Strategies
There will be a variety of activities so that needs of students with various learning styles are included. The teaching strategies used will be based on a scaffold model, where the initial introduction to the topic of AIDS and HIV will be more of an inquiry-based discussion than a lecture, starting with an open-ended question.
The initial discussions will be supplemented by several photographs and other information from the early years of the AIDS epidemic. I feel confident that with a topic as charged as this, I will have little trouble getting at least some students to share their knowledge and stories. This should get them and others invested in the topic through sharing their information with the rest of the class. The Think Share Pair approach could be good here, and I also like the Talking Stick approach, which mimics many patient support groups.
A student debate is an excellent way of getting students invested in learning, and it is exciting to see them perform in front of their peers. I would like to plan an activity using debate. Presentation is another good form of performance, and I want to employ it using a jigsaw method, where small groups of students talk as experts on a particular aspect of the broader subject. There will be one or two short research projects that I will expect each student to complete individually, for presentational preparation.
I want to use the Cooperative Learning model for the mathematical part of the unit, where the students develop their own science/mathematical models as a group.
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