Classroom Instruction That Works

1.  Presenting students with explicit guidance in identifying similarities and differences.

2.  Asking students to independently identify similarities and differences.

3.  Representing similarities and differences in graphic or symbolic form enhances students’ understanding of and ability to use knowledge.

Technology Applications:

SchoolKiT edClass lessons 

examples;

1. activbook e679 neighborhoods and online maps (note:  have your students try the satellite map images @ www.maps.google.com)

2. activbook e451 What am I?  Endangered species

3. activbook e32 Compare and Contrast

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Webquests

examples

Day of the Dead

This WebQuest was designed for high school students of Spanish I to discover the similarities and differences between the Mexican Day of the Dead and Halloween.

Day of the Dead

Celebración!  Did you know that some cultures view death as a cause for honor and celebration?  This webquest challenges you to examine a holiday from one such culture. Your job will be to investigate and report on select Internet resources that describe the Mexican holiday, the Day of the Dead or El Dia de los Muertos.  What do these resources reveal about traditions, historical influences, beliefs, and the celebration of this holiday?  How is this holiday similar to or different from American holidays that you and your family may celebrate? 

A Tale to Be Told (WebQuest)
http://schoolweb.missouri.edu/nixa.k12.mo.us/sullivan/tales/index.htm  
A simple webquest for younger students in which each child must choose a different story to read. Then they compare and contrast the stories they read to find similarities and differences in them. Finally they write their own tale in a similar style, to share with the others in the group. Support is provided by including links to fairytales, a downloadable checklist for the compare and contrast task, a graphic organizer to help write the story, and an evaluation criteria chart.

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unitedstreaming video

Geography of the USA (19:00)  
The diversity of the United States is tremendous, ranging from glaciers in Colorado to deserts in New Mexico, from bustling cities like Atlanta to a giant midwestern cornfield. This program explores areas located within our fifty states, noting the similarities and differences in its landforms, climate and regions. Further study of the six geographic regions – The Northeast, The Southeast, The Midwest, The Southwest, The Pacific States and The Mountain States – emphasize that while the regions of the United States are diverse, they form one nation, whose geography is one of the most amazing on earth.

How We're Different and Alike (10:00) (elementary level)
Featuring lively music, colorful animation, and appealing live-action sequences, this program tells how and why people are different and alike. Body shapes; colors of eyes, hair, and skins; likes and dislikes; mental and artistic differences - all are ways of making our world more interesting and exciting.

Online Lessons and Activities

Introduction to the
Compare & Contrast Tutorials(from Literacy Matters)

We offer two online tutorials for your students: Help Lee Decide and What Should Maria Do? are online tutorials for adolescent learners, particularly those who are having difficulty in reading and writing in the content areas. The purpose of the tutorials (called "activities" for the students) is to help students develop skills in comparing and contrasting.

Be a Reading Detective:  Finding Similarities and Differences in Ideas Grade levels 3-5 (from readwritethink.org)

Overview

This lesson provides a compare and contrast strategy technique for nonfiction writing.  First students are introduced to the terms compare and contrast, and asked to find similarities and differences between two common items.  Next, students reference an article on whale species to practice evaluation text by comparing and contrasting.  A Reader's Tool Kit handout guides students to identify ways in which an author relates ideas and relationships.  Students are then introduced to Venn diagrams as tools to demonstrate similarities and differences.  To show that they understand compare and contrast, students independently apply the techniques they learned to curriculum-based materials and present their findings to the class.

Nebraska Educational Services Unit - This site has been created by the Nebraska ESU (Educational Service Unit) Technology Affiliate Group. This site will be used with teachers, providing technology resources that match the effective instructional strategies.