Learning Links:
American Sign Language / Advertisements / Photography / Movement / Patterns / Experiments / Mood / Television / Visual Arts / Relationships / Astronomy / Performances / Body Language
Demonstrators should be read from top to bottom, but need not be demonstrated sequentially.
Elementary Demonstrators
• Draw inferences and defend conclusions based upon a set of observations.
• Compare multiple observations of the same situation.
• Construct meaning from observing nonverbal cues (e.g., gestures, eye contact, touch).
• Connect observations to prior knowledge/experiences.
• Observe for a specific purpose
• Use all the senses to explore environments (e.g., human, cultural, physical).
Middle School Demonstrators
• Analyze, organize, and interpret information gathered from observations.
• Evaluate multiple observations of the same situation.
• Construct meaning from observing nonverbal cues (e.g., gestures, eye contact, touch).
• Analyze observations using prior knowledge/experiences.
High School Demonstrators
• Formulate and defend ideas by connecting new observations with prior knowledge/experiences.
• Analyze, evaluate, and apply information gathered from observations.
• Construct meaning from observing nonverbal cues (e.g., gestures, eye contact, touch).
Sample Teaching/Assessment Strategies:
Collaborative Process: Cooperative Learning, Peer Tutoring, Reciprocal Teaching / Community-Based Instruction: Mentoring, Shadowing / Continuous Progress Assessment: Anecdotal Records, Interviews, Observation, Performance Events/Exhibitions, Self-assessment / Problem Solving: Interviews, Inquiry, Case Studies, Role Play / Technology/Tools: Video/Videotaping / Whole Language Approach / Writing Process
These sample strategies offer ideas and are not meant to limit teacher resourcefulness. More strategies are found in the resource section.
Ideas for Incorporating Community Resources:
• Shadow a member of the community to observe and record the duties and responsibilities of the job.
• Interview a reporter, magician, meteorologist, inventor, or referee about how observations impact their jobs.
• Attend a professional or school performance.
• Invite a police artist to share how observations are the basis for composite sketches.
Core Concept: Accessing Sources
Sample Elementary Activities
• Select a product that is widely advertised invarious media. Determine which medium seems most effective in selling this item. Support your conclusion. PE, OE
• Use senses to observe uncooked popcorn kernels; record attributes. Pop the corn and observe again. Record attributes of popped corn. Discuss and draw conclusions about the cause of the physical change. PE, OE
• Select a rock or other object from the school yard. Observe for 5 minutes; describe your rock to a partner. Place all rocks from the class in a closed box. Find your rock. PE
• Observe and record signs of season during an outdoor walk. Classify observations according to senses. PE, P
• Sort a collection of objects (e.g., leaves, lids, keys) by attributes of your choice. Defend your classifications. PE
• Observe a child who has not learned to talk. Gather meaning from the non-verbal signals. PE
Sample Middle School Activities
• Form hypotheses about changes in a nearby community lake over the past two generations. Interview parents and grandparents about the conditions of the lake when they were young. Record and share information. Form class generalizations. Visit the lake and record current conditions. Draw conclusions, compare and test your hypotheses. Construct a model which illustrates the aspects of the lake's changes. P
• Watch a TV debate between political candidates first without sound and then with sound. Using established criteria, determine who is most effective in presenting his/her views in each. OE
• Watch a foreign film. Describe the actions observed and the emotions displayed. PE, OE
• Describe to a person who is visually impaired (non-sighted) the colors of the rainbow, using the other senses. OE
• Observe a non-objective painting. Describe and compare your observations with others in class. PE, OE
Sample High School Activities
• Observe and analyze the lifestyles or habits of healthy and unhealthy individuals. Make predictions about their future health. PE, OE
• Observe the behavior of peers and adults in school and draw inferences about the effects of their behaviors on daily routines. OE, P
• Attend a cultural event. Write a review for publication and illustrate with sketches or photographs. P
• Shadow individuals whose careers interest you. Develop a list of positive work attributes displayed. PE, P
• Observe the behavior of political candidates during a televised debate. Determine the importance of behavior on the electability of the candidate. PE, OE
• Construct a sociogram based on the observations of a group. PE, OE, P