Essential Questions:
1. How does the sun influence changes outside?
2. How do people and animals change as the seasons change?
3. How do people adapt to cold and warm weather?
4. How do plants and animals adapt to changing climates and the time of day?
I would teach them in the order of 1, 3, 2, 4. The reason for this because the transition between the questions would be smooth and the questions are expanding on what the past one started the conversation on. The other reason is, if I needed to eliminate one of the clusters, the outcomes could be integrated into the other clusters, just not as in-depth as they would have been taught individually.
If I were to eliminate one of the Essential Questions it would be number 3. Eliminating that question would simply mean looking a little more in-depth when talking about people in the outcomes in question 2. The decision was also based on ensuring that the Design Process remains in the unit. The Design Process is where hands on learning happens, so it should be included as often as possible. By including people in the animal equation in question 2, the students would not lose out on much learning. In fact, they may become cognizant of the fact that people are animals too. The sorting outcome of question 3 could be addressed in math, as a review of sorting objects.
When choosing the Essential Question I eliminated, I made sure to choose one that would have a minimal impact on their learning. The question should be "if I eliminate this learning outcome, will it significantly impact the students longterm learning". If the answer is yes, it is a fair outcome to eliminate. It is fair to the students and it is fair to the teacher. If you can use the outcomes to address needs in other subjects, than you can eliminate the outcomes without fear of creating knowledge gaps in students. This is possible and should be a concern when looking at eliminating outcomes.
No comments:
Post a Comment