Exploring China
http://edweb.sdsu.edu/courses/edtec596/project1/China3.html
Unit Authors
This interdisciplinary unit was developed at O'Farrell by members of family
E-1 during the 1993-94 school year. Participating teachers were Miles, Animal
and Paul. My guide teacher, Julie Danko, was also involved as the Resource
Teacher that year. It was a unit taught to sixth graders.
Content Areas
The subject areas that were involved in this unit were Math, Social Studies
and Language Arts. The subject stressed most was Social Studies, with a great
deal of time spent on studying China, its geography, its demographics and
culture. In Language Arts an extensive study of Chinese rulers and their
policies was done. In Math a litle less time was spent, focusing mainly on
ratios in order to build a replica model of China.
Organizing Theme
The unit is tied together by an underlying theme of cultural differences. In
studying China, much emphasis was placed on the exotic, interesting and
different aspects of that culture compared to ours. These differences could
be experienced more thoroughly through living drama and creating a model of
the country.
Implementation
The implementation of this unit was done by a triad of teachers in family E.
These teachers spent several weeks with their students learning about China.
It was an interdisciplinary unit involving Math, Social Studies and Language
Arts. It was organized to cover Social Studies and Language Arts classes
during the entire four week period, and it brought in Math classes for a short
time to cover needed information. When all three content areas were being
covered, they were linked together so the students went throughout their
entire school day learning about China.
Outline of Activities
This particular unit was taught two years ago. I was not present at the time
and my guide teacher was not directly involved. I interviewed a teacher that
was involved, Miles, and here is an outline of activities, as close as we
could come to how it actually happened.
Week One
The first week students were introduced to the project at hand. An overview
was given, including the work they would be doing in each of the subjects.
Groups were assigned and each individual was given responsibilities.
Information, both general and specific, was covered in Social Studies and
Language Arts class. Math had not been brought into play yet. Different
exercises in drama, fact-finding and comprehension were done in each of the
two subjects.
Week Two
The next week students answered questions regarding China and started breaking
off and doing more specific research in Social Studies. In Language Arts they
played Chinese Jeopardy and worked on some preliminary drama scenes. They
also started an introduction unit on ratios for the Math skills needed to
create the model of China.
Week Three
Week three was spent entirely on China. The whole family decided to devote a
complete week to finishing the two main projects started: the drama
and Model of China. Since both of these were to be presented to the
parents, they became a top priority. The students worked together to map out
China on a small scale, figure out how much they could create in a model and
then transfer the map to a larger scale and eventually configure the large
model in the garden. Much time was spent on ratios in order to accurately
depict an authentic representation. Many class periods were used to actually
work outside on the model.
Week Four
Week Four was spent putting the finishing touches on everything. Students in
Language Arts made costumes and did their final dress rehearsals befor
"opening night." Work on the model was put into overdrive and it was
completed in time for open house.
Student Products
The products created by the students during this unit were very impressive.
They assembled an actual China in the garden area at O'Farrell. It was
complete with mountains, lakes, and other points of interest. It also had
import and export information, what crops were grown and wildlife that could
be found in different areas. The entire country of China was represented as
closely as possible from student research. Another equally impressive student
project was the drama scenes they performed. After much hard work and
rehearsals, students put on plays about the rulers of China. They put much
effort into these plays and it really showed#003#. Please return to this page
for a short video of both projects. COMING SOON!
Thinking Skills Engaged
These types of projects encourage many different types of thinking. The
students involved had to use inference skills in order to make assumptions and
create believable characters for their drama scenes. Critical thinking skills
were used to logically organize the entire project and delegate duties.
Creativity played a major part. Students took a map of China and from it
created a large model. They were given resources, but they had to figure out
how to use them and where. Many problems arose during the course of this
project and students found solutions to them by working together.
Lessons Learned
After this lesson was completed, teachers felt it was very successful. It
accomplished everything they had planned and showed how well students could
work together. My guide teacher told me the best thing about the entire unit
was the student's ability to work independently of teachers. Students managed
to solve the problems that arose, delegate duties to everyone and finish in
time for open house. Also, a great deal of responsibility was given to
individual students who proved themselves worthy to handle it. The only thing
she would have done differently would have been to make the school more aware
of what had been done. The only people who saw the finished products from
this unit were the student's parents.
This description was written by Stacy Alvarez.
Last updated on March 6, 1996.
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