I had never heard of Prezi before I started to explore it for this project, and I must say I was so impressed! I love how I can manipulate the canvas to demonstrate relationships between key concepts instead of being confined to slides. Perspective is something that is important to learning history and this is a good way to show it. One cool option Prezi gives is to allow others to copy your own prezi presentation. The prezi I created includes vector maps that someone else created and I could use for my own presentation.
What instructional problems could you use this technology for?
The maps that I found alone could really help students with a perspective in historical geography. I can't wait to use it to show relationships between events in history that occurred in common eras, or to describe the difference in different peoples live depending on where they live. I think students often get confused during powerpoints because history is not straightforward linear events, at least not the way I'm going to teach it. The best part is I can move around the canvas with the students in any order the discussion leads, so the class can flow more naturally.
What are 2-3 activities you could use this technology for in your own teaching? List the instructional standards if you can identify them.
Social Studies Standard 1: Students will interpret the role of geography in shaping United States history.
I can have my students make a prezi presentation describing and showing the different geographic landmarks and why they shaped history.
Social Studies Standard 2: Students will investigate the relationship between events of different time periods.
I can have students use Prezi to create a relationships map between time periods by creating groups on the Prezi and encircling each one. They could also create a timeline like Prezi to show relationship. I think I could actually find a use for Prezi on nearly every Standard in the Social Studies curriculum. It is such a cool technology!
