A long standing tradition for seventh graders in SIS World Geography classes, the annual “Adopt-A-Country” project is a student-driven, inquiry-based, project-based learning opportunity in which students develop important foundational research skills to learn about the culture identity of people in countries around the world. It gives students the opportunity to select a country of their choosing, research the culture of that country, and present their findings to the community at large.
While historically students have presented their projects in person at the annual "World Festival of Cultures" at school, Covid-19 forced this year’s students to engage the community through a virtual format. The students constructed virtual reality tours of their countries using Google's VR Tour Creator, and these tours are viewable online or with a set of VR Goggles. Students also constructed websites to educate the community and published links of their work in QR codes, which can be scanned and viewed on a phone.
“This is a great opportunity for students to experience agency over their own learning,” says SIS World Geography teacher Sarah Kopplin. “They construct their own open-ended, guided research questions to learn about deep and surface level culture; they practice using analytical skills to evaluate sources for bias and validity; they use primary and secondary sources to learn details about the lives and values of people and culture around the world. The goal is to develop understanding and reduce misperception, stereotypes, and bias. Students also learn how to give attribution to sources they use. This is a big step for our students developmentally. Inquiry skills are foundational to the learning of Social Studies and this project is a good example of something that is fun and high interest, yet pushes students to develop important skills for their future.”
According to the SIS World Geography department, the students are extremely excited to share their work with others and to help the community learn about people and places during a time when there is a limited ability to travel and interact with others.
Those interested in viewing the projects can visit the Shorewood Public Library, which currently displays scannable QR codes for each country in the lobby--masks and social distancing required--or the projects can be viewed here.
