Middle School students in the Computer 8 class recently spent four weeks this year learning about the Iditarod while learning more computer skills. Research on the Internet, using spreadsheets, and exploring new programs and Web 2.0 tools (blogs, avatars, and collaborative web site building) have been the focus as they learned about Alaska, its geography and weather, the history of "The Last Great Race," the National Historic Trail, and the preparations the mushers and dogs must make to participate in the race. 

• Musher Posters--Each student made a poster to promote his/her favorite musher for the 2011 race using the program, Comic Life, and they created an avatar or Voki (some examples below) to tell about the poster and promote the musher.
  

• Tracking Forms--Each student made a tracking form to follow his/her favorite musher for the 2011 race using the program, Microsoft Excel. 

• Trail Maps--Each student drew a trail map to illustrate the trail and checkpoints using the program, Microsoft Excel and the drawing tools. 

• Webpages--Each student was responsible for adding pages to this website (using Google sites) to present their Microsoft Excel and the drawing tools.