Learning Links
News Reporting / Hobbies / Decision Making / Pollution / Government / Nutrition / Advocacy / Patterns / Theater / Marketing / Media / Economics
Demonstrators should be read from bottom to top, but need not be demonstrated sequentially.
Elementary Demonstrators
• Recognize facts or information from a subject area to make a decision.
• Examine relevant facts and/or information from different subject areas needed to make a decision.
• Illustrate the connections of knowledge and experiences between/among different subject areas.
• Use the knowledge and experiences from one subject area to form an explanation and then extend that explanation by making connections with knowledge and experiences from another subject area.
Middle School Demonstrators
• Explain an event using knowledge and experiences from several subject areas.
• Analyze facts or information from a variety of subject areas to make a decision.
• Determine the relationship among learning strategies, processes, experiences, and/or knowledge across various subject areas.
• Defend a position based on information from a variety of subject areas.
High School Demonstrators
• Demonstrate understanding of a complex idea or event from perspectives of different subject areas.
• Interpret or analyze different perspectives of an event to determine the influence of different subject areas.
• Evaluate the consequences of ideas and actions by connecting knowledge and experiences in different subject areas.
• Justify a solution or course of action for a complex issue by accessing information from different subject areas.
Sample Teaching/Assessment Strategies
Foundation Strategies: Activating Prior Knowledge / Continuous Progress Assessment: Observations, Performance Events/Exhibitions, Portfolio Development, Self-assessment/Reflection / Community-Based Instruction: Field Studies, Networking, Service Learning, Shadowing / Graphic Organizers: Compare/Contrast Structures, Venn Diagrams, Matrices, Graphic Representations, Mapping, Webbing / Problem Solving: Inquiry/Investigation/Experimentation, Creative Problem Solving / Technology: Computer Utility, Design, Manipulative / 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
Process
• Attend a local planning meeting to see how issues are viewed through different subject areas.
• Interview a local newspaper reporter about factors that have to be addressed in compiling information gained from multiple sources.
• Partner with citizens having different training/occupations to determine how knowledge and experiences have influenced their perspectives on a local issue.
Core Concept Sample Elementary Activities
• Investigate an issue of concern at school (e.g., the temperature changes in different classrooms, the condition of playground equipment, the recycling of white paper). Examine how things you have done in the past make a difference about how you think and feel about the issue now. OE, P
• Interview family members or neighbors to study differences in job responsibilities. Find out how classes in school are related to their jobs. PE, OE, P
• Create a product or solution to help a physically challenged person in a specific situation (e.g., how to open a tight lid if you have arthritis in your hands, how to reach things on a high shelf if you are in a wheelchair, how to communicate map directions to a blind person). PE, OE
• Create examples of how you might teach someone about magnetism by using art, music, or drama. PE
Sample Middle School Activities
• Research information on a specific environmental problem (e.g., ground water pollution, solid waste disposal, automotive emissions); research the problem from different perspectives (e.g., concerned citizens from different areas of town, government officials, local business owner, school official, children, business persons representing different solutions). Simulate a government council meeting and role-play alternative solutions to the conflict. PE, P
• Create and perform a musical, dramatic, or artistic presentation showing how the study of patterns and systems is important for understanding three different subject areas (e.g., science, mathematics, social studies, physical education, language, vocational studies). PE, P
• Develop criteria for locating a new gasoline station or fast food restaurant in your community. Interview a proprietor, government official, environmentalist, and several neighborhood residents to identify the criteria they would use to make a recommendation. Make a decision for the new location based on your criteria. PE, OE, P
• Design a pamphlet advertising a special school event. Apply knowledge from different subject areas to make the event appealing to a broad audience. PE, P
Sample High School Activities
• Debate the solution to a community issue (e.g., landfill, new health facilities, recreational center, new interstate highway) after analyzing the impacts of the issue (e.g., economic, aesthetic, occupational, environmental). PE, OE, P
• Evaluate the educational impact of House Bill 950 (Kentucky Education Reform Act) on you and your school. OE, P
• Develop a plan describing the process for making a major consumer purchase (e.g., car, home, college education, vacation) using knowledge gained from a variety of classes (e.g., mathematics, communication, technology, science, history, geography, vocational, health). OE, P
• Accept/Reject the pros and cons from various perspectives (e.g., health care worker, doctor, insurance companies, small business owners, corporate employer, politicians) relating to the proposed national health bill mandating universal coverage. OE, P