The Greatest Places

Unit of Study for the Transition Years (grades 7-9)

Action Plan for Teachers:

Proposed by: Shirley O’Neil, Curriculum Consultant, Sudbury Board of Education, Education Centre, 85 MacKenzie Street, Sudbury,ON, Canada, P3C 4Y2

Phone: 705 675-3008 Fax: 705 675-7478 E-Mail [email protected]

Unit Overview/Culminating Demonstration

The year is 3855 A.D. You are a member of a team from another planet. The team is composed of a Museum Curator, an Archeologist, a geologist, a biologist, an industrial designer, and a meteorologist. Your team has been charged with the task of preparing an exhibit for your national museum on the Greatest Places as shown on an archival film discovered by a previous team on exploration. The exhibit may include anything the team chooses but should be comprehensive enough for viewers to have a clear understanding of what made each of these places unique enough to have been selected above all other places. The Greatest Places film clip included the following: The Amazon River, The Namib Desert, The Iguazu Falls, Tibet, Greenland, The Okavango Delta, and Madagascar.

Possible Cross-Curricular Themes:

Diversity, Cultures, Issues, River Systems, Change, Land Use, Geographical Themes of place, location, etc.

Alignment with Provincial Documents for Outcomes and Expectations

Re: Ministry of Education and Training 1987, The Common Curriculum 1993, the New Ontario Curriculum 1998.

Integration Strategies

This unit can be used in the Language Arts classroom, the geography classroom or as an integrated unit across the curriculum. Geographical concepts can be laid by the geography teacher and the language arts teacher can support with lessons on research and inquiry. The art teacher can provide support and lessons on how to design the exhibit itself. If one teacher is responsible for all disciplines the planning task is simplified. However, if a number of teachers are involved in the delivery of curriculum for a group of youngsters, then planning sessions will require a team approach.

Time Needed:

Teachers have a tremendous amount of flexibility with this unit. It can be designed for a few lessons or several weeks of study. This will depend on how much time the teacher(s) wishes to give to the study and the extent of resources. A first time study may be shorter than a future one as a teacher or department gathers new resources.

Outcomes/Objectives

This unit will serve any number of areas for teachers and reference should be made to the Ontario Ministry of Education and Training’s most recent document: the New Ontario Curriculum (June, 1997) Language Arts Expectations, Grades 1-8. Geography Expectations are expected in the Fall or late Winter and until then refer to the Ontario Common Curriculum 1993. Once teachers select a focus for this unit, many outcomes/ expectations/ objectives of Language Arts and Geography will make a great fit.

Materials

1. Greatest Places Website on the Internet

2. IMAX Film - Greatest Places - Science North, OMNIMAX Film - Ontario Science Centre

3. Trunk Boxes - Science North and Ontario Science Centre

4. National Geographic - all articles on Website

5. Sudbury Board of Education Media Centre; School Libraries - books on each region

6. Greatest Places Animatic - 7 minutes (no voice) Education Centre

7. Greatest Places Video - 25 minutes (voice) Education Centre

8. Geographical Information Systems - Redlands, California; check the website

9. Geolinks - for Mac Users - Education Centre

10. Sudbury Board of Education Geography Curriculum Grades 7&8 - Education Centre

Activities

1. Students can be divided into groups according to the Greatest Places and subdivided into groups according to the team roles that they choose within their teams.

2. Opportunities should be made for the Curators to meet separately as well as the geologists etc. These teams can collaborate on the specific nature of their individDäÅé