Teaching Strategies
To begin this unit students will participate in a jigsaw activity. The class will be divided into Group A and Group B. Group A will examine current research regarding scientific analysis of the practices and habits that we need to try to extend the healthy span of our life. This will mainly focus on the research on telomeres and the specific social, dietary, physical, and psychological practices that can improve our health as we grow and age. Group B will receive sociological research on those practices that researchers found to increase life expectancy and decrease middle age death in multiple populations around the globe. While in Group A and Group B students will read, discuss the research, and prepare to be an expert on their topic in pair made up of one student from Group A and one from Group B.
Hopefully students will not only further develop their knowledge of the healthy practices that both scientific and sociological research has found, but also see that there is a great deal of overlap, further supporting the efficacy of these practices in our everyday life.
Throughout the unit, students will consistently have to time to complete think-pair-share activities. Some of our topics throughout the unit will either be challenging due to their complexity, but also due to the heaviness of the topics as students are introduced them. It is for that reason that I want to give students the time to process their own thoughts and think and practice how to put those thoughts into words. By creating space to think and share with a partner, students will be more prepared to share their ideas with the whole group and further the collective thinking.
A practice that students will regularly participate during this unit and throughout their time in my classroom is small group research. When I ask students to examine other places around the world, I want them to individually discover what other countries’ cultures and policies look like. I hope that this will be guided by our discussions and their own curiosity about the world around them. Through small group research, students can have multiple experiences to develop their research abilities and prepare for post-secondary education. They will be asked to evaluate the sources and to create full pictures (not stereotyped tropes) about other places. Other opportunities for this practice could also occur as students engage in research to brainstorm policies that they would support and to whom they should turn to build coalitions and plan how to implement their policies. Depending on the research resources at different schools, this may look different. Students may use computers or library resources.
An important aspect of the final project for student progress beyond the Social Studies classroom is the opportunity to write for a real audience. When planning a speech, a letter, a pamphlet, or an online resource, students will have to think about who will read their work and what are the ways to best express their opinions in order to truly gain support.
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