Education Commons^™

Birds Of New England And Costa Rica: A Science-Based Interdisciplinary Curriculum, Alice M. Ford

Graduate Student Independent Studies

Students are naturally inquisitive scientists, and successful interdisciplinary curricula access this curiosity by shaping academic studies around students' needs as scientists. Therefore, students are scientists who need opportunities to study and observe the world around them. This curriculum, "Birds of New England and Costa Rica: A Science-Based Interdisciplinary Curriculum," is based on children's abilities to observe and question by studying the immediate environment of the students and relating it to another environment. In this way, students compare and contrast relationships in order to construct their own knowledge about birds in New England and in Costa Rica. Through this study, students …

An Interdisciplinary Study Of Africa For Tens : The Dogon Of Mali, Hope Salas Gray

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This thesis presents a Social Studies curriculum guide on Africa, specifically, the Dogon people of Mali. It contains a detailed outline of possible curricular units on The Geography of Africa and Mali; Traditional Cultural Practices of the Dogon; and the Dogon Today. Related lesson plans explore ways to teach and learn about the Dogon through age-appropriate primary and secondary sources, especially by reading Dogon stories, looking at Dogon art, architecture, and ceremonies, and listening to Dogon music. These resources are discussed at length in the Annotated List of Classroom Resources section of this thesis. The curriculum also includes a step-by-step …

Recycle Please: Teach Your School To Recycle, To Care, And To Help Solve The Climate Crisis, Ted Wells

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This Independent Study offers one developmentally-appropriate way in which the elementary school teacher can help alleviate the current global warming crisis by leading students to organize a school-wide recycling program carried out in the spirit of service learning. The reader will learn that this recycling work is two-pronged: the physical labor of recycling and the educational outreach to the school community through marketing, using posters, assemblies, videos, and more. A philosophy of education underlying this work is described in detail, as is the journey of the author in discovering this pedagogy that includes tapping into a personal environmental activism for …

A Museum-Based Curriculum For Middle School Students In New York City, Nayantara Mhatre

Graduate Student Independent Studies

India Inquiry is a museum-based curriculum designed for middle school students in New York City. The curriculum is organized by the following themes: Geography, Wildlife, Culture and Crafts, and Religion. Within each theme there is one out-of-classroom trip, including three visits to the American Museum of Natural History, and one to the Ganesh Temple in Flushing, Queens. In addition there are seven lessons that compliment and support the organized field trips.

The curriculum was developed to appeal to the social, emotional, and intellectual needs of students emerging from the latency period of late childhood and approaching early adolescence.

India Inquiry …

Making Sense: Reflections On Developing A Social Studies Curriculum For Five- And Six-Year-Olds, Anne Tobias

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This paper is a reflection on the writing of a social studies curriculum for five and six-year-olds-a study of a neighborhood construction site. It examines the way in which one teacher's commitment to offering children meaningful content evolved into the formulation of her educational philosophy, as influenced by such progressive educators as John Dewey, Lucy Sprague Mitchell, and Caroline Pratt.

Part One of the thesis is divided into three major sections. The first consists of a developmental overview of five- and six-year-olds. The second describes the connections between understandings of basic child development, understandings of a particular group of children, …

A Social Studies Curriculum For Three And Four Year Olds : A Family Study That Bridges The Gap Between School And Home, Judith M. Gentry

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This independent study outlines a social studies curriculum for three and four year olds, focusing on family. The purpose of this thesis is to provide a framework for teachers when considering how to promote diversity in their classroom and at the same time recognizing cultural identity.

Bridges To Change: From The Classroom Community To Weeksville An Integrated And Thematic Curriculum, Pamela Jones

Graduate Student Independent Studies

"Bridges to Change" is a curriculum designed for use in a third grade inclusive classroom. This curriculum serves a dual purpose: (1) to provide teachers and students with activities that are designed to build and forge a sense of classroom community and (2) to provide teachers with built-in modifications and adaptations-thereby making the curriculum accessible to students at all levels. A wide array of sources was used in the creation of this curriculum. Understanding by Design and Universal Design for Learning were instrumental in laying the foundation for this work. Understanding by Design's "backwards design" approach was instrumental in the …

The National Mall: Becoming Correspondents, Chronologers, Autobiographers, And Biographers, Marion Mccorkle Bradford

Graduate Student Independent Studies

The National Mall curriculum for seven and eight-year-olds is a child-centered, literacy and social studies-based series of units.Recognizing the need to connect reading and writing with the students'real life experiences, this study utilizes the prior knowledge which students bring to the curriculum and extends that information with activities which build a common experience for all of the children. Developed for inner-city students in Washington, D.C., the study incorporates teaching and learning about letter­ writing, timelines, autobiographies, and biographies with history, geography, economics, and political science which is pertinent to the National Mall.

The Post Office : A Social Studies Curriculum For Seven And Eight Year Olds, Carol Ribner

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This paper presents a curriculum that I have developed and used with my class of second graders over the past three years. The curriculum is the study of the Post Office as part of a study of the neighborhood, and the subsequent planning and running of a schoolwide post office.

A Description And Analysis Of An Integrated Science-Social Studies Curriculum For A Class Of Emotionally Disturbed Children, Margaret Mcnamara

Graduate Student Independent Studies

While working in a small independent special school, this writer developed an animal curriculum for four emotionally disturbed boys with another teacher. The teaching of this curriculum took place from March to June of the school year 77-78. This independent study is a description and analysis of the animal curriculum done with special students.

This paper is structured so that it begins with a description of the new environment of these children including a daily schedule. A short explanation of the group's functioning and brief case studies are included. Previous curricula and the origin of this curriculum is discussed. …

A Study Of The River : Social Studies As The Core Of The Curriculum For Five And Six Year Olds, Carol Yahr Tucker

Graduate Student Independent Studies

Using social studies as the core of the curriculum is an effective educational framework for five and six year olds. When this curriculum starts with the children's life experiences and goes on to study some aspect of their community or environment, children can begin to understand the interconnectedness of the adult world. Young children feel the excitement of learning when they immerse themselves in a study; they find that learning can be a vital process related to their needs and experiences, rather than a dry transfer of skills and pre-existing bodies of knowledge.

Learning Through Expressive And Representational Experiences In Social Studies : Eight-And-Nine-Year-Olds Study The Netsilik Eskimos, Joan Cenedella

Graduate Student Independent Studies

The following paper is the record of a study of the Netsilik Eskimos that took place in a group of twenty-five eight and nine-year-olds in 1973. Included in the paper are a description of the school, the classroom, and the children involved; a brief discussion of the overarching concepts inherent in the content of the study; a record of the ways in which the study was presented to children; and finally, a detailed description of the children's work. The point is made throughout the paper that the children learned through expressive experience in the study and that this expressive experience …