Then, extensive evaluation of first hand data is undertaken using databases from the 1840's-1850's. Teams of students adopt an immigrant family, and create a historical fiction, in diary format, of the family's activities as they leave Ireland, cross the Atlantic Ocean, and establish a new life in Boston. Students use texts, CD's, the Internet, databases, and spreadsheets for searching and researching. They write, edit, and type text. To the text they add graphics, graphs, and timeliness.
Students have access to scanners, digital cameras, and other such tools to enhance their work.
This project is undertaken with the cooperation of computers, language, social studies, and library teachers. It lasts seven weeks and culminates with a celebration of St. Patricks Day.