Beyond Curriculum Mapping: Using Technology To Delve Deeper into Inquiry Learning
by Pamela Morehead, Ph.D., and Barbara LaBeau
Our first step with the teacher was to clarify the theme that could unify the second-grade curriculum concepts in some way. This process entailed looking at each benchmark under science and social studies to begin with developing a common theme. Once a theme emerged, we continued to ask her to develop it. In doing so, the teacher framed a yearlong theme (table) around the unifying topic of community.
Year-Long Theme: Communities All Around Us
(adapted from Second Grade Unit of Study)
Content Area Benchmarks
(Michigan Curriculum Frameworks) Essential Questions Conceptual Lens
Science
Identify familiar organisms as part of a food chain or food web.
Design systems that encourage growing of particular plants/ animals.
Describe the basic requirements for all living things to maintain their existence.
What is a community?
Why are plants and animals interdependent in an ecosystem?
How is a garden a community?
How are communities alike or different?
Why are rules important to communities?
Interdependency
Compare and contrast (garden/insect and people community)
Social Studies
Identify locations of significance in the environment.
Describe people and their roles and contributions to the community.
Describe goods and services within a community.
Describe the characteristics of communities within a region.
This theme came together under the conceptual lens of interdependency uniting both science and social studies benchmarks/understandings. A comprehensive explanation of the three phases of project based learning provided the teacher with a critical framework for designing each unit of study.
Components of the Project-Based Second Grade Unit Design
Phase I of project-based learning begins through student interest in a topic, teacher initiation of a topic or a combination of teacher and student interest (Katz & Chard, 2000). In this example the teacher focused on the curriculum benchmarks in social studies and science. A substantive discussion followed that provided the teacher with an understanding of the students‘ background knowledge and experience with the topic of community. In this way, ownership of the project involved the entire class.
