Driving Question for the Thematic Unit: What is the role of chile in the culture and economy of southern New Mexico? As you move from center to center, you will explore such questions as what kinds of chile grow in New Mexico, or what are the characteristics of the different types of chile in taste and appearance? What types of environments are best for the cultivation of different types of chile? What industries are affected by the quality and quantity of the chile crop?

Whole Class Exercise:
Meet first as a whole class to introduce the Chile unit. Introduce essential questions and build background knoweledge about chile in their lives.

• View the Chile Challenge at University Hills Movie and sample spreadsheets
• Discuss with a partner: What are your thoughts on how chile affects the culture and economy of New Mexico?
• Sharing of paired discussions with the entire group.
• Video, Heat Up Your Life, viewed by the entire group
• Overview of the project centers and today’s workshop

Project Centers:

_________Center One:	Gathering Information from the Internet about Chile At this center, you will search for information about chile to be used in a database that you will create to organize your chile information. (science, literacy, and information management)
_________ Center Two:	Putting Information in a database Using Access you will create fields and enter the information you found on chile sites.
_________Center Three:	Chile Tasting Station Taste and rate the five brands of salsa using your rating check sheet. Organize your data by using an Excel spreadsheet that communicates your findings. (mathematics)
_________Center Four:	Inspirational Chile At this station students will learn about Inspiration and its tools. After, they will have the opportunity to brainstorm ideas and create concept maps about how the Chile Industry impacts New Mexico.
_________Center Five:	Publishing Center Create a PowerPoint presentation or a Flyer on what you have learned about chile and its impact on the culture and economy of Southern New Mexico. Your PowerPoint presentation or flyer should include a graph, graphics related to chile, and attractive text including one bulleted list. (graphic design and technology skills)
_________Center Six:	WebQuest Center WebQuests are wonderful tools to use in the classroom. Try this one, Sowing Seeds of the Future, to see how informative and fun learning can be. (technology skills, and information management) Digital desert library web site.
_________Center Seven:	Media/Library Center Visit this center to get additional information about chile and Southern New Mexican Culture from video and print materials (literacy and social studies)

Evaluation:

Discussion of the PowerPoint presentations and the flyers.