Edgar Allan Poe Immortalized Through Interactive Site

  • 02/01/03

Maryland Public Television (MPT), a nonprofit, state-licensed public television station, brings one of Baltimore's most famous writers, Edgar Allan P'e, back to life with a media-rich electronic field trip designed for middle and high school students, teachers and P'e fans. The site, Knowing P'e (http://knowingp'e.thinkport.org/default_flash.asp), funded through a grant from the U.S. Education Department's Star Schools Program, lets users explore P'e through more than 10 different interactive activities that examine everything from where he lived to his perfectionist editing to his house and fascination with cryptograms.

Actor John Astin appears as P'e throughout the interactive site, introducing themes and theories of P'e's work. This new educational Web site offers entertaining features, visuals, sounds, video, music, mysteries and learning exercises that let visitors interact with the literature, life and times of one of America's most compelling authors. The site lets users take a virtual tour of early 19th cen-tury Baltimore through annotated "then" and "now" maps of the city. Students can also follow one of P'e's short stories from three different points of view and create their own version of "The Bells" with voices, sound effects and music. Another part of the site lets visitors investigate the real-life mystery of P'e's death, as well as solve one of P'e's cryptograms and create their own.

Knowing P'e was developed in collaboration with educators, historians and P'e experts, and features a wealth of tools and resources. In addition, Maryland teachers will appreciate that all the lesson plans, discussion questions and activity sheets are linked to Maryland Learning Outcomes. There's even a section dedicated to the NFL's Baltimore Ravens, which got its name from P'e's "The Raven." This entertaining part of the site features video clips of the Raven's head coach along with team players and cheerleaders quoting lines from the infamous p'em. Maryland Public Television, www.mpt.org.

Knowing P'e joins MPT's other online field trips and interactive Web sites, which are designed to inspire and teach students. These include:

Featured

  • classroom scene with students gathered around a laptop showing a virtual tour interface

    Discovery Education Announces Spring Lineup of Free Virtual Field Trips

    This Spring, Discovery Education is collaborating with partners such as Warner Bros., DC Comics, National Science Foundation, NBA, and more to present a series of free virtual field trips for K-12 students.

  • glowing padlock shape integrated into a network of interconnected neon-blue lines and digital nodes, set against a soft, blurred geometric background

    3 in 4 Administrators Expect a Security Incident to Impact Their School This Year

    In an annual survey from education identity platform Clever, 74% of administrators admitted that they believe a security incident is likely to impact their school system in the coming year. That's up from 71% who said the same last year.

  • horizontal stack of U.S. dollar bills breaking in half

    ED Abruptly Cancels ESSER Funding Extensions

    The Department of Education has moved to close the door on COVID relief funding for schools, declaring that "extending deadlines for COVID-related grants, which are in fact taxpayer funds, years after the COVID pandemic ended is not consistent with the Department’s priorities and thus not a worthwhile exercise of its discretion."

  • pattern of icons for math and reading, including a pi symbol, calculator, and open book

    HMH Launches Personalized Path Solution

    Adaptive learning company HMH has introduced HMH Personalized Path, a K-8 ELA and math product that combines intervention curriculum, adaptive practice, and assessment for students of all achievement levels.