Interdisciplinary Activity

Interdisciplinary Activity Created by Ashley Caron, Will Fenker, Sean Kingsbury

Unifying Concept: Math, Science, ELA, and Social Studies: Studies in Patterns.

The following units will revolve around this unifying concept: Science - Earth and Space Systems - Using a microscope, students will explore different plant and animal cells of various species and find similar and different patterns in cell structure. No matter what species of cells students are looking at, all species of animal cells will have common elements and all species of plant cells will have common elements. The emphasis of these patterns in cell structures will support students’ understanding of patterns in other areas of science and the other content areas English/Language Arts - Persuasive Papers - Students will examine various types of papers and determine which organizational structures comprise each essay format and why it makes it more effective. The effectiveness of a specific type of paper, such as persuasive or exposition, depends on the organizational structures of that paper. Through the exploration of the students’ morning/night routines, students can see the efficiency of their patters and relate them to the efficiency of the organizational structures of each paper types.

Social Studies - Revolutions/Expansions - Students explore patterns of European exploration in the New World to determine common motivations for colonizations. By exploring commonalities in patterns of European exploration of the New World, students can make inferences regarding common motivations behind permanent European colonies. Comparing similarities between students’ morning routines and similarities between countries’ patterns of exploration can lead to a deeper understanding of patterns among individuals and societies.

Interdisciplinary Activity Math - Number Sequences - In order to explain sequence in the natural world, students will inspect the patterns of arithmetic and geometric sequences. Humans and all animals are creatures of order, like our morning routines. The geometric and arithmetic sequences we will be looking are relevant to not only math, but also nature. Some flowers grow in the famous Fibonacci sequence because it is natural to them. Our morning routines are natural to us, hence why we do them.

Hook Activity: For a hook, we will have students outline their morning or night routines. Through outlining their routines, we hope that students will see the patterns in their behaviors. Students will then find peers that share some of their routines and discuss why they have that routine. We will then share out as a class about why these routines exist and then switch to a discussion about patterns. We would use a think-pair-share about the definition of what a pattern and using the working definition we determined, students will discuss whether their morning/night routine is considered a pattern.