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My request was for ideas concerning students creating a project in MS
Publisher, ones that also involve
students doing some research. I wanted ideas that were beyond the standard
"tell me about" report. Most of the responses
were projects involving students making brochures. I am going to create a
brochure or booklet (using PUblisher)
 listing the ideas as a handout for the session.

We had kids making alphabet and counting books using the book fold 
facility in Publisher.  They used clipart as well.  These were younger
students - 7/8 years old.

I don't have any samples, but a couple years ago I had a teacher do what I
thought was a creative use of research, 
which the kids put in to a Publisher brochure.  The unit was to study the
planets - and she had the kids do up a travel
 brochure promoting their given planet.  It worked quite well - they had to
research the planet and then use Publisher
 to make a brochure which included all the standard planet info - but in a
creative fashion - comparing each to earth
 and what "earthlings" would find on that planet.  (They didn't use
Publisher for all the work - they did  have to hand-draw
 the tourists visiting their planet).

A teacher that I used to work with did a brochure for his planet  study in
7th Grade Science.  Students were assigned 
a planet to  create a brochure to draw tourists.  They were supposed to
play on  the traits of the planets.  Mercury would 
be good for a tan (since it's  so close to the sun) and Pluto might be a
good place to go ice skating, etc.  It was a great
 way for students to present elements of a planet without writing the
typical research report.  It was exciting 
to see the different layouts, use of images and creativity that students
put into this project.

You could use it for an election brochure for past presidents...have them
choose a president and then create a brochure campaigning for their
choice....

The ninth grade science teacher and I designed a great project (if I do say
so myself :-) involving viruses and bacterial 
illnesses.  The students were to create brochures outlining the illness,
symptoms, treatments and prognosis.  The kids
did a great job with it- and it gave me a chance to do lessons on using an
index, evaluating medical websites and using databases.  

High school geography classes have indeed done the travel brochure project.
Also 8th graders have done a brochure for a biography project.  Each panel
had required information...such as back panel was for works cited, etc.

We had kids do a brochure about caring for a family member with any of
various diseases--they had to find symptoms, treatment, diet, general care,
things to watch out for etc. they made brochures similar to what ;you might
 expect to find in the doctor's office Caring for a child with Chicken Pox,
etc  They loved it and learned a lot, not only about the diseases but 
condensing info into very consie statement, layout, etc.

Hi - I presented this a few years ago at a conference - I think the links
still work!  
http://www.morgan.k12.ga.us/mchs/magazines.htm

Our 11th grade health classes create a brochure on a drug studied in class.
 They spend a day researching
the drug and then planning and developing the brochure.  The projects are
used by our substance
Abuse counselor.  The students really get into the project.

The students have also created informational brochures on medicinal plants.
 Again, research is done in the
media center.

But ideas that cross my mind include the travel brochure and newspapers
that you mentioned, we recently did a 
newspaper one in class based on a book.  Other things that would be fun,
have them do postcards to people at
home; could be a tie in with Ringo's new book that is a collection of
postcards from the other Beatles.  You could
have a diary or journal format, with excerpts from places visited or
activities at a location.  It seems like I recently
came across something with the Memory project and broasheets, they would be
a different form of presentation. 
 Another is a focus on the number of movies that have been on recently that
are based on classic books, have them design a movie based on a favorite
book and do the add posters for it.  Another would be look at basic
instructions that come with 'anything', and have them create basic
instructions for different tasks.

I hope this helps.  One of my all time favorites was to pick a latitude and
then make a travel guide to all of the places around the world at it.

We have had 2 excellent projects done at our school by 7th graders.  1 of
these is on our website.  It was a study on the students' names.  (I was
disappointed that all of the research was done on the computer, instead of
using our books, but it is a good project.) The other one is a brochure
advertising a colonial village created by each student.  That may be on the
website soon.  
t o see the name brochure, go to www.westcanada.org .  Choose "Our
Schools"; the "Middle-Senior High"; then "Projects"; 
Then Mrs. Eramo "You can call me".  
The other project on the web site is a slide show (with a mis-spelled
title!--please ignore.)

Our high school Spanish teachers have their students at all levels create a
travel brochure for a destination in a
Spanish-speaking country. First year students use their vocabulary words in
Spanish as the headings for weather, activities, etc, plus greetings.
Spanish 4 students must create their entire brochure in Spanish! With
Publisher (as opposed to Word), it is easy to create a 3-fold or bi-fold
brochure with the Wizard, importing graphics (and citing on back of
brochure!!) or using Clipart. We use a black and white laser printer, so I
encourage them to select clipart that they can color in with markers.
Sometimes we use colored paper to print them on. I frequently have to show
my underclassmen that they have 2 sides to the brochure that they'll need
to complete and have made a large dummy version that I can separate into
the "front half" and "back half" for clarity.

We also use Publisher for theater programs and on-campus admission tickets.



Deborah J. Stafford
Gen. H.H. Arnold High School
Wiesbaden Germany
now proudly on the web at http://www.wies-hs.eu.odedodea.edu
Deborah_Stafford@compuserve.com

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