World History Fair and Exposition A Team Presentation on Contemporary World Regions Students research and analyze the history, the challenges and the future of contemporary nations and share their discoveries in a poster presentation or a technology pavilion.

STANDARDS SITE MAP TEACHER NOTES
An Invitation... A Word History problem based learning challenge THE STANDARDS The Task The Process The Resources Learning Advice The Evaluation The Technology Lesson Map	From the White House Millennium Council Dear Ambassadors, The year 2000 holds enormous significance for humankind. It is a time when individuals and societies are reflecting on their past, taking stock of their achievements, and thinking about the future they will create. All over the world, nations and communities are planning significant millennium activities. The United States will be spotlighting a series of White House millennium projects which celebrate freedom and democracy. We will be sharing our celebration with the world's nations and citizens at the World's Fair, Expo 2000, which will be held in Hanover Germany. The President invites your countries to link with us and over 143 nations in participating in Expo 2000. Focusing on the theme of "honoring the past and imagining the future" the United States invites you to develop a virtual electronic pavilion or poster presentation which will outline your countries' recent past, discuss your democratic initiatives, and analyze the challenges ahead of you. American citizens will be touring your countries' pavilion at the Fair in order to learn more about your culture, your past and your challenges. Be prepared for questions.
The Task   Some Resources to start with:	Your team, as a participating nation, will display contributions in either electronic multimedia pavilions, web based exposition halls OR poster presentations. As an official participant you are required to include the following themes in your countries' pavilion or poster:
CIA Fact book http://www.odci.gov/cia/ publications/factbook/ The World Bank http://www.worldbank.org/ World Health Links http://www.ldb.org/who.htm World Health Statistics http://www3.who.int/whosis/menu.cfm GNP Per Capita http://www.worldbank.org/ depweb/english/modules/ economic/gnp/index.htm Population Growth Rate http://www.worldbank.org/depweb/ english/modules/social/pgr/index.htm	A. Honor the Past Outline, analyze and display the recent history of your region, including the political divisions and systems, key leaders, religious issues, natural features, resources, and population patterns. Your pavilion or poster will display: Historic artifacts that symbolize your countries past Maps or geographic displays which show the nations resources, population patterns, and political divisions Pictures and short biographies of the nation's key leaders A discussion of religion and political divisions   B. Discover the Challenges Research and display the challenges your nation faces including geopolitical, cultural, military, and those of economic significance. Outline the international relationships in which your county is involved and the trends in your region today. Analyze how the trends and relationships serve the cause of individual freedom and democracy. Your pavilion or poster will display: Interviews with the countries "average" citizens outlining their dreams and hopes Data base, charts or graphs which show statistical information on the nation's health, population, economy and technology. Graphs or maps of International alliances and trade relationships Discussion of democratic institutions and individual freedoms   C. Imagine the Future Anticipate what is needed to meet your challenges as a nation, to integrate your future into the ever changing world economy, and the information, technological and communications revolutions. Your pavilion or poster will display: An action plan outlining the ways your country will solve its three biggest challenges You must provide the visitors with an outstanding pavilion, fascinating web exhibit or creative poster. These pavilions will be of a very diverse nature, reflecting the specific cultural, social, economic and geographical conditions of each country participant. Your visitors should encounter the sounds and sights, of your country through your artistic display. Appointed tour guides from your team will take us through these virtual pavilions or poster presentations explaining the challenges and defending proposed solutions to those challenges.
The Process
STEP ONE	Group Organization   Form country teams of six students Select a country from one of the following regions: the Middle East, Africa, or Latin America
STEP Two	Researching the History (Honor the Past) Individual team members choose to research one of the following areas: recent history of your region, including the political divisions and systems key leaders religious issues natural features resources population patterns and ethnic divisions. As you research individually, make sure you focus on the problems or challenges that the country faces. If you research on the web, fill out an information literacy form for each site you visit. Collect or download pictures and artifacts for your pavilion or poster and statistics for charts and graphs.
STEP THREE	Group Report (Discover the Challenges) After going over all your research, choose three problems which you deem to be the most important challenges for your country. Share your results, visual data and statistical information with your group. After listening to all group members, the group collectively selects the three overall problems or challenges on which to focus. Next brainstorm the answers to the following questions: What do we know about these problems or challenges? What do we need to know about these problems or challenges?
STEP FOUR	More research and primary source contacts With the three overall challenges selected, work in pairs (two to a challenge) to do further research (answering the question "What do we need to know?") for each challenge. Team members might be able to contact resources in the county and get e-mail or "pen pal" addresses if possible. Also, if time permits, contact your countries' embassy resources and college or university experts and have them comment on the challenges you have selected. Investigate and be prepared to discuss how these challenges relate to democratization, human rights, and resource issues in your country.
STEP FIVE	Second team meeting and action plan (Imagine the Future) Now as a whole team, share your additional research and information and develop a position paper or action plan for solving each of those three challenges. List the steps you feel the country should take, keeping in mind the cultural perspective you learned in step one. Be realistic with your world perspective and make sure you will be able to defend your county's action plan when you "tour" the class through your pavilion or poster.
STEP SIX	Prepare Presentation Design and "build" your pavilion or poster. Two team members should work on each section. Section one will display what you learned in Honor the Past. Section two will outline and present your three challenges. Section three will propose your solutions to those challenges (Imagine the Future). If you create a your web page or multimedia include a minimum of one screen or page for each section. If you produce a poster divide it into three sections. Acting as tour guides, your team members will give an oral presentation to the class as we "walk" through each countries presentation. Be prepared for challenging questions on your suggestions or solutions.
STUDENT GUIDE	THE INVITATION | THE TASK | THE PROCESS| THE RESOURCES THE LEARNING ADVICE | THE EVALUATION | THE TECHNOLOGY | LESSON MAP
TEACHER GUIDE	THE TEACHER NOTES | THE STANDARDS | THE LESSON SEQUENCE| THE RESOURCES | THE EVALUATION | THE TECHNOLOGY | LESSON MAP