Chicago WebDocent

http://www.chicagowebdocent.org/

Chicago WebDocent is a collaboration of the University of Chicago, the Chicago Public Schools, and eight Chicago cultural institutions to bring museum collections to the classroom through online, standards-based lessons created by CPS teachers.  The focus is geared to selected social studies and science topics for grades 3-8.  

Chicago WebDocent lessons are presented as stories told by a guide who gives a firsthand account of an event, era, or discovery and are illustrated with high resolution images of museum artifacts.  The lesson interface unites elements of a book with multimedia features, creating a rich, interactive learning experience.  

Lessons are ready-to-use by students and freely accessible from any internet-capable computer at school, giving classroom access to objects and images that otherwise could only be seen in person at the Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Historical Society, DuSable Museum of African American History, The Field Museum, Museum of Science and Industry, Newberry Library, and The Oriental Institute.

Chicago WebDocent continues to develop more standards-based lessons to their site.  Be sure to check for updates periodically.  View the Public Access websites at: http://www.chicagowebdocent.org/Public/index.html and at http://www.chicagowebdocent.org/Public/interactives/inter/index.htm. 

For access to lesson plans log into to http://www.chicagowebdocent.org/and use your CTU ID:  ctu and the password: local1.   For further information contact:  Julia Borst Brazas, Director, Chicago WebDocent Project at 773.702.1683.