Guide to Curriculum Units by Fellows of the Yale National Initiative 2025

by Priscilla Black

The Art, Design, and Biology seminar will help students listen to lectures about artists from different centuries, as well as local artists from near and far within the Navajo Nation.  Navajo children are not afraid to draw it would be a great experience to inform Navajo students about art history, both from the beginning of time and how Native American artists understand art.  Indigenous cultures have historically understood the relationship between humanity and nature in particular ways.

The background knowledge of art history will provide an excellent foundation for our Navajo children.  As I look at the seminar title, “Art, Design, and Biology,” my thoughts begin to wander about what art means to teachers and students in the Navajo Nation.  Stories of how ceremonies were performed and sacred symbolism for healing were drawn and words in the minds, and Shonto Begay shares it during one of his lectures.  Shonto Begay is an artist who takes everyday life on a typical rural area Navajo Nation to canvas.  He has always wanted to explore and define how nature can teach us as the people.  He received his credentials from art school and attend the Institute of American Indian Arts, where he graduated with an associate degree in fine arts in 1976. He then attended the California College of Arts and Crafts, where he received his bachelor’s degree in fine arts. Begay mentions that sand painting and symbols are not taught through lesson but rather drawn.  Art and drawing are learned through observation during ceremonies.

Living things, plants and animals, play a key role in Navajo culture. Connecting art, design, and biology to cultural relevance is crucial for students’ interest in learning.  In this specific unit, students will observe and study the biology of one of the least studied plants in our homeland, the cactus.  The biology of the cactus and its cultural and biological significance will be explored.  Learning more about the history of cacti and its uses can help students appreciate native plants.

(Developed for English Language Arts, History, Science, and Art History, grades 6; recommended for Art, grades K-12, and Art History, Native Arts, and Culture and Arts, grades 6-12)

by Holly Bryk

In this multimodal unit designed for a World Language class, I will focus on providing my Spanish students with an engaging and enriching learning experience in which they will explore the human body through art, imagery, and science. Over a span of four weeks, my students will engage in the art and practice of close looking to develop their observation, analysis, and interpretation skills all while building foundational target language proficiency skills. They will examine representations of the human body in Mesoamerican sculpture, specifically the series Las Señoras Bonitas. This series will provide my students with a powerful indigenous perspective on body and identity. My novice Spanish learners will investigate how the human body has been represented, celebrated, or critiqued over time through the visual arts of Spain and Latin America. Works of art to be studied include Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez, Los Caprichos by Francisco de Goya, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon by Pablo Picasso, Las Dos Fridas by Frida Kahlo, La Familia Presidencial by Fernando Botero, and a mural by José Clemente Orozco. These works serve as cultural texts, allowing my learners to compare and contrast artistic representations of the human body across historical periods, cultural contexts, and perspectives.

(Developed for Spanish, grades 6-8; recommended for Spanish and Art, grades 6-10)

by Katie Franzel

Backpacking through a heat wave could not stop me from appreciating the diversity beneath my hiking boots. “Exploring Earth’s Natural Resources through Art” explores how the planet’s Earth’s resources contribute to past, current and future landscapes. The unit will integrate science and art as students investigate how the planet earth’s resources can be used responsibly. This interdisciplinary unit will focus on understanding the Virginia Earth Resources Standards while strengthening and emphasizing close observation and language skills. This unit will look to case studies from Virginia’s Appalachian Mountains, the Chesapeake Bay, and the James River, however these case studies could be adapted depending on the region. The two main enduring understandings of this unit include:

• Close observation provides the opportunity to deeply understand and describe Earth’s natural resources, such as air, water, minerals, and undeveloped land.
• Human actions can positively or negatively impact the resources we have. Small everyday changes can make local or global impacts.

Developed for First Grade Science in Virginia, can be differentiated to be relevant across elementary science courses.

(Developed for Science and ESL Classroom, grade 1; recommended for Science, grades K-2, and ESL)

by Willie J. Keener Jr.

My synopsis is based on a small rural school district in Texas. The curriculum that is written will support cross-curricular activities that reinforce and enhance learning. Students will undergo a series of learning experiences over a 4- to 6-week period, during which they will have a voice in their education, collaborate, peer-teach, and engage authentically in their lessons based on ongoing, spiraling research—allowing them to learn about how art and science complement each other to allow depth in learning and understanding through observation. This is not an attempt to make a scientist (although it is possible); however, it is more of a way to have my students focus intensely and gather information, see fine details, and develop ideas for artwork and photography. Through my research, I have found that the most award-winning students in the Texas Art Education Association were those who incorporated vivid details and layers into their artworks. We will heavily rely on our after-school program, ACE, to support our initiative. The ACE program has been instrumental in fostering a growth mindset and enhancing the overall success of our visual arts program at Hearne ISD. They enable me to develop art programs that give students time outside of class to tap into their creative side, assist with supplies, and offer field trips.

(Developed for Art, grades 6-12; recommended for Art, grades 6-12)

by Kasalina Maliamu Nabakooza

Humans evolved to see more shades of the color green than any other color. Have you noticed that mosses resiliently remain many shades of green throughout the winter season in Connecticut? What if you used a foldscope which is a paper portable microscope to look even closer. And what if like the growth of moss you looked for a long time would you begin to notice differences in the mosses color, texture and smell? In this  three-week visual arts unit 8^th grade students will create artworks inspired by moss biology. Students will learn about the adaptive strategies of mosses which allow them to be resilient to environmental stressors. Students will also learn how the sensitivity of mosses makes them indicators of climate change. Metaphors from the Enlightenment, the game of chess and Oscar the Grouch will be used to discuss strategic adaptations. Students will look closely at moss and experiment with a wide variety of art materials to visually represent moss in writing, collage, with pencil, marker ink and watercolors, cyanotype printing and photography in artist commonplace books.

(Developed for Visual Arts, grade 8, recommended for Visual Arts and Science, grade 8)

by Francisco Liam Nuno

This interdisciplinary unit, Alebrijes: Where Science Meets Art, invites students to explore animal biology through the lens of visual art, blending scientific research with cultural storytelling. Rooted in the traditions of Mexican folk art, Alebrijes are fantastical hybrid creatures that will serve as both scientific and artistic inspiration. Students will study animal classifications—mammals, reptiles, birds—and their anatomical features, habitats, and adaptations. Using this research, they will design and create their own Alebrijes, expressing personal identity and imagination through their artwork.

This unit was created for middle school students at James Shields Middle School in Chicago’s Brighton Park neighborhood, a predominantly Latinx, low-income community. As an art educator deeply committed to equity, I ensure that each lesson is culturally relevant, accessible, and responsive to the lived experiences of my students. I regularly write grants to fund classroom supplies and strive to meet every student where they are—academically, socially, and creatively.

My intention is not only to teach biology and art, but to empower students to see the connections between science, culture, and self-expression. By incorporating their backgrounds into the classroom, this unit allows students to creatively reflect on the natural world, while celebrating their heritage, voice, and potential.

(Developed for Visual Arts, grades 7-8; recommended for Science, grades 8-7, and High School Biology)

by Sharon Ponder-Ballard

This interdisciplinary unit designed for my environmentally conscious 3rd through 8th grade level performing art students. I intend to engage my students academically and environmentally. It is important to provide relevant learning experiences that invite my students to develop their own understanding about what is going on around them through close observation of art, nature, and play This unit has three components dedicated to art, design and biology. The first part of this unit will include lyrical abstraction providing my students an opportunity to engage with environmental themes on a more emotional and subjective level. The second component of this unit will expose my students to environmental racism and exploring the benefits of nature and how plant anatomy enhances the quality of life. The final component will involve design and the use of Legos. Legos will be used for open-ended design challenges that require students to think critically about designing sustainable communities. Exposing my students to this multi-tiered unit will require collaboration, communication skills that are essential for creative problem-solving and creative expression.

The three main objectives and enduring understandings of this unit include:

1. First, I would like for my students to successfully identify and describe environmental issues through the lens of lyrical abstraction.  In order to achieve this goal, my students will engage with abstract concepts like climate change, air pollution, toxic waste and gun violence through close observation in order to deeply understand their environment.
2. Second goal is for students to understand the concept of environmental racism. Ultimately, I want my students to go beyond the emotions of anger and feeling victimized by the environmental disparities. I want them to understand our interconnectedness and become conscious activist advocating for sustainable resources in their own communities. 
3. My third goal for students is to understand and express their growth mindset regarding environmental awareness through disciplined play with the use of legos, collaboration, discussions, note taking, sketching and the significance of contributing to sustainable communities

(Developed for Performing, grades 3-8; recommended for STEAM and Science, grades 5-8, and for Visual Arts, grades 4-8)

by Emily Porter

Urban Gardens are popular, especially in schools. They provide hands-on learning, opportunities for labs, collegiality, and opportunity to learn about native plants. There is even an element of social-emotional learning involved because students work together to plant, maintain, and harvest vegetables. They work to ensure success and take very particular care of the seedlings, watching plants sprout and mature into food. This unit explores biodiversity, biogeography, environmental factors to watch for, and process for creating and maintaining an urban garden. The activities in this unit are local to the Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago, but they can be applied in any urban area in the world.

(Developed for General Science, grades 7-8; Biology, grade 9; ESL Language Arts, grades 9-12; and Special Education Science, grades 7-12; recommended for General Science, grades 7-8; Biology, grade 9; ESL Language Arts, grades 9-12; and Special Education Science, grades 7-12)

by Christopher Snyder

This unit is built around the interconnectivity of visual art and science, and how they both work with each other symbiotically.  The unit emphasizes the importance of looking through the lenses of other disciplines, especially when relating to visual arts.  We will discuss how visual arts and artists were used as a tool to deliver information to increasingly larger groups of people over time.  We will also discuss what can go wrong through the translation of information, along with how science can be used as a tool to providing more accurate methods to produce observational drawings with higher realism.  We will be following a somewhat strict framework of activities, but which still allow for individual artistic freedom.  Students will discuss works from Albrecht Dürer and Vincent Van Gogh, using them as inspiration for our activities as well as for our final project.  We will discuss botanical drawings from the 19^th and 20^th centuries and the work of Charles Darwin.  The unit should take about six to eight weeks, and will have a culminating project that compares and contrasts each student and their use of a scientific and artistic lens.  I am looking forward to implementing this unit, seeing how it positively impacts student learning and retention, and providing a fun and thought-provoking experience for both my students and myself. 

(Developed for Visual Art, grades 4-5; recommended for Visual Art, Science, and Biology, grades 3-6)

by Donavan Spotz

Both art and science require close observation skills to understand the subject we are studying. Art enthusiasts stand for hours examining a piece of art to understand the artist’s inspiration as well as examining individual brush strokes and techniques used to create the overall product. In science we also do close observation—not to observe brush strokes in the painting of a bird, but to examine whether or not the barbs of the feathers, the pattern of the individual scales of a reptile, or the bone structure of the animal or human being drawn or painted have been properly represented. If we look at the artist and naturalist John James Audubon, we can see art that is as close as possible to representing what the artist saw. 

Our students can learn more through a well-rounded approach that teaches as well as takes into consideration all possible related materials and has the added benefit of holding the students’ attention while opening their minds. There was a time when teaching was more instruction from a textbook mixed with some examples for the student involvement experience. This practice would lead students to embrace the material, spend time and effort to study, and understand the subject matter instead of simply regurgitating talking points from a lecture given by a teacher. This is to help us get back to that place before social media, such as TikTok challenges and attention spans that are ever diminishing, by engaging students’ creativity. Creating a connection to biology through art should not only feel natural and proper but also be fulfilling for both students and teachers.

(Developed for Biology, grades 9-12; recommended for Art, grades 8-12, and Physical Science, grades 8-9)

by Kati Steiner

This unit works through geometric concepts in art and nature in preparation for teaching high school students in the geometry classroom. These lessons were built to be taught consecutively as an introduction to geometry, but can also be used in sections as the general geometry curriculum progresses if needed. It is designed for students with and without disabilities in an urban high school who may need varying levels of support to access the curriculum, including enrichment and advanced activities. It features a dive into why art and nature should be used to teach geometry with students of all ages, and goes into details and specifics about the artists and pieces of nature that are the focus of the lesson plans. Famous artists such as Piet Mondrian, M.C. Escher, Georgia O’Keeffe and more are featured.  Art examples are shown when possible, and specifically referenced when not possible. The lesson plans detail through specifics of teaching through objectives, teaching strategies, and teaching sequence for each day of the unit. Lessons include a variety of activities for students to work on in groups, in pairs, and as individuals, and feature hands-on applications of the math skills and terms being reinforced. A list of applicable state and national standards is appended at the end. 

(Developed for Geometry, grade 11; recommended for Geometry, grades 9-12)

by Courtney White

I grew up hating birds. They’re loud, they’re everywhere, and they release their bowels when and wherever they choose. In contrast, there are many people who dedicate many hours observing, identifying, and cataloguing these winged beasts. After spending hours of dedicated research to learn about them and their adaptations, I understand those who, past and present, make the choice to identify and learn about the birds they encounter every day. This unit will awaken that same intellectual curiosity in students by asking them to use art to understand and analyze avian adaptations.

(Developed for Research Reading Writing RRW, grade 1; recommended for RRW, Close Reading, and Reading, grades 1-2)

by Tara Brady

This two-week unit explains how micro-mentor texts can be used to improve students’ writing craft. In this unit, students will analyze short passages and sentences from exemplar texts to build the practice of crafting sentences intentionally. The unit’s culminating assessment requires students to revise and expand on one of the daily writing pieces with craft moves in mind. Students will practice using sound devices and elements of diction, specifically focusing on strong verbs. Following a discussion and analysis of an author’s craft, students will have opportunities to imitate these craft moves in their own writing. Students will understand the intentional choices that authors make when crafting and revising their own writing pieces for improved sound and meaning. The culminating assessment is scaffolded for students through the frequent writing opportunities provided to them. After completing this unit, students will have built their stamina as writers while also developing a better understanding of how word choice contributes to an author’s message. By implementing this unit, one’s students will explore personal identities through frequent writing, will gain knowledge of what it means to think like writers, and will work to strengthen their individual writing abilities.

(Developed for Reading Intervention, grades 7-8; recommended for English Language Arts, grades 6-8)

by Josefa Castelli

“Ms. / Mr. / Mx. / Tr. __________, you’re doing too much.” – My students, and probably your students as well, upon hearing the expectations for a writing assignment.

Teaching writing is an incredible task. Incredible as in truly unbelievable. There are so many moving parts, and it can feel impossible to meaningfully engage students (or convince students to meaningfully engage) with the writing tasks we give. This curriculum unit, designed to be a brief introduction to writing for the beginning of the school year, takes students from the building blocks of what makes a sentence a sentence, to drafting a six-word memoir, all the way to the composition of a roughly 250-word piece of creative nonfiction writing. In this unit, students learn the rhetorical impacts of strong verb choice, sentence length variety, and repetition from mentor texts (both six-word memoirs and excerpts from longer works of creative nonfiction); and they author, workshop, and revise their own versions of these text forms. In short, this unit allows students to choose their own words to convey their own experiences. Ultimately (hopefully) they find their voices!

(Developed for English Language Arts, grade 7; recommended for English Language Arts, grades 6-9)

by Miranda Clauschee

Painting Pictures with Words: The Art of Sensory Imagery in Narrative Writing is a curriculum unit created for English Language Learners for fifth through eighth grade. The goal of the lesson is to improve students’ productive communications skills (speaking and writing).  The unit aligns with the Arizona English Language Proficiency standards. The unit consists of writing techniques for narrative writing and the use of precise language development. Standards three and ten from the Arizona English Language Proficiency standards align with the unit. The precise language development aspect is focused on concrete descriptive adjectives, specifically those associated with the five senses to be developed through multiple culturally-relevant lessons. Five lessons are created with several learning strategies. The first lesson provides students with a background of how sensory adjectives are used by exploring them in three different centers. The second lesson provides hands-on activities with centers that help students use physical objects to describe the five senses. The third lesson leads students into describing an illustration with modeled support. The fourth lesson gives students the opportunity to connect what they read and write a paragraph to complete the story with adjectives to describe the five senses. The fifth lesson gives students the opportunity to engage in completing a story by writing the conclusion using descriptive adjectives and adjective phrases. The assessment allows students to complete a project by completing what happens next in their story after they read a text. Students will be asked to submit their writing in a class book.

(Developed for Targeted ELD Block, grades 5-8; recommended for Targeted ELD Block, grades 5-8)

by LJ Delao

This project will utilize theories and practices that decolonize educational spaces. Students will develop skills to critically analyze how racism shows up in their academic education. They will explore storytelling techniques through oral tradition to empower their linguistic and cultural identities. My unit completely integrates two methods for teaching: Anti-racist Black Language and Ethnic Studies. A crucial element of this unit is to consistently discuss and interrogate the effects that colonization and racism has had on languages, and subsequently on our storytelling. Therefore, we will pair our lessons on Anti-racist Black Language with 2Pac’s “Dear Mama” which features Black Language. We will also explore Indigenous stories and the role that oral tradition plays in preserving Indigenous culture. We’ll read and discuss Rigoberta Menchú’s I, Rigoberta Menchú: An Indian woman in Guatemala, noticing how she, a native Maya K’iche’ speaker, learns Spanish in order to share her story of oppression and resistance orally with a translator who transcribes her story into the written word. We’ll also look at StoryCorps examples of family interviews to inform how students conduct their own family interviews and create narratives from them.

(Developed for English, grade 9; recommended for English, grade 9)

by Eric Jackson

The ability to read and write is a fundamental skill, a blessing bestowed upon those fortunate enough to be in the presence of individuals who desire to improve society through the power of education. Building upon the foundation of reading comprehension and the development of writing skills entails the necessity of expediency that cannot be allowed to fester in an atmosphere of mediocrity. Here now comes a curriculum unit entitled “Evidence and Defense: The Art of Writing a Persuasive Argument crafted with students in mind, focusing on raising the pedagogical bar,  fostering teacher development, and catapulting the learning experience into the stratosphere of educational excellence!

This unit emphasizes the importance of preparing our students for the academic rigor of higher education. The overarching goal of this unit is to teach students how to prepare and complete a persuasive argument essay. Furthermore, it shows students how to incorporate researched evidence and to provide a defense of their work, carefully considering opposing views. The endgame is for students to produce quality work that they can reference when they enter the hallowed halls of academia. This unit provides teachers with tools to enhance their teaching skills in the art of persuasive writing and to generate ideas focused on employing best practices in their teaching and learning environments.

(Developed for AP English Literature and Composition, and English IV, grade 12; recommended for Advanced English I, grade 9; English II, grade 10; and AP English Literature and Composition and English III, grade 11)

by Heidi Lemon

The Harlem Renaissance played a key role in laying the foundation for art culture in the United States. This curriculum unit  allows students to take a step into the past as we watch a community of artists form through text, music, photographs and paintings.  Mentor text lends a hand to seeing examples of various types of writings. As students work through this writing process, they will discover what type of writer they are.  Using a reading and writing workshop model, students will learn to work and grow as independent learners. We will put our learning focus on learning materials and writing without worrying about time constraints.  The more students read, the more connections they will make to their writing. Writing will be scaffolded through short prompts and grow into a larger finished piece. Revising will be an ongoing process as these narratives grow. Feedback will be shared often through this process to aid in thinking and building a solid piece of information. As a final extension to this curriculum, students will add art pieces onto their writing project.  Peer and teacher feedback encourage students to criticize their work and build  strong writing practices. Culturally relevant pedagogy will be present through this curriculum unit.

(Developed for ELA, grade 3; recommended for ELA, Social Studies, Art, and Music, grade 3)

by Julian Lopez-Carmona

In this interdisciplinary unit, “Voices from the Renaissance: Letters Through Time,” fifth-grade students explore the lives and legacies of influential Renaissance figures through the art of letter writing. By embodying the voices of Leonardo Da Vinci, Queen Elizabeth I, Catherine De’ Medici, and Artemisia Gentileschi, students craft historically grounded letters that reflect the tone, values, and perspectives of the era. The unit integrates rhetorical strategies – such as ethos, pathos, logos, anaphora, apostrophe, and chiasmus – while reinforcing foundational writing skills, including planning, drafting, revising, and proofreading.

Students are encouraged to view writing not only as a form of communication, but as a tool for inquiry perspective-taking, and creativity. As one scholar reflects, “The ability to write, hence to preserve and share arbitrary words and thoughts, was one of the most important breakthroughs in the history of mankind. It laid the technological basis for what we perceive today as culture, science and, in good part, economy.”

Through close reading of mentor texts and primary source excerpts, students engage in metacognitive reflection on how structure, voice, and language shape meaning. The unit blends history, literacy, and empathy to help students understand both the European Renaissance world and the power of their own words.

(Developed for English Language Arts, grade 5; recommended for English Language Arts, Social Studies, Arts, and Writing, grades 5-6)

by Tara McKee

Read. Draft. Peer Edit. Revise. Repeat. This is the mundane formula of my IBHL English I classroom. We read a variety of books and write a handful of different types of academic essays. I am always looking for my students to take their writing to the next level and—by playing more with language, using a workshop model, and adding a little competition—I am confident that I can get my students to level-up while hopefully preventing the use of AI for writing assignments. In order to play constructively, my students will imitate five different personal essay styles: the humorous essay, the segmented essay, the defamiliarization essay, the braided essay, and the hermit crab essay. By examining these mentor texts, students will imitate or try their hand at new techniques to communicate their purpose in their own pieces. The goal of this unit will be for students to write a college essay or personal statement to use in their senior year. But, more importantly, doing these imitation writings will allow for students to play with language and craft in a way that will benefit not only their creative writing, but their academic writing as well.

(Developed for IBHL English I, grade 11; recommended for AP Language and Composition, grades 11-12; English III, grade 11; and English IV, grade 12)

by Perrine Punwani

This unit teaches students to read like writers by studying several rich and engaging memoir mentor texts as an inspiration to express themselves authentically in writing. Students will study each text with a writer’s eye to note how an author creates an effect on the reader. With the guidance of Ruth Culham’s 6+1 traits of writing, students will begin to sort their learning into ideas, organization, voice, sentence fluency, word choice, and conventions. They will mimic the techniques they have studied in professional writing to write several of their own short personal narratives. Students will then engage in writer’s workshops where they will have the opportunity to share and listen to other students’ narratives. Students will critique each other's pieces and revise accordingly. Through several cycles of reading, noting, writing, and revising, students will learn about and practice each of the writing traits. At the end of this unit, students will revise and lengthen one of the narratives they have written that exemplifies their mastery of the traits. This unit is meant for eighth grade students but can be used in much of middle school and up through about tenth grade.

(Developed for English Language Arts, grade 8; recommended for English Language Arts and Composition, grades 7-12)

by Anna Raphael

This unit will integrate creative writing into the elementary classroom by guiding second-grade students through the process of writing their own love letters in prose and poetry. Through illustrated picture book mentor texts and famous odes by Pablo Neruda, students will explore the literary devices of sensory description, personification, word choice, oxymoron, enjambment, and repetition and then employ those devices in their own writing.

With the focus on a form that effuses affection, students will honor the (perhaps) mundane items and places in their lives that are, in fact, incredibly worthy of love and celebration. Students will write love letters to foods, places, and words and odes to animals and toys. The use of various literary devices will make the subject come alive for the reader and encourage readers to celebrate the minutiae of their own lives.

After composition is done, students will get the chance to become the experts on all they’ve learned in order to workshop peers’ writing. These workshopped and revised pieces will then be compiled into a class anthology that can live in classroom libraries for years to come.

(Developed for Reading, Research, and Writing RRW, grade 2; recommended for Writing, grades 1-5)

by Alison Wollack

This unit uses mentor texts and explicit instruction to support students in writing a personal narrative for college applications. Even though this unit names college applications as its focus, this content can be used for personal narratives in all levels of high school. 

The unit begins with the analysis of five published personal narratives from Sherman Alexie, Lynda Barry, Roxane Gay, Amy Tan, and Alice Walker. As students read these narratives, they will focus on the author’s public point and how they engage the reader. Students will then move to writing their own personal narratives. After writing a first draft, students will learn about organization, voice, word choice, and fluency.  Each of these techniques will be broken down further. For example, organization includes beginning a story, transition words, and ending with a sense of resolution. As students learn about each new technique, they will revisit the mentor texts to see how the authors effectively employed those skills. With this new knowledge, students will revisit their own personal narrative and revise their writing for that specific technique.

Through workshops, ongoing reflection, and multiple rounds of revision, students will not only end the unit with a polished personal statement but with a deeper understanding of the writing process.

(Developed for IB English Standard Level Part II, grade 12; recommended for English, grades 8-12)

by Carol Boynton

Students love an interactive story! Mo Willems stories with Pigeon, Elephant, and Piggie do just that. These books, written in a graphic narrative format, give students a chance to be part of the action. Mo Willems uses his Pigeon, Elephant, and Piggie characters to tell the stories, all while allowing students to interpret and think creatively about the action and the off-page participants in each book. This empowers students to think about the stories through their own individual lenses, aligning with the reader-response theory, a literary theory that emphasizes the reader's role in interpreting a text. This perspective allows the reader to draw on personal experiences, emotions, and individual interpretations as components of understanding what they are reading, as opposed to theories that prioritize author meaning or intention.

The two- to three-week Kindergarten unit introduces a wide array of Willems’ books, highlighting his use of speech and thought bubbles to tell the stories. Through the conversations and interactions between characters, students will learn the four types of sentences: statements, questions, commands, and exclamations. Students will sort, create, design, and collaborate as they learn to identify sentence types throughout the many Mo Willems books in this unit.

(Developed for Literacy, grade K; recommended for Reading, grades K-2)

by Yasmine Collins

This unit combines science and literacy by using graphic novels to support all types of learners, including students with disabilities. Students will be reading A Journey Into Adaptations with Max Axiom by Agnieszka Biskup, an engaging graphic novel that explains how animals adapt to their environments. Students will learn how to read and understand graphic novels, focusing on how pictures and words work together to tell a story while strengthening both their knowledge in science as well as visual literacy and writing skills.

Throughout the unit, students will collaboratively build vocabulary, read , and participate in discussions to deepen their understanding. They will also complete a research project on a local animal, gather information, and create their own original comic that mirrors the graphic novel read as a class. This gives students a fun and creative way to demonstrate their comprehension while also developing their skills in research, writing and art.

The unit is designed for 3rd–5th grade inclusion classrooms, but can be adjusted for other grades and subjects. Instruction supports multiple learning styles through visuals, templates, partner work, and scaffolded instruction. The final comics will be shared with classmates and turned into a collective classroom book. This unit helps students build reading and science skills while also encouraging independence, creativity, and collaboration. 

(Developed for English Language Arts, grade 4; recommended for English Language Arts and Science, grades 3-5)

by Marla Colondres

This unit advocates for integrating authentic Spanish graphic novels into 9-12 World Language curricula, recognizing their unique power to explore Latinx identity, immigration, and border complexities. In a challenging political climate, the graphic novel Una historia más: Un relato de migración offers vital opportunities to humanize immigrant experiences, moving beyond statistics to cultivate profound empathy and challenge stereotypes.

Graphic novels' visual rhetoric effectively conveys emotion, cultural context, and complex meanings, fostering deeper reader connection and active engagement. They uniquely portray identity's fluidity and the multifaceted challenges of migratory journeys, "showing" rather than merely "telling" with immediate emotional impact that transcends language barriers. Ultimately, this initiative asserts graphic novels as transformative educational tools. They cultivate critical thinking, visual literacy, and compassion, fostering a more informed and equitable social conversations on identity, immigration, and belonging within Latinx communities and beyond.

Key Words: Latinx, immigration, graphic novel, Spanish, border crossing, migration

(Developed for Spanish II, grades 9-12; recommended for Spanish III, IV, AP Spanish, and Spanish for Heritage Speakers I and II, grades 9-12)

by Lauren Hughes-Freeman

This curriculum unit is written with the intention of not only enhancing student learning, but also showing student growth.  The use of the graphic narrative with students during their ELA periods will not only engage the children but provide an opportunity to build skills in multiple areas of reading such as fluency, comprehension and vocabulary.  A highlight of the unit is the fact that it will intertwine not only with the district curriculum and pacing but will utilize Common Core State Standards and address eligible content for the state assessment.  Being able to implement the unit while continuing to build crucial reading skills and prepare for the upcoming assessments is an important aspect.  Additionally, this unit includes the formation of a teacher, student and family book club that will promote a well-balanced view into its success with the growth and achievement of students.  The graphic narrative is a focal point and several specific books have been selected to examine literary elements like point-of-view, foreshadowing, simile, metaphor, and theme.  Moreover, confirming that the graphic narrative equips students with rich, robust learning experiences and content with literal heft will prove what a treasure this genre can be in and out of the classroom!

(Developed for ELA, grades 4-5; recommended for ELA, grades 3-5)

by Debra J. Jenkins

This unit reflects my commitment as an educator who does not mind standing on business for my students. It responds to the needs of Hearne High School students navigating poverty, generational struggles, or resettlement in a new country, who are too often underestimated or overlooked. Grounded in the English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS) and the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), the unit positions graphic narratives as rigorous yet accessible entry points for engaging with complex ideas while strengthening language proficiency. Students will examine how visual storytelling integrates illustration and text to construct narrative, while analyzing the cultural impact and representation of diversity, identity, and marginalized voices. These explorations are framed in relation to the lived experiences of emergent bilingual students, many of whom encounter marginalization when adapting to a new language and culture while being compelled to suppress their own. By centering these realities, the unit advances the argument that emergent bilinguals in Hearne and beyond should not simply be accommodated, but empowered to affirm identity, exercise agency, and define success on their terms.

(Developed and recommended for emergent bilingual students, grades 7-12)

by Sarah Lewand

This unit will explore the illustrative components of graphic narratives. The main output of this unit will be a graphic narrative that students create on their own about a story about overcoming a challenge. In order to develop a finished project, students will need to focus on three main content objectives: illustration (realistic and stylistic), storytelling, and the traditional visual and written components of graphic novels. Through a series of mini units focusing on each objective, students will build the tools necessary to create a short illustrated narrative in their own personal style.

Students will be pushed out of their comfort zones to try realistic drawing, only to then break this down and use their knowledge to establish their own drawing style. They will gradually build from learning the most basic elements of storytelling to demonstrating a grasp on the subject matter by applying it to part of their own story.  Students reflect individually and collaboratively throughout this process by applying peer critiques. There is an emphasis on student choice and artistic license throughout the project, allowing even the most tentative artists the chance to grow and reflect on their success.

(Developed for Visual Art, grades 6-8; recommended for Visual Art and English, grades 6-8)

by Alima McKnight

The Meta of Manga: The Thinking Behind Creating a Graphic Novel curriculum unit is designed to impart much of what the YNI intensive seminar “Graphic Narratives as Teaching Tools” led by Marta Figlerowicz sought to do to even more teachers. This unit endeavors to expand the thinking around graphic narratives that many teachers have. The seminar used an engaging instructor, a multifaceted reading list, and collaborative conversations to help fellows in the seminar become quasi-experts. This curriculum unit will help teachers to articulate a rationale and create a procedure for implementing graphic narratives in their classrooms. The artifact created to accompany this unit is in fact a graphic narrative that tells the story of how to create graphic narratives. In a simple, yet catchy turn of phrase, this unit can be thought of as Comics in the Classroom! The unit will explore three avenues for GN use: as a supplement to a novel being read by students created by the teacher, as a way to complete a summary or retelling of a story by students, or as a vehicle for self expression in the writing parts of the literacy classroom. This unit is geared towards 3rd to 8th grade students.

(Developed for ELA, grades 4-5; recommended for ELA and Literacy in any language, grades 3-12)

by Renee Patrick Mutunga

In her introduction to the twentieth anniversary edition of Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi reflects on how she “was certain the need for her book would fade over time.”¹ However, when I consider recent current events, such as the Israel-Iran war and the United States’ subsequent involvement, I am convinced that I must read Satrapi’s graphic memoir with my students. Western news media tells us a narrative of Iran that might evoke fear, anger, or pity through excessive negative representation and a sense of “otherness.” Satrapi’s story of growing up through the Islamic Revolution and the Iran-Iraq war educates readers on the history of the revolution that ended 2,500 years of monarchy and turned Iran into the Islamic Republic that it is today. Her use of the graphic narrative genre and her brutally honest perspective invite readers in and foster connections of common humanity. While Satrapi urges us to realize that we are “one race—the human race,”⁵⁵ she challenges us to also go deeper than looking for our own qualities in others and to pause, sit, listen to, and understand the stories, cultures, desires, and histories that make us different. Persepolis is the best history text on Iran I’ve ever read, but as they read, students will have questions about how these events happened and how they impact current news coverage on Iran. This unit, designed for a Grade 11 IBDP Literature course, is guided by the question, “Can graphic narratives reveal the truth more effectively than other, more realistic media?” Students will learn to ask questions about the media and texts they encounter and become seekers of truth that look for a fuller understanding of issues through multiple perspectives. Students will begin the unit with a critical look at representation of Iran in Western media and then embark on a critical reading of Persepolis that will help them build a more complete, truthful understanding of Iran’s complicated history. Students will demonstrate their understanding in a summative project that challenges them to consider a topic related to Iranian culture or history from multiple perspectives, reflect on the causes and effects of these different perspectives, and connect this thinking to an issue in their own lives. This unit could be adapted for Grades 9-12 English Language Arts courses or possibly for a world history or elective course.

¹Marjane Satrapi, The Complete Persepolis (2000; repr., St. Albert, Ab: Sapl, 2013).

(Developed for IBDP English Literature, grade 11; recommended for English Language Arts, World History, and Literature Electives, grades 9-12)

by Angela Sprigby

The topic of my unit is Illustrated Insights: Enhancing Comprehension Through Paired Readings.  This unit is created for students in my middle school Life Skills classroom but can be easily modified for the Elementary Classroom, students with mild to moderate disabilities, or even students in the general education setting.  The concept could also be adapted for the High School classroom using a more challenging base text.  My unit focuses on a paired reading of the Novel The Golden Compass by Phillip Pulman and the Graphic Novel adaptation of this story.  My research covers the importance and need for adding visual supports for students, especially those in the special education setting.  It highlights the importance of listening while reading and why this is a beneficial classroom practice.  It talks about the importance of building reading stamina as well as giving a crash course on terminology that you need to understand in order to read a graphic novel successfully.  A summary and outline of the three Parts of the Golden Compass and their comparison to the graphic novel version is also included.

(Developed for ELA SPED, grade 6; recommended for ELA and SPED, grades 3-12)

by Vivian-Lee Taylor

In this unit, “Exploring Futuristic Worlds Through Graphic Novels”, students will explore the genre of speculative fiction using the lens of graphic novels to analyze topics such as: class, climate change, privatization, and power. Within this unit students will analyze and dissect how graphic novels portray dystopian and futuristic societies. Additionally, students will ponder upon the questions of how does one predict the future and how do graphic novels play a part in illustrating what a society looks like in the future? The central texts that will be used in this unit will be: Parable of the Sower: Graphic Novel Adaptation and 1984: The Graphic Novel.

(Developed for English, grade 10; recommended for English, grades 10-12)

by Landon Walker

“We Wear the Mask: Graphic Narratives and Identity” will aim to explore how masks are used both symbolically and literally in fiction and everyday life. Through exploration of graphic novels, prose, and historical studies, students will engage with the concepts of how we present ourselves, how we view ourselves, and the barrier in between. This unit is intended for 11-12th grade English courses. Central texts will include Watchmen and Incognegro.

(Developed for English, grade 12; recommended for English, grades 11-12)

by Garrick Yazzie

This unit is a project base-learning approach, students will have to go out and explore through inquiry. Through inquiry students will develop their concept about what they are seeking. Students will seek information that is deeply rooted and hold meaning. This concept is what I want my students to understand and carry forward. Ke (relation/family), not many young Dine know the meaning, they think it is just the clan we share or a most of us do not know the stories behind the clan. Through “Graphic Narratives as Teaching Tools,” led by Dr. Marta Figlerowicz has taught me a great deal on how I can use Graphic Narratives in my classroom. This topic unit students will inquire information about their clans(s). They will be given the tools like pencil, notebook, sketchbook and device to take notes. Students will be given examples of what a graphic/comic should look like and use that information to do rough sketches. Students will analyze how to interpret their information they gather and create a graphic novel/comic book. Students learn how to become storytellers through this unit, they will learn to question their culture. Most important through this unit, students will revitalize a culture through Graphic Narratives. 

(Developed for Social Studies, grade 5)

by Raven Dorman

The goal of the Touchstone Atlas is an aim to put a means of connection and learning transfer in reach for all students despite their incoming placement level, previewing and grounding the major work of the 7^th grade curriculum. To experience the level of transfer required to perform on assessments which require them to apply multiple skills and concepts, students must be provided with multiple opportunities to uncover how concepts interplay. This unit will highlight opportunities for students to make connections through consistent implementation of Mathematical Language Routines (MLRs) as students see their portfolio as a recurring artifact and unpack it as they learn new concepts. Students will discover and demonstrate knowledge of scale, proportionality, and rational numbers by building a touchstone atlas. They are encouraged to reflect on their learning in writing and to self-assess their strengths and growth areas in their writing. In creating a physical portfolio, students will connect their bodies and experiences to make sense of and improve their discourse around new content. Students are supported in organizing new information and expanding their schema as they are given regular opportunities to contribute to their atlas while 7^th grade units build upon one another. Encouraging students to reflect on work they have created to make sense of new problems promotes transfer. Learning transfer requires students to remain engaged and connected with content in order to do the work of sense-making. When the goal shifts from conquering step-by-step procedures to connecting with and remaining curious about how to approach new content, students develop critical thinking skills that transfer. 

(Developed for Mathematics, grade 7; recommended for Accelerated Mathematics, grade 6, and Mathematics, grade 7)

by Kariann Flynn

In this 2-3 week supplemental curriculum unit, multilingual learner (MLL) students will build content knowledge and map analysis skills to understand how New Deal-era housing discrimination in the United States created racial and socioeconomic class disparities in American homeownership rates that persist today. The unit will utilize maps as visual learning tools to teach the history and legacy of housing discrimination in America and its effect on current homeownership disparities. Students will also practice gathering data from maps to form claims about a map’s purpose in the historical moment in which it was created. At the end of this unit, students will plan how to creatively and effectively represent demographic data of a formerly redlined community as it relates to housing and infrastructure quality, land use, exposure to environmental hazards, and rates of homeownership in the city of Wilmington. Upon completion of this supplemental unit, students will be more able to write argument essays in response to the larger unit’s essential question: Has the American Dream of homeownership been a false promise?

(Developed for English Language Arts, grade 11; recommended for English Language Arts and Social Studies, grades 9-12)

by Anna Herman

This interdisciplinary unit uses maps—past, present, and imagined—to help students understand how geography shapes lives, communities, and futures. Rooted in Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources (AFNR) education, the unit introduces students to foundational geographic literacy through hands-on, analog experiences like cognitive mapping, walk audits, and 3D topographic model-making. Students analyze historical maps of Philadelphia to trace how land use, redlining, food access, and infrastructure have contributed to current environmental and social conditions. They explore GIS tools, after gaining fluency with map conventions, scale, and spatial reasoning. The unit bridges AFNR with social studies, science, and civic engagement, guiding students to investigate real-world issues like food justice, air quality, and climate change. Students curate a personal Atlas for the Future—a multimedia portfolio including annotated maps, community data, and original visions for a just, sustainable Philadelphia. Built on the belief that stories are place-based and maps are tools for change, this unit centers students’ agency and helps them see their neighborhoods as part of a larger historical and ecological narrative. It culminates in the use of Esri StoryMaps to share student research, reflections, and future-focused plans with a wider audience.

(Developed for Organize-Social Studies, grade 11, and AFNR-CTE, grade 12; recommended for Social Studies, World Cultures, and Civics, grades 10-12; and Environmental Sciences, grades 9-12)

by Marc Hillis

As a US History teacher and Advanced Placement US History (APUSH) teacher, a question that led me to this curriculum was ‘How am I going to connect US History to my students?’  US History, Social Studies, is often a boring topic for American Indigenous students.  I currently teach Navajo students at a rural public high school on the Navajo Nation in northern Arizona, Window Rock High School.  I’ve also taught Pima and Maricopa students in the Phoenix metro area of Scottsdale and Mesa AZ.  In both places, the students didn’t see American History as pertinent in their lives.  It was oppressive, omitting, and irrelevant to them.  So, the challenge is always finding a link between my students and the content.

Maps and student familiarity with the lands on which my Navajo students live and are familiar with can be a link to understanding and comprehending, thus getting a vested return on learning.  Accounts of Navajo past are intertwined all throughout American history.  Hopefully the students can come to understand the past as it has shaped the present, and hopefully they can learn those lessons for the betterment of the future.  My curricular approach is further solidified in Gloria Ladson-Billings’ Culturally Relevant Pedagogy, ” ...social studies teachers will need to develop more culturally relevant teaching approaches”

(Developed for U.S. History and AP U.S. History, grade 10; recommended for U.S. History, Geography, and Navajo/Native Studies, grades 9-12)

by Kristina Kirby

Despite an inherent connection between cartography and mathematics, it seems that maps are rarely used as a tool to augment student learning in the Geometry classroom. This unit, Topographical Trilateration and Triangulation, focuses on the geometric makeup of Earth and the relationships of various points on Earth and in space to one another. The trilateration section of this unit will teach students how to identify unknown locations with both circular and spherical projections of distance from three or more known locations; the triangulation section will teach students how to identify unknown locations from two known locations and calculate unknown distance between two known positions. This unit should be taught at the culmination of Geometry as a means of reviewing various concepts from throughout the year, such as conversions, angle construction, and tangent, in a way that is both practical and tangible.

(Developed for Geometry, grade 9; recommended for Trigonometry and Precalculus, grade 11)

by Zanneta Kubajak

All maps have a story. But, who decides what a map is, what goes on it, and what gets left out? How do those who are excluded make themselves visible? This interdisciplinary curriculum unit invites students to engage with maps a tool for communication and expressive intent. Interacting with a variety of maps, students will trace the impact of Imperialism and the counternarratives that emerge as acts of reclamation and resistance. Through collaborative inquiry, students will examine how “traditional” maps consistently reflect conquest, control, and erasure. Students will also examine the concept of Radical Cartography, analyzing the contributions of mapmakers who challenge the dominant perspectives.

This unit challenges what makes a map, a map. Students will build a map archive using primary and secondary sources such as song maps, digital tools, Micronesian stick charts, and social maps, reinforcing the idea that maps are multimodal. They will analyze maps like the song Follow the Drinking Gourd, the Black entertaining network known as he Chitlin’ Circuit, and analyze the impact of contemporary Radical Chicago Cartographers including Annie Oliver, Sherman “Dilla” Thomas, Tonika Lewis Johnson, and the first non-Indigenous settler in Chicago, Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable.

The unit ends with a culminating project where students are invited to make their own Radical Map, conveying their message. On the surface, it may appear that I’m designing a unit that encourages learners to consider what is a map, thus, encouraging them to think beyond traditional maps and to consider how our perspective influences mapmaking and map reading. While that is true, this too is true; the heart of this proposed curriculum unit is fueled by a desire to inspire learners to live more truthfully and remember to discern expression with love and empathy at the root. By exploring a variety of maps and ultimately creating their own maps, choosing the context, the symbols, the scale at which is relevant to their perspectives, empowers students to move with intention as they express themselves no matter the path they take.

(Developed for General Music, grades 6-8; recommended for Music History and African American History, grades 6-12)

by Alyssa Lucadamo

For eighth-grade students, even those who are academically gifted, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein remains a challenging and thought-provoking text. This unit utilizes the study of both geographical and conceptual maps to deepen comprehension of the novel. First, examining an ArcGIS Story Map and related artwork places the novel into the broader artistic and literary context of the Romantic movement. By analyzing historical maps of the North Pole from before, during, and after the writing of the novel, students practice observation and inferencing skills in order to gain insights into the personalities of Victor Frankenstein and Robert Walton and the themes of exploration and knowledge-seeking. While reading, students engage in concept mapping by constructing family tree diagrams to show the relationships and interactions among characters. These maps clarify the characters’ motivations. Later, mood mapping expands students’ literary analysis skills and builds social-emotional competency, as students develop a vocabulary to discuss and analyze mood in the text by mapping emotions onto the physical body. At the unit’s conclusion, students create their own maps to gather textual evidence for a writing assignment analyzing how Victor Frankenstein and his creature develop, interact, advance the plot, or develop one of the novel’s themes.

(Developed for Gifted English/Language Arts, grade 8; recommended for English, grades 9-12)

by Amanda McMahon

When my sighted students imagine a life without vision, they are filled with pity and fear, imagining a life where they can’t travel, can’t make art. But this is not accurate to the life of blind people, and this perception is fueled by ignorance about blind artists and blind wayfinding. Accident, illness, or age is likely to visit disability on all of us; this curriculum seeks to help students understand disability as part of the vast array of human experience.

Students will learn about how blind people navigate space, and will be exposed to the work of artist Carmen Papalia. Students will understand this space to be the product of design, which can be re-designed to be made more accessible using Universal Design Philosophy. Students will explore this design process by making their own tactile maps that reflect their understanding of space in a non-visual way. Students will relate the concept of maps to blind wayfinding to understand that every one of us has a relationship to space and a relationship to art, regardless of ability.

(Developed for Art I, grades 9-12; recommended for Art I-IV, grades 9-12)

by Michelle Newton

“The map is an instrument of communication; this seems to be one of its essential features.”

-Christan Jacob

What exactly is a map trying to communicate? Directions? Climate? Boundaries? Absolutely. But if we look a little closer, what else is a map trying to say? Unfairness? Power? What story does it have to tell? Through this project, Pittsburgh 412 and Beyond: The Map Files, students and teachers will learn together through higher-order questioning and discussions centering around various types of maps.  Students will discuss maps hundreds of years old all the way through the present-day computer and satellite maps. Students will then embark on a journey of their own trying to solve a CSI kidnapping crime using the map skills they learned.  Lastly, students will use the evidence gathered from the crime to identify a suspect and write a text-dependent analysis explaining their reasoning and evidence used.  This project not only helps students with spatial reasoning skills but provides a fun and engaging activity that is low on stress and high on excitement.

¹Jacob, Christian, and Edward H Dahl. 2006. The Sovereign Map : Theoretical Approaches in Cartography throughout History. Chicago: University Of Chicago Press.

(Developed for ELA, grades 7-8; recommended for ELA, grades 3-8; Social Studies, grade 3-5; and History, grades 6-8)

by Vickie Anne Young Weatherspoon

This unit introduces the concept of researching a cartographic history of Hearne, Texas as it is seen through maps, the eyes of the legacy of the families, businesses, and the historical events that impacted the growth and evolution of the city.  Just like an exquisite tapestry, its multicolored threads are intricately woven to highlight its rich diversity and evolving past, present, and future.  The unit will commence with a study of cartography and the many facets of map making from the early 16th century to the present.  Maps tell a story about people, places, and the events that continuously change the world. Students will study the history of Hearne, Texas, using past, current, and future city maps, family history trees, videos, field trips, and historical artifacts. The products at the end of the study will be individual students’ portfolios encompassing all of the maps, writings, art, and artifacts they designed and collected during their research and classroom activities. Many of the students, families, and community members only know bits and pieces of the history of Hearne.  At the conclusion of this project, students will showcase their portfolios in the Hearne High School library and invite community members to tour the exhibit.

(Developed for English, Mathematics, Social Studies, and Science, grades 9-12; recommended for English, Mathematics, Social Studies, and Science, grades 6-12)

by Danina M. Garcia

This unit uses a combination of current and primary sources to help students analyze how communication and empathy can change how people react to medical knowledge. Students explore the story of a tuberculosis epidemic that particularly affected the Black population of early 20th-century Philadelphia. Tuberculosis is a disease that has been documented almost as far back as recorded history but was not conclusively identified as a contagious illness until 1882. Although the medical establishment in Philadelphia in the early 1900s was full of recognized experts in the field, the residents of the downtown “Black Belt” were slow to seek treatment from a seemingly opaque and hostile system. Elizabeth W. Tyler, a middle-aged Black nurse, arrived in 1914 as a medical social worker and helped to turn the tide through her empathetic, holistic approach. After learning the then-current science of tuberculosis and working collaboratively to argue for or against the effectiveness of Tyler’s communication style, students will engage in their own research on a scientific or medical advancement and the way in which lay-people were or were not effectively educated about it.

(Developed for English IV, grade 12; recommended for English III, grade 11; English IV, grade 12; African-American History and United States History, grades 9-12)

by Valerie Schwarz

The curriculum unit explores how smallpox impacted freedom throughout Virginia history. For hundreds of years, smallpox played a significant role in Virginia history and impacted the freedom of Virginia citizens. Colonists had to work together not only to gain their freedom from Great Britain, but also from a deadly disease. The curriculum unit titled Smallpox and Freedom examines the North American epidemic in the 13 colonies prior to and during the Revolutionary War and includes a history of smallpox during the Civil War/Reconstruction all through the lens of freedom. The unit is designed to help students develop critical thinking skills, analyze graphs, consider different perspectives, become familiar with primary resources, and engage in kinesthetic simulations. The students will think reflectively in a freedom journal. The culminating activity will be to create a Freedom Banner and describe the meaning behind their banner. The unit is designed for fourth and fifth grade students, but it also could be adapted for middle school social studies or history classes.

Key words: smallpox, freedom, Virginia, disease, Revolutionary War, Civil War, Reconstruction

(Developed for Social Studies, Science, and Mathematics, grade 4; recommended for Social Studies, grades 5-9, and Science, grades 5-6)

by Adriana Lopez

COVID-19 and Influenza and How They Affect Our Society and Future is an educational unit that teaches the science of COVID-19 and Influenza and provides information backed by research. It is a unit that will have two parts addressing different needs in the classroom. During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, students encountered a lot of misinformation on social media regarding what COVID-19 was and how to properly prevent transmission. There was also a lot of fear and misinformation regarding the COVID-19 vaccines. Many people and students mistrusted the vaccine because of how fast it became available. The first part of this unit is meant to bring factual evidence to students and allow them to become critical thinkers. The second part of this unit to for students to process their thoughts and emotions regarding what happened to each of us personally during the pandemic. The students will be writing COVID memoirs about their positive and negative experiences during that time period. They will listen to example stories as told through podcasts like The Moth, Snap Judgment, as well as storytelling from StoryCorps. Students will then share each other’s stories with their peers as human books like in a Human Library Project.

Keywords: Respiratory Infectious Disease, COVID-19, Influenza, Memoir writing, Pandemic, Life Experiences, Human Library Project. 

(Developed for Argumentative Literacy, grades 11-12, and English IV, grade 12; recommended for English III, grade 11; English IV, grade 12; Biology and Social Science, grades 11-12)

by Damon Peterson

This is a science unit designed to be taught for grades 3-5. This unit is a brief exploration of the history of vaccinations.  The beginning of this unit examines the biology and evolutionary history of viruses.  Then, the unit looks to the origins of the first medical interventions of infectious diseases.  The curriculum explores traditions in the ancient East, i.e., China and India.  These civilizations were among some of the first to create forms of inoculation.  Then the curriculum looks to how these ideas were studied, adopted, and imported, - and then further developed by Europeans during the age of the renaissance and colonial exploration.  Finally, the curriculum explores medical interventions and the rapid development of the mRNA vaccine, in particular, that were created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The goal of the curriculum is to provide students with foundational knowledge necessary for them to understand, navigate, and persevere through challenges presented by infectious respiratory diseases.

Keywords: Infectious Respiratory Diseases, Viruses, Smallpox, COVID-19, inoculation, vaccination, vaccinology, Lady Wortley Montagu, Edward Jenner, mRNA vaccines, Dr. Katalin Kariko, Dr. Drew Weissman

(Developed for English Language Arts, Social Studies, and Science, grade 4; recommended for English Language Arts and Social Studies, grades 3-5)

by Jolene Smith

Tuberculosis has had an impact on native tribes in the Americas since the 1700s and is still a sickness problem today. The four tribes in the Americas had major outbreaks with their native communities. The Alaskan Natives, Navajo, Oglala, and Yakama tribes are key examples of how the government, Congress, the US president, and health agencies supported the cause in eliminating or reducing tuberculosis disease.  Yet many natives died, ranging from the very young to young adults.  As a response to TB epidemics, the introduction of TB by Europeans compelled tribes to change their living structures, improve hygiene practices, and led to sanatoriums on some reservations. For tribes to survive, they had to not use their culture and language. TB causes many tribal populations to suffer, and some have died.

The classroom activities students will complete are to create a graph on chart paper and to compare and analyze the differences between the tribes and other races.  Additional activities are to complete a clan chart and create a big book. The unit is appropriate for grades fifth and sixth in math, science, and social studies subjects. 

Key Words: tuberculosis, Alaskan natives, Navajo, Oglala, Yakama, disease, native

(Developed for Science, Social Studies, Mathematics, and Navajo Language, grades 5; recommended for Science, Social Studies, Mathematics, and Navajo Language, grades 4-5)

by Jiang Wu

This three-week unit on simulating the spread of an infectious disease is designed for AP Computer Science Principles. It contains three phases: Exploration, Research, and Programming. In the Exploration phase, students will be introduced to NetLogo. NetLogo is a programmable modeling environment specializing in simulations, making it remarkably straightforward for anyone to create customized SIR models. In the Research phase, students will select an infectious respiratory disease from a curated list and gather data on variables such as transmission rate, incubation period, and infectious period. In the Programming phase, students will create a model of their disease in NetLogo. The expectations are that they implement the unique attributes of their disease from the research phase into this model. The result is a simulation that generates a time-lapse visualization of agents moving, becoming infected, recovering, dying or gaining immunity, accompanied by a graph plotting infection numbers over time. At the conclusion of the Programming phase, students present their findings to the class. Through collaborative coding, data visualization, and reflection, they will deepen scientific literacy, practice evidence-based reasoning, and articulate the public health implications of their simulations.

Keywords: disease, computer science, modeling, simulation

(Developed for Mathematics III, grades 10-12; recommended for AP Computer Science Principles, grades 10-12, and Introduction to Computer Science, grade 9)

by Jennifer Leigh Neff

The goal of the unit is for students to better understand the meaning behind data by analyzing at datasets that are both realistic and relatable.  Students will learn about the 1918 Pandemic (often referred to as the Spanish Flu) and the 2020 SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic (COVID-19).  They will take this scientific and historical information to provide important context when analyzing datasets from both pandemics, which are included in the unit .  Students will use mathematical concepts of mean, median, variance (standard deviation and interquartile range), and distribution (skewed, normal) to analyze prior pandemic data and students will create graphical representations of the data including frequency tables, histograms, and boxplots.  Encouraging students to use these concepts to draw important insights from the data and to question the validity of the data are key themes in this unit.  Students will make observations to make predictions on the meaning behind the data.  They learn to recognize potential flaws in data collections and ways to make the data collection more accurate. Students will also engage in discussions on what they learned from the data and the ways that data can help improve the world’s response to future pandemics.

Key words: Statistics, Algebra, Mean, Median, Variance, Data, Distribution, Pandemic, Influenza, COVID-19)

(Developed for Algebra I, grades 9-12; recommended for Algebra I and Statistics, grades 9-12)

by John Engelbreit

This unit’s genesis came from hearing students talk about their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic—a time when everything felt out of control. That feeling was shared by adults and students alike. Even after returning to school, the presence of the disease remained, and the sense of helplessness lingered. This unit is a response to that feeling—that when everything feels out of your hands, there are still things you can do. There are ways to take control back.

The unit will be taught to 11th-grade honors biology students and covers key biological concepts through the lens of infectious respiratory diseases. Students begin with an overview of pathogens, using the story of John Snow and the Broad Street pump to introduce terms like microbes, pathogens, and sanitation. They then investigate three diseases—Influenza, COVID-19, and measles—exploring how each spread, how we can prevent them, how the immune system responds, and how treatment and testing play a role.

Throughout the unit, students engage with models of the immune system, track the spread of disease through a simulated population, and evaluate how national responses differed across countries. The unit culminates with students designing engineering controls to create indoor public spaces that reduce the risk of airborne transmission, using evidence and reasoning to support their designs.

Keywords

Control, pandemic, influenza, COVID-19, measles, transmission, immune system, sanitation, vaccination, ventilation, indoor air, prevention, modeling, public health, engineering controls

(Developed for Honors Biology, grade 11; recommended for Biology, all levels, and Microbiology, grades 9-12)

by Alexandra E. Amirato

The goal of this unit is to introduce students to the concept of community and how personal hygiene and public health applies to it. Students will engage in science experiments, conversation, and role play in order to achieve mastery knowledge of the topic. The unit introduces the basics of germs, environmental causes of illness, and strategies for maintaining personal and community health. Students will focus on how germs move through shared spaces such as homes, schools, classrooms, and bathrooms, and explore the collective actions we can take to create the healthiest classroom possible. Through hands-on experiments, students will investigate the cause and effect of practices like handwashing, using humidifiers and/or air purifiers, and covering sneezes and coughs. A public health video, styled like a PSA, will be created and shared to build a stronger sense of community and promote awareness around wellness and safety in our school.

Key words: Community, Citizenship, Kindergarten, Hygiene, Science, Germs, Handwashing, Transmission, Cause-and-Effect, Health, Public Health

(Developed for Social Studies, grade K; recommended for grade K)

by Lori Thornton

This unit is a comprehensive interdisciplinary unit designed to help high school students—particularly those in foundational math courses—develop critical thinking skills through the analysis of real-world data on mask effectiveness in preventing infectious respiratory disease. Rooted in the lived experiences of students shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic, the unit empowers learners to interpret graphs, evaluate statistics, and distinguish credible research by examining how different types of masks impact disease transmission. Blending math with science and social studies, this curriculum not only addresses vital questions about public health measures but also responds to students' perennial inquiries about the relevance of math in everyday life. By grounding instruction in current and emotionally resonant topics, this unit equips students—many of whom face academic and cognitive challenges—with the tools to become informed citizens capable of dissecting data-driven claims in an age of information overload.

Keywords: data analysis in education, teaching data analysis, infectious disease data, respiratory disease education, classroom data literacy, teaching mean median mode, teaching box plot, data analysis lesson plan

(Developed for Applied Mathematics Models, grades 10-12; Applied and Business Mathematics, grades 9-12)

by Stacy-Ann Morrison Thomas

Students are introduced to the biology and public health elements of the influenza virus in this sixth-grade science lesson. A description of the influenza virus, its mode of transmission, and preventative measures will all be covered. These will include how influenza spreads through direct touch, droplets, and infected surfaces, as well as how environmental factors like crowding and ventilation affect transmission, through interactive and practical exercises. By relating flu epidemics to students' daily routines, such as handwashing, wearing masks, and staying home when ill, the unit highlights real-world relevance. They will also look at how vaccines function and how agencies like the WHO and CDC monitor and work to prevent and control outbreaks. Modeling the spread of disease, evaluating information, and creating flu preventive plans all foster critical thinking. In line with Next Generation Science Standards (MS-LS1-1, MS-LS1-3, and MS-ETS1), the unit promotes engineering design, scientific literacy, and health awareness. Model-building and public health campaign creation are examples of performance tasks that students will finish. Quizzes, group projects, and a final performance task where students create a plan to avoid the flu in the classroom are all part of the assessment process.

Keywords:

Influenza, Transmission, Prevention, Control, Vaccines

(Developed for Integrated Science, grade 6; recommended for Physical Education and Health, grades 6-8)