; thus, the student is forced to refine the search words during the process.
Internet Search Log:
As each student undertakes his/her search, a log must be kept (on the computer or on paper) that documents the search engine or engines and the search words used. This will allow the teacher to get a sense of the thinking process of the student. In addition, students should record all sites and sources of material used in the Final Presentation.
Final Presentation:
The "curator" will present his/her exposition. Using the knowledge gained in the Internet search, the "curator" should explain the choice of artist (background, significance), explain and describe which works are to be shown and why, and tell from where the pieces of art are being "donated" for this exposition. In addition to the oral presentation, a written text (on disk or on paper) could be required for assessment.
Assessment:
According to the needs of each teacher, assessment can be done for the Internet Search Log and the Final Presentation. For the intermediate and advanced language student, the Final Presentation should be in French, so that the student is required to use the target language and to deal with translation issues of text. Goals will vary for individual teachers, but it is suggested that the Final Presentation be graded for content, grammar, documentation, and creativity/originality.
Duration of project:
This could be a long-term project in which all stages of the project are assessed as specified by the teacher. As a short-term project, the teacher could specify that each "curator" have a maximum of five pieces of art with assessment of the Final Presentation. The depth of the Final Presentation will also be determined by the amount of time allotted to the project.
Variations on the theme:
Other Francophone subjects could be researched such as literature, music or history. Instead of a fine artist, a similar type of project could be done on an author with the student being a literary critic or on a musician with the student being a nobleman of a certain time period. For example, the "nobleman" could be a member of Louis the XIV's court and is commissioned to create the perfect concert for the king's birthday celebration. The possibilities are endless and if a student has an interest in a certain period of history, the project could be designed to reflect this.
Laura G. Longacre
Cheshire Academy, Cheshire, CT
Last update 15 June 1995