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The Moon and Tides: Multiple
Perspectives
Disciplinary Focus:
Earth Science, Biology, Natural
Science, Life Science,
English/language Arts, and Social
Studies Curriculum
Grade Level:
Middle Grades 6-8
This curriculum is intended for use
in elementary and secondary content
area classrooms. It aims to provide
knowledge, skills, and strategies
that students can use throughout
their lives to explore and answers
questions that are personally
meaningful and can inspire social
action. Specifically, students learn
a process for posing, refining, and
answering questions they may have
about science, math, language arts,
history, or art. They acquire
critical thinking skills, such as
analyzing, drawing inferences, and
synthesizing. Finally, they apply
their learning and create and share
a presentation that captures their
learning.
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Using Tools of Inquiry to Explore
and Understand Environmental and
Societal Issues
Disciplinary Focus:
English/language arts, Social
Studies, Art and Science Curriculum
Grade Level:
Grades 6 - 8
This curriculum is intended for use
in elementary and secondary content
area classrooms. It aims to provide
knowledge, skills, and strategies
that students can use throughout
their lives to explore and answer
questions that are personally
meaningful and can inspire social
action. Specifically, students learn
a process for posing, refining, and
answering questions they may have
about science, math, language arts,
history, or art. They acquire
critical thinking skills, such as
analyzing, drawing inferences, and
synthesizing. Finally, they apply
their learning and create and share
a presentation that captures their
learning. This curriculum is
accompanied by a comprehensive model
curriculum; the teacher guides
students through the inquiry process
in a science classroom to answer
student-generated research
questions. The example used focuses
on energy use and environmental
science, but can be applied to
any topic.
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Using Tools of Scientific Inquiry
to Explore and Understand
Environmental, Economic, and
Societal Issues of Energy Use,
Grades 6-8 Disciplinary
Focus:
English/language arts, Social
Studies, Art and Science Curriculum
Grade Level:
Grades 5 – 8
This unit of study provides an
example of the inquiry process as it
may be applied within a middle
grades curriculum. The example
assumes that a class has just
completed a study of ‘the transfer
of energy’ that addresses the
National Science Content Standard B,
Physical Science* for grades 5-8
(National Science Standards,
National Academy of Sciences, 1996).
This unit would enable students to
apply what they have learned about
energy while improving their inquiry
skills through the study of a
self-selected environmental issue
that pertains to human uses of
energy.
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The Natural Environment, History,
and Tradition: The Power of Oral
Language
Disciplinary Focus:
English/language arts, Visual and
Performing Arts, Science and Social
Studies Curriculum
Grade Level:
Middle Grades 6-8
This in-depth curriculum, which
integrates art, language arts,
science, and social studies,
explores storytelling and the
performing arts from scientific,
historical, and cultural
perspectives. Each learning
experience is standards-based and
incorporates approaches to teaching
and learning that are grounded in
research. The curriculum begins with
language arts and art activities.
Students learn the fundamentals of
storytelling and create and use
storyboards. The learning
experiences then turn to science.
Students are introduced to biomes
such as the tundra and taiga, tidal
coastlines, swamps and wetlands, and
tropical rain forests and coral
reefs. They learn that over time,
biome diversity has shaped cultural
histories, stories, and other oral
traditions. In subsequent learning
experiences, the focus is on the
relevancy and universality of
storytelling through oral language,
talk story, song, and dance. As
students experience performances
from Alaska, Hawai`i, Massachusetts,
and Mississippi, they come to
understand that creating and sharing
stories builds understanding and
caring between and among people of
different cultures. Students learn
that storytelling is universal and
dynamic. This curriculum is
accompanied by a set of DVD's that
contain cultural performances from
Alaska, Hawai`i, and Massachusetts.
Each performance has been carefully
selected to reflect various cultures
and to illuminate the concepts of
the curriculum.
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Storytelling and Oral History
Disciplinary Focus:
English/language arts and Social
Studies Curriculum
Grade Level:
Upper Elementary and Middle Grades
4-8
In this series of collaborative
activities developed for grades four
to eight, students learn the
techniques of storytelling and oral
history. They create and tell their
own stories, learn about the role of
storytelling in cultural
communities, and compare and
contrast stories from different
cultures. Students then gather oral
histories from local community
members and share these histories
with classroom peers. Read More |
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Riding the Train to Freedom: New
Bedford’s Role in the Underground
Railroad
Disciplinary Focus:
Art, Music, Math, English/language
arts and Social Studies Curriculum
Grade Level:
Grade 8
This grade eight interdisciplinary
curriculum module explores the rich
history of New Bedford’s Underground
Railroad. Through the study of slave
narratives, folk songs, spirituals,
historical documents, and other
primary resources, students will
come to understand the sacrifices
and acts of heroism by people of New
Bedford, both black and white, in
the efforts of an enslaved people to
find refuge from slavery. Students
will demonstrate their understanding
through art, photography, telling
stories, music, and writing.
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Commercial Fishing and the
Working Waterfront
Disciplinary Focus:
Social Studies, Geography,
English/language arts, Economics,
Biology, Life Science and Natural
Science Curriculum
Grade Level:
Grades 6-8
Regardless of whether we live on the
coastline or in inland locales, we
depend on commercial fishermen. This
integrated curriculum engages
students in examining how evolving
technologies have impacted various
aspects of the fishing industry such
as fishing vessels and gear, target
species, marketing, and the global
economy. Through a series of
learning experiences, students
explore the fishing industry,
focusing on past, present and future
attempts at stewardship efforts in
fisheries. Students map local and
global fishing grounds and research
variations in their productivity.
They use math skills to investigate
the local and global economy of the
fishing industry, particularly as it
is impacted by industry and
government regulations. Students
study art and poetry that
illuminates the lives of commercial
fishermen. This integrated module
integrates social studies, math,
life science and English language
arts, and art standards for grades
6-8.
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The Mysteries of Water I, an
Investigation for Grades 4-6
Disciplinary Focus:
Physical Science and Environmental
Science
Grade Level:
Grades 4-6
Inquiry-based lessons for grades 4-6
explore physical and chemical
properties of water. Hands-on,
minds-on activities provide students
with opportunities to investigate
physical characteristics of water
that are key to understanding the
importance of water to living
systems: effect of heat on state,
surface tension, buoyancy, the
relationship between salinity and
density, the relationship between
temperature and density.
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The Mysteries of Water II, an
Interdisciplinary Investigation for
Grades 7 - 9
Disciplinary Focus:
Earth Science, Physical Science,
Environmental Science, and Social
Studies
Grade Level:
Grades 7-9
Inquiry-based lessons for grades 7-9
explore physical and chemical
properties of water, the impact of
water on human activity and the
impact of human activity on water.
Hands-on, minds-on activities help
students understand why life cannot
exist on earth without water, why it
is essential to conserve water and
avert its pollution, and how we can
all help.
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Ecosystems and Invasive Species,
Grades 6-10
Disciplinary Focus:
Ecology, Environmental Science,
Biology, Natural Science and Life
Science
Grade Level:
Grades 6-10
In a series of lessons for grades
6-10 students explore the kinds of
disastrous impacts invasive species
have on the natural ecosystem, and
the economic consequences to humans.
Students conduct Internet-based
research to learn about the methods
of introduction, kinds of damage and
losses, and methods for controlling
the influx of non-indigenous
species.
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Understanding Our Changing
Ecosystems
Disciplinary Focus:
Ecology, Environmental Science,
Biology, Natural Science, and Life
Science Curriculum
Grade Level:
Secondary/Middle Grades 6-10
In a series of science lessons for
grades 6-10 students explore the
kinds of disastrous impacts invasive
species have on the natural
ecosystem, and the economic
consequences to humans. Students
conduct Internet-based research to
learn about the methods of
introduction, kinds of damage and
losses, and methods for controlling
the influx of non-indigenous
species.
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Maps and the Environment
Disciplinary Focus:
Geography, Earth Science, Social
Studies, English/language arts, and
Environmental Science
Grade Level:
Grades 6-8
This curriculum module, designed for
grades six to eight, integrates
science and language arts activities
that examine the connections between
the natural environment, culture,
and social systems. Students create
and interpret topographic, landform,
political, population, and climate
maps, learn about absolute and
relative locations, and compare and
contrast modern and historical maps
to identify climatic and
environmental changes that have
shaped the earth and different
civilizations. Using content area
literacy strategies and skills, they
conduct research and predict the
potential impact of global warming
on their locales.
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Curriculum Modules |
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Charting the Contours of the
Coastline and Ocean Floor
Disciplinary Focus:
Geography and Earth Science and
Technology Curriculum
Grade Level:
Middle Grades 6-8
This middle grades science
curriculum module uses a series of
hands-on activities to help students
study the ever-changing structures
of beaches, coastlines, and the
ocean floor. Students create a model
of a beach, use bathymetry boxes to
understand the topography and depth
of the ocean floor, and explore new
technologies, including Sonar,
Autonomous Benthic Explorers, and
Remote Sensing that allow scientists
to read, interpret, and analyze data
about the Earth systems and their
interconnections. This module leads
students to understand how the
natural environment and our social
systems are connected.
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Our Living Waters: Algae,
Seaweeds, and Marine Plants
Disciplinary Focus:
Biology, Natural Science, and Life
Science Curriculum
Grade Level:
Middle Grades 6-8
This science curriculum module
consists of four hands-on Learning
Experiences that use scientific
inquiry skills of observation,
classification, and data collection
to explore the intertidal zone,
seaweeds and other marine plants. In
a series of engaging activities,
students create a mural of the
intertidal zone, examine and
classify samples of seaweeds, learn
about carrageenan, alginates, and
beta carotene-substances that are
extracted from seaweeds and used by
humans in a variety of products, and
finally extract cartagena from red
seaweed to make "seaweed pudding."
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The Wonders of Water
Disciplinary Focus:
Physical Science
Grade Level:
Middle Grades 6-8
Regardless of where we live, water
is all around us and is necessary
for our survival. We know that we
get some water from rain and snow.
We see that some things float in
water and others sink. If we live in
cold climates, we are aware that in
the winter, water freezes.
Scientists study water, pose
hypotheses, plan and conduct
experiments, and provide
explanations about the properties of
water. These explanations are often
complex and difficult to comprehend
and even more difficult to teach.
This science curriculum module
consists of a series of hands-on
activities designed to provide
teachers with tools for helping
students understand properties of
water including 1) surface tension,
2) buoyancy, and 3) the connections
between salinity, temperature, and
density.
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