Rationale
Have you ever walked down the medicine aisle in the grocery store? Some medicines advertise that they last 12 hours. Others are taken every four or six hours. Have you ever wondered why? The topic of drugs and how they work is relevant to our lives. Everyone has been sick or experienced pain at some point in their life, and everyone has taken some kind of drug to help ease their symptoms. My students have also been hurt or sick and taken medication. I envision that they will be extremely interested in understanding the basics of how drugs work in their bodies.
In my school district and around the world, there is a push to prepare students for the 21 st century. There has also been a movement to add more relevance and rigor to the curriculum. The original Bloom's Taxonomy was created in 1956, by a group of educators chaired by Benjamin Bloom. The taxonomy is a classification system of the thinking skills important to learning. A "new" Bloom's Taxonomy published in 2001 is designed to achieve relevance for 21 st century learners. By striving for the top of the pyramid, teachers will push their students to use higher–level thinking skills resulting in more relevance and rigor. 1
The six new categories of Bloom's Taxonomy beginning at the lowest level are: Remembering, Understanding, Applying, Analyzing, Evaluating and Creating. My curriculum unit utilizes every category, but the crux of the unit focuses on the top four categories.
The unit also makes a natural connection between math and science. I have known for a long time that it is wise pedagogically to take advantage when such opportunities arise, and to create such opportunities when possible. Using an integrated approach to teach math and science increases achievement in both disciplines. 2 When I have integrated math and science in the past my students are engaged and excited. Research indicates that this is not an accident, and in fact an integrated math and science unit lends itself to motivating students. 3
However, another reason to teach math and science in an intertwined manner is because the reality of teaching today is that teachers need to utilize every minute of the school day in the most productive and efficient way. By incorporating many skills into a lesson or unit, the class accomplishes much more in a shorter amount of time, thus freeing up additional time for learning other skills.
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