LESSON TITLE:   GOPHER IT! EXPLORING GERMAN CYBERSPACE
 
TEACHER:        Dr. Steven Konopacki
                Wellington Community High School
                West Palm Beach, FL  33414
                Konopas@mail.firn.edu
 
GRADE LEVEL:    Secondary, College
 
SUBJECT AREA:   Foreign Languages, German
 
 
OVERVIEW:
Educators already on the information highway know that a gopher is not only
a burrowing animal of North America, but more importantly someone who runs
errands and fetches things (go-for).  In computer on-line  language, a
gopher is a menu directed information system that allows users to browse
through information resources all over the world.  Through unimaginable
connections, gopherspace makes available innumerable resources to the
student and teacher of any subject area.
 
This lesson plan takes advantage of existing FIRN options, namely the FGS,
or FIRN Gopher Server.  By entering FGS, students will surf the cyberspace
info-wave and will arrive in German Gopherspace, where their prerequisite
knowledge of German (2 years secondary, 1 year college) will open the gates
to electronic information.  Arriving in this German speaking world,
students will, among other things, go shopping in an on-line bookstore
(where everything is free) and will download next semester's reading (text)
as well as wander through a museum of Wassily Kandinsky's Murnau period
paintings.
 
PURPOSE:
Whenever students combine basic skills in German with the FGS options in
Germany, the classroom walls vanish revealing a virtual "Info-bahn" much
faster and safer than the German Autobahn! Going on-line, the student will
apply basic skills in German to the task at hand: finding information in
German in Germany.  Yet, whether driving or riding the net, maps are an
indispensable tool.
 
This lesson plan teaches students how to follow, then construct maps,
charting their discoveries in German cyberspace.  As the lesson opens, the
teacher guides the class onto the Info-bahn, carefully avoiding the more
oblique roadblocks.  Students begin their search on the exit ramp, which in
reality is the entry ramp to a world where German is the language of
choice.  Regardless of their experiences, all students will return with
something to read ( a downloaded text in German) and something to see/show
(a downloaded picture relevant to German culture in .gif format).
 
OBJECTIVES:
Students will...
     1. learn to work with Gopher research tools in FGS.
     2. discover the similarities and differences among German and English
        language gopher servers.
     3. construct a dictionary of German computer words, gleaned from the
        various German gopher menus they encounter.
     4. practice downloading text and picture files.
     5. generate a German cyberspace map (the path to their unique
        destinations).
 
DURATION:
Five class periods of 50 minutes.
 
PREREQUISITES:
Familiarity with word processing keyboard functions.  Any on-line
experience with modems (commercial servers, or local bbs) is helpful.
 
MATERIALS:
Computer with hard drive (386 or higher), modem, communications software
(ProComm Plus for Windows which has .gif/.jpeg file viewers), printer, FIRN
access.
 
PROCEDURES:
 
INTRODUCTORY
     The ever changing world of information available through the
gopher/internet can be compared with a 20 floor library, with shelves and
books arranged not under some overriding system of retrieval, but rather
placed where their authors wished.  There is no card catalog to this
library, rather individual guides or maps to interlinking sites.  By
following (then creating) an info-map, the material under search may be
more easily accessed.  The info-map uses the slash (/) indicating that a
new menu on the following page is to be selected.
 
BASIC MAP
     To arrive at German Gopherspace follow the map: logon FIRN/ select
FGS/ Other K-12 Educational Resources/K-12 Gopher at Univ. Mass/ Books,
Dictionaries, Language Arts.../ On-line Dictionaries/ Gopher Home
(Minnesota)/ Other Gopher Information Servers/ Europe/ Germany.
 
OTHER MAPS
        Map 2 . This leads to the bookstore.  Basic Map, then.../EU Net in
        Germany.  Find the Stephen King short story in German, then
        download it.
 
        Map 3.   This leads to the museum.  Basic Map, then.../University
        of Cologne/Interessante Themen/ Geisteswissenschaften/ Anglistik/
        English Server/ Art and Architecture.  Find, then download a
        Kandinsky painting.  Read about it and store information about the
        artist's life on diskette.
 
        Map 4.   This leads to a complete German experience.  Basic map,
        then.../ University of Cologne/ Gopher ausserhalb der Universitaet
        Koelln/ Informationsysteme in Deutschland (Clausthaler Liste).
        Look around in here.
 
EVALUATION
        Report #1. Construct your own info-map to any Gopher location of
        your choice in Germany. Describe what you find as you enter deeper
        and deeper into the menus.
 
        Report #2. Make a list of 20 German words you find represented on
        the different screens of a German gopher.  Give English
        equivalents.
 
        Report 3.  Surf the Clausthaler Liste and find where weather
        reports are available in Germany
 
        Report 4. Download Stephen Kings "Umneys Letzter Fall". Print out a
        hard copy.
 
        Report 5. Download a Kandinsky "slide" and read about it in the
        accompanying index.  Be prepared to show this through the .gif
        viewer.