Curriculum and Resources for Youth

by Mary Margaret Pavan, After-School Technology Coordinator,
AmeriCorps VISTA Member
PREP Community Computer Center, Bruce Wall Ministries
Dorchester, MA

Introduction
Curriculum/Projects/What others have done
Web Sites
Curriculum
Lists of Resources for Youth
For Youth or to be Used by Youth in Projects
Black History
By Girls and/or for Girls and Women
Homework Assistance
Math
On-line Reading Sites and Guides
Web Page Design
Self-Paced Tutorials
Pen Pal Sites
Software Programs
Guidebooks
Programs
Typing Software
Where to Find Deals
Freeware & Shareware
Multimedia Software

Introduction

"Curriculum and Resources for Youth" began due to the lack of a centralized source of curriculum materials for teaching youth technology. It started as a summary of information shared over the CTCNet list service from 1998 to 2000. As other resources were found, they have also been added. This report is a first effort to centralize some relevant resources for people working with youth and after-school programs. Clearly, there are many more resources for youth. In fact, many of the sites listed point to these additional resources.

Perhaps one of the most useful aspects of this report is that the resources are broken into smaller, more manageable categories. Some of these are simply lists of relevant recommendations. However, the resources in the Web Sites section are ordered so that the most helpful ones are near the beginning of each section. The summary of this report, The Best, includes only these recommendations. Please take these judgments lightly, however, as others may have different criteria for their programs.

Hopefully, this report will facilitate planning for youth programs and encourage continued sharing among technology teachers and development of resources for youth.

Return to the Table of Contents.

Curriculum/Projects/What others have done

	Birchwood Learning Center (BLC)'s Operation MEDIA (Mass Education Developing Intelligent Adults). Operation MEDIA is an 8-session program for teens to help them develop life skills as well as Internet and web page design skills. Teens learn job skills, communication skills, alcohol and drug training, conflict resolution, earning potential, healthy relationships, e-mail and web page design using Netscape Composer. The program web page gives both a program overview and specific curriculum for each lesson..
	Computer Clubhouse is a multi-media computer center for inner city kids. They enlist mentors to make a 4-week commitment to meet with a youth once a week to teach them computer skills. An interesting combination of relationship and teaching.
	Career Choices and Computing (C3) is a Cincinnati-based summer program designed for young women entering grades 5-8 who want to explore high-tech careers and learn to use technology.
	Kids Computer Workshop in Washington, D.C., has materials to teach computer literacy in the after-school setting. They are for a slightly younger audience, but can be adapted for middle school. To get this curriculum, contact Norm Eisen.
	Group diary is a fun introduction to e-mail/Internet or for ESL/Adult Literacy class. Participants subscribe to an e-mail list here. Once a day they get a question in their mailbox (or go to the the write page. Reply (or not) to the moderator with an answer including your name/age/city/state/country. Read compiled answers at here. This is a pretty cool site- neat to see the brief responses people have written. Everyone seems pretty adult, but there are a few teen responses posted.
	Thinkquest Jr. is a national educational Web design contest for 4^th-6^th graders.
	"Tips for Getting Girls Involved" (Technology and Learning magazine): Introduce girls to technical women; Start a computer technology club for girls; Involve girls in building their own computers; Educate parents on the need to keep girls involved in technology; Design lessons that ask students to research women's contributions in the areas of math, science, and technology; Arrange field trips to places where both boys and girls can see women performing important jobs in technology-related industries; Visit web sites designed by other girls (see Web Sites section).
	Internet for Beginners class can use a private chat room in Yahoo. All students have to log on to Yahoo chat by entering a room and then you invite them to enter your room. For public rooms, ÎComputer Lobby,' Surfing the Web,' or ÎYahoo! Chat Help.' Or you can use Yahoo Groups to make your own chat room.
	Teens teach senior citizens. Peter Laws (lawsp@vt.edu) has done this with the Virginia 4H Club.
	LEGO's Mindstorm product is the computerized Lego set for building robots that was developed by MIT and is now commercially available. It involves programming the robots using a computer.
	Several art projects from Sarah Smiley:

Teens make interactive self-portraits. The teens used a Macintosh Performa, scanner, digital camera, Adobe Photoshop and Internet access over a 2-year period. Each self-portrait incorporated at least one significant object, significant person, significant place, and image of themselves.

An Imaginary House for 9-12 year olds. Students made stories of their own "imaginary room" or place. They drew pictures on the computer, and also did drawings with mixed media. These were all incorporated on to the facade of a "house"framework. See http://www.ctcnet.org/house s.ram or http://www2.ctcnet.or g/real/houses.ram

Water Portraits for ages 8-12. Contact: Claire Murray (clamo88@flashcom.net). This project has two parts: One is a workshop in which kids create their own stories about water. Eventually these are composited into videotape and made into "artists books" which the kids developed over the period of the class. For the second part of this project, the kids go to the beach, and Sarah Smiley videotapes them using an underwater video camera. This is later projected in a public space, and the kids can see themselves transformed through their own movements in water.

	Science Quest (contact: Jennifer Dorsen) is a new program in which middle school students research a science question and then document their research and discoveries on a multimedia web site.
	Kids and Computers. See how a father taught his six-year-old daughter how to program using Microworlds Project Builder. He also sells Microworlds Project Builder from this site.
	Kidz Online is a cool website that explains a Virginia based technology program for teens. This program is an on-line network and training center where teens teach their peers technology skills. They are also setting up a digital studio to make TV shows "by and for kids."

	Tammy's Technology Tips for Teachers includes curriculum plans for computer projects, including Word Processing/Drawing, Spreadsheets/Databases, Internet Projects, and Multimedia. These projects seem appropriate for a school-like setting. Most projects are for 4th-8th graders. This site also offers presentations about teaching technology well.
	Faces of Tomorrow is a cyber-art project for youth. On their web site, you will find a nice pdf-format manual about the project. This free manual includes some lesson plans for digital art projects. (Also check Youth Learn for ideas on digital photography projects.)
	Free Education on the Internet from Free-Ed. They have links for general and IT education but not necessarily aimed at youth. Topics include: HTML, Windows 98, Win 95 for Excel, Word; Visual C++, Java, science, math and lots more. These lessons could be used for self-study or adapted for your own lesson plans.
	Kids Can Program! offers lesson plans just for Microworlds Project Builder, a program just for teaching young children how to program.
	The Computer Learning Foundation offers information on homework help, museums, social studies, and science, as well as a few fun, educational sites for kids. The foundation also sponsors the Our Town Project, a contest for youth doing web pages about their communities. In their articles and archives, you can find Creating Digital Images, Desktop Movies with iMovies and Digital Parenting Tips.
	The Big Deal Book gives grant and contest opportunities, information on free materials, lesson plans and equipment, but seems to be mostly about contests and free materials. You can download the pdf file for free.
	From Now On, an Educational Technology Journal, has a free newsletter, tech book info, and lots of links for educators of technology.
	ArtTECH is a program for youth in tech and art. This website offers curriculum ideas and recommendations on hardware and software. You can pay $10 to receive a curriculum and resource guide.
	Camp Yahoo! is a grass roots Internet education initiative offering the training, materials and support needed to help schools, nonprofit organizations and service groups to introduce people of all ages, backgrounds and means to the Internet. They offer basic Internet training curriculum. When you apply to be a campsite, they send you curriculum for free.
	A basic curriculum (not necessarily aimed at any age group) for ABC/KBC (Adult Basic Computing/Kids Basic Computing) is at http://www.murchisoncenter.o rg. Click on MANUAL.
	ASPIRA curriculum (English and Spanish)
	Quia offers a free web-based testing and management tool for grades 2-12 (you do have to log in). This website allows you to create online quizzes and interactive games. Choose from templates that include flash cards, word searches and hangman. Games are in over 15 foreign languages including Chinese.
	Motherboard Homeworld is for users planning to build a PC or looking for some information on their current motherboard need look no further than this site. Note that there are not lesson plans on this site, just lots of information.
	Training CafZ is a web site for technology teacher training. It has interactive tutorials and free membership.
	The National Mentoring Partnership is a web site where you can either become or find a mentor for children.
	Newland Media Education Center is a community technology center with an after-school program and summer camp. A big part of their summer camp involves computers and digital art with Sarah Smiley and Huy Huynh (See Sarah Smiley's curriculum ideas under the Projects section).

	Discovery Online for Kids (and teachers!), grades K-12. This site has tons of information. Youth can type in a math problem and it will explain how to find the answer. There are also entries from a slave about what slavery was like and guidance about how to plan a science project. This site is very educational! There are also resources for teachers and parents.
	I Know That is a free e-learning website for kids, ages 2 to 12. This site is very educational and truly aimed at young children by being fun, colorful and interactive. There's an on-line sticker book of dinosaurs or ancient Egypt, art activities and educational games with math, science, geography and phonics. When children complete an educational activity successfully, they can print an award certificate. Kids can also save completedprojects.
	New York Public Library's Fun Sites for Kids has some great links, especially on its Science and Technology page (you can view earth from real satellites!). Additional sections include Arts & Games, People & Places, and Sports, among others. Many of the links are to ThinkQuest sites (student-made sites).
	What's Your Anti-Drug? is a website for teens and gives them the information and the voice to do something other than drugs and tell others about it. It has plenty of moving parts and looks good, so youth should be interested
	KiddoNet is a fun and interactive web site for 3- to 13-year-olds with free e-mail (only minimal information is required). Children can also make their own web pages and e-greetings. There are some games, but they are not all educational. The only links included are those sites pre-screened by children's educational media experts. In short, this web site gives children good tools to communicate on the Internet, but does not focus on other educational objectives.
	Virtual Explorers is a group of educators who have made a web site to teach 5- to 12-year-olds about the world. It covers problem solving, conceptual understanding and visualization concepts.
	Vivendi Universal Publishing, a unit of Vivendi Universal, launched a web site aimed at three audiences: parents, children 3- to 12-years-old, and teachers. It can be accessed in English, French, and German. See a review here.
	National Gallery of Arts for Kids has interactive activities with paintings and art.
	The Heat is On(Line), a site about global warming, is not particularly aimed toward youth, but may be good for teens.
	Alfy's Portal Playground is entertaining for children under the third grade level. However, it has very little educational value.
	LivingInternet is a guide to the history and creation of the Internet. It is not particularly aimed at youth.
	Traditional artwork on the web can be found at Ibiblio. This site features music as well as visual art, so youth can listen to such music as Yiddish and Chinese.
	Library Spot directs youth and materials and libraries.
	Nick, Jr., is for children, ages 3 to 8. This site has dozens of games, stories, music, and art, and encourages parents to play with their kids.
	Global Warming: Early Warning Signs, created by a host of organizations (Environmental Defense Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Union of Concerned Scientists, US Public Interest Research Group, World Resources Institute, and World Wildlife Fund), seeks to provide evidence of the "fingerprints" and "harbingers" of global warming. The site includes a clickable world map.
	Fact Monster offers youth almanac articles and special features. It also includes Games & Quizzes, as well as a Homework Center. This site is part of Lycos Zone.
	A site for young kids to "color in" pictures. http://www.color ing.com/pictures/choose.cdc
	Scholastic Kids is a site by the Scholastic Company and has games, quizzes and screen savers about popular children's books, like Harry Potter. This site may be useful in letting youth interact with the books they read.

	AFRO-Americ@ is an amazing site with 4 main sections: Culture, Information (news reports from all over America and the world), history (Black History Museum with interactive web page exhibits), and Kids Zone (see below). This site is aimed at adults and older teens.
	AFRO-Americ@'s Kids Zone is great for K-7th graders, especially the Myths & Fables section, which allows students to become familiar with clicking through web pages even as they work on their basic reading skills. There is also "Brain Teaser," which includes puzzles, African animals and a Black History quiz. There are great maps in "Discover Africa" and, of course, games in "All Fun and Games."
	The African-American Mosaic: A Library of Congress Resource Guide for the Study of Black History and Culture. This web site, aimed at older youth and adults, takes you through history starting with colonization issues as you click through the exhibits. The site has pictures, but also plenty of advanced reading!
	Hip Hop Kids has a product, "Not Just a Month" CD, that teaches children about African-American history all year, not just in February.

	If you need any convincing that the lack of girls and women in technology fields is a problem, look at the information from "Iss ues of Gender Equality: Creating Effective Programs for Young Women" workshop from the 2001 CTCNet National Conference.
	Girl Tech is a very girl-friendly site; it is colorful and interactive. Its main thrust is to allow girls to communicate using the Internet. There are many places for girls to say what they think, answer questions, and read others' answers. This site also has games, links to other girl-friendly sites, information about women around the world, sports, news, and an invention page. It even has a place to click if you're a boy visiting the site.
	Girl Power is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It has both on-line activities and off-line ideas for girls, 9- to 14-years-old. Its Science and Technology section gives links to science/tech sites for youth and has "Health Science Curriculum On-line" where girls can walk through stories that involve heath or medicine and answer questions about the health/medical aspects. Other sections include Games & Puzzles, Body Wise, Diary (encouraging girls to journal), Girl Speak, Sports & Fitness. Everything is peppered with information about health, like "don't smoke" messages, but don't let that stop you it's all colorful and quite interactive.
	The Adventures of Josie True web site offers an educational game about a Chinese-American girl named Josie True (go to the site to see what her Chinese name is). In the game, Josie tries to find her African-American teacher who has gone back in time to 1922, Chicago and Paris. While finding her, Josie meets Bessie Coleman and solves math and science problems to earn what she needs. This is a great site that mixes diversity and history education with math skills.
	Girls Incorporated is for slightly older girls. Its main purpose is to encourage girls to be "strong, smart and bold." It offers activities, inspiring stories about other teenage girls who've given back to their community, quizzes, etc. This site seems well-constructed for a teenage audience.
	WOW/EM is devoted to young women with interests in the digital media arts, both music and visual, coupled with an interest in math, science and computers. This site offers information about careers for girls with such interests, including links to science, museums, media history, art and music schools. Using this site is a lot of reading through information; it would be appropriate for students who are really motivated in this topic. There is also a new section for teachers to help them to use technology in their lesson plans.
	4000 Years of Women in Science gives a list of biographies of women engaged in science. It makes the statement that women have been in science as long as men and their contributions have been just as great.
	The Gale Group -Celebrating Women's History Month focuses on an adult audience, but may be useful for older teens. This web site has a challenging quiz to test your knowledge, biographies of over 50 women, a straight-forward timeline of key events in women's history, information about court trials that have affected women as a wholeand other links.
	Cybergrrl is for women 18- to 45+-years-old. It offers free e-mail and chat rooms and also has a "Woman of the Day" and a "Tech" section.
	Webgrrls International, The Women's Tech Knowledge Connection, allows adult women in new media and technology to network and exchange information. It is linked with Cybergrrl.
	The National Women's History Project is a website mainly for teachers to incorporate women into history lessons. There is also a small section for students.
	Wom en Who Changed History site has biographies and student activities like publishing responses to questions about famous women and Cyberhunt.
	Femina - Sites For, By and About Women is a listing of women's web sites in the areas of arts, business/finance, computers and science, education, and others.
	Female Nobel Prize Laureates lists women Nobel prize winners as well as a list of organizations for Women in Science, Women in Technology, and Articles on Women and Science. This site may be a good way to encourage and challenge young female scientists.
	Advancing Women offers on-line info on new technologies as it relates to career development for women. It includes articles about such topics as "Balancing Work and Family" and gives advice about things like finding job and networking. They also have a link to Advance Women Leadership, an online professional journal for women in leadership.
	Distinguished Women of Past and Present has biographies of famous women and is aimed at an adult audience.